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getting a new mac.....what do you suggest?

A

acrahm

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 12, 2007
225
0
I am in the market for a computer, mac of course....
here is what i have right now: MBP 2.16 C2D, 4GB ram, 320 HD, ATY,RadeonX1600. 2 1TB externals, and a 24 in LCD

I do some video editing/dvd making, own and run a side business website (put in about 30 hrs a week to it) dont play any games.

I am thinking about an 24' Imac for at home (stationary) then 13 in macbook for on the go.

what do you all suggest i get? my price limit is about $1300-$1500 (i would sell my MBP if i go with my idea)
 
acrahm said:
I am in the market for a computer, mac of course....
here is what i have right now: MBP 2.16 C2D, 4GB ram, 320 HD, ATY,RadeonX1600. 2 1TB externals, and a 24 in LCD

I do some video editing/dvd making, own and run a side business website (put in about 30 hrs a week to it) dont play any games.

I am thinking about an 24' Imac for at home (stationary) then 13 in macbook for on the go.

what do you all suggest i get? my price limit is about $1300-$1500 (i would sell my MBP if i go with my idea)
Click to expand...

So $1500 PLUS what you'd make back from the sale of your MBP?

If that's the case, I'd get a refurb 2.66 Mac Pro for $2,149 http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac, then spend the rest on a WhiteBook, which can be had for $850 (with rebate) @ Micro Center http://microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?sku=000158.
 
whats the advantages of a mac pro over an imac?

$1500 is my limit, but if i could do something for $1000, that would be sweet too. I probally make about 3-5 20min DVDs a year so i am not a full fledged movie maker, but i have noticed the quality with my MBP has not been up to par (i use FCP)
 
acrahm said:
whats the advantages of a mac pro over an imac?

$1500 is my limit, but if i could do something for $1000, that would be sweet too. I probally make about 3-5 20min DVDs a year so i am not a full fledged movie maker, but i have noticed the quality with my MBP has not been up to par (i use FCP)
Click to expand...

The main advantages of the Mac Pro are its end-user upgradeability (RAM, HDD, Graphics card, optical drives, etc.) and processing power (4-8 cores vs. 2 in the iMac and MacBook/Pro). You also already have a monitor, so you wouldn't have to spend more to use with the Mac Pro, which doesn't come with one compared to the iMac, which does. But, for your needs and budget, a Mac Pro would probably be overkill.

A refurbished iMac should suit you just fine, in that case.
 
cool, thanks for your input....what "stuff" should i be looking at in the Imac? i know ram/HD etc but what about processor and video card?

i saw this one and it looked like a killer deal, but i wasnt sure if its an old model..
24-inch glossy widescreen display
2GB memory
500GB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory
Built-in iSight Camera

Shawny D said:
The main advantages of the Mac Pro are its end-user upgradeability (RAM, HDD, Graphics card, optical drives, etc.) and processing power (4-8 cores vs. 2 in the iMac and MacBook/Pro). You also already have a monitor, so you wouldn't have to spend more to use with the Mac Pro, which doesn't come with one compared to the iMac, which does. But, for your needs and budget, a Mac Pro would probably be overkill.

A refurbished iMac should suit you just fine, in that case.
Click to expand...
 
acrahm said:
cool, thanks for your input....what "stuff" should i be looking at in the Imac? i know ram/HD etc but what about processor and video card?

i saw this one and it looked like a killer deal, but i wasnt sure if its an old model..
24-inch glossy widescreen display
2GB memory
500GB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory
Built-in iSight Camera
Click to expand...

I am pretty sure its an older model; the 24" iMacs of today come with a standard 4gb of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM (or so the apple store says). The older ones had 2G of DDR2, if my memory serves me correctly.
 
The MBP specs that you posted should still be going strong for the work load that you say you have. You might see about getting it in to be serviced or something.

Apart from that, I think an iMac will work just fine for you on your some what limited budget. Check out Apple refurbs and you will save a little more and still get a great product. And if you can get your MBP working well you won't need to get a MB. Saves you money all around.
 
Given the specs of your current mbp, I doubt you would see too much real world benefit from a new iMac. Yes the new iMacs Core 2 Duo will have a higher clock speed, but in my opinion the about 20-30% (roughly estimated guess) more speed don't justify the extra cost. I'd wait for another year and get a quad-core iMac if I were you.

You should also try to reinstall the OS on your mbp first. After 2-3 years of heavy use this often speeds a machine up significantly.
 
this is probably a dumb question, but how do i reinstall OS on my mbp?

the problems i have been having with my MBP is basically its become really slow, taking much longer to load applications and run them. I.E. imovie takes me twice as long to work in as it did 6 months ago....

thanks for the advice on keeping my MBP, i think i will try to get it "back to speed" before i do an overhaul.

is there a way to "clean it up"? i remember way back when with my PC there were programs that could clean the adware, spam etc to speed up the PC...



chaosbunny said:
Given the specs of your current mbp, I doubt you would see too much real world benefit from a new iMac. Yes the new iMacs Core 2 Duo will have a higher clock speed, but in my opinion the about 20-30% (roughly estimated guess) more speed don't justify the extra cost. I'd wait for another year and get a quad-core iMac if I were you.

You should also try to reinstall the OS on your mbp first. After 2-3 years of heavy use this often speeds a machine up significantly.
Click to expand...
 
Well, to reinstall the OS just backup all your data on an external hd, put the installer DVD that came with your mbp (or a newer Leopard DVD) in it and restart holding the "c" button. When you reach the installer screen, go to the top menu and select disk utility. Delete your internal hd and then continue with the installer. When it's finished update the OS and install all your applications, and finally copy your data from the external drive. I won't go into more detail since I'm no native English speaker and it's often difficult to describe these things, since I use OS X in german. I'm sure a google search or a macrumors search will provide you with step by step instructions.

As for maintainance tools I have good experiemces with "Main Menu" and "Onyx" - both are free and you can find them at www.versiontracker.com

It's worth a try but doesn't always help - I think there definitely is something wrong with your OS if everything takes so long to start. A reinstall will surely fix that.
 
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