Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

lukester

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 2, 2009
455
6
RI
I just use my MBP for everything.
I hook it up to a external monitor for photo editing.
found out I need a new monitor, need one that can give me accurate color for printed photos.

I am struggling with buying a Imac. Not sure I will like the glossy screen and printing issues?

I like just having the one machine, easy to keep everything up to date, back up,, etc.

Just wondering if others like using their laptop as a desktop too.?
 
i used my 15" MBP + 19" LCD monitor for a good 3 years. it was a great combination! seriously cant go wrong with it aye.

i have my imac 27" now though lol so yea the MBP gets pushed to the side. :(
 
I just use my MBP for everything.
I hook it up to a external monitor for photo editing.
found out I need a new monitor, need one that can give me accurate color for printed photos.

I am struggling with buying a Imac. Not sure I will like the glossy screen and printing issues?

I like just having the one machine, easy to keep everything up to date, back up,, etc.

Just wondering if others like using their laptop as a desktop too.?

I do. I connect to an ACD at work and yesterday I got a Dell Ultrasharp 24" to use at home. If I had more money I would get an imac for home as well. I love high res screens.
 
I do and I guess a lot of people do. Don't see the need of having a desktop and laptop at the same time when I can get everything done on my laptop with an external screen hooked up to it.

Even if I had the money to buy a decent imac, I still wouldn't do it. Pure waste of money in my situation, just buy a nice external monitor.

I use a HP 2309m, wouldn't recommend it for photo/video editing though, but still a very nice screen for what it costs!
 
I do and I guess a lot of people do. Don't see the need of having a desktop and laptop at the same time when I can get everything done on my laptop with an external screen hooked up to it.

Even if I had the money to buy a decent imac, I still wouldn't do it. Pure waste of money in my situation, just buy a nice external monitor.

I use a HP 2309m, wouldn't recommend it for photo/video editing though, but still a very nice screen for what it costs!

I find it very convenient just having the one. However I do have on old windows machine that I used sometimes but now that i found out my old crt monitor cannot be calibrated properly I guess that's going out to pasture too.

I may pick up a NEC 2490wuxi suppose to be super for color correction.
 
I pack it up every morning and take it to work. I use it as my main work computer (IT Manager / Network Engineer).

I then bring it back home .. and use it as my main comouter My Toshiba Qosmio sits by and get some occasional attention.

At both locations, I hook to an external monitor (19" @ work / 25" @ Home).
 
I do. I can't imagine spending $1800 on a computer to not use it all of the time. I sold my Power PC Mac mini after I got it because I barely used it.

If this tablet is as good and affordable as some rumors are saying, that will probably be a "secondary" computer.
 
And the greatest thing about it is that as soon as I open the lid I have my entire workspace ready for me just as I left it. It's the number one reason why I don't use my PC much anymore.

I wish I could have the power of the 17" high end model in the packaging of my 13".
 
i used it as my desktop computer and it works out nicely for me. i'd like to purchase a external monitor soon to enjoy movies from the other side of the room.
 
i used it as my desktop computer and it works out nicely for me. i'd like to purchase a external monitor soon to enjoy movies from the other side of the room.

I live on my laptop and use it run another monitor.
I wonder how much wear and tear they can take?
Mine is about 3 1/2 years old, new battery and HD so I should be ok. Display going?
In other words should I sell it while it's worth something and get a new one soon?
 
I live on my laptop and use it run another monitor.
I wonder how much wear and tear they can take?
Mine is about 3 1/2 years old, new battery and HD so I should be ok. Display going?
In other words should I sell it while it's worth something and get a new one soon?
Run it into the ground unless you make money off of the work you do on your notebook.
 
Hand up here.

I sold my late 06 MBP in June this year (2.33ghz/3gb ram, 320gb/7200rpm drive - got $1100 for it) and replaced it with a refurb 2.53ghz w/4gb ram and discrete graphics. I still hook it up to a 20" ACD for work.

The big difference between this and my 2.33ghz is that I can run my VMs without taking a huge hit and this thing just doesn't get hot whereas my old machine was like a jet using afterburners in comparison with all the fan noise and heat.
 
I have used notebooks as my main machines since 2003. I still have a PC on my desktop but I only use it almost exclusively for gaming.

As a software developer, screen space is sometimes a bit of a problem. When I first switched to a notebook in 2003 I went from a dual 17" CRT setup to a single 15" 1680x1050 screen. Losing the dual-screen setup was hard but the high resolution and widescreen aspect of the notebook (a HP nx7000) compensated for that.
When I went to a 15" MBP in late 2006 (still a great machine) the only real downside was going down to "just" 1440x900 resolution. Especially when considering that the OSX UI elements and fonts are rather big compared to the linux system I used on the HP.

So, unless Apple releases an updated 15" MBP with a higher resolution display, my next machine will definitely be the 17" model...

...or maybe not. The 27" iMac is really tempting since the resolution is even higher than what my old dual-screen setup had. I would go back to a desktop machine for that but since I need a notebook as well (and I can't afford both at the moment), I'll probably stick with the 17" MBP.
 
I use a base 13" MBP as my main and only computer. Works fine! I use it to watch movies, browse the web, edit photos and videos, play games, and pretty much anything else you can do with a computer. :)
 
Well, I don't use it as a desktop, but it is my main computer. I have a PMG5 (dual proc 2.3GHz), but it acts as more of a server these days (keep some files on there and, via wireless, back up with Time Machine to the external hard drive connected to it). Not sure I'll ever get another desktop (for me).
 
I don't think I'd go back to a desktop UNLESS it was a macbook pro. The Imac is ultimately a laptop on the guts(in my eyes. I dont want to start a war on this, its just how I personally feel). I feel the macbook pro is powerful enough to handle anything I throw at it.
 
I don't think I'd go back to a desktop UNLESS it was a macbook pro. The Imac is ultimately a laptop on the guts(in my eyes. I dont want to start a war on this, its just how I personally feel). I feel the macbook pro is powerful enough to handle anything I throw at it.

This might sound odd, but if I owned a desktop I would use it as my back up computer. And my MBP as my main computer. I just see my MBP as my main computer because it's with me all the time, I use it more. And to be honest, I would never buy an iMac, because I hate the idea of an all in one computer. If anything fails the whole computer is useless. I would buy a Mac Mini! Because then if the display fails I at least still have a working computer. Eh, that's just me. :D
 
I use my MBP as my primary machine at home, connected to 2 Dell 2408WFP monitors (when using Lightroom), one via a DL-195. I have a souped up PC desktop, but that's only for gaming.

Then when I leave for work I use the MBP on the train w/ a Sprint MiFi and then at work I connect it to another Dell 24" and use it all day as my primary work machine running XP under Parallels. I'll RDP into my company-issued PC laptop when I need to do stuff on a machine joined to the domain.

It gets more usage on the trainride home, unless I'm reading and then at home it gets docked up again for evening usage or remains wireless for couch browsing.

Although I have a couple of PCs that have better specs than the laptop, it's super cool being able to take my primary machine around with me wherever I go. I think the SSDs do a lot to make the performance of the laptop feel acceptable.

John
 
Once the new Macbook Pro comes along in the new year, I'll be replacing the Mac Mini and the Dell Mini with one. Still undecided between the 13" and 15", though I will be keeping the 23" Dell monitor for those occasions when I need the bigger screen.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.