MacBook or MacBook Pro?

[cosus]

I'm helping a friend buy his first mac and he wants to get a MacBook Pro. He mostly does photoshop and illustrator beyond the normal computer functions. Is there any reason he shouldn't get a MacBook and just buy a large external monitor? He doesn't need firewire 800 or have use for the expansion card port.

[curiousuburb]

Depends on his setup and needs.

If he's using it as a demo machine presenting to clients or will use it without external monitor and needs maximum screen res on the laptop itself, there's potentially an argument for the 17hires.

If it will be primarily tethered to an external monitor anyway, the MacBook may serve fine, freeing up cash for peripherals or software or...

There are some speed tests around (Barefeats, etc) if your friend is a spec whore and wants to know just how many seconds of waiting the extra cash for the MBP would save, but the dedicated GPU isn't a major benefit for PS and Ill compared to what it might be for Motion or Shake or AE or 3D stuff.

Rumours abound of a bump to freshly shipped chipsets, so the standard advice to "wait if they can, but buy now if they must" is hereby served.

YMMV.

full disclosure:
I have the latest 17hires even though it's arguably overkill for my immediate needs...
wanted LED backlight and extra pixels since it's my main machine/monitor...
plan to live with the MBP as long as possible and just upgrade external monitors once they go 42"OLED ;)

[chucker]

In most cases, the MacBook will suit his uses more than fine.

[cosus]

Sounds great, thanks all.

[Luca]

Looks like you've already been convinced, but I'm just going to throw another vote behind the MacBook.

The MBP's main advantages are the larger screen and the graphics card. If he were doing anything graphically intensive like 3D rendering or gaming, the MacBook Pro's graphics card is absolutely essential. Like curiousuburb mentioned, the only other big reason would be to have a larger screen while on the road.

If he's primarily working at home, though, and only sometimes needs to take it with him, the lower cost of the MacBook will allow him to get a large external screen and a bunch of other accessories to complement it. With the $700 he saves, he could get a 24" LCD monitor and a nice external keyboard and mouse, and still have a bit left over for other things. An external hard drive would be great to use as a scratch disk for Photoshop, or just for making backups.

[rampancy]

How much is his budget? I totally agree with the advice given above, but when people ask me for Mac purchasing advice I generally say, "buy as much Mac that you can afford".

That being said, I'm in the same situation as curiousburb in that my MBP is generally overkill for my current use.