17" MacBookPro or 27" iMac?

[serana]

Hi all,
I'm a college student and I currently own the 11" MacBookAir as my sub computer and my main computer just died on me a couple months ago.
I mostly use heavy programs like Avid, FinalCut, ProTools, Adobe Photoshop CS5, and etc.(My major is telecommunications)
I wanted to buy the 17" MacBook Pro for a while when I didn't have the 11" Air, I have a giant monitor and I travel A LOT (I have lived in 3 different countries and 5 different cities the past 5 years, I've lived in one city for almost 2years now but I always travel when I'm on vacation and I'm graduating soon so I'm planning to move again) and I sometimes work on my projects while traveling.

A long story short, my budget is $3,000 now and I will be able to purchase another computer in about an year or so and I will eventually get both the iMac and MacBookPro, but I'm not really sure what to buy first.

May people say I should get the iMac first since I currently don't have a main computer and I would get MUCH better hardware with the same money if I bought the iMac. The only thing that stops me is the fact that I want to be able to use all the heavy programs I mentioned when I travel.

Should I get the iMac and wait for another year to buy the MacBookPro or should I get the MacBookPro first?

 

[Thetonyk123]

Hi all,
I'm a college student and I currently own the 11" MacBookAir as my sub computer and my main computer just died on me a couple months ago.
I mostly use heavy programs like Avid, FinalCut, ProTools, Adobe Photoshop CS5, and etc.(My major is telecommunications)
I wanted to buy the 17" MacBook Pro for a while when I didn't have the 11" Air, I have a giant monitor and I travel A LOT (I have lived in 3 different countries and 5 different cities the past 5 years, I've lived in one city for almost 2years now but I always travel when I'm on vacation and I'm graduating soon so I'm planning to move again) and I sometimes work on my projects while traveling.

A long story short, my budget is $3,000 now and I will be able to purchase another computer in about an year or so and I will eventually get both the iMac and MacBookPro, but I'm not really sure what to buy first.

May people say I should get the iMac first since I currently don't have a main computer and I would get MUCH better hardware with the same money if I bought the iMac. The only thing that stops me is the fact that I want to be able to use all the heavy programs I mentioned when I travel.

Should I get the iMac and wait for another year to buy the MacBookPro or should I get the MacBookPro first?

I would with the 27 inch iMac

 

[shaun319]

I would go with the 27 inch iMac as well. For me however, the best setup is a MBA or MBP with an apple cinema display. I obviously don't use the resource intensive programs that you do.

 

[Vantage Point]

A 15" MBP and a quality monitor is a powerful and versatile combo. It is easier to carry a 15" around than a 17" and the latest base 15" models are about as powerful as the current iMacs with geek scores about 10,000. They can take 16GB of ram.

I know this is not what you asked but something to consider for the man on the go. Also, it is what I use