Best budget setup for home and on-the-go

[NiKeZz]

Budget: $3,000 +/- a few hundred dollars.
Use: Editing/processing GoPro videos (4K), DSLR photography, moving large files between computers and Firewire 800 hard drives, note-taking, homework, paper drafting, research.

Looking for a system as a student to take on-the-go for note-taking, research, homework completion, some multi-media use, emails and client/work communication, but still can handle whatever I may throw at it within reason. But I also need a base PC/MAC for home use that can handle editing/processing GoPro video's, some DSLR photography and can still be usable with an adapter for FireWire 800 drives that have a lot of old university documents, GoPro files and my old photography backed up to.

I was considering a 21.5' 4K iMac and a base MacBook retina. It would be slightly above my budget, but I felt it could handle my needs better than my 2010 MacBook Pro could currently (Which the logic board, hard drive connector and airport utility tool are all failing).

 

[mfram]

13" rMBP with a TB 2 docking station. Get a docking station that has a FW port (yes, they exist). Then plug an external monitor into the docking station.

 

[maflynn]

13" rMBP with a TB 2 docking station.

I would think a 15" MBP would be a better solution as, it will be quad core, and he can buy the dGPU version. I think editing 4k videos may be asking a lot from a dual core system.

 

[NiKeZz]

I would think a 15" MBP would be a better solution as, it will be quad core, and he can buy the dGPU version. I think editing 4k videos may be asking a lot from a dual core system.

Would running an external monitor with the 15" MacBook pro slow it down at all? Would it be able to handle a 4K external monitor? I worry about toting a computer around campus again that's my main system and running into issues like I'm having with my current computer, even though it's seen many miles.

 

[maflynn]

Would running an external monitor with the 15" MacBook pro slow it down at all

I never noticed any performance issues when doing that myself.

 

[boast]

I too think a 15" rMBP + Thunderbolt dock + 4k monitor might be a good solution.

 

[NiKeZz]

I too think a 15" rMBP + Thunderbolt dock + 4k monitor might be a good solution.

I'll have to check it out, I was just hoping to avoid buying an outdated rMBP before school this fall. I've tried to keeping up with fall hardware rumors, but haven't seen much on this end. Any suggestions on what I should do?

 

[AllergyDoc]

As per the recent post about the Kirby Lake processors, the MBP lineup isn't likely to be updated until 2017.

I have a late-2013 13" rMBP, a Hedge Dock, and a 28" acer monitor running at 2560 x 1440, the same as a non-retina iMac. Great setup for me. The convenience of a desktop with the portability of a notebook. Unfortunately, I'll have to sell the computer if I want to upgrade the monitor, but that's at least a year or so away. Good luck.