Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Ditch my Mac Pro and get a MacBook Pro after the Oct. 14th announcement?

TheSpaz

TheSpaz

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jun 20, 2005
7,032
1
Just like the title... should I sell my Mac Pro Quad Core with 5GB of RAM and nVidia 8800 GT 512MB and get a new MacBook Pro when Apple refreshes the MacBook line... or should I keep the Mac Pro and stick with a desktop. The thing about my Desktop is sometimes I don't like sitting at my desk... I wanna go lay in bed and use the computer but, I can't. I have an iPhone and that somewhat helps, but it gets very tiring fast trying to squint at that little screen and scroll and pinch my way around everywhere. Not to mention, the iPhone is only Wireless b/g compatible whereas the MacBook Pro has Wireless N capabilities.

What do you all think? Anyone else here thinking about switching to a notebook Mac?

Edit: Holy crap! I just noticed that it said "Nov. 14th" in the title when I meant Oct. 14th. Oops.. Fixed.
 
ah man i would love a Mac Pro. im thinking of selling my MBP and buying a new MB when it comes out and then just buy a regular home built desktop PC.

why dont you buy a cheap little netbook? they are small and light but arent very powerful but just leave the number crunching to your Mac Pro.
 
I wanna go lay in bed and use the computer but, I can't. I have an iPhone and that somewhat helps, but it gets very tiring fast trying to squint at that little screen and scroll and pinch my way around everywhere.
Click to expand...

Um, your iPhone acts as a sufficient replacement for your MacPro? I'll hold my tongue and simply say if you would prefer a laptop and would see no meaningful productivity decrease: do it.
 
IMHO, you probably won't use it as a laptop that often. I bought a Macbook Pro this spring, and at first I carried it everywhere. I haven't unplugged it from my external monitor and peripherals for at least two months now. I'd personally go to a desktop if I had the chance again. Just what happened with me, you might have a completely different experience.
 
Shownarou said:
IMHO, you probably won't use it as a laptop that often. I bought a Macbook Pro this spring, and at first I carried it everywhere. I haven't unplugged it from my external monitor and peripherals for at least two months now. I'd personally go to a desktop if I had the chance again. Just what happened with me, you might have a completely different experience.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I had the same experience with my PowerBook G4... it literally NEVER left my desk at home... it was more of a pain to cary around than it seemed worth. I think now the iPhone has taught my a lot about portability and I wouldn't mind having a notebook these days. When I go to the store, I look at them and think, wow those are so cool... they take up very little room and the Mac Pro is probably way more power than I actually need. I'm not sure if I'm going to do it or not... man, I sure do love my Mac Pro, but do I NEED all this horsepower? Not to mention it does suck up a lot more energy from the wall than a MacBook Pro.
 
The ultimate, of course, is to have both. But like mobilehaathi says, if you won't feel a productivity hit, well then you shouldn't have a Mac Pro in the first place :)

If I didn't already have an older MBP and was in your situation, I'd buy an Eee PC for $400ish. As an ultra-portable web tablet for email/skype/browsing it's pretty spectacular (and I'd run Linux, not Windows!). Sure a 10" screen isn't much, but it's way better than a 3.5" iPhone (which I use pretty happily on a regular basis for instant data recall or wikipedia discussion settling).

I need a MBP because teaching with fancy Keynote presentations is a part of my job, and I like to be able to game on Vacation.
 
Apples and oranges kiddo.


You cannot compare a desktop like yours with a Macbook Pro for obvious reasons.

Sell your MacPro if you need the cash to buy something portable assuming you really need something portable and the lesser power will be acceptable to you.
 
What do you do? If you aren't a power user and you would see no real difference by moving to the MBP, the by all means go for the MBP. I did the move you mention this february. I had a MP 2.66 with 6GB RAM and a lot of HD space. I had had a MB but sold it because I needed the money. I eventually got sick of sitting at the desk all the time so I sold the MP and got the top end 15"(2.4 at the time) and threw in 4GB RAM. I am really mixed about how the whole thing ended up. As a photographer, I have lots of files taking up a ton of space. Because of this, I can't keep my pictures on the internal HD, so a lot of desk space is taken up by external HDs(Drobo,WD 1TB RAID). Also, if I go somewhere, I cant take my photos with me. However, this is voided by the fact that with the MP, I wasn't going anywhere with it, so not having my photos with me while traveling was a rather minor issue. Although I assumed the MP was way more power than I needed and the MBP would be too, this has not been the case. I find myself being angered at some points by how slow the MBP is relative to how things went with the MP. It's not slow, just slower than what I had before and this is annoying. The positive, though, is being able to use my computer in bed, on the couch, on the floor, on the go, wherever. This has pretty much evened out all the negatives, for me at least. It is up to you to decide if portability is important enough to lose the features that only the MP can provide. If I had the money at the time, or I was in your situation now with some cash on hand, I would probably keep the MP and get a cheap used(or refurb) macbook. I'm pretty comfortable with the situation i'm in now. I have my MBP and then I have a 30" sitting on my desk. I use my MBP at my desk much more now than I did with my 20" Dell screen, because the 30" ACD is amazing. I also have all the External HDs there, so when I am doing photo work or other things that require my externals(watching movies etc.)it's on my desk.

Here is what my setup looks like:
2625642706_9d6df9b01d_o.jpg


lemme know if you have any other questions.
 
The thing is... lately I haven't been using my Mac Pro like a Pro.

Haven't been editing video
Haven't been editing photos (although I'm sure it's fine with the MBP)
Haven't been playing games
Haven't been encoding videos

I really have only been using it for Safari, iChat and iTunes because I don't have time for the other stuff. So to have this huge piece of equipment is a little much for my needs. Plus, if I got a top of the line MacBook Pro, there wouldn't THAT much of a decrease in speed.
 
Karpfish said:
lemme know if you have any other questions.
Click to expand...

I have a question; what make is your mouse? I ditching my MM (sick of the scroll problems:rolleyes:).

To the OP;

I'd sell the MP and get a top spec MB or a MBP with a nice screen (as an external) and keyboard so you can use it like a desktop comfortably.
 
Well I love my Mac Pro for the sheer speed it does things and my oh-so-beautiful ACD... However I do often want a Macbook as well because my MP is in the office on the second floor but of course I spend most time in the living room with the wife and kids.

Right now I'm using a crappy old HP laptop with XP just for surfing, email and the like but I'm seriously thinking to buy an entry level Macbook as I can't stand Windows in any shape or form. The upcoming refresh could be a good moment to buy, there will likely be good reductions on the existing range and I'm not really worried about getting a super-fast machine. On the other hand there is a fair chance that the new MacBooks might be rather sexy although I personally like the all-white one rather a lot.

I will only get rid of my MP QUAD for an OCTO...
 
TheSpaz said:
The thing is... lately I haven't been using my Mac Pro like a Pro.

Haven't been editing video
Haven't been editing photos (although I'm sure it's fine with the MBP)
Haven't been playing games
Haven't been encoding videos

I really have only been using it for Safari, iChat and iTunes because I don't have time for the other stuff. So to have this huge piece of equipment is a little much for my needs. Plus, if I got a top of the line MacBook Pro, there wouldn't THAT much of a decrease in speed.
Click to expand...

For just Safari, Ichat, and iTunes, an MBP is more then enough. A low end MB would do that for you.


irishgrizzly said:
I have a question; what make is your mouse? I ditching my MM (sick of the scroll problems).
Click to expand...
Logitech G5. I got it for a gaming PC a while back and I have been using it ever since. Best mouse I have ever used by far.
 
the only reason to choose a macbook pro over a mac pro is portability

The mac pro is really the best, and fastest mac i've ever used. Would not give it up for anything.

It's the ace in my cards, I would only get a MBP or MBA to complement it, not replace it. The centerpiece of my computing universe lol
 
TheSpaz said:
The thing is... lately I haven't been using my Mac Pro like a Pro.

Haven't been editing video
Haven't been editing photos (although I'm sure it's fine with the MBP)
Haven't been playing games
Haven't been encoding videos

I really have only been using it for Safari, iChat and iTunes because I don't have time for the other stuff. So to have this huge piece of equipment is a little much for my needs. Plus, if I got a top of the line MacBook Pro, there wouldn't THAT much of a decrease in speed.
Click to expand...

all you really need is a macbook for what you do
 
I just use my desktop for lookups and quick web surfing. If I had room for a desk computer in a room with the kitchen and a den and a table for eating all nearby then maybe I could do without using it in bed. I live in the room with my computer so I either use a macbook pro or I have networked computers in every room of my house, and also a macbook for the road.

My first notebook was in 1999 and I have not been able to live without one since. :rolleyes: :D
 
From what you described, what you want is to sell the MacPro, buy one of these new Macbooks coming out tomorrow (supposedly going to have better graphics) and then buy a used PowerMac (you can get one for $50-100 that will do browsing, iTunes, etc. just fine in Tiger) and keep that on your desk. If you monitor has two inputs, you can even dock it up when you need something faster, but you can't beat a $50 browsing/music server machine. You could even upgrade it for a couple of hundred to something you'd never notice the difference on. I've got around $1000 in this PowerMac and it's 1.8GHz 7448 G4, 1.5GB ram, two 500GB hard drives, ATI 9800 Pro, USB 2.0 and takes up no desk space (sits in tower nook under the desk). For browsing, etc., it 'feels' just as fast as my 2.8GHz Dual Core AMD PC sitting to my right (L-shaped desk) and it runs 24/7 without issue and also serves as a server for my whole house audio system with iTunes8.

I'm planning on getting a Macbook soon (possibly this week with the new one coming out) and I'll have dock capability for that and be able to use it anywhere in the house (including connected to my 93" screen and projector home theater downstairs, on my back porch drinking coffee in the morning and with me on trips or sitting in bed if I wanted to (not sure why I would; doesn't sound comfortable to me) and most importantly as a portable studio for recording music (so I don't have to junk up my living room where my Roland digital piano is with computer equipment; I'll just connect it while recording and disconnect it when I'm done). I can then even network back the finished results to my PowerMac or PC for storage, all wireless (I have two 802.11N networks running in my house so G-devices like my iPod Touch don't slow the main N one down).

The point is you could have a somewhat used desktop (there's also plenty of used iMacs and PowerMac G5s out there to consider) plus a brand new Macbook for the price of your MacPro or less. Heck, you could have TWO Macbooks even for the price of a MacPro and use one as a desktop and the other as a laptop if that's your thing.
 
Get a MacBook and keep the MP. If you only want to browse the web, chat in bed, and take it to the coffees hop you'll be more than ok. Unless the new MBPs are 8 core ;)
 
richthomas said:
ah man i would love a Mac Pro. im thinking of selling my MBP and buying a new MB when it comes out and then just buy a regular home built desktop PC.

why dont you buy a cheap little netbook? they are small and light but arent very powerful but just leave the number crunching to your Mac Pro.
Click to expand...
This is exactly what I did not too long ago. I have an Acer Aspire that I use around the house (in bed, in front of the tv, etc)...and I also bring it with me when I need some light connectivity on the go (I have a Verizon 3G USB stick). I run Ubuntu on it and it has been really great.

Semi-off topic . . . Additionally, most of my power use involves virtualization, so I picked up a quad-core Dell system (with 6GB ram and a 640GB hdd) from Best Buy (for ~$700) and threw another 1TB hdd in it. That runs 64-bit linux and I can access all the VM's remotely from my Aspire. VirtualBox is my virtualization software of choice. Great performance and you can seamlessly transport VM's between linux, OS X, and the nasty.

I am currently Mac-less...sold my Macbook (2.4Ghz, black) a few months back. Waiting to see what is released today.

Get what makes you happy. You won't stick with it forever anyways...so sell the Mac Pro, get a MacBook Pro and see how you like it. If it doesn't suit you long term, at least you'll know for sure.
 
What about getting a 1st gen macbook Air when the 2nd gen comes out? You will still be able to keep your Mac Pro.
 
I'm actually going in the other direction. Gonna sell my MBP and get a MP. Hopefully there will be new ones in Jan. I need more power!
 
I was thinking about getting a Second Gen MacBook Air. What do you all think?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back