Reasonable Aperture 1.1 performance on MacBook

I mentioned earlier that the MacBook runs Aperture. I finally had a chance to install it on the MacBook, and the performance on the MacBook Core Duo 2.0 GHz is actually quite reasonable. In fact, it feels faster on the MacBook than it does on my iMac G5 2.0 GHz. The MacBook isn't exactly fast on edited photos, but the reason it feels faster than the iMac is due to the fact that RAW conversions are much faster. This is not surprising, considering that RAW conversions in Aperture are still CPU-based, and the Core Duo has roughly twice the raw processing power (forgive the pun) of a single-core G5 2.0.

The only issue is that Aperture 1.1.1 now gives a warning when the application is launched on the MacBook, saying that the minimum screen size supported is 1280x854. These screen size complaints are getting rather tiresome. First it was 1024x768, which is reasonable. Then it was 1280x780 for Aperture 1.1, and now it's 1280x854. Curiously, it seems like each time the minimum resolution increased, it was a direct response to low end Mac hardware that could run the program. The last iBook ran Aperture 1.0, so Apple upped the requirement to 1280x780 for Aperture 1.1. However, just a couple of weeks prior to the MacBook release, Apple then upped the requirement again in the Aperture 1.1.1 update to 1280x854, which of course is the resolution of the 15" PowerBooks and MacBook Pros. The good news though is that the warning in Aperture 1.1.1 is meaningless for MacBook users, since the program still loads and runs fine. By the way, despite all the revisions in stated minimum screen resolution requirements, the true minimum size has remained at 1000x685, even in the latest version of Aperture.