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Lenovo W530 vs Macbook Pro Retina

ZerodogZerodog Registered Users Posts: 1,480 Major grins
edited September 26, 2012 in Digital Darkroom
New laptop time! I am a PC guy. I think we have 6 PC now in our workflow for events. And a bunch of big eSATA hard drives. Will throwing a Macbook in there as the brain of the whole thing cause hell? Or will it be smooth flowing?

Or do I stick with PC and get a W530 monster? :dunno

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    adbsgicomadbsgicom Registered Users Posts: 3,615 Major grins
    edited September 22, 2012
    I just moved from desktop to a W530 and love it. If you are all PC, why through Mac anything into the mix?
    - Andrew

    Who is wise? He who learns from everyone.
    My SmugMug Site
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    RichardRichard Administrators, Vanilla Admin Posts: 19,928 moderator
    edited September 22, 2012
    Mixed environments are a bit of a hassle, but doable--I use a ThinkPad and my wife has a MacBook and we manage to get along. The biggest single disadvantage is that OS-X can't write to NTFS drives, though there are third-party workarounds. You can always use BootCamp or one of the other VM environments if you don't mind kludges. But then, what are you gaining? I'm in the market for a new machine as well and am tempted by the retina stuff, but I'm guessing that it's going to be a while before Adobe gets around to supporting it. The MacBook Pro solution would be expensive compared to a Windows machine paired with a good quality external monitor. If you know your way around Windows, ask yourself what you really expect to gain by switching.
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    lifeinfocuslifeinfocus Registered Users Posts: 1,461 Major grins
    edited September 22, 2012
    I have had a Thinkpad for a number of years - and it is fantastic! Keyboard is probably the best in the business, which is especially good if you are touch typist. I haven't look at the machine you are considering until now. Impressed by the calibration capability and four monitor attachment possibility. They are durable too.

    Phil
    http://www.PhilsImaging.com
    "You don't take a photograph, you make it." ~Ansel Adams
    Phil
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    ZerodogZerodog Registered Users Posts: 1,480 Major grins
    edited September 26, 2012
    I think the mac is so sexy! But my heart says go with the Lenovo. I guess I am bi curious! In the end the Lenovo will just work with all of my systems. The Mac will throw a kink in there that we do not need to deal with at this point.

    But the new SSD I put in my old X201 should let me hold off for a bit. That made that system considerably better for my use. I could still use faster response in the develop module of LR. But not so badly that I need to drop $3000 right now.
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    adbsgicomadbsgicom Registered Users Posts: 3,615 Major grins
    edited September 26, 2012
    Also bear in mind that Adobe Win7 licenses do not transfer to Mac (at least as of a couple of years ago). That's another potential cost of changing over.
    - Andrew

    Who is wise? He who learns from everyone.
    My SmugMug Site
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    BradfordBennBradfordBenn Registered Users Posts: 2,506 Major grins
    edited September 26, 2012
    Actually you can do a transfer of the Adobe license for a very reasonable cost. The problem is if you versions are way out of date
    -=Bradford

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