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17" MacBook Pro vs 24" iMac

Moo-Boo

Moo-Boo

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 24, 2004
109
0
Beerburrum, Queensland, Australia
My dear Mac friends,

First of all, I would like to tell you how much I loathe Microsoft machines, because they are making my life miserable. Thank goodness that I, just like you, have good taste in IT!

Now that's out the way, I would like to describe to you my current, relatively pleasant, dilemma. For roughly the same price, I can pick up either a refurbished (but current) 17" MacBook Pro, or a new 3.06GHz iMac. I have been going through the pros and cons over the last couple of weeks, but am yet to come to a solid decision. I already own a MacBook Pro, but it's 15" and one of the original Core Duos. I am fortunate too to own a dual 1.8GHz G5 tower, but, for the life of me, I'm almost certain my MacBook Pro is faster. I will probably give the G5 to my Dad and ween him off the Microsoft Miasma.

But yes, which one? They're both excellent machines and darn fast (admittedly, the iMac is faster, but the MacBook Pro is portable). Thus any suggestions or new paradigms I haven't considered would be very, very nice at the moment. I know that you are always wise and knowledgeable, and for years now I have relied upon your advice.

Thanks for reading this and have a great day (er, or night!),

God bless,

Matt and the cat
 
What will you be using it for? Do you need portability? If so then a Macbook Pro if not an imac?
 
hey mate,

i would say, for you, the MBP 17' would be a better choice.

the smaller hard drive space is a bummer, but there are external hard drives that can easily be added.

i suggest the MBP mainly because it is easily transported. the bump in speed isnt THAT much (500mhz(ish) isnt that great).

exactly what specs were you looking at??

p.s. u have the same MBP as me, its starting to get a big long in the tooth isnt it!! cant completely play 1080p rips :(

p.s.s. your probably the closest MacRumors member to me to date :) im on the NSW/QLD border (in NSW thankgod :p ).
 
DoFoT9 said:
hey mate,

i would say, for you, the MBP 17' would be a better choice.

the smaller hard drive space is a bummer, but there are external hard drives that can easily be added.

i suggest the MBP mainly because it is easily transported. the bump in speed isnt THAT much (500mhz(ish) isnt that great).

exactly what specs were you looking at??

p.s. u have the same MBP as me, its starting to get a big long in the tooth isnt it!! cant completely play 1080p rips :(
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's exactly right...you notice it in lost frame or two. The new one is 2.5GHz, 2GB RAM and 250GB HD. It's the one they released in March I think... A MBP would be mighty nice, I must admit...
 
If you never see need to move it, get the iMac. If you do, get the MBP. It's pretty much that simple :)

I needed a desktop replacement that I could easily take and set up in a different location - so I got my 17" MBP.

If I never needed to take it anywhere though, I would probably of happily went for the iMac, despite its glossy screen.
 
design-is said:
If you never see need to move it, get the iMac. If you do, get the MBP. It's pretty much that simple :)

I needed a desktop replacement that I could easily take and set up in a different location - so I got my 17" MBP.

If I never needed to take it anywhere though, I would probably of happily went for the iMac, despite its glossy screen.
Click to expand...

That would be my advice too. You need to ask yourself which you need more - power or portability. Both have excellent screens; if you wish to leave the computer in one place, get the iMac; if not, if you prefer being able to carry it from one place to another, get the MBP.
Cheers
 
Moo-Boo said:
My dear Mac friends,

First of all, I would like to tell you how much I loathe Microsoft machines, because they are making my life miserable. Thank goodness that I, just like you, have good taste in IT!

Now that's out the way, I would like to describe to you my current, relatively pleasant, dilemma. For roughly the same price, I can pick up either a refurbished (but current) 17" MacBook Pro, or a new 3.06GHz iMac. I have been going through the pros and cons over the last couple of weeks, but am yet to come to a solid decision. I already own a MacBook Pro, but it's 15" and one of the original Core Duos. I am fortunate too to own a dual 1.8GHz G5 tower, but, for the life of me, I'm almost certain my MacBook Pro is faster. I will probably give the G5 to my Dad and ween him off the Microsoft Miasma.

But yes, which one? They're both excellent machines and darn fast (admittedly, the iMac is faster, but the MacBook Pro is portable). Thus any suggestions or new paradigms I haven't considered would be very, very nice at the moment. I know that you are always wise and knowledgeable, and for years now I have relied upon your advice.

Thanks for reading this and have a great day (er, or night!),

God bless,

Matt and the cat
Click to expand...

to be honest because you got a sort of recent macbook pro (i have the same one as you) in my point of view you don't really need another macbook pro. my macbook pro i have now despite the intel core duo processor (32bit) it still is extremely fast and never does it let me down :)

therefore i would personally go for the iMac, reason why are as follows:
1. upgrade your exsiting desktop from powerpc to intel
2. leopard
3. more hard drive space, better graphics, extremely fast processor speeds and ram

although if you are maily focused on portability over power, than the macbook pro seems like the better choice. what will you use the new mac mainly for?

i ordered my iMac yesterday! coming next week!
specs:
24" iMac 3.06ghz
1TB HD
4GB Ram
nvdia 8800 GS 512mb graphics card

i can't wait! anyway what ever choice you make i'm sure you'll love it! simply because its a mac! haha :) :apple:
 
Quocy said:
to be honest because you got a sort of recent macbook pro (i have the same one as you) in my point of view you don't really need another macbook pro. my macbook pro i have now despite the intel core duo processor (32bit) it still is extremely fast and never does it let me down :)

therefore i would personally go for the iMac, reason why are as follows:
1. upgrade your exsiting desktop from powerpc to intel
2. leopard
3. more hard drive space, better graphics, extremely fast processor speeds and ram

although if you are maily focused on portability over power, than the macbook pro seems like the better choice. what will you use the new mac mainly for?

i ordered my iMac yesterday! coming next week!
specs:
24" iMac 3.06ghz
1TB HD
4GB Ram
nvdia 8800 GS 512mb graphics card

i can't wait! anyway what ever choice you make i'm sure you'll love it! simply because its a mac! haha :) :apple:
Click to expand...

oh you cant be serious!! the CD MBP was the first one brought out by intel!! its getting very long in the tooth for me. its getting quite sad how slow my computer is. i really need a new MBP. (aka quad core :) )

OP i still stand by my suggestion of a MBP still stands.. your MBP will be getting a bit slow editing while on the run, i guess its your choice though.
 
DoFoT9 said:
oh you cant be serious!! the CD MBP was the first one brought out by intel!! its getting very long in the tooth for me. its getting quite sad how slow my computer is. i really need a new MBP. (aka quad core :) )

OP i still stand by my suggestion of a MBP still stands.. your MBP will be getting a bit slow editing while on the run, i guess its your choice though.
Click to expand...

i only use my macbook pro for normal stuff...
no heavy applications i.e. video editing or photoshop
but i suppose if i inteded to use applications like that on my macbook pro than it would be faily slow!
 
Quocy said:
i only use my macbook pro for normal stuff...
no heavy applications i.e. video editing or photoshop
but i suppose if i inteded to use applications like that on my macbook pro than it would be faily slow!
Click to expand...

i dont even do intensive stuff! no photoshop, light video editing every now and then for youtube. i mainly use word, safari, itunes, parallels, yada yada and it slows down too much for my liking. ahwell haha
 
DoFoT9 said:
i dont even do intensive stuff! no photoshop, light video editing every now and then for youtube. i mainly use word, safari, itunes, parallels, yada yada and it slows down too much for my liking. ahwell haha
Click to expand...

hopefully when snow leopard comes out it will speed things up :)
 
My goodness, this isn't a decision that is going to be resolved easily...you've all made excellent arguments for both Macs, and I'm in a quandary...or is that a quagmire? Either way, I am, for the moment, at least, stumped. I do have one possible device of choosing the right Mac though. The MBP is for sale on the Refurbished List, but I'm not allowed to purchase anything until the 16th...which is when my credit card statement is due. If the MBP has gone by then, the choice will be pretty simple!

But I do wish to thank all of you for your valuable input...whatever I do get, you have made it clear that I will not be disappointed with either machine. I've got to do some serious thinking. Serious drinking has been ruled out at this stage, though, because I can't afford it!

Thanks once again and God bless,

Matt and the cat
 
Moo-Boo said:
My goodness, this isn't a decision that is going to be resolved easily...you've all made excellent arguments for both Macs, and I'm in a quandary...or is that a quagmire? Either way, I am, for the moment, at least, stumped. I do have one possible device of choosing the right Mac though. The MBP is for sale on the Refurbished List, but I'm not allowed to purchase anything until the 16th...which is when my credit card statement is due. If the MBP has gone by then, the choice will be pretty simple!

But I do wish to thank all of you for your valuable input...whatever I do get, you have made it clear that I will not be disappointed with either machine. I've got to do some serious thinking. Serious drinking has been ruled out at this stage, though, because I can't afford it!

Thanks once again and God bless,

Matt and the cat
Click to expand...

i'm sure at the end of the day, whatever you choose to get you'll never regret it!
 
Once again, I must thank everyone for their sage advice and taking the time out of their day to reply to me. After much deliberation and lack of sleep, I decided to purchase the 17" MBP, which I ordered today, along with Final Cut Express. I have my reservations, though, and I will probably always be wondering, "What would it be like to have a 24" iMac?" But, of course, if I had gone with the iMac, I always would have wondered what it would be like to have a 17" MBP! The iMac, I'm pretty sure, will be purchased some time in the future. I am not allowed to open it until October though, as it is my evil birthday. Birthdays are bad once childhood ends.

Thanks once again and God bless all of you,

Matt and the cat
 
Moo-Boo said:
After much deliberation and lack of sleep, I decided to purchase the 17" MBP, which I ordered today, along with Final Cut Express. I have my reservations, though, and I will probably always be wondering, "What would it be like to have a 24" iMac?"
Click to expand...

Hey Matt,

Sounds like a good decision. I've had MacBook Pro's and four months ago I bought myself the 24" 3.06GHz.

I went the iMac because I have a permanent desk/office at home now and that works for me but I do sometimes miss the ability to take the MBP to another part of the house. Next time I think it will be a MBP and an external screen at my desk - I think you've made the smarter choice up front. If you add a 23" cinema display you'll have pretty much what I do, and still be able to take you computer with you!

I do a bit of HD video editing (home movies, local historical footage) and to be brutally honest, the iMac isn't that much faster than the MBP. Having bought the top of the line consumer Mac, I now see why you pay all the extra for a Mac Pro - that's the biiiig jump in performance for video work.

Of course, the cost issue... :eek:

FWIW, my experience is that the iMac/MBP is great for casual or occasional video work. You can live with the waits when you edit an hour of footage every now and then - but certainly, if editing was my job rather than my hobby I'd go straight for a Mac Pro.
 
iMac Vs MBP

I had a similar debate with myself about 2 years ago (weather to buy a MBP or iMac). This was back in the C2D 2.16GHz days and there wasn't much difference between the 2 apart from portability. They had the same GFX card and processors etc.

In the end I opted for an iMac as I couldn't justify the extra $ for portability when I realised that I would only NEED to move my computer a dozen times a year. An iMac is pretty portable though. I always use my car if I take it so there isn't much difference between packing up an iMac and a MBP.

Things that I LOVE about my iMac:
- 20 inch screen is AWESOME (your 24 inch would be even better)
- 7,200RPM HDD. Although you can get them for the MBP, you can get bigger capacity HDDs in the iMac.

I do audio editing (Logic, Ableton and ProTools), photos, gaming and other less intensive uses and my iMac is still holding up well.

If it were me, I would go for the iMac with the 24 inch screen etc, but that's me. I prefer screen realestate when I'm working over portability when I'm not. :D
 
Moo-Boo said:
Once again, I must thank everyone for their sage advice and taking the time out of their day to reply to me. After much deliberation and lack of sleep, I decided to purchase the 17" MBP, which I ordered today, along with Final Cut Express. I have my reservations, though, and I will probably always be wondering, "What would it be like to have a 24" iMac?" But, of course, if I had gone with the iMac, I always would have wondered what it would be like to have a 17" MBP! The iMac, I'm pretty sure, will be purchased some time in the future. I am not allowed to open it until October though, as it is my evil birthday. Birthdays are bad once childhood ends.

Thanks once again and God bless all of you,

Matt and the cat
Click to expand...

Congratulations on the purchase. :)
 
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