I am a digital photographer and currently use Thinkpad T42(Winxp sp2,Centrino 1.7G, 1400x1050 screen with 64M 9600 video card, upgraded to 2G RAM, 160G+100G HDD) which I bought 3 years ago. external monitor is DELL2407WFP( I know it is crappy, and need to be changed as well) the repulicator connect T42 and external monitor via DVIGear DVI-D cable at home.
What I am dissatisfied is, opening/saving a single TIFF16 file will cost more than 10 seconds in photoshop cs3. converting one raw file to TIFF16 will take about 30 seconds in lightroom1.3. Sometimes photoshop could lose response and crash when highly repeating clone-tool operations... Regardless dollars issue, should I upgrade my computer gear? for photographer, which parts do you think is most important? CPU/VideoCard/Monitor/Interface/OS?
actually I am looking at Macbook pro but still haven't gotten sufficient reason to convince myself to move(maybe I should replace monitor first)
When you upgraded the harddrive what model did you use? Hard drive cache size and rotational speed can play a big part in performance. Many laptop drives are 5400 rpm to save on heat and power usage. They do make 7200 rpm drives as well as solid state drives (but are still $1200+ for 32 gb).
You will see a huge performance jump going from a 1.7ghz pentium m to a dual core.. especially with file conversions.
my HDD are: ST9160821A 160GB and ST9100823A 100GB from Seagate 5400rpm.
I saw high-end Macbook pro using 7200 rpm HDD with more than 3k dollars maybe I can pick 2.2Gh model and upgrade in aftermarket?
The speed issues you are having are from the CPU. To get much faster performance you will have to upgrade the computer. A faster hard drive will help a bit, but not nearly as much as a new machine...or an external hard drive on USB 2, Firewire, Firewire 800 or eSATA (in that order of slower to faster).
If I were to use a laptop I would get a big 5400 rpm drive. The extra space is more helpful than the extra speed of a 7200. 7200 would also lower battery life and make it run warmer. For faster processing I'd have an eSATA external case with a Seagate 7200.11 drive in it.
The Macbook Pro is a great machine. You can always run windows on it until you have time to adjust to OSX. Then getting PS for the Mac is a $20 expense to get the crossgrade (you need to call Adobe for that).
Don't worry about the display, its not as bad as you think unless you plan to spend $1200+.
thanks,CTYankee, It seems I can just go with lowest configrature of Macbook pro.
for display issue, my dell 2407 really bothered me recently.
take look at this website, I can see clear banding in the background: www.bluenile.com
I believe DELL2407b comes with 6bits+dithering, even real 8bits monitor can make me happy though.
aaron liu wrote:
thanks,CTYankee, It seems I can just go with lowest configrature of Macbook pro.
for display issue, my dell 2407 really bothered me recently.
take look at this website, I can see clear banding in the background: www.bluenile.com
I believe DELL2407b comes with 6bits+dithering, even real 8bits monitor can make me happy though.
Your LCD may be bad. I have not found any solid evidence that the 2407 is 6 bit. Everything authoritative points to real 8 bit. That site is probably more an example that exploits the weakness of sRGB or 8 bit color. There just are not enough blues in sRGB 8 bit color to have a smooth gradient all the time. That right there is one of the cautions about using an expanded gamut display. 8 bit color is actually small and won't allow for smooth gradients of very similar colors.
) the repulicator connect T42 and external monitor via DVIGear DVI-D cable at home. 
maybe I can pick 2.2Gh model and upgrade in aftermarket?