Sorry for the late reply everyone :)
So I've been using the Macbook Pro for some time now. Tried exporting a 5K HD 96FPS clip to prores 444 4096x 2304. It plays back almost 100 smooth using quicktime. I don't know if I've selected the best aspect ratio for 4K HD, but it definitely holds up in playback. The images just look absolutely stunning on the retina. COmpared to a 3K HD clip I shot converted to 1080P, the difference is incredible.
I'm using 16GB of RAM by the way, and I suggest going this route because there's no possibility of future upgrading the ram! It is working beautifully.
I also use TONS of firewire drives and esata ones (mainly Lacie- never failed me contrary to many horror stories out there. In fact, when something fishy was happening, it was usually due to the bad power cable design in the early years). WIth this Macbook Pro I tried USB2 and have a Lacie Rugged 1TB with USB3. WIll test this later, 7 hours from now.
Definitely an improvement on the sound. They are not "bose quality" monitors, but still much better than my early 2009 Macbook pro.
Haven't tried the scaling settings in control panel since they say it influences performance, but will definitely have a look later on this.
Aperture works amazing with this Macbook Pro, definitely a must for Photographers for touch up.
Still haven't installed my copy of CS5.5 but will as soon as possible.
I'm definitely going to purchase the Sonnet TB hub. Lets hope it doesn't require external ac power or it would be a deal breaker. Elgato already showed its possible with TB HDD, Belkin should too! (provided there's enough power in the port, that is!)




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