Base iMac or base MBP

[CrackedButter]

My laptop is dying and the one application I need to run is killing it: Aperture 3.

I can't afford the 17" which is what I really want so I'm thinking either the base iMac or base 13"MBP.

The iMac is half the price of the 17" and faster but is weighed down and of course not suitable for travelling. I go from Germany and the UK often.

The 13" MBP is very good but its 2.4GHz processor over my 3 year old Core 2 Duo 2Ghz processor doesn't really seem much of a stretch with regard to crunching 20MB raw files.

I'm stuck at what to get. I probably won't sell the existing laptop because its been modified far too much and won't sell very well so I intend to keep it if I get the iMac and least I can travel with a mac still. If I get the 13" MBP then I would have to sell it for whatever it gets, if only to take off some of the punch of buying a new Mac in the first place.

Thoughts? Also prices are at HE price. So it is £850 as the absolute limit for upgrading.

Just thinking about it actually, I could save more money by buying the Mac Mini as I have a spare Keyboard, Mouse and Monitor about but again, processor wise, I'm not going to get a good return on my investment.
Side note, what is happening with their processors! Its been 3 years ago since I bought my last Mac and the clock frequency has hardly moved.

 

[Hellhammer]

Anyway you could afford base 15" with i5? IMO the MBP would be too small "upgrade" as it's only 400MHz faster. iMac, on the other hand, is noticeable faster due 1GHz increase (50% faster).

I would either:

Buy iMac and keep the MacBook for portability
Sell the MacBook and get 15" i5

 

[CrackedButter]

It would be nice to have the i5 but what I also factor into my decision is the higher education discount as well, this is how far I have with my budget, my bad I should have said. The 13" is the absolute upper limit, with HE discount. So in the UK after tax we're talking £850. :-(

 

[Hellhammer]

It would be nice to have the i5 but what I also factor into my decision is the higher education discount as well, this is how far I have with my budget, my bad I should have said. The 13" is the absolute upper limit, with HE discount. So in the UK after tax we're talking £850. :-(

Keep in mind that BTS promo is starting soon and you'll get free iTouch. iMac sounds good for you then. It's powerful and has amazing screen. Your MacBook is fast enough to use while on go

 

[kmaute]

My laptop is dying and the one application I need to run is killing it: Aperture 3.

I can't afford the 17" which is what I really want so I'm thinking either the base iMac or base 13"MBP.

The iMac is half the price of the 17" and faster but is weighed down and of course not suitable for travelling. I go from Germany and the UK often.

The 13" MBP is very good but its 2.4GHz processor over my 3 year old Core 2 Duo 2Ghz processor doesn't really seem much of a stretch with regard to crunching 20MB raw files.

I'm stuck at what to get. I probably won't sell the existing laptop because its been modified far too much and won't sell very well so I intend to keep it if I get the iMac and least I can travel with a mac still. If I get the 13" MBP then I would have to sell it for whatever it gets, if only to take off some of the punch of buying a new Mac in the first place.

Thoughts? Also prices are at HE price. So it is £850 as the absolute limit for upgrading.

Just thinking about it actually, I could save more money by buying the Mac Mini as I have a spare Keyboard, Mouse and Monitor about but again, processor wise, I'm not going to get a good return on my investment.
Side note, what is happening with their processors! Its been 3 years ago since I bought my last Mac and the clock frequency has hardly moved.

Remember that the clock frequency has a limited correlation to performance these days. Look at the benchmarks between your machine and the one you are looking at - that would be the telling figure. What's the bottleneck on your current machine? I'm guessing CPU is hitting it but I would wager that you are paging out and writing to a slow disk. Resolving these two bottlenecks would prove to be much more of a boost than a CPU upgrade. Just something to look into...

 

[CrackedButter]

Keep in mind that BTS promo is starting soon and you'll get free iTouch. iMac sounds good for you then. It's powerful and has amazing screen. Your MacBook is fast enough to use while on go

I hope it is soon, I have 3 weddings to shoot at the end of this month! Get the iPod Touch and then selling it on would help.

Remember that the clock frequency has a limited correlation to performance these days. Look at the benchmarks between your machine and the one you are looking at - that would be the telling figure. What's the bottleneck on your current machine? I'm guessing CPU is hitting it but I would wager that you are paging out and writing to a slow disk. Resolving these two bottlenecks would prove to be much more of a boost than a CPU upgrade. Just something to look into...

Tis true, this machine is limited to 3GB of Ram which I've maxed out and the SSD i bought last week isn't recognised in my Macbook but is in others that I've managed to take apart. At the moment I also have 2 500GB HD's in my Macbook as well (7200rpm variety).

 

[macmono]

I would get the MBP and sell your old macbook if you need a bigger screen just get an external!

 

[CrackedButter]

I would get the MBP and sell your old macbook if you need a bigger screen just get an external!

I've already stated my absolute top limit, why recommend an even higher price machine? I also have already a 19" Monitor.