I have an iMac... should I get a MBP?

[Vox Populi]

This would be my first post so hey everyone!

Alright so here's my situation. I'm a college student majoring in filmmaking. I'm finding it would be really helpful to have a laptop. I want to take notes in class and such. I want to go to the library and use my own computer. It seems like everyone on campus has a laptop. I want to whoop out mine when everyone else does.
I currently have a 2009 iMac 2.66 core 2 duo. My question is, should I get a windows laptop or a Macbook Pro? Anyone have experience with this? Have you found it preferable to have one windows and one mac or do you think it would be preferable to have all macs?

Also, to any filmmakers or editors, would it be helpful to have a macbook to edit on? I edit with final cut on my iMac. I'm just debating whether or not I'll actually edit on my laptop.

Also, since I already have a iMac, should I just save my money and get a PC? I can certainly afford a Macbook but I don't want to spend money if I don't need to.

 

[Macman45]

I Have Used Both

This would be my first post so hey everyone!

Alright so here's my situation. I'm a college student majoring in filmmaking. I'm finding it would be really helpful to have a laptop. I want to take notes in class and such. I want to go to the library and use my own computer. It seems like everyone on campus has a laptop. I want to whoop out mine when everyone else does.
I currently have a 2009 iMac 2.66 core 2 duo. My question is, should I get a windows laptop or a Macbook Pro? Anyone have experience with this? Have you found it preferable to have one windows and one mac or do you think it would be preferable to have all macs?

Also, to any filmmakers or editors, would it be helpful to have a macbook to edit on? I edit with final cut on my iMac. I'm just debating whether or not I'll actually edit on my laptop.

Also, since I already have a iMac, should I just save my money and get a PC? I can certainly afford a Macbook but I don't want to spend money if I don't need to.

Windows and Mac laptops, and am in the music and video business....I have a MBP 17" It's a beast and a superb machine, but it is heavy to carry around. If you want something lighter have a look at th MBA (I also have a 13" Air) go for 256 storage, and you should be fine. You could also go for a 15" MBP, but if you want something easy to carry and whip out, the Air would be best IMO

 

[Blues003]

I'm not a movie editor but after thinking a bit I think the answer resides on wheather you decide to edit video on the laptop or not. Here's my trian of thought:

MBP 17" is too big to carry around comfortably and every day.
MBP 15" suffers from the same as 17", IMO.

From here we exclude these 2 options.


Both MBAs and the MBP 13" are portable, but have limited resources for video editing.
A Windows laptop, on the other hand, can be 13" and still have a dedicated GPU which would be better than the MBAs/MBPs Intel HD 3000 IGP.

So to sum up:

If you want to do video editing on your laptop: get a 13" Windows Laptop. There are some good deals out there. I am personally a fan of the Samsung Series 7 line-up (there's a 14" in a 13.3" chassis laptop).

If you do not want to do video editing on your laptop: get a 13" MBA. The MBP would offer not much else considering your needs, and I find the 11" MBA a bit too small for my tases.

 

[Spencer Reynen]

I edit movies and do some music for fun, and let me tell you that the MacBook Pro has been amazing. The portability factor is great, it's just the perfect computer for a college student. You can't edit movies on a Windows laptop, you just can't. If you have the money and want a laptop, the MBP is the way to go!

 

[warvanov]

I would suggest a MacBook Air or a 13" MacBook Pro.

The MBA will be ultra portable and will be a great supplement to the iMac for strictly portable computing.

If you think you might do a little editing from time to time on your laptop then you might want to get the MBP. The extra power and lots of extra drive space will be helpful for video editing.

If you've got a Mac and you like it then I would suggest sticking with the Mac. If there's a specific Windows program you need to run then you can always install Windows on one of your Macs via Boot Camp.

 

[Sasha-1]

I have Mac and PC laptops as well. I have an 11.6" MBA and a 15.4" MBP. If you need the power of the pro model go for that. It's a good all around machine with excellent battery duration. None of my PC laptops have near as much battery life as either the MBA or the MBP.

Backlit keys are so amazingly great, too. I can't recommend that feature enough. Nothing quite like bringing your own computer around with you. Get DropBox and stick your notes in that. That way you have them on both your MBP and your iMac.

I use an iMac as my desktop at the office. And I use the MBP for pretty much everything else. The MBA was replaced with the MBP. Though I do miss the extremely light-weight of the MBA. It's not as powerful as the Pro.

If you go to the Apple store they tend to have apps on the machines you look at. I did things like test Adobe CS5.5 on the Pro before I bought it.

 

[thekev]

MBP 17" is too big to carry around comfortably and every day.
MBP 15" suffers from the same as 17", IMO.

I never found the 15" to be heavy at all really. For me once you get to the 17" it just becomes slightly more awkward. Even then it isn't that heavy. I have an issue with laptop displays in general. They're too small and many of the quirks suck. People didn't really complain about the weight so much previous to the macbook air. In a few years, people may be annoyed at the idea of having to carry anything more than an ipad.

For the OP, you can run bootcamp on a macbook, but they used to get complaints on things like battery life under windows. I spend a little time in Windows but I keep the charger around, so I haven't taken note of how long it lasts. I can't think of any reason to use a segmented OS setup. If you want to use Windows editing software options, then buy a Windows laptop, but there isn't much point in buying into a different OS unless there's something specific you wish to run on it (or you don't like OSX).

 

[happle]

i say sell the mac and get a MBP and a PC desktop so you have the best of both worlds.

 

[Doc750]

I have a macbook pro and a apple cinema display ... that is the best combo

 

[Sasha-1]

i say sell the mac and get a MBP and a PC desktop so you have the best of both worlds.

He can always run VMWare for that. Besides, why bother with the PC at all if the Mac does everything he needs? I have a few PCs and they just sit in the closet these days. I'd sell them but their resale value isn't much.