choices, choices....!!

[woodbine]

In a bit of a quandary here and need some practical advice from the experts!

I had an old MP 2008 (8 core 2.8) that I used for some simple editing in FCP and quite a lot of transcoding in Compressor, MPEG Streamclip and Sorenson Squeeze. Not super fast, but fast enough to crunch the video files I was giving it.

I sold the MP last week and now all I have left is my Core 2 Duo 2.8 MBP to perform the above duties (I was going to fit an SSD and fill the RAM to give it some extra oomph) 🙂

I wanted to replace the MP with an Ivy Bridge iMac, with USB 3 for my growing storage needs and the right CPU would probably equal or exceed the number crunching potential. But they don't arrive until maybe October. 😡

With the iMac doing the heavy lifting, I no longer need the 15" MBP. So was thinking to swap the 15" for the 13".

So do I swap the MBP now or later? Will I see an improvement on the above tasks with the slowest 13" MBP?

Budget is always constrained, having sold the MP for a decent wedge and still having the MBP + 23" monitor still to sell, I am hoping I come out almost even.

Thank you for your indulgence. 😉

 

[axu539]

In a bit of a quandary here and need some practical advice from the experts!

I had an old MP 2008 (8 core 2.8) that I used for some simple editing in FCP and quite a lot of transcoding in Compressor, MPEG Streamclip and Sorenson Squeeze. Not super fast, but fast enough to crunch the video files I was giving it.

I sold the MP last week and now all I have left is my Core 2 Duo 2.8 MBP to perform the above duties (I was going to fit an SSD and fill the RAM to give it some extra oomph) 🙂

I wanted to replace the MP with an Ivy Bridge iMac, with USB 3 for my growing storage needs and the right CPU would probably equal or exceed the number crunching potential. But they don't arrive until maybe October. 😡

With the iMac doing the heavy lifting, I no longer need the 15" MBP. So was thinking to swap the 15" for the 13".

So do I swap the MBP now or later? Will I see an improvement on the above tasks with the slowest 13" MBP?

Budget is always constrained, having sold the MP for a decent wedge and still having the MBP + 23" monitor still to sell, I am hoping I come out almost even.

Thank you for your indulgence. 😉

I'm pretty sure the current Ivy Bridge chips are significantly faster than the C2D in your old MBP, so yes, a 13" will probably be faster. I'd go as far as suggesting a high end 11" Air for maximum portability, since you'd have an iMac to work with anyway.

 

[woodbine]

I have thought about the MBA, but lack of ports would severely hamper my work in the interim.

I would consider waiting until iMac come out and then opting for the 13" MBA.....but and this is a definite negative for me, the screen is not as good as the MBP's. I read a review on Anandtech where the MBA screen was visibly a lesser screen than the MBP.

But it's good to know that IvyBridge would probably beat out the C2D, even on a lower clock speed.

 

[NathanA]

...but and this is a definite negative for me, the screen is not as good as the MBP's. I read a review on Anandtech where the MBA screen was visibly a lesser screen than the MBP.

...??? I would love to see a link to this review. Both the 13" MacBook Pro and the 13" MacBook Air use LED-backlit twisted-nematic (bleh) LCDs. So the technology is exactly the same. But the MacBook Air gives you 1440x900 while the MacBook Pro is only 1280x800. The Air screen is clearly superior.

-- Nathan

 

[Feed Me]

...??? I would love to see a link to this review. Both the 13" MacBook Pro and the 13" MacBook Air use LED-backlit twisted-nematic (bleh) LCDs. So the technology is exactly the same. But the MacBook Air gives you 1440x900 while the MacBook Pro is only 1280x800. The Air screen is clearly superior.

-- Nathan

The screens in the MBA have poor colour gamut and accuracy, everything else about them is good though (brightness, blacks, etc).

 

[NathanA]

The screens in the MBA have poor colour gamut and accuracy,

Hah, of course they do...they're TN screens. 🙂 I have my doubts that the 13" Pro screen could be that much better in color accuracy since it, too, is a TN, but I'll try to dig up the review/comparison in question.

Also, it is fairly well-known by this point that there are at least 3 suppliers of panels for the 13" Air (LG, Samsung, AUO), and they each have slightly different characteristics; wouldn't surprise me if there was a similar quality spread amongst the Pro line as well. This makes it fairly difficult to universally apply a quantitative statement such as "all 13-inch Pro screens are better in terms of color accuracy than all 13-inch Air screens."

-- Nathan

 

[Feed Me]

Also, it is fairly well-known by this point that there are at least 3 suppliers of panels for the 13" Air (LG, Samsung, AUO), and they each have slightly different characteristics. Wouldn't surprise me if there was a similar quality spread amongst the Pro line as well.

I know that with the rMBP screens at least there's a bit of a lottery as to whether you get an LG screen or a Samsung screen, with the Samsung generally being better, or at least less likely to have issues out of the box.