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Sully151

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 2, 2013
13
0
Hello again,

So i posted earlier about 8 vs. 16 Gig of RAM on a 13" rMBP, now I have a few questions about external monitors.

My original plan was to have a laptop for travel and taking back and forth to work and a desk top at home.

My wife has suggested, since I am the primary user of the home computer (she and my son live on iPads) that I should trade in my 13" with 8 gigs and get a new computer with 16 and an external monitor for home.

Now my questions are-

1. Is the Thunderbolt Display the best option and worth the price

2. Is it due for an update?

3 If it isn't the best option, what is?

4. Since the laptop will now be my only computer for home and work, should I go to the 15" for the Quad Core like the iMac I was looking at or stick to the 13"?

FYI, I use the computer for Aperture, Final Draft and video editing. I run a theater company and we are moving into more mixed media for our shows and shoot and produce a web series.

Thanks for your help, I am not really a tech savvy guy.
 
jav6454

jav6454

macrumors Core
Nov 14, 2007
22,303
6,257
1 Geostationary Tower Plaza
For starters, my advice will depend on your pockets. How much can you really afford?

Thunderbolt devices are rather expensive, and you can easily get a cheaper HDMI-based monitor at a beautiful 1920x1080 resolution, or you could get something higher. Also, Thunderbolt makes a better sense when you daisy chain several devices (like multiple HDDs, or monitors) vs one device (a monitor in your case).

The 13" rMBP should be able to handle it easily. As per CPU power, remember, it is the GPU that powers the performance of the videos, not the CPU. CPU will come in handy when encoding videos, not playback and effect handling. So if you do trade a rMBP, my advice would be to get a Mac with a decent GPU; preferably the discrete GPU option.
 
W

Wilsoncw1997

macrumors newbie
Jul 19, 2013
29
0
Just a quick note. The 13" rMBP uses integrated graphics which means A more powerful CPU is required to push the extra displays if you were looking to do very graphics intensive task which in this case is video encoding and aperture. Therefore I recommend you get a 16 GB RAM with the top-of-the-line CPU.
 
Apple fanboy

Apple fanboy

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Feb 21, 2012
55,239
52,957
Behind the Lens, UK
Sully151 said:
Hello again,

So i posted earlier about 8 vs. 16 Gig of RAM on a 13" rMBP, now I have a few questions about external monitors.

My original plan was to have a laptop for travel and taking back and forth to work and a desk top at home.

My wife has suggested, since I am the primary user of the home computer (she and my son live on iPads) that I should trade in my 13" with 8 gigs and get a new computer with 16 and an external monitor for home.

Now my questions are-

1. Is the Thunderbolt Display the best option and worth the price
Not IMO.

2. Is it due for an update?
Maybe, but I would have expected them to release it with the new MacPro if possible

3 If it isn't the best option, what is?
Look at Eizo or NEC screens for serious photo/video work (if your pockets are up for it.

4. Since the laptop will now be my only computer for home and work, should I go to the 15" for the Quad Core like the iMac I was looking at or stick to the 13"?The old specs verses portability. Do you want a better but heavier machine? Only you can answer that.

FYI, I use the computer for Aperture, Final Draft and video editing. I run a theater company and we are moving into more mixed media for our shows and shoot and produce a web series.

Thanks for your help, I am not really a tech savvy guy.
Click to expand...

Just my 0.02 worth BTW.
 
Dekard

Dekard

macrumors 6502
Sep 7, 2011
394
2
Dallas, Texas
I ended up getting the Thunderbolt Display and my 15 inch rMBP ...simply for the convenience, the Thunderbolt display is still a great screen but it's also a hub for my devices, it would be awesome for it to be usb 3.0... I do plug my usb 3 memory sticks into the macbook when I need too, but use the display for my firewire drives, and usb generic peripherals and ethernet port.

It's nice only having the power cord and Thunderbolt cable to plug in and go instead of the bunch of cables I used to have to deal with an external monitor setup.

The TBD is needing an update and hopefully will get one soon, but I've had mine for several months and I'd still recommend it over just a regular monitor, the ports on it make it a must have for MBP users.. (of course IMHO)

I just got rid of my hulking desktop gaming PC and switched to my MBP and Thunderbolt display and am very happy with the noise reduction and space I'm now saving.. :)
 
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