Doubts, Doubts.. Lost track..

[mikethemovie]

A little introducing..

Im an olympic athlete and next year im planning on start a design education..

14 weeks a year im gone for training abroad etc..

What im looking for:

1) Portability (although i love the 17" MBP )
2) Play an occasional game (such as CoD etc)
3) Has to be prepared for my education
4) lots of HD space for the tons of movies i have.. otherwise i get bored hehe
5) Any other alternatives?


Thx in advance..

Grtz Mike

 

[acearchie]

I would suggest either a High End Macbook (portable, light, but no so quick on the games and apps)

or a low end MBP (these have decent video cards and HDD goes up to 250gb, the programs will be quick and they are perfect (with 4gb of RAM) for the design orientated programs!)

What event are you training for?

 

[Telp]

With your need for high portability and games, i would go with the 15" MacBook Pro. Its no AIR, but its plenty portable, decent graphics card. The above covered a lot of it, but I'd go with that. On the other hand, I think you could get away with a MacBook. I know people that run Final Cut Pro on one, so you could get away with it.

 

[thegoldenmackid]

You could get the 17inch MBP, unless you plan on running with it?

It's really not as bad as it sounds, the extra two inches isnt a huge difference

 

[Telp]

You could get the 17inch MBP, unless you plan on running with it?

It's really not as bad as it sounds, the extra two inches isnt a huge difference

I disagree, I love the 17'', and tthats whats I hope to get in the near future, but that thing is huge! Its a monster. If you want portable, I would not get it. If its portable enough, then for heavens sake, MBP 17" FTW.

 

[thegoldenmackid]

I disagree, I love the 17'', and tthats whats I hope to get in the near future, but that thing is huge! Its a monster. If you want portable, I would not get it. If its portable enough, then for heavens sake, MBP 17" FTW.

I'm using it daily. It doesn't seem that much worse then a 15", there is a huge difference between it and the blackbook though.

 

[macgroovy]

If you're a design student you're gonna want something with a bit of grunt. The 15" MBP is reasonably portable (light) and has a dedicated graphics card to handle gaming. The extra screen real-estate over the Macbook is going to be handy for your design work, although you might want to get an external screen regardless.

 

[DaveF]

How important is portability?

I'm guessing that for 14 weeks, you're living in a dorm at a training facility. So you need a portable to take with you. But are you toting it about every day, around your training facility? Do you carry it to and fro during your regular life? Is the 17" -- that you really like -- really not portable enough? If it were a matter of needing a desktop computer at a few different locations, an iMac seems like it would be easy to transport for those few times a year when you're moving.

How important is gaming? If games are important and you want Mac, you pretty much have to stay with a MBP. Is the 17" not portable enough -- why not stick with what you like? Once you've chosen the 15" or 17", it's a matter of picking the hard drive and RAM you want. And if games can be sacrificed, but portability is supreme, you could get an Air (greatest portability) and a portable, external hard drive for your movies.

Let us know more about how you plan to use your Mac.

 

[Telp]

I'm using it daily. It doesn't seem that much worse then a 15", there is a huge difference between it and the blackbook though.

You would know better than me, but it just seems huge. Cant wait to get one though, for school of course.

How important is portability?

I'm guessing that for 14 weeks, you're living in a dorm at a training facility. So you need a portable to take with you. But are you toting it about every day, around your training facility? Do you carry it to and fro during your regular life? Is the 17" -- that you really like -- really not portable enough? If it were a matter of needing a desktop computer at a few different locations, an iMac seems like it would be easy to transport for those few times a year when you're moving.

How important is gaming? If games are important and you want Mac, you pretty much have to stay with a MBP. Is the 17" not portable enough -- why not stick with what you like? Once you've chosen the 15" or 17", it's a matter of picking the hard drive and RAM you want. And if games can be sacrificed, but portability is supreme, you could get an Air (greatest portability) and a portable, external hard drive for your movies.

Let us know more about how you plan to use your Mac.

Yeah, give us a bit more information, unless you can get what you need from what was already said. Otherwise, more specific information would be helpful.

 

[thegoldenmackid]

If you're a design student you're gonna want something with a bit of grunt. The 15" MBP is reasonably portable (light) and has a dedicated graphics card to handle gaming. The extra screen real-estate over the Macbook is going to be handy for your design work, although you might want to get an external screen regardless.

iThink that the Macbook is virtually considered not an option, dedicated graphics seems to be the real kicker and the hard drive, ram and processor upgrades would put it in the same range as the 15"

You would know better than me, but it just seems huge. Cant wait to get one though, for school of course.

It is huge, but getting a backpack to fit it, it isn't bad. The weight I will say ocasionally annoying, but it's not like you are carrying around an ACD