...actually, with the addition of the iMac that makes 5 computers in my house:
1. Dell desktop 8100 P4 1.3 Ghz w/ 768 MB of RDRAM - 10+ yrs old in excellent shape but slow
2. Toshiba 1905-s303 laptop P4 2.4 Ghz w/ 768 MB of RAM - 8+ yrs old in excellent shape but slow
3. Sony PCG-TR3A Centrino 1 Ghz w/ 1 GB of RAM - 6 yrs old and still going fairly strong!
4. Asus eeePC1000H 1.6 Ghz Atom w/ 2 GB of RAM - 1 year old, its a great portable netbook, but still a netbook in terms of power
5. Apple iMac 20" 2.4 Ghz w/ 4 GB of RAM - still NIB have to set this puppy up!
*** waiting for notebooks to get more powerful before adding any more machines to my house... didn't want a mini and didn't want to spend the $$ on a Mac Pro...
Heh, that's quite a lot of computers there. Do you use them all? Will you be getting rid of any of them once you get a newer Mac laptop?
I have just a macbook (the one right before the aluminum update) and honestly i have to say that sometimes you need the extra power that your laptop can't handle. I do a little bit of FCE and PS on my macbook (2gb of RAM) and have to say unless you have a fully loaded macbook and your imac is technically faster than your macbook. I'd say keep both, once you sell your imac your going to have to do something that your going to need it for, Always happens. Hope you solve your problem.
Good point. For the past couple days now I have been testing out what it would be like to not have the iMac. I've grabbed the family Dell 2005FPW to simulate what it would be like to have an external display and so far it's working great.
However, I can definitely notice a slight decrease in performance when converting RAW files in Photoshop but the decrease is so slight that it almost seems negligible. If ever down the road I feel I'll need more horsepower I always have the option of selling my MacBook and going with a MacBook Pro. And by then I'll have a nice 2408 to pair with it!
"To those of you who have both a Mac Laptop ad Mac Desktop: Do you find it useful to have two machines?"
Yes. I also have a Macbook and an iMac although I find myself using the iMac a lot more than the MacBook. I mostly use the Macbook when I am out of town and then I mostly use it to remotely connect to my iMac. I also like the fact that if one were to break I could use the other.
Other than remote connecting to your iMac and having one machine serve as an emergency backup to the other, how else do you find having those two Macs useful to you? Do you use them both fully simultaneously? It doesn't sound like you do, to me it sounds like when you're using one, the other one is just either idling or off.
I don't think having a backup machine in case your main one breaks justifies the expense -- unless your job absolutely depends on having a fully loaded system accessible at all times, and I don't think many people (if any) fit into that category (unless your job involves making decisions that are literally matters of life and death).
Many people who think they must have 24/7 access to a fully loaded mac are wrong. Everyone knows that computers crash, and even the cruelest boss or client will probably not make a major strategic decision in terms of firing you or dropping your services because your computer crashed and you need an extra couple of days to get back up and running. No situation is that critical.
Don't believe me? Think about it this way, would you be fired if you had a medical emergency? Probably not (I believe in many jurisdictions this would be illegal anyway). Whatever you were working on could wait a day or two until you get that sorted out and can return to work.
This is all assuming you have your vital data backed up regularly, like in the cloud or on flash drives so that you can get back up and running quickly should your computer experience hardware problems (it'd be different if you lost months worth of work and couldn't recover it, then you would be screwed).
If your mac needs to be sent out to repair, a worst case scenario, and it will take 2-4 weeks for a repair or replacement, you can always buy a new one and return it.
A 15% restocking fee will set you back $150-$200 one time at a retailer, which is cheaper than buying a $1,500 computer and letting it lose value and get outdated on your desk or in your closet. Keep in mind, this is a worst case scenario in which your computer cannot be fixed in a couple of days and must be out for service for a long period of time (a scenario that in all likelihood will probably not play out).
I am not sure if the Apple store gives loaner units, but if they do, then it won't even cost you a dime to have a replacement the next day or whatever (assuming you are within reasonable driving distance of an Apple store).
Alternatively, if your job requires you to stay connected through e-mail or perform basic office tasks in addition to the ones that require a fully powered mac, you can pick up a $250 netbook and keep that in your closet as a backup since its not a big deal compared to buying a machine that costs 6 times as much. This way you can at least do part of your work while your machine is being fixed or replaced.
Conclusion: The downtime risk associated with having ONE machine (with appropriate backup capabilities) compared to having two machines is MINIMAL.
Very good points. This is exactly why that I think that *for me and my personal situation* the iMac is kind of a waste.
I'd say 3 things:
1. Forget the macbook pro, its not very different from your macbook
2. If you are going to sell the imac, sell it and keep the cash for other stuff you may want (rather than a screen). Buying a screen kind of goes in the face of the 'chilling on the sofa' computer use that a laptop enables.
3. If you are insistent on having a larger screen, stick with your imac, imo id much rather have a computer behind my screen already than have to keep connecting up a laptop to get things working (esp when the computer is very speedy itself, and even more so if you are considering the LED ACD, which pound for pound would pretty much mean a swap of your imac for a monitor).
Well the thing is a large screen would be quite useful to me. I'm a hobbyist photographer and I don't think I could live with only having the MacBook's 13". I haven't been taking many pictures in the last little while due to a busy school schedule which is probably why my need for the iMac's larger screen has gone unnoticed. But I definitely know I'll need a larger external display.
I think a combination of a nice portable machine for everyday tasks and a large external display to pair it up to when working with photos is a much more ideal combination than having two separate machines.
With regards to the LED ACD, as much as I'd love to get it it's a lot of money. Plus, I don't even think it's compatible with my polycarbonate MacBook. At the moment I'm looking at the Dell 2408 which would be compatible with my MacBook
and the unibodies should I ever choose to upgrade to one in the future.
On point 1. I agree, unless you absolutely need the dedicated video card of the macbook pro or plan on using the notebook's display as your only display, stick with the macbook.
On point 2. If you are able to, why would you not want a 24" display to work on. Having a large display and a notebook is the perfect combination in that it allows you the flexibility to work on the go, on the sofa as you say, or in a traditional desktop position with a higher resolution larger working area?
On point 3. It's such a tremendous hassle plugging in a display. If the original poster had a 24" imac I would consider keeping it, but going from a 20" imac's display to 24" I would consider an upgrade.
From my personal experience, I have gone from a macbook pro plus 20" display to a 24" iMac and Macbook Air, and I am contemplating going to a macbook plus 24" display.
You can only use one computer at a time, and having a lightweight, fully-featured, upgradeable notebook and a large external display makes for a very compelling set-up.
Having everything on one system is just easier.
If you can run everything adequately on the macbook, there is no reason to keep the iMac.
Yes, this is exactly what I was thinking!
Im sure that for many people this represents a great option, however my thinking is that if the OP had a use for the larger screen, they would have used their imac more. its lack of use therefore proves a certain degree of contentment with the laptop alone, and as such the purchase of a larger screen would be as superfluous as the imac itself, an as such an unnecessary expense.
Valid point. I failed to mention that I haven't been taking many photographs lately in my original post due to being a bit busy with school as of late (but I did mention it earlier in this post!). Like I said, I think that that has played a big part in me not wanting or craving the iMac's bigger display. Once spring and summer kick into full gear I'm sure I'll be taking a lot of photographs again and I'm positive that a large external display will help me.
no, its hard to synchronize your stuff on two machines if you were to try to use both, its just a hassle.
I still kept my mini because my roommate is using it, other than that, i see no point for myself.
back up machine is a good idea, but doesn't have to be a $1000+ machine.
Yeah I totally agree. Just keeping simple things like my Safari Bookmarks and Stickies synced between the two machines isn't
hard but it's definitely annoying.
Maybe you could do a "trial separation"? If I were in your position, I might get all the files I knew I needed, and put the iMac away for a couple weeks. Go about your life as if you only have the lappy. You ought to find out pretty quickly how indispensible it really is. If you're daring, you might want to try going as far as wiping the drive and packing the ol' anchor up, eBay style.
If you try this, try to keep everything in proper perspective as far as your options go. Remember that finding yourself occasionally wanting a bigger screen probably calls for an external monitor rather than just keeping the iMac, the same way that needing/wanting more power may point to a macbook pro rather than just keeping the imac.
Heh yeah, I've been doing a trial separation for the past day or so now. So far so good. Like I said, I think I notice a slight decrease in performance when converting a handful of RAW images in Photoshop but it's so hard to tell that the decrease in performance is probably negligible at most.
Well you mentioned you don't really use the iMac anymore, which is understandable since the MacBook is such a capable machine; however when you work with photos, you will benefit from a bigger screen especially if you decide to use Photoshop and maybe something like Lightroom which the iMac would have provided; since the iMac isn't portable at all, you are stuck with a small laptop with a 13.3" screen; even if you get an external monitor, I don't think you would take that with you.
So by that, the best solution would be to get a MacBook Pro, you get the sleek computer with the processor and CPU comparable if not faster than your iMac's with a bigger screen that you can use to process your photographs on-the-go. I would say that getting the MacBook gives you Firewire, but the polycarbonate MacBook you own already offers that feature. If you follow through your plan to buy Photoshop CS4, you may benefit from the slightly faster GPU on the MacBook Pro, plus all the nice multitouch features to manipulate your photographs; sure there are drawbacks to the multitouch implementation, but the general consensus is that it's a good thing to have; it is very nice to use.
So I suggest a MacBook Pro as a compromising solution between the MacBook and the iMac; it's like a portable iMac, minus the spacious display; in anycase, you can always buy an external display for the MacBook Pro, but unfortunately that involves spending a lot more money than you may want to.
Yeah that's a lot of coin. I could always go ahead and sell the iMac now, get an external display for my MacBook and use that for a while (I'm doing a trial run of this exact setup at the moment and so far so good) and if I ever need more horsepower in the future I could always upgrade to a MacBook Pro and by then I'll already have a nice 2408 to pair it too!
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Wow, that was a huge post. Thanks to everyone so far for all of their advice!
