$1900 Budget, PB 12 Loaded, or PB 15

[pbunko]

I am a graphic design teacher. I have been told that the powers that be are updating my teacher machine for next year. My tech boss asked me if I wanted to spec. my machine...imagine that.

My quesiton: With the educational discount, under the $1900 budget (as close as possible) do I load up a 12" PB SD with memory etc., or do I opt for the 1.3 15" PB?

I have a super drive at home, so that is not one of my worries, but wondered what you would do given my (very nice) predicament.

 

[cyks]

Considering they're shelling the $ for it...but you get to use it...
I'd say opt for the PBook 15"...and out of pocket- spend the $ to up the RAM.
I have nothing against the 12"- I just bought one 2 days ago, but the 15" is a far superior machine.
Of course, if you don't want to spend anything out of pocket- then I'd say the 12" is really the only way you can go... since you'll need the $ to bump up the RAM asap.

 

[Bhennies]

I am a graphic design teacher. I have been told that the powers that be are updating my teacher machine for next year. My tech boss asked me if I wanted to spec. my machine...imagine that.

My quesiton: With the educational discount, under the $1900 budget (as close as possible) do I load up a 12" PB SD with memory etc., or do I opt for the 1.3 15" PB?

I have a super drive at home, so that is not one of my worries, but wondered what you would do given my (very nice) predicament.

Definitely the 15". Especially if you already have a superdrive. The 12" is great for portability but really won't be good for layout etc.

 

[jeremy.king]

Just curious why you would need a portable for teaching a graphic design class? I personally think you should go for the most bang and get a tricked out dual 1.25 G4 pmac with a CRT monitor.

Do you have to buy new? If not, you could save even more going refurb.

 

[BrianKonarsMac]

if your a teacher...you obviously have monitors at school. Get the 12", you don't need a SD nor do you need a 9700 with 128 video (do you game at school?). I was at the apple store yesterday, and the 15" was much smaller than I thought, not much larger than the 12" and definitely not enough room to do any serious design work. The 12" is ultra portable, full featured, and is still just as capable as a 15" or 17". Due to the bottleneck of the FSB, the 1.33 vs 1.5 is negligible, you won't see the difference in real life applications (unless you sit there and run tests all day). The video ram is really only necessary when running very high res games, as the boost from 64 to 128 doesnt increase FPS, but keeps you from losing frames at higher res.

My advice: Get the 12" with base HD, upgrade to a speedy 7200 rpm model HD (unfortunately not a BTO option), max out the ram at 1.25 GB, don't forget the 12" has all the same output options, just packed into one tiny mini-DVI port (S-Video, VGA, ADC, etc) so you can get an adapter for any of your output needs (i originally thought it was DVI-out only), skip the $200 SD, and buy a faster external unit or wait on dual layer burners (drool). Also, tell your boss your school needs a wireless network or your going on strike .

 

[virividox]

i would have to go with the 15. you can upgrade as you go along, giving this a life of 3-4 years, you could up ram, change the hard drive later on (once the warranty runs out), plus more screen real estate. not to mention faster processor

 

[fozy]

display is key

As a fellow graphic designer and 12" PB owner I can attest that a 12" display doesn't cut it for illustrator or quark unless you are into constant zooming in and out. The 12" display is not only smaller but lacks the image quality and angle of viewing of the 15" display.

The 12" is great for photography, email, word processing etc and smaller and lighter is definately a benefit. I often work with a 19" crt using both displays simultaneously.

As much as I love the size I have regretted this purchase and plan on upgrading as soon as possible.

 

[Bhennies]

As a fellow graphic designer and 12" PB owner I can attest that a 12" display doesn't cut it for illustrator or quark unless you are into constant zooming in and out. The 12" display is not only smaller but lacks the image quality and angle of viewing of the 15" display.

The 12" is great for photography, email, word processing etc and smaller and lighter is definately a benefit. I often work with a 19" crt using both displays simultaneously.

As much as I love the size I have regretted this purchase and plan on upgrading as soon as possible.

Same reason why I just cancelled my order for a 12" and went with the 15". It really does have quite a bit more screen real estate while being only slightly less portable. I am a photographer/ GDesigner as well, and when I fooled around with Illustrator and Photoshop at the store the other day on the 12", there was barely any room left over for the image after you take into account the palettes, dock etc.

plus I just got an amazing sleeve case/bag for it at http://www.sfbags.com/PRODUCTS/SC_INFO/sc.htm