My MacBook Pro Sucks
September 10th, 2006 Filed in: Reviews, Mac Jump to commentsI recently bought a new MacBook Pro (my first Apple computer). Yes, I am one of the switchers. I have been a PC user for a while until Apple introduced Intel-based Mac notebook. I was tempted by the MacBook Pro and brought a 15.4-inch display, 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo, with 2GB of RAM (upgraded from 1GB). After couple hours of fun playing around with the Mac OS X, I installed Adobe CS2 and did couple test runs. I was so disappointed on its performance. It even runs slower than my old PC laptop (1.5GHz Centrino with 1GB RAM). That is impossible since the new MacBook has 2.16GHz CPU with 2GB of RAM. I thought it could be my Adobe software issue. So I went to install Macromedia Studio 8 to see how it perform. Same result - slow.
I got frustrated and did a quick search on Google. I found this review from MacWorld. Apparently, neither Adobe CS2 nor Macromedia Studio 8 supports Intel-based Macs (running on Rosetta) yet. Fortunately, Adobe has announced that they will fix this issue to support Intel-based Mac computers in the next versions. So, if you are planning to get a MacBook Pro as your work computer, you’ll be better off waiting until Adobe release the next version of Creative Suite.
Note: Universal application like Safari, iLife and Mail are running fine and smoothy on my MacBook.
Update
June 6, 2007
I’m now using Adobe CS3 on my MacBook and they run very nice. However, I still have problem with the heat issues (extremely hot when charging). I heard the second generation released in Oct 2006 is faster than my first generation and the heat issue is resolved.
August 27th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Okay that is weird. I just bought a macbook pro, and Adobe Photoshop CS2 is working fine on my computer. I dont have any problems with it.
August 27th, 2008 at 3:07 am
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August 14th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Hi, let me tell you that the Adobe Photoshop CS2 was not made for Intel Core Processor, so you need to use the CS3 version on your apple, i use it and i have really good perfomance on my Mac (same as you).
August 13th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Well, Im not impressed with the MBP dual core 2 Duo 2.33Ghz. I am very upset with this computer. Shortly after I purchased the unit, Apple released a Flash update and trashed the mother board. They replaced the board on Warranty. I have had many issues that were repaired via patch, but some that have never been resolved. My Gigabit Ethernet locks up when my computer is under a heavy load, and doesn’t come back unless it is rebooted. The internal LG GWA4080MA died shortly after a service patch for it updated the firmware to AE39 and now the drive has many faults. The patch was quietly pulled from Apple.
When connected to a Monitor and external keyboard, the right USB goes to sleep leaving me with one USB port.
Not good for the work I do, not enough bandwidth for my work. I have a 6 year old HP with Solaris 10u5 on it and it is much more stable and reliable then the MBP. This was my first and last Apple computer.
August 7th, 2008 at 3:42 am
Hello guys!!
since many years ago i work in both platforms, win and mac. Got a G4, G5, MacBook and plenty of PCs.
I don’t know the reason but news Mac certainly sucks on powerful. Maybe it’s caused by Intel processors, I don’t know, but my G4 (700MH & 768 MB RAM) it’s almost fast than news G5 with 2.4 GHz and 4 Gb RAM.
Don’t know the reason but it’s real.
’bout windows platforms they just better since win2k and new PCs are really fast and stable. Ops, with the exception on Vista: it’s horrible, programs crashes continuosly…
July 29th, 2008 at 10:22 am
Adobe is a windows native product. It runs slow because the mac has to use rosetta to translate everything. A large part of the performance issues that you speak of are a result of this translation and are not truely CPU or GPU oriented. Solution would be to install XP with bootcamp and use XP for adobe software.
July 24th, 2008 at 9:18 am
I bought a macbook pro in January ‘08 and it also gets really hot, especially when its on charge. Ive never had a problem with photoshop or illustrator though. It all runs pretty quick on here
July 15th, 2008 at 7:20 am
The anwser to this OLD post it’s quite simple, the Adobe CS 2 for mac is for PowerPC. This does not mean you can’t run it on an Intel Based MAC, but in order to do so OSX brings up Rosetta, a hidden emulator, that’s why CS2 runs slow on Intel Based Mac’s.
Since the release of CS3 those problems are all but gone, if you don’t believe me just try it.
It’s a software issue.
June 25th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Why such a bashing when you say that your software isn’t compatible?
June 14th, 2008 at 11:30 am
Haven’t the recent switchers from Windows to Mac realized that XP actually wasn’t fast on it’s own?? When I used to run XP as my main OS, I used to strip that sucker down until it could barely boot up. Then, XP was certainly fast - But not nice to use.
For me, I’d take the minor performance hit any day, if it gets me an OS that is more intuitive to use. The fact that one has to wait for the UNDO commands to take effect (this would represent all of 2 minutes out of your day), is completely irrelevant when you look at the out-of-the box feature set Mac OS X offers. Hey, your already saving time by having all of the programs you use docked conveniently at the edge of your screen - what’s 2 seconds for Undo?
-Jason