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20in imac or 15in macbook pro?

student_trap

student_trap

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Mar 14, 2005
1,879
0
'Ol Smokey, UK
hey guys,

and so with the revelations of today, i have a decision to make.

Im at uni, and have a 12in powerbook, which i love for its portability, great for typing and internet, but find it rather lacklustre for the photo and video editing i do. I am therefore going to buy a new mac, here are my options:

Imac 20in with 2 gigs of ram, 500 gig hard disk and 256 meg graphics card
+ use my powerbook as a portable (am scared of it braking though - is 2 years old nearly - and i need some sort of portable computer for uni)

or

Macbook pro 15in with 160 hard drive, 2 gigs of ram, however if i buy the pro ill give my powerbook to my parents and use one machine (am scared of it being hot...i like to type on the sofa, and found my girlfriends mbp too hot to handle!)

By the time i buy a new battery for my powerbook (it is lasting 45mins when word processing!), the prices pretty much match eachother.

Any help you guys can give is greatly appreciated
 
Keep the Powerbook, and buy the iMac! I have a 12" Powerbook, and I love it so much. I am also getting an iMac soon (although it'd be the 17") but you basically can't go wrong with that combination.
 
Wait until Santa Rosa. If you already have a fully working 12", you might as well wait a little while longer for an even better update.
 
what happens/what is santa rosa? Also, do we expect these core 2 duo machines to run leopard as well as what will be released at santa rosa?
 
I don't believe that a Merom MBP was only released yesterday and already people are saying "delay your purchase until Santa Rosa". You start playing that game and you will never buy a new Mac. Intel will always have something better around the corner. :rolleyes:

My advice is get the iMac now and keep the PB12". My PB12" is over three and a half years old and still going strong, and I also know people using five year old Titanium PBG4s that run great (even if they look like hell with peeling paint etc.). So it's likely got a lot of life in it yet.
 
Go with the MBP...awesome machine...especially the new ones that just came out. Portability is a HUGE factor :)
 
Keep the Powerbook and get an iMac. Its such an easy decision to make. I've got a Powerbook 12 inch, and am about to get a MacPro, but I wouldn't dream of getting rid of it, as its portability is second to none!!
 
Personally, I'd go with the iMac. You get a larger screen, bigger HD, and probably better graphics along with having 2 computers. The powerbook is a great computer for everyday uses, but getting an iMac for editing is a great idea.
 
dynamicv said:
I don't believe that a Merom MBP was only released yesterday and already people are saying "delay your purchase until Santa Rosa". You start playing that game and you will never buy a new Mac. Intel will always have something better around the corner. :rolleyes:

My advice is get the iMac now and keep the PB12". My PB12" is over three and a half years old and still going strong, and I also know people using five year old Titanium PBG4s that run great (even if they look like hell with peeling paint etc.). So it's likely got a lot of life in it yet.
Click to expand...
A 2 year old 12" is still a powerful machine. I see it as a much better value to wait another 6 months to buy if he wants to replace his PB since Santa Rosa is an even bigger update.
 
iMac for sure. Since you already have a portable for those needs, you're better off getting the "bang for your buck" that a desktop offers. Laptops really are only a good buy if you NEED them. Desktops will always offer more power for less money (i mean, look at the price of the Mac Pro vs. the higher end 15" MBP, or worse, the 17").
 
thanks for all of the replies guys. just one more thing though, whats is this santa rosa thing, is it an apple event, if so, when?

i'll need to wait for a month or two before buying anyway, using my powerbook for everything would be fine untill then. my biggest concern is that i want to be able to run leopard as best as i can (i know we dont know what specs it will require etc but for example, i want to know that i'll get all of the bells, whistles and graphical niceties that leopard will offer on my new machine).

Also, is leopard 64bit? will the C2D be able to maximise what will be possible in leopard?
 
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