New to mac's and photography, a little help? :)

Hello everyone! Newly registered user here with some questions on the good ol mac computer.

I suppose first I should say what I am doing and wanting. I am getting into the world of dSLR photography and will be very soon buying my camera (probably a Canon). This will be a hobby of mine so it is not my job but I do plan on spending a lot of time doing it (when ever im not working or such).

I currently have a desktop that is pretty nice. A few years old, but with PC's i've found that they crash and have a lot of errors that pop up randomly. Because this is also my personal gaming computer, I would like to have a second computing aperatus that deals exclusively with my photography and writing (I am also planning on writing a fantasy book). Photography is very graphic intensive, especially when we enter the world of using RAW images and what not and I was told by several people that buying a netbook is not advised because they don't have the proccessing power (though my wife is an artist and uses photoshop for her art on her netbook and it seems to do fine).

So that leaves me thinking....a mac. I am not rich though and as any photographer knows, you can easily spend over 1k on just the camera and a lense alone. I was looking into refurbished / used mac's because they are cheaper but...i seriously know nothing about specs! I'd like something portable so I don't think I want an iMAC (plus they are godly expensive) but the mac mini's are nice looking. I was looking at the macbook's but people say that they aren't good for photography because of the color aspect (though i have read that some people can get around it).

So...I guess TL;DR version for the above; I want to get deep into photography and want a laptop but am not sure what I should be looking for spec wise. I also am unsure about the whole color issue with laptop type computers.

With that being said (sorry i type a lot its a fault of mine) I am also wondering the following things;

1.) PC laptops like the netbook are much cheaper then a macbook. Can they handle photo editing well enough or would i be infinitely frustrated and curse the day I bought it instead of saving and getting a macbook?

2.) The mac mini's are interesting to me. I know I would need a monitor (I have several), but was thinking it would be cool to hook up to and work on my HD TV though I have heard that that would be a bad idea for photo editing. Thoughts?

3 Macbook Air's are cheaper then regular macbooks it seems, but someone told me to stay away from them. Do they have enough computing power for what i need?

and finally... 4.) I am trying to get something good that won't randomly stop working or die and will be good for what I need. I am only a budding photographer and as such not some pro that knows how to expert photo shop and will have 3 different photo editing software open at once. With that being said, should I get a Mac or would a Pc laptop be okay?

Sorry for the long post. I am aware that there is a photography thread below this but I would rather stay away from being a desktop computer (though the mac mini is tempting). Thanks for taking the time to read.

Thanks =). It will be awhile before i buy my laptop so I still have some time and maybe new models will come out.

I went to a mac store and talked to a few guys there and they all said to make sure that no matter what i get, make sure it has 4gigs or more of ram. 2gigs is pushing it. I think the mini-mac can do 4 but I don't know. It's not too hard to put ram in mac's right? I do it all the time with my PC. If so I may get a mac that can have its ram upgraded (so its cheaper) then find ram online and put up to 8gigs (if it takes it).

I have another question though. Would a regular Mac Book be sufficient for appature and similar photo editing software? I know a lot of people recommend mac book pro's but those are a little more expensive.

Also, lastly, where would the mac mini rate in the grand scheme of photography editing when compared to a mac book air, mac book, mac book pro, and Imac?

Thanks =D.

Thanks keba that is exactly what I was looking for. Someone that uses a mini. Can I ask you more about your mini? What year is it, how much ram, etc? How does the external hard drive work regarding photos? I have a few that I use for my pc but they are just backups and I don't stream the contents. Do you just connect your camera to the mac mini and transfer the files to tue harddrive or put them on the mini?

What is your set up? Sorry for the questions but the mini is looking better and better.

Alright so pretty much this is what I am understanding.

Since I don't want an iMac ATM....

1. Get a Mac book pro. If not pro Regular mb is okay.

2 Mac mini will do well for in the beginning, though the chances of needing to upgrade the ram is higher and barring the mouse keyboard and monitor I'll need some externals to act as harddrives.

3. 4gigs is the recommened ram type.

Is that about right? Does the mb's and mini take generic ram? Or is or super special apple only ram? Also if i was getting a used one would making a cd full of big images be a good test for a Mac speed consideration, or is there a website/free test thing I could use (like can.I.run.this.) for computer games.

I'd love to get a MacBook pro or maybe even an iMac but they are expensive so they'd have to be used.

Thanks for all the help guys majorly.

So I got a surprise with the amount I am getting back with my tax refund and it looks like I won't be as strapped for cash as I originally thought.

I was looking at the mac refurbish site and saw two mac's for under 1k, which is where I would like to keep it.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC516LL/A?mco=MTg0NzA2MTU <---a regular macbook with 2g ram

and a http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC374LL/A?mco=MTgwOTc3Mjg with 4 gigs.

The first mac is 849 and the second is 999. How would either of these 2 mac's do for my photography? I am pretty sure the pro would be fine but would the regular mac book be okay as well? For running appature and what not.

I will also be looking at getting ram from newegg. I am guessing that the mac books have 2 ram slots right? The regular macbook should be upgrade able to 4gigs I think. If I did that using ram from newegg I could keep it under the 999 price of the pro. I could also buy 2 4 gigs from newegg and bump the pro up to 8 gig's for 100 bucks but I don't know if its worth it or not since I would just be doing pictures.

Any comments would be great on this.

Thanks for the replies I actually have a pretty big matte screen monitor, which is why I was considering the mac mini earlier (since its also cheaper). I do know that ap and ps both use a lot of ram which is why I was only considering the mini due to budget.

Thanks for the tips on the store. I actually have a tablet because my wife is an artist but she's already used her free elements download =\.

So either will do for me I just need a bigger screen...i'd rather get the pro for more ram. It just takes 2 slots right? So it would have to be 2 4 gigs...

and also will any external hard drive work with a mac or does it need to be mac specific? I have 4 lol.

How long will that apature price stay in effect does anyone know?

Thanks for the updates. Yeah I want to go with a macbook or pro because of the portability and the fact that I can use it in bed while writing. I think if I ever became professional then I would buy a Imac but it sounds to me like a macbook or pro would suit my needs.

I DID notice though that the MB doesn't have card slots. Does the pro only have the SD? The camera I am looking at has CF so it may not matter much anyways, but I don't know if the regular mac book has the firewire port like i've apparently read that the MBP does.

Thanks photograph! Do I just use the email on that site?I was going to but It sounds more like I want an event haha.

I do have questions though since you have a great looking website and are currently using a pro.

Does the pro have a CF slot? Also I was indeed looking at the macbook pro refurb since it seems to be the cheapest. they had one on the apple store for 999. Should I buy more ram on newegg or will 4 gigs be enough you think? Also have you tried appature? I like the look of it more then photoshop, though I know more people use the latter.

*edit to add: Ever use a mac mini? That is my other alternative but I don't know if they have enough ram or cpu power to do the job. I am buying external hd's so im not worried about space.