Help Me Decide Which Mac To Get

[VeganHipster]

Hello everyone. I have just signed up on these forums recently as I become more interested in Apple and OS X. Right now, I am sort of in a dilemma. I have just been accepted into the music and video department a performing arts program . Before trying out into the program, we were all given a tour of the department. There were 3 or 4 rooms just filled with iMacs and MIDI keyboards and guitars and lighting equipment and a bunch of other goodies. Talking to my friends who were in the program already, I learned we will be using a lot of the software with Macs such as Garageband and Logic or Final Cut Pro and iMovie. Since we will have projects we have to take home and work on, I decided its time to move away from my 6 year old PC and get a Mac. And This is where the trouble starts...

I don't know what to get! Reading every posts in the respective hardware's forum, I can't decide between an iMac or a Macbook Pro. I hope you can help me decide, because I am not sure which one to pick.

I do like to game, however I am not expecting to running these games on ultimate and be getting 60fps. I have read that the Macbook Pros get really hot when gaming or doing intensive tasks like Photoshop or After effects (I will be using these), is it a problem for every Macbook Pro or just random? I do not really have a need for portability as there are computers at the school, but the option would be nice to have. I have been using my HDTV as an external monitor, it does have burn in so a new monitor would be nice, but I don't plan on spending $1000 anytime soon for a monitor. If i were to hook up my Macbook Pro to a Monitor, can I overclock the GPU so Video Ram used by the monitor is not as bad?

I am hoping to keep one for 4 years then possibly buy the other. Thank you for the help! Sorry if this is too long to read :/

 

[clyde2801]

Overclocking gpus's is something not really done in the mac world, sorry. For all intents and purposes, the imacs have roughly the same hardware as the macbook pros for a lower price.

With the macbook pros, you're paying a slight premium for portability, though it's not as bad as it used to be.

iMacs can get warm when you're putting them to their limits, but not as bad as portables. More internal space and more fans equals less heat.

I did a lot of research, and ended up with the 27" base i5 iMac. Probably the best bang for the buck for me. Love the monitor, and it promises I can still use it in a few years hooked up to another apple machine when it's processor can no longer do what I need it to do.

 

[VeeGee90]

Overclocking gpus's is something not really done in the mac world, sorry. For all intents and purposes, the imacs have roughly the same hardware as the macbook pros for a lower price.

With the macbook pros, you're paying a slight premium for portability, though it's not as bad as it used to be.

iMacs can get warm when you're putting them to their limits, but not as bad as portables. More internal space and more fans equals less heat.

I did a lot of research, and ended up with the 27" base i5 iMac. Probably the best bang for the buck for me. Love the monitor, and it promises I can still use it in a few years hooked up to another apple machine when it's processor can no longer do what I need it to do.

Do you play games on the 27'' base iMac?

 

[VeganHipster]

Thanks for the help! I saw somewhere that the i5 is better than the i7 for gaming, why is that? Because I am now planning on getting the 2gb video card upgrade and I want to know if it is worth it to get the i7.