Folks keep asking me what I think about the latest MacBook Pro releases and CS5. These people typically run CS4 on a year old MacBook. (Curiously, I am almost never asked about desk tops, only laptops. If you’re looking for bang for your buck, get a desktop. Whatever… people never listen.) To paraphrase photographer Ken Rockwell, here is what I think about the latest / greatest:
Once you have the skill to elicit great designs from one computer and software combination, you can get them from any computer and software combination. It’s like pianos: a 9-foot Bösendorfer may be a better piano than the upright at the local bar, but if you can’t play the piano, you won’t get good music out of any of them. Anyone can bang on a piano and anyone can use MacBook Pro and CS5, but it takes an artist to get decent results from either one. The sad part is how many well-meaning people think design is as simple as buying a new computer and loading the latest software.
Currently I use a five year old MacMini running CS2. I will probably upgrade this year. There are now enough time saving updates to justify the expense. But, SERIOUSLY, your computer is the least of your worries when trying to excel at your vocation.
A typographic, designological, visulicious extravaganza!