Le scoop:

I have a 2007 MacBook Pro with 2GB of memory and a 120GB hard drive. It's really, really sad about the file sizes produced by my 7D. I spend lots and lots and lots of time waiting for things to open and for PS &/or Lightroom to catch up. Obviously, it's worse when more applications are running or when my hard drive is nearly full, but it's never particularly speedy. After shooting roughly 100GB of photos this weekend and being on a deadline to get them up...well, I'm about fed up enough to actually buy a new MBP.

But I don't wanna...


My question is...would installing an additional 2GB of memory make a substantial difference in performance? What was that? Ask the tech geek at the Apple store, you say? Great idea! I tried that...he couldn't give me a solid answer. Something about depending on how Lr and Ps are written and whether they're capable of expanding into the additional memory. :/

I have the latest versions of both programs, if that's helpful.



Cliff's:

Read my flippin' question!





Thanks!

 

yeah it probably would be a big boost. I think the max you can upgrade to is 4gb. Which would be enough. Just to ensure that you are maxing out your memory open up your apps and do what ever you do to slow down your Mac and then do a spotlight search for "activity monitor" open it and it will tell you how much RAM you're using.

You'll have to buy a 4GB mac compatible RAM kit that works with your model of MBP, Macs can be picky about RAM.

 

Sorry wndr, I have no idea. It's a mac and I don't know em well enough except to know it's gonna cost you some mullah either way...

Less for the RAM for sure...

All said and done, get the RAM and if it doesn't help, sell the thing with a ton of RAM in it and buy a new one.

 

So can other OEMs, like compaq and HP.

my friend has the cheapest model 2007 iMac and we bought a 4Gb RAM kit for it so he could do iMovie (he only had 1GB at the time) without stuttering. We accidentally bought the 4Gb kit that was for the mid and upper level 2007 iMac and only one of 2Gb stick would work. I had to keep the 1GB in for it to boot. he was cool about only being able to use 3Gb though, he gave me the other 2Gb stick and I put it in my moms imac.

 

I have a I7 MBP with 4 gb ram running snow leopard, and just surfing the web it's using about 1.5GB's with mail, preview and finder running! An upgrade to 4 should def. help out, however what may matter more in terms of performance is the current processor. What processor is in your MBP? The Intel Core Duos?

 

Definitely upgrade RAM

How about upgrading HDD to a 7200rpm one (if it's not already)?

If it's a 2007 model, should be a Core 2 Duo at around 2.2 or 2.4 GHz

 

Use the crucial memory finder to get ram that will work

www.crucial.com

 

invest in a External Hard Drive. free up whatever room you can on the computer HD and get some RAM. on PCs its fairly easy to upgrade and get a lot of bang for ur buck, not sure how to clean up a MAC to get the most out of it.

 

To clean up OS X check out Onyx, it can do pretty much everything. Just delete your temp internet files and what not and repair disk permissions.

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/11582/onyx

 

You guys are the best. Thank you. I will definitely give it a go, then. I'd love a larger HD, so I wouldn't have to take the time to move things off to the externals so frequently, but need to put it off as long as possible.

The processor is a 2.2GHz Intel Core2 Duo.

I'm not sure, either, how simple it is to upgrade parts on a Mac. It's out of warranty, so that's not an issue.

Thanks again! I'm off to order.

 

Sorry, but this made me laugh! 1.5TB's of externals are nearly full.

 

Awesome, I'll check that out, too. Thanks!

 

My brother is a pro photographer. He works with gigantic files from his digital medium format gear, and often has several layers that he's working with in Photoshop.

Although software support on Macs for photographers is good, the hardware was never enough for him so he's been using PCs since I can remember. He has a MacBook that he carries around with him sometimes but all of his real PP work is done on a high end PC with tons of memory, really fast disk arrays, and a very fast multicore processor.

He has an NAS that he archives stuff on near-term and uses DVD-R's for long term archiving.

Perhaps what you need is a Hackintosh based on a high end PC?

 

+1 for this... Or even better... Get a solid state drive like this link. It will give you a huge increase in performance.

 

How simple is that to do in a Mac? In other words, how much will I have to pay someone to install it?

 

I'm not opposed to exploring PC options, though I admit I like my Mac much better than any PC I've ever had. I've heard of Hackintoshes, but I'm not really clear on how they work. They run a Mac OS? Would I be able to use my Mac-specific software?

 

Videos are on youtube to show you how to do them, for RAM and HD exchange.

 

For all of the troubles you had with PC before you bought the MBP, those are pretty much over. Windows 7 is a BIG step from what you used.

I would suggest that if you look at a new machine and want to stay with Apple, get an iMac bigger monitor to use. Keep the MBP to use only when you travel and at photo shoots.

 

Okay, cool. $600-700 is a lot more attractive price for a new HD + memory than >$2k for a whole new machine. Especially since I just spent $200 to replace the battery & adaptor last week.

And I know you've used both, so good to know. I have a lot of Mac-specific software that I don't want to throw away money on replacing, though. Kinda like switching from Canon to Nikon...oh, wait.


I have a GREAT idea..how about you go buy a 15" matte screen solid state top o' the line MBP, gently use it for a couple of months, then sell it to me for half!

 

Sorry, don't see myself buying another Apple computer anytime soon.

 

Party Pooper.

 

I've been thinking about doing this to my 2007 MBP as well. It's been very slow opening applications and it hates when there is more than one tab open in Safari. Whenever you get around to doing this, be sure to update us on how it went!

I guess I'm not the only one who had to buy a new battery charger recently. Mine took a shit on me two weeks ago and wouldn't charge my computer. Luckily my battery is still working but it doesn't hold a charge as long as it used to.

 

If you are constantly moving files around, I'd suggest you stick with an ordinary hard drive (7200RPM one, 500GB or so) versus a SSD. SSD's are pretty expensive right now and mac doesn't support the new technology which helps prolong their life. Essentially the drive performance degrades over time as files are written over time and time again. Even near the end of the drive's life, it's still faster than a normal drive, however in my opinion it isn't worth the 3-4x the cost.

Installing the ram should be a breeze! Look at some video's on youtube or just google it and save some $$$. As far as HDD intallation goes, do you still have all the cd's that came with the computer? cd for snow leopard?

 

Great to know - thank you! Yes, I'm forever putting files on to process them moving them to storage to make more room, so sounds like the standard drive would be best. The thought of 500GB makes me

I do still have all my software disks. Not sure about my office suite stuff, but I think I can dl that as needed with a code key. Hmm...got some investigating to do.

I have time machine...can I just use that to move everything to a new drive or will I have to re-install everything with the disks?

 

My suggestion;

Free up as much space from your hardrive as possible, Create a partition on your hardrive using your disk utility. The bigger the partition the better, but since you only have 120GB, 20GB partition should be good. Label it Scratch Disk, then go into your Photoshop Preferences > Performance Tab. Set your Scratch disk to the New Partition (Scratch Disk) and make sure no files get placed on the Scratch Disk, keep it empty. This should keep your photoshop running smoother. Also make sure you have your photoshop using at least 1689MB of RAM. Set any other programs that uses a lot of RAM to use the Scratch Disk as your Scratch Disk.

Upgrading your RAM will only make your computer run better, so if you can I would fill that baby to the Max, which I believe is 4GB for that model.

External Hardrives are your friend, but make sure it has a Firewire or you will hate your life....

 

I'm preferring the idea of swapping out HD's at the moment, but thank you for the suggestion. And yes, I do have firewire to my externals. USB wouldn't cut it at all.




Can anyone recommend a specific hard drive?

Thanks again for all your help!

 

Even with the new hardrive, you still should set up a Scratch Disk.

 

Glad I could help...

 

TimeMachine should help you do what you need... I haven't done it using TimeMachine - the way I would do it is manual and a lot more difficult. Maybe try this http://gizmodo.com/333319/the-secret...ard-drive-swap

BTW. A solid state drive (SSD) drive will give you the best performance, but comes at a price. Technically though, they don't last forever as they can only be read/written a certain number of times before they start to fail, but practical experiences show that you likely will replace your system long before failure occurs.

 

The best help Whiskers can give is no help at all

 

Time Machine sucks IMO, Manually copy everything over. I swear Time machine is slower....

 

It runs in the background and I don't have to babysit it. I'm free to do other things, which is not true if I'm manually copying everything. My world requires simplification right now. If Time Machine will do it, it is my friend.

 

That is the theory. Run MacOS and Mac software on a generic hardware platform.

I completely understand you not wanting to buy your software again for a different platform -- that's where the real money is spent on a computer.

 

You can exchanged platforms for PS and LR, for a small fee, like $25.

 

ifixit.com has pictorials on how to change the ram/hd

 

I haven't read all the messages in this thread, so if I repeat what someone else says, please forgive me.

The problem you are having is not necessarily with RAM, rather your HDD is more than likely the bottleneck. Laptop hard drives, both PC and MAC, tend to be slower than a comparable desktop drive. Yes the 7200rpm 2.5" drives are fast, but you still just have one.

My suggestion is a Network Attached Storage (NAS) unit that you can stuff full of drives, at least 4, in a RAID array, probably RAID 10, or RAID 6. Don't connect to it via wireless, but have a wired gigabit switch. I assume your MBP has a gigabit ethernet card built in. Gigabit networking is faster than single HDD access. So when you have a lot of work to do, hook up to the wired network, otherwise wireless G or N can handle the light duty jobs.

Yes that would be expensive, but you would have two advantages with a NAS. Faster access to your data, and RAID redundancy (which is a whole other conversation). Any photos you need to take with you, just copy them to your MBP. Everything else can stay safe in your home.

Just my

CanopyFlyer

 

It's probably both memory and disk. Certainly for opening files a faster disk will help -- but if memory is too little then the system will get into swapping to disk and a faster disk will help a little here but it will still absolutely crawl compared to running everything in RAM.

Wndr, you're making a go of this and it probably makes sense for you to invest in a PP workstation with a great display, stupid fast disks and crazy amounts of memory that you leave at home, and keep the MBP for tasks that require the portability.

A real doctor would have several of these already that she uses to point-and-click at the prescriptions that she is writing.

 

I agree 100%, and that is my eventual goal. Things are starting to pick up, and I'm hoping to be able to afford to do that before much longer, but I can't right now. I guess you could say I'm looking for a band-aid until then. I think spending $500-700 on a new HD & more memory is the most practical solution for now.

I've found memory, just need to figure out which drive.

Eventually, I will certainly want a large calibrated display and a killer desktop machine, but it's not in the cards at the moment.

 

Do my eyes deceive me? Is Jup really recommending switching to Windoze? I am shocked! So everything I said about how great Windows 7 was actually true!?

To be honest as an owner of the brand new 15 MBP with hi-res anti glare screen, iPad, iPhone 4 and the new mac mini server, I still prefer Windows 7. It's just that good people. I have my mac mini server and Windows 7 desktop setup with a KVM and I can just as easily run Mac OS X as I can Windows 7 and I choose to use 7 everytime over OS X. I'd say I use Windows 7 and OS X about an even 50/50 on my MBP, mainly cause I get better battery life in OS X cause I can run it off of integrated graphics and Windows 7 in boot camp leaves a little to be desired.

I don't think she should switch though or do a hackintosh, it's not as easy as running windows and if you do one thing wrong you could screw yourself and have to start over. I say just upgrade your RAM and hard drive. Upgrade to Snow Leopard if you haven't already and then migrate your data back over from your time machine backups. or use a program like carbon copy cloner.

http://www.bombich.com/

 

I've never been an Mac fanboi, as I'm not a Windows fanboi, either. I have argued base on point, not brand name.