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.

May 24th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
by the way what soft u using? mac or intel?
May 24th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
hey how is your mac? as am planing also buy it? and how it geting with adobe?
May 21st, 2007 at 8:45 am
To correct my ingnorance–As it turns out Apple generally utilizes the same companies to manufacture their hardware that Dell, HP, and many others PC companies use (quanta, asus, etc)… albeit some minor modifications taylored to Apples’ needs. So if most of the hardware is generally the same (amongst the top five or so PC companies AND apple) the only other potential software incompatibility causing factor to consider is…? You got it–Apple software. Thanks go to Matt’s post #111 on this blog.
May 12th, 2007 at 9:30 am
and.. i forgot to quote mikes post…. lol.. its true.. very true
May 12th, 2007 at 9:28 am
but.. for me.. mac are better… than windows.. or vista.. “110,000 virus, not on mac”. hmm.. and the new vista copied the looks of a mac… the start menu in the new vista now is a Windows button.. liek the mac start menu is a apple… pshh… 3rd.. windows have many problems with cameras.. but mac doesnt… yeah.. the the adobe cs3 works for me better…
May 2nd, 2007 at 9:33 pm
I am surprised by all the negative Mac comments here… I own a Probook, 2.33 3gig ram 17inch and I have loved it. And I use adobe products everyday. Mostly photoshop or InDesign. I have not had nearly the problems you people have been having.
April 27th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
I don’t think your post title is appropriate. Reason being is that it isn’t your MacBook Pro that sucks, just Adobe (meaning their lack of intel-based support in CS2) and your sense of timing.
A sidenote, if you ever want to run Windows on your laptop, I suggest using Parallels, and not bootcamp, because with bootcamp you can still get Windows viruses that eat up your windows files, but with Parallels, it’s a virtual machine which means it’s Mac running it and thus, no Windows viruses.
Lastly, congrats on your switch to Mac.
April 27th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
I’m pretty sick of blogs debating whether apple products suck or not. Guess what? If hardware is in question AT ALL you should probably avoid it… especially if said hardware has KNOWN incompatibility issues with ANY software let alone name brand above generic. It’s just not professional to have to seek out compatible software for your workstation… c’mon… it’s SOFTware!!! Is there really such a shortage of programmers in the world??? I doubt it.
April 16th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
Anyone who says that the Mac has more security flaws is undoubtably a Microsoft fanboy. As of now Vista has 9 or more security flaws. Anyone listening to TWiT’s Security now will figure this out quickly.
April 16th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Try the new Applications… the CS3 ones…. They SCREAM on my 2.0 GHz MacBook Pro with 1.5 GB of RAM