13.3" macbook air for photography yes or no?

Hello guys I am wondering if I should buy a macbook air 13" for photography or not, also I know there are three different screens for the 2012 macbook air (WTF apple?!) and so far I have heard people saying the samsung one is the best screen.

How does the photo editing on the screen compare with the picture on paper? Do you need to calibrate the screen? do I really need to use a spyder to calibrate the screen or is there some kind of profile already which displays "what you see is what you will get once printed on paper" ?

Also I know the macbook air is NOT meant for gaming but out of pure curiosity what games have you actually managed to play on the i5 1.8ghz with intel hd 4000, & 4gb ram?

All Macs come with a factory profile for the monitor, but it's generic. For serious photography it is always better to run a good calibrator device on it and make a custom profile. When you do that, it becomes a "good" monitor. If you want a better monitor, you can plug in a calibrated large external monitor at home. A high-quality external will always be far superior to the built-in monitor.

While the 13-inch is not a perfect monitor, apparently it is extremely popular with photographers as a field laptop.

Anepo said:

also I know there are three different screens for the 2012 macbook air (WTF apple?!)

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I'm not privvy to the number of display suppliers on Apple's list, but it is very common for hardware vendors to source components from multiple suppliers. This may give them flexibility as far as getting better pricing, as well as a better chance of getting enough units if something (hurricane, flood, tsunami, etc.) happens to one of the suppliers.

Yes, there are multiple display suppliers. They have different color renditions "out of the box" but after reading the forums on the subject it appears they calibrate to a point where they are not easily distinguishable, if at all.

The brightness is able to be dimmed down to a reasonable viewing/editing level, unlike some of the iMacs (like the 2008 which I have).

I just got my wife a 2012 13" MBA; the SSD and fast bus speed make using Aperture on it a real pleasure. She has only had it for a week and I haven't had much of a chance to use it yet! Therefore, I have not tried printing any pictures yet, so I can't comment on its color correctness. I haven't profiled the display yet either.

Mike in Kansas said:

Yes, there are multiple display suppliers. They have different color renditions "out of the box" but after reading the forums on the subject it appears they calibrate to a point where they are not easily distinguishable, if at all.

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Yup, that's part of the beauty of calibration...it's intended to bring divergent specs in line with a measured standard.

A calibrated MacBook Pro 13" monitor might give you more accurate color than an uncalibrated "nicer, more expensive" monitor. If you have a good calibrator, it would help nullify concerns about display suppliers.

The primary reason for choosing the MBA for photography is light weight travel where you need to process photographs.

I've been travelling with my 4GB, 256GB SSD, 2.13GHz C2D, 13" late 2010 MBA.

I get by, it's workable but a compromise. It was starting to labour a bit and about to be replaced, but the new versions haven't improved the screen and the release of Mountain Lion and the latest Aperture update have extended it's life a little.

If I wasn't travelling so much it wouldn't be my 1st choice for photography. The new refresh that supports 8GB and larger SSDs would have been ideal, and if they had a better screen to put in (not retina due to power requirements, but wider gamut and higher accuracy) then it would be a perfect compact choice, travel or not, but with its current screen it needs a good reason for accepting the compromise.

The above may sound like the MBA screen is poor, but that's too harsh, I get by with it for travel photos, some of which are destined for sale, but I wouldn't trust it for colour critical work.

-Najinsky

Anepo said:

Hello guys I am wondering if I should buy a macbook air 13" for photography or not, also I know there are three different screens for the 2012 macbook air (WTF apple?!) and so far I have heard people saying the samsung one is the best screen.

How does the photo editing on the screen compare with the picture on paper? Do you need to calibrate the screen? do I really need to use a spyder to calibrate the screen or is there some kind of profile already which displays "what you see is what you will get once printed on paper" ?

Also I know the macbook air is NOT meant for gaming but out of pure curiosity what games have you actually managed to play on the i5 1.8ghz with intel hd 4000, & 4gb ram?

Click to expand...

Najinsky said:

The above may sound like the MBA screen is poor, but that's too harsh, I get by with it for travel photos, some of which are destined for sale, but I wouldn't trust it for colour critical work.

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Yes, the context is important. The worst Mac laptop screen...is likely better than most other laptop screens out there. It isn't as if someone is scraping the bottom of the barrel with a MacBook, far from it.