Is it possible in principle to work normally with Photoshop and Illustrator on a Macbook Pro 13 mid2012?

Question

macbook

Hello!

Baseline:
I recently bought a Macbook Pro MD101 with the aim of professionally designing - web, mobile applications, interfaces, etc. I initially took it with the expectation of upgrading the RAM and hard drive to an SSD and working with an external monitor, that is, I planned to use it basically as a system unit. I didn’t take the Mac Mini, because the new ones cannot be upgraded, and I didn’t find a suitable used model from 2012. And buying a new one right away in the top configuration is too expensive for me.

Configuration of my macbook at the moment:
- Proc i5 2.5 Hz
- Hard drive 500 GB 5400
- RAM 4 GB
- OS Yosemite

Problem:
In the current configuration of the MacBook, it is almost impossible to work in Photoshop and Illustrator - everything is very slow even on simple, "light" projects, it seems that you are working not on a laptop for 1000 bucks, but on some kind of netbook. If you open simultaneously with prof. browser programs or a couple of other applications - the macbook often just freezes. I’ll note right away that Sketch behaves no better - it also slows down or freezes stably. So far, I'm only disappointed.
However, I'm ready to upgrade the macbook, as I intended. I can put in it 8-16 GB of memory and an SSD drive.

Question:
Is there any real point in such an upgrade, or is it better to sell a poppy and buy a desktop with full "minced meat" for this money? The question stems from another question: does anyone have Adobe programs working in principle stably and quickly on Apple laptops, or will there always be some kind of pitfalls? Or maybe it's Yosemite, which itself is voracious and slower than Mavericks?

If there are people who professionally work on macbooks with Adobe programs, please respond, your feedback and advice is very much needed!

PS I took a Mac, not a PC, having read and heard a lot of magical stories about Sketch and other applications for designers that exist only on Mac OS. However, there seems to be no escape from Adobe products, and you need to work with them too. And work comfortably.

Answer 1

Hard drive 500 GB 5400

Without an SSD, Photoshop will freeze all the time (constantly for a few seconds). An SSD is required, and the Photoshop cache must be on it.
If everything just freezes, then perhaps there is not enough RAM. 4 is definitely not enough.

Answer 2

Well, so-so, how the mobile version will do.
My mac pro sometimes processes for 20 minutes, but there are ssd and i7.
The files are large, I use it in extreme cases.
Sketch is a toy.
If you know adobe, then you have no limits.
At the initial level, Sketch definitely wins, but with experience ... this is no longer serious.
Everything is relative, increasing the RAM and changing the hdd to ssd will increase overall performance by 3-4 times.
But then again, I have a poppy pro, and air is for a browser) 8GB of RAM is not enough, 16 at least.
Better collect a normal pc that pulls everything.
I collected my count. station for 68k, before the crisis.
i7/24GB of RAM at 1833/asus nvidia gtx780ti/ssd240... in general, play and work.
It is worth noting that the airs of 2014 have become more productive, and so it's like a Sketch-toy.
And in addition, why did you buy air? Show off? If you buy a mac book for work, then only pro (top or like mine "I have almost a top one, I bought it in 2013. I took it specially for 240 and not ... so it's faster, 120 is not enough, 12GB of RAM").
Air has other tasks and goals. I like mac pro, but as much as I love it, the hardware is stripped down.

Answer 3

that you are not working on a laptop for 1000 bucks,

It’s in vain for you, for example, you would take such a Dell for 1000 bucks rozetka.com.ua/dell_inspiron_i577810ddl_t1s/p40037...
You would install an SSD (16 GB RAM at will / need) and you wouldn’t remember about braking.
If there is a strong desire for Unix-like systems, then install Ubuntu and everything works fine too.
I have an HP i5-3230M CPU @ 2.60GHz, 6 GB RAM, 128 GB SSD, two video cards (integrated and discrete). It costs Ubuntu 14.04 LTS everything just flies. I use Photoshop through virtualBox winXP, but I only work with site layouts, no slowdowns either.

Answer 4

is the battery alive? if not, then the laptop will work worse than the 2008 netbook on the atom. fixed by replacing the battery.

Answer 5

I don’t know why you have such computers, at work right now I’m sitting on the i3 of the generation before last with 4 GB of RAM and the usual move. Shop, chandelier, indiz, akshur, Nexus font, opera and a couple of conductors are constantly on. Sometimes everything hangs, but rarely.