Hardware advice for a web developer

[Anoi]

I am a web developer working for a largish sized digital agency and am looking to start doing a lot more research type work at home.

I currently have an original base level MacBook (upgraded to 2gb ram and 250gb hdd). Obviously as a developer the 13inch screen is a bit of an issue, as is the fact that i am a .NET dev and it's not really fast enough to run Parallels.

What i am really after is a setup that will allow me to do the following:
- ASP.NET development
- Flash development
- Photo editing

I do have a PC but it's a media PC and so sits under the TV, but i could run Visual Studio on that and remote desktop to it from the Mac? I haven't tried that though so it might be just as slow as Parallels!

I do NOT have a lot of money for this, and currently i am just researching options. But what would you recommend as a viable setup, that isn't stupidly expensive, and is capable of these basic tasks?

I was just thinking of getting a 24inch screen, but i see the new Apple LED one is only for the new MacBooks?

Any advice would be appreciated as i really know nothing about hardware anymore!

 

[somuchtosayx]

I have done some programming on my macbook and find the display to be quite small as well. I suggest you get at a minimum, a 15" notebook. either of the Pros hardware would be sufficient as long as 4GB installed, up to 6GB available. However, if this is for home, the iMac would be the most affordable option. 3.6 with 4 GB and large screen is great.
Additionally, the new LEDs do support all of the notebooks with a $29 adapter.

 

[ATimson]

I do have a PC but it's a media PC and so sits under the TV, but i could run Visual Studio on that and remote desktop to it from the Mac? I haven't tried that though so it might be just as slow as Parallels!

It'll probably be faster at compilation, but as slow or slower in terms of responsiveness.

I do NOT have a lot of money for this, and currently i am just researching options. But what would you recommend as a viable setup, that isn't stupidly expensive, and is capable of these basic tasks?

Between Visual Studio and the web server that I assume you're running on your local machine, you're best off just booting into Windows.

I was just thinking of getting a 24inch screen, but i see the new Apple LED one is only for the new MacBooks?

At the moment, yes. Though there's nothing stopping you from getting a non-Apple display and hooking it up to your machine.

 

[Scottsdale]

For 1349 USD you can get a refurbished previous gen mbp. Sounds like the perfect solution for you.

As of now, the new 24-inch LED ACD will NOT run with any older Macs. It REQUIRES a Mini Display Port. You need a new MB, MBP or MBA to drive it. The $29 adapters are to go from the new MB line to old or different displays. Not to adapt the other/older MB line to the new LED ACD.

Do a bunch of web stuff myself. Still using my old MBP as haven't fully migrated to new MB yet. I am finding that I like old MBP better than new MB which is hard to swallow since I am out $1700.

Best wishes for you. Good luck whatever you choose.