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Anyone given up on new imacs and bought macbook pro?

E

echomango

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 10, 2012
48
0
Has anyone given up on new imacs and bought a macbook pro?

I am starting to lean in that direction as it seems very unpredictable when the new imacs will emerge. I have heard of folks considering the macbook pro and getting a separate large display. Has anyone tried this? if so, are you happy with it?

My reason for needing it is due to my old 2007 20 inch imac not being able to handle some of the large files and processing needed for the video work I am doing on After Effects CS3. Anyone using this program on the macbook pro? And yes, I should probably ask that question in the macbook forum. :D
 
echomango said:
Has anyone given up on new imacs and bought a macbook pro?
Click to expand...

/raises hand

It's decent, being a Mac, but not at all well suited to my usage. I had an older iMac that was on its last legs. Now I have a notebook that never moves, feeding files off a tbolt drive to AppleTVs around the house. And it has a teeny tiny screen compared to two diagonal feet or more that the iMac sports. And it sleeps, it's designed for mobile use etc... argh, it's perfectly fine as notebooks go but for a person who needs a desktop, it's not good enough. The main benefit is, if or when a new iMac ever comes out, I will have an easy time recouping value off the 2012 MBP.
 
You need 15" for the better video card, then the 27" monitor. I priced it all out, and it would cost me a few hundred more dollars. Unless you need a laptop, I would wait.
 
Only you have the answer to your question.

Ask yourself, what you want it for, your budget, when do you need by,

Look down the other threads and your see all the answer you need!

Dont worry I wrote a simular thread a few months back! At the end of the day no one knew what I wanted so couldnt really comment.

im waiting for the new iMac in the next few weeks.
 
Thank you all for the helpful feedback.

Mike -thanks for your take on using the macbook pro as a desktop. This is exactly what I was worried over and your post helps me affirm that possibility. I think for now I will just sit tight and hold out a little longer.
 
nope. I wouldn't do anything CPU intensive on a laptop. You will fry it lol. iMac will be a lot more powerful than the iMac for a lot cheaper (if you buy a 27" display with the laptop)
 
nope, instead bought a used Mac Pro

I decided, to stop waiting and go out and buy a used 2010 Mac Pro. Paid $2K for a gently used 2.4 8 core Mac Pro. I wanted a desktop, so a MacBook Pro was not an option for me. The 8 core Mac is still a power house and at $2K I consider it a relative bargain. Yes, I wish it had USB 3, and newer XEONs but then it wouldn't have been $2K, I'll be using it for photo and video processing so having the 8 cores will come in handy.

I'm still hoping the new iMacs come in October, but at least now, I'm not panting waiting for them. If they don't show up until 2013, my Mac Pro will give me plenty of great productivity. When new iMacs eventually come out, the Mac Pro will be then turned into a server, with many years of useful service still left in it.
 
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I gave up on new iMac and now I don't think I'll buy iMac when it is finally released. Last month I upgraded my MBP 2010 to 8GB RAM and SSD. I bought keyboard and mouse, and hooked the notebook to my 27" LCD monitor. It works well enough for me - well enough to ignore this year's Macs.
My next Mac will be either a new Mac Mini or perhaps MacBook Pro 2013 - whichever comes first :>.
 
Your story is exactly like mine. When I upgraded to rMBP (2.6GHz/16GB) last month, I was holding on to a Mac Pro (2006) with a 23" Cinema Display HD for 6 years. What I actually wanted back then was an updated 27" iMac with Ivy Bridge & USB 3.0. As you all know the iMac didn't happen. So I decided to just order the luscious rMBP instead. As a graphic artist, I'm also doing app development, so having a retina display surely helps to optimize my apps for the latest devices.

Currently, I have my rMBP hooked up to the 23" Cinema Display. This works quite well for me at the moment. I will be replacing my Cinema Display with a 27" Thunderbolt Display with USB 3.0 when it comes out. So it will provide me with an ultimate docking station as well as a 27" of extra screen real estate (non-retina, important).

As for the performance, this slim laptop is a real beast. No-compromise quad-core 2.6GHz Intel Core i7 (Ivy Bridge), 16GB of never-running-out-of RAM, 256GB of premium SSD storage, Nvidia 650m that lets me play games at an insane resolution (2880 x 1800!!!), all-day-long battery, future-proof connectivity, and a surprisingly great set of speakers. Oh, and did I mention THE display? Seriously, this is the best Mac ever.

The only complain I have about this beauty is the absent of a GPS, 4G cellular capability, and the relatively smaller storage space (SSD). There are plenty of cheap USB 3.0 HDDs out there so adding more storage space won't be a big problem though.

So my opinion is that you should consider upgrading to a MBP preferably the retina model.

----------

Oh, and I also have had a 24" iMac (late 2007), 20" iMac (late 2007), 15" MBP (2006), and two Mac Minis (2006) beside my Mac Pro (2006). So, you have a better idea of where I come from.
 
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