13" Macbook Pro or 21.5" iMac?

[lgtw]

Hello, in my earlier posts I have been pretty fond to getting a 21.5" iMac for it's power, speed, graphics, and the external peripherals included. Right now, I am posting this from my sister's 13" Macbook Pro that she got yesterday, and I'm kind of growing to it as well. I do not do much traveling and probably won't until 2012. I do a lot of production work and need a computer that will easily be able to do that. I am switching from PC and want the speed, no joking around at all! However, if I were to get a Macbook Pro, I could bring it over to friends houses, and downstairs incase I want to spend a little bit of time with my family while on the computer. But the iMac has a better graphics card, the awesome external things, and the very great specs. I live in Alaska and start getting paid by the state to live here in October 2011, and that is when I was thinking about getting a Macbook Pro.

My main needs are video making, music making, and a little bit of photo work. Portability would be nice, but at what cost from specs?

iMac - $1149 with discount (3.06 GHZ Intel i3, 4GB RAM, 1080p res, 500GB HD, 256MB ATI)
Macbook Pro - $1149 with the same discount (2.4 GHZ Intel Duo, 4GB RAM, half the hard drive [250GB], Nvidia 320M, 10 hrs 1 charge)

Thanks for the help!
-William : )

 

[wordoflife]

Hello, in my earlier posts I have been pretty fond to getting a 21.5" iMac for it's power, speed, graphics, and the external peripherals included. Right now, I am posting this from my sister's 13" Macbook Pro that she got yesterday, and I'm kind of growing to it as well. I do not do much traveling and probably won't until 2012. I do a lot of production work and need a computer that will easily be able to do that. I am switching from PC and want the speed, no joking around at all! However, if I were to get a Macbook Pro, I could bring it over to friends houses, and downstairs incase I want to spend a little bit of time with my family while on the computer. But the iMac has a better graphics card, the awesome external things, and the very great specs. I live in Alaska and start getting paid by the state to live here in October 2011, and that is when I was thinking about getting a Macbook Pro.

My main needs are video making, music making, and a little bit of photo work. Portability would be nice, but at what cost from specs?

iMac - $1149 with discount (3.06 GHZ Intel i3, 4GB RAM, 1080p res, 500GB HD, 256MB ATI)
Macbook Pro - $1149 with the same discount (2.4 GHZ Intel Duo, 4GB RAM, half the hard drive [250GB], Nvidia 320M, 10 hrs 1 charge)

Thanks for the help!
-William : )

Go for the iMac. The Core i3 will be an improvement over the Core 2 Duos in the 13" portables.

 

[pukifloyd]

+1 for the iMac. Its more powerful. You don't need portability so don't get the MBP. Buy it in 2012

 

[KirkL]

My vote's for the iMac too since it has better specs than the MBP and especially because you won't be traveling much.

 

[J&JPolangin]

...get the iMac and put it downstairs in the "family room"... get the MBP in after a few years or a refurb whitebook right now to see if you like the portability...

 

[jalmiburung]

get the iMac and if you want to control your iMac while in downstair, use an Ipod Touch (iPhone) or borrow your sister MBP and use VNC (Screen Sharing)

 

[Vantage Point]

Since you do not need portability go for the Mac. At least 25% more power, a dedicated graphics card, and a monitor - more for less.

 

[lgtw]

Update: August 6 3:23 AM

I got the 21.5" iMac from October 2009 1TB Model on clearance on August 4th!

It's an awesome computer! Thanks for all of the posts everyone!

 

[TheBritishBloke]

Enjoy your machine. I was going to agree with everyone that theres no point in a MBP unless you need/want portability.

 

[lgtw]

Enjoy your machine. I was going to agree with everyone that theres no point in a MBP unless you need/want portability.

Yeah it's great. However, I spent the night at a friend's house and had to use my PC laptop, such a change in how easy it is, layouts and formats of everything, and most of all, speed.

 

[J&JPolangin]

Yeah it's great. However, I spent the night at a friend's house and had to use my PC laptop, such a change in how easy it is, layouts and formats of everything, and most of all, speed.

...upgrade that vista to win7 and it won't be as bad... depending on when you bought it - compaq may give you the upgrade disks for free?... HP did for the desktop I'm typing this from right now...