I am considering either Aperture or Lightroom for my MacBook. I'm not sure that I have the specs to make it run smooth/fast.

I downloaded a trial version on our 24" iMac 2.33Ghz 2 GB Ram and it seemed slow at "loading the image". Sometimes taking a full minute.

I like Aperture as far as Adjusting Raw Images which is the number one reason I would be buying it. The price is good on Amazon too at $150ish. Any insight would be appreciated!

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: MacBook
Model Identifier: MacBook4,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MB41.00C1.B00


Chipset Model: GMA X3100
Type: Display
Bus: Built-In
VRAM (Total): 144 MB
Vendor: Intel (0x8086)
Device ID: 0x2a02
Revision ID: 0x0003
Displays:
Color LCD:
Resolution: 1280 x 800
Depth: 32-Bit Color
Core Image: Hardware Accelerated
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported
Built-In: Yes
Display Connector:

Can't tell from the specs you gave us what video card is in your iMac, but the one in the MacBook is not a very fast one, so I think you'll be waiting on any complex or large graphical items. Increasing your system memory might help.

Greg- Apple has a "checker" to see if Aperture will run on your machine. You might run it and it will tell you if you lack anything to run the program. I use Aperture on a G5 PowerPC and I had to upgrade the video card to get a respectable speed out of it. Aperture works very well with iPhoto and Elements. No loss of keywords or any other information between iPhoto and Aperture. I've never used Light Room but I know it's an awesome program- especially if you are using it with the high end photo editing software such as Photoshop. My needs are not high since I'm not a professional photographer and I can't justify the cost either. Terry would probably be able to shed light on the Aperture/Lightroom comparison since he has more than likely looked at both of them.