New to Appples - Help!!!

Discussion in 'Buying Tips and Advice' started by soupdog777, Jul 1, 2009.

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  1. soupdog777, Jul 1, 2009

    soupdog777 macrumors newbie

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    #1
    I've been a PC person but as of late with two crippled machines I'm seriously thingink of a mac as a replacement. however with so manby options I'm a bit confused.

    I'm looking at either a 24" Imac 2.66 with 4gig of ram or a macbook pro 13" 2.53 ghz with 4 gig of ram. Basically they look like very similar machines but of course the laptop is a bit more expensive due to portability but I'm wondering of the imac is a more stable / reliable platform than the macbook pro?

    I need to use either parrallels or bootcamp to run windows xp for cad programs but otherwise I'll be using mac osX for Adobe CS4 and other less intense programs.

    I'm asking because I currently have two Dells (one desktop and one laptop) and have not been happy with the performance of wither one, the laptop is less than a year old and is slower than the 6 year old desktop!!!

    Basically I just need a very reliable FAST ( I repeat (FAST)) all in one computer tpo replace these two pieces of S@$T.

    Any Input on performance of the macbook versus the Imac would be appreciated.

    SD.
     
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  2. spillproof, Jul 1, 2009

    spillproof macrumors 68020

    spillproof

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    #2
    If you do not need the portability, get the iMac.
     
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  3. miles01110, Jul 1, 2009

    miles01110 macrumors Core

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    #3
    Do you need the portability or not? Both are very capable machines.
     
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  4. MacDawg, Jul 1, 2009

    MacDawg macrumors Core

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    #4
    Both are great machines and the iMac is not any more stable than the MBP
    Both will run Windows through BootCamp or Virtualization well

    I prefer the MBP because of the portability, but I would suggest an external monitor (either an ACD or one of the nice Dells) if you go that route for the kinds of the things you say you will be doing. I have my 17" MBP on an mStand next to a 23" ACD and it works great with plenty of screen real estate.


    Woof, Woof - Dawg [​IMG]
     
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  5. tayshon, Jul 1, 2009

    tayshon macrumors 6502a

    tayshon

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    #5
    +1 I'm looking to get a iMac in the near future, we already have two MacBooks
     
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  6. Scepticalscribe, Jul 2, 2009

    Scepticalscribe Contributor

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    #6
    As MacDawg states, both are excellent - and stable - machines so essentially, it comes down to a trade off between power (and an excellent screen, the iMac) and portability, which is the MBP. Which do you want or need more? I travel a lot and value portability, so I tend to prefer laptops.

    Cheers and good luck
     
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  7. Fishrrman, Jul 2, 2009

    Fishrrman macrumors G5

    Fishrrman

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    #7
    RE: New to Apples - Help!!!

    RE:
    "I need to use either parrallels or bootcamp to run windows xp for cad programs but otherwise I'll be using mac osX for Adobe CS4 and other less intense programs."

    Sounds like you need "screen real estate" (especially for CAD and for "tool pallette space" when running Adobe stuff).

    As another respondent said, unless you MUST have portability, get the iMac 24" model. Loads of display "room", and if you need even more, just get another 24" display to sit beside it. With such a setup, you can have the Mac OS on your primary display and Windows (running under parallels) on the other....

    - John
     
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  8. opera57, Jul 2, 2009

    opera57 macrumors 6502

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    #8
    Both are excellent machines. I have a macbook pro and an iMac and I find I perfer using the iMac plainly due to the extra screen size.. it is much more comfortable to use! [​IMG]
     
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  9. student_trap, Jul 2, 2009

    student_trap macrumors 68000

    student_trap

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    #9
    Unless you have software that would work significantly better with a larger screen, I'd go for the MacBook pro. When two machines are basically the same specs, portability is a massive plus.
     
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  10. soupdog777, Jul 3, 2009

    soupdog777 thread starter macrumors newbie

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    #10
    Thanks to all for the input

    You've mostly confirmed my thought. I'm leaning towards the imac for screen size (I have a pc laptop for portability if I need it) but I really need a FAST, FAST, Stable platform for the house so the Imac sounds like the winner.

    Thanks for all the input.

    SD777
     
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  11. iAlexG, Jul 3, 2009

    iAlexG macrumors 6502a

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    #11
    :apple:Macbook Pro:apple: all the way:D. Just connect it to an external monitor later if you need to. You will not notice the difference between the two in speed (i tried the iMac at the Store and its no faster than my new macbook
     
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  12. J&JPolangin, Jul 3, 2009

    J&JPolangin macrumors 68030

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    #12
    ...it is contagious, I got a 20" iMac and 2.5 months later, I'm typing this on a whitebook = love them both:D
     
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