Best Mac for a writer who also does photography

[glenthompson]

When I went shopping the writer in me won. I was seduced by the 11" MBA. It's light, beautiful and very easy to type on. I'm still awaiting delivery - I ordered the I.3GHz with 250GB ssd and 8 GB RAM. The idea was to get a machine that would help me write - that was my main need. I am seriously thinking of getting an iMac to keep it company later on - or is that just overkill? In the meantime I will look out for a reasonable budget monitor I think. Something thay will run well off the Air and give pretty good colour reproduction but not costing more than about $300-350.

I found an older Apple Cinema Display on Craigslist that works well with my MBP. Give me a nice sized screen when I'm working at home - where I do most of my photo work as I don't try to edit when on the road unless needed. Check Craigslist or eBay for deals.

 

[Hamburger]

writergirl, looks like i am too late to recommend a base mba 11/imac combo.
if you only need 20-30% portability, a base model could be enough for you. and the saved money could go into the fusion drive for the imac.

i am considering this route. have a base late 2010 mba with 128 ssd hooked up to a 24" acd, from which the minidisplayport appears to be broken (flickering).
and with 2 gigs ram possibly no longer good enough when maverick is released, i may just use the mba when i need portability (10-20%), not repair the acd, and get a 21.5" imac with fusion or 256 ssd (enough for my needs).
repairing the acd and getting a new mba with 8 gigs ram/256 ssd would probably be as expensive as an imac.

 

[Writergirl7]

writergirl, looks like i am too late to recommend a base mba 11/imac combo.
if you only need 20-30% portability, a base model could be enough for you. and the saved money could go into the fusion drive for the imac.

i am considering this route. have a base late 2010 mba with 128 ssd hooked up to a 24" acd, from which the minidisplayport appears to be broken (flickering).
and with 2 gigs ram possibly no longer good enough when maverick is released, i may just use the mba when i need portability (10-20%), not repair the acd, and get a 21.5" imac with fusion or 256 ssd (enough for my needs).
repairing the acd and getting a new mba with 8 gigs ram/256 ssd would probably be as expensive as an imac.

Thanks, Hamburger.
I can see the logic in your approach . I did think of getting a refurb Air and an iMac but the longer battery life of the new Airs seduced me! And I needed something now.
I was in two minds over the specs. In the end I went for the 256GB SSD because I realised I may want to run Bootcamp and Windows later and the reports I'd read said 128GB may not be enough space. As a writer I crave word processor stability for my longer projects and I didn't know if I'd need to run the windows version of Office. I chose 8GB RAM because I want to keep the machine for at least 3 years and I want the option of doing some photography stuff on it when on holiday. If finances don't stretch I will just use an external monitor with the Air for a while but I will view the iMac refresh with interest. I'm hoping that they make the fusion drive standard or maybe include higher RAM with the base model. I will probably get at least 16GB RAM on the iMac plus either fusion or 256 SSD.

 

[Writergirl7]

Took back the Air!

Alas the MacBook Air played havoc with my eyes. Sent it back and have now bought a 13" Retina MBP. Still getting a bit of eye strain when I use it for a full day though but not like the Air which made my vision swirl and I had trouble focusing on the page. The rMBP is much better but still tiring to use all day so I will need to take the plunge and get an external monitor.

I'm still not sure what to do there though. I can't really afford a NEC or an Eizo at the moment. The ones I looked at on line were quite expensive. I've heard different reports about the Dell Ultra sharp - some peple were very happy with them but others didn't like them. The antiglare coating can be annoying and make colour reproduction tricky and I also heard their display of small text can be fuzzy. As a writer I don't need my eyes to be straining to see things. I also read elsewhere on this forum that sometimes people with rMBPs have trouble getting the Dells to display correctly. So, my mind is a mishmash of pros and cons and I would like advice on what monitors anyone would recommend under say, $500, where the display gives ease of reading text plus good colour reproduction.

 

[MajkJaro]

So your happy with the retina? I have similar needs as you have so I'm interersted in your opinion.

 

[Writergirl7]

So your happy with the retina? I have similar needs as you have so I'm interersted in your opinion.

The retina is great. All these computers are beautifully made and do their job well but I think the 13" retina pro is lovely and much better for me than the MBA. The text is crisp - even when magnified and it is a very sleek machine. The only problem is that the 13" screen tires my eyes after a while (but not to the extent the MBA did) So I'm on the lookout for a good monitor. I'm still setting up some stuff and haven't done any photo editing yet but all the reports say it is great for that. I wouldn't use it for high end video editing however. If you are into that get the 15". I wouldn't mind the 15" just for screen real estate but I don't like the big gap between the front of the computer and the keyboard. The 13" seemed more ergonomic for me (my hands aren't that big). I have the rMBP set up at my desk with a bluetooth mouse and keyboard but it is so light I don't think twice about taking it with me if I want to work outside the house (or even use it while watching telly). If I could have waited for the Haswell refresh I would have but you can't put your life on hold for tech updates. I needed it now and am happy I bought it.