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White & Black MacBook Q&A - Revised December 15, 2007
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Does the MacBook run Aperture?
For readers who are not familiar already with Apple's Aperture software program, the company describes it as:
Designed from the ground up for professional photographers, Aperture provides everything you need for after the shoot, delivering the first all-in-one post-production tool for photographers.
Featuring a RAW-focused workflow, Aperture makes RAW as easy as JPEG, letting you import, edit, catalog, organize, retouch, publish, and archive your images more effectively and efficiently than ever before. From capture to output, you work directly with your RAW files, never having to first convert them into another format before viewing, adjusting, organizing, or printing them.
In a well-written review of the 1.0 release of Aperture that should be read in its entirety, ArsTechnica thrashed the program as buggy and prematurely shipped. The author concluded that:
Maybe by 2.0 Apple will have the foundation sorted out. At this stage Aperture is a big, expensive misfire and considering the hefty price tag, I can't think of a reason to recommend it. Reading this review, you may think I sound jaded, but I am genuinely angry for those who shelled out US$500 for a program that promised professional results and failed to deliver. Thanks for coming out Aperture, now get off the stage.
The author received a great deal of criticism for a harsh review of an Apple product, so much so that he wrote a follow up to respond and defend his assessment. Fortunately, Apple listened to the complaints and quickly released Aperture 1.1 which provided a large number of improvements and bug fixes.
Regarding Aperture 1.1, ArsTechnica again reviewed the product, and while acknowledging that there remain additional improvements that can be made, concluded that:
While I'm still left wanting on the filter quality side, Aperture 1.1.1 finally gets me excited about the prospect of doing complex imaging on the GPU via Core Image. Now that it's clear it's not necessary to sacrifice quality to get decent speed and true pixel accuracy and I think that it will be a small job comparatively to add a few options to the filters. Aperture 1.1 is everything that Apple should have released for 1.0 and at US$300, it's hard to say no now to this program.
For Aperture 1.1, Apple stated that the MacBook models available at the time did not meet the "Minimum System Requirements" due to the Intel GMA 950 integrated graphics.
However, as mentioned by the excellent Everything Apple blog, referencing a DP Review forum posting, Joe Schorr, the Senior Product Manager for Aperture had this to say:
Yes, Aperture does run on the [then] new MacBooks, but it is NOT officially supported, due to limitations with the graphics card. You're not disallowed from using it (no hacks needed) but you'll essentially be using it at your own risk. Your mileage will vary with the MacBook, depending on your workflow. Aperture is, of course, fully supported on all MacBook PRO models.
Starting with Aperture 1.5, on the other hand, Apple formally began supporting Aperture on all Intel-based Macs, including those with integrated graphics like the MacBook and Mac mini. However, the recommended configuration has a 2.0 GHz or faster Intel Core Duo processor and 2 GB of RAM, which means that some MacBook systems still were not recommended.
Ultimately, if you are purchasing a notebook with the intention of running Aperture on a regular basis for commercial use, a MacBook Pro probably would be the best choice. However, if your needs are modest, you might be content with the performance of Aperture on a MacBook.
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