Hey everyone, I've been reading this forum for a while and looking forward to my switch, and now with the updates yesterday I'm almost ready to pull the trigger. I keep flipping on what might be best for what I'm going to use it for, though, and want to tap into the experience here to see if I should get the MBP update or wait longer for the iMac update.
Here's where I am, I currently have a Dell Inspiron 1720 laptop that I absolutely hate. For as big as it is, it's a dog. I used to build PCs, but started using a laptop exclusively a couple of years ago. Gaming always sucked, graphics always sucked, but I loved the fact that I could sit on the couch, out on the porch, take it on vacation, etc. Over the last few years I've upgraded various times to try and get better storage and performance, however I think I'm to the point that I'm getting sick of the performance and storage hits you generally take on a laptop vs. desktop. A holiday project was converting old Digital8 videos to DVD, but the Inspiron reallllly sucked at trying to render any kind of video. Hence, thinking I wanted to switch back to a desktop system like an iMac, better performance. But, seeing the update on the MBP yesterday, I'm curious what the true performance difference might be between the MBP and the existing iMac (or anticipated update to the iMac).
My primary use of the system is going to be school, papers, research and such. iTunes is big on my list, we tend to watch TV on the laptop as well from Tivo recordings (good thing about the laptop, we can watch in bed, at my wife's computer while she's working, wherever - be tougher to do with an iMac, obviously). Video editing and DVD creation will be a side project but important, and I might also put together some music recording again as I used to have an analog studio long ago, would love to get into digital recording someday. Some games, but not time for much, so not a huge deal there. I think I can get around without having to Parallels or Boot Camp into Windows, I think everything I need to use is available in Mac as well. If not, I'll just hijack the wife's XP machine to run it if needed.
So, what's the real world performance hit I'm going to take with the new MBP if I'm trying to render video, imported DVI converting to DVD? Am I really going to notice that much more performance (especially around the updates yesterday) to justify a desktop system vs. a portable?
Here's where I am, I currently have a Dell Inspiron 1720 laptop that I absolutely hate. For as big as it is, it's a dog. I used to build PCs, but started using a laptop exclusively a couple of years ago. Gaming always sucked, graphics always sucked, but I loved the fact that I could sit on the couch, out on the porch, take it on vacation, etc. Over the last few years I've upgraded various times to try and get better storage and performance, however I think I'm to the point that I'm getting sick of the performance and storage hits you generally take on a laptop vs. desktop. A holiday project was converting old Digital8 videos to DVD, but the Inspiron reallllly sucked at trying to render any kind of video. Hence, thinking I wanted to switch back to a desktop system like an iMac, better performance. But, seeing the update on the MBP yesterday, I'm curious what the true performance difference might be between the MBP and the existing iMac (or anticipated update to the iMac).
My primary use of the system is going to be school, papers, research and such. iTunes is big on my list, we tend to watch TV on the laptop as well from Tivo recordings (good thing about the laptop, we can watch in bed, at my wife's computer while she's working, wherever - be tougher to do with an iMac, obviously). Video editing and DVD creation will be a side project but important, and I might also put together some music recording again as I used to have an analog studio long ago, would love to get into digital recording someday. Some games, but not time for much, so not a huge deal there. I think I can get around without having to Parallels or Boot Camp into Windows, I think everything I need to use is available in Mac as well. If not, I'll just hijack the wife's XP machine to run it if needed.
So, what's the real world performance hit I'm going to take with the new MBP if I'm trying to render video, imported DVI converting to DVD? Am I really going to notice that much more performance (especially around the updates yesterday) to justify a desktop system vs. a portable?
