Confusion with purchasing a Macbook Pro

I am looking at getting Louise a Macbook pro 15". I have just been to a Mac outlet and the guy there tried to advise me to buy the i5 rather than the i7. I explained to him that Mr Louise uses a 5D MK2 and would " occasionally " edit photos and HD video footage on the Mac. He still said that all I would require would be the i5 and that I would be better off with the 17", which I would prefer Louise had, but I was looking at getting her the 15" as it was available with the i7. Is the bigger screen more important for her our needs or the smaller screen with the i7 processing.

Advice from Mac users gratefully received.

Stew

Mr Louise uses a 5D MK2 and would " occasionally " edit photos and HD video footage on the Mac. He still said that all I would require would be the i5 and that I would be better off with the 17", which I would prefer Louise had,

 

Stew

haha...sneaky sneaky.....

Using Google translate:

I have spent far too much money recently but still have spending needs and toys to get.....however the financial control division is undergoing a spending freeze. So the plan is to choose exactly what I need and with the help of a good spin doctor convince them that it is actually theirs before it disappears in a mysterious burglary never to be seen again except when I am using it......So two questions:

1. What do I need to edit stills and HD video from 5dmkII?

2. How do I convince Lou it is actually for her?

Good luck!!

I am looking at getting Louise a Macbook pro 15". I have just been to a Mac outlet and the guy there tried to advise me to buy the i5 rather than the i7. I explained to him that Mr Louise uses a 5D MK2 and would " occasionally " edit photos and HD video footage on the Mac. He still said that all I would require would be the i5 and that I would be better off with the 17", which I would prefer Louise had, but I was looking at getting her the 15" as it was available with the i7. Is the bigger screen more important for her our needs or the smaller screen with the i7 processing.

Advice from Mac users gratefully received.

 

Stew

I have a 15" with the i5, 4GB RAM and I Hi-Res Anti Glare screen. I don't see any reason for the i7 because I have no issues editing in Final Cut Express and Photoshop CS3 with my current set up, however if you have the money to spend, it never hurts to have more power and/or more RAM. I personally would not want the 17" because that extra size is a pain in the ass to travel with. You should really consider packing and portability before getting the 17".

My other suggestion is unless you are in love with a glossy screen that the Hi-Res Anti Glare is a great upgrade and well worth the money.

So to summarize, if she is just going to edit using iPhoto and iMovie I would save your money and go with an i5 15" with hi-res screen. If she is going to use Final Cut Pro, Aperture and Photoshop extensively she might want to go with the 15" i7 but I don't think she will really need it.

If you want to spend money to make it faster, forget about i7, but get an SSD. I recommend Intel or OCZ, but by all means research it and pick whichever you prefer. Once you have an SSD in a computer, you never will want to go back. Everything without an SSD feels unbearably slow to me now. Also, dont get the mac SSD, buy aftermarket.

Cheers for the info guys. I dont know what you are insinuating there Mr Spencley. lol

I went for the 17" with the i5 with the idea of having a SSD fitted once I have done my research. Thanks for the pointer on that Cor. I am sure Louise will be very pleased with ( cough couch ) her new Mac.

Stew

Cor, is there room to fit an SSD in a MBP which you could just run the OS and paging files from and have a separate drive for storage? (I dont have a MBP, but I am jst curious) Would that be pointless since the images data would still have to write to the regular drive? Large SSD's are rather costly still but I just ordered 3 X 80GB SSD for $150 a piece for another project and if thinking of perhaps doing something clever. Perhaps build a super fast alebeit not all that large raid5 array of 4 SSDs just for storing and editing "the food stuff" perhaps?

Thats what I have. 256GB SSD drive, and a second 500GB normal drive. The MBP has room, provided you remove the optical drive. Google for 'optibay'

Cor