New to MacForum: macbook pro vs. imac

[joberster]

Hey everyone. I'm looking to upgrade my hardware. For a while now, my MacBook Pro has had a lot of trouble keeping up with me. Right now I've got a 2.16ghz processor and I'm maxed out at 2GB RAM (i bought it new about 3 1/2 years ago i think). After Effects and FCP are taking a while for most rendering (longer than it used to be), and I do a lot of large scale print design at work (posters and billboards; we're talking a 500mb photoshop file at times) so I feel it's time to upgrade.

I know that I want to buy refurbished from the apple store. they have great deals and applecare coverage to match. I just can't decide if I want to go with a newer MBP or an iMac. One plus with the iMac is that I can leave it at work, and still hold on to my MBP for home use and not have to carry it with me all the time anymore, but if I get a MBP, I can also sell my current machine and either save money or put it towards an even better one. I would like to spend no more than $2,500. I usually would tell people to buy the fastest mac you can, basically because it will be that much longer before you have to get upgrade again, but sometimes I have trouble taking my own advice.

I love the portability of the macbook pro, but the imac price tag is very appealing. And I would love to grab one of those new 17" MBP mostly because of the possible 8GB of RAM, but I don't think I'll be able to afford it.

What would you guys suggest and/or do yourselves? Any suggestions will surely help my decision.


Thanks,

Joe

 

[GGJstudios]

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[és:]

As you already have a MBP I'd suggest that you get the iMac for the heavy lifting. A nice big screen and large HD will be just the ticket. You'll still have the laptop, which is still very capable (although it might need a nice fresh install to put the life back into it) which will give you portability when you need it.

 

[arthursiew]

The iMac will be better. You already have the MB Pro, so I think getting the iMac will be a better combo.

 

[bumzo1]

You should get the 17" mbp because the way your worded the first post it looks like thats the one you want you just want someone to comfirm its a good idea........ thats really what most ppl do when they post something like this (I did the same thing on sunday )

 

[Abstract]

Why doesn't your employer pay for it? I wouldn't buy a computer with my own money and leave it at the office.


Anyway, go with the 17" MBP. It's really not much slower than a high-end iMac 24" ($2299), which is what I assumed you'd go for since you said you usually buy the fastest machine you can afford.

For a couple of hundred dollars more, you'd gain portability.

 

[joberster]

thanks for the replies

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

Though the idea of having two machines is very appealing, I think what I'm going to do is just wait a couple of weeks and see if any refurbished 17" MBP come out...at least until I get too impatient. I'm really torn between the 15" and 17" though. The 15" is considerably cheaper and more portable, but I love the idea of being able to expand to 8GB of RAM down the road. But then again, the iMac would be faster than the 15"....but now I'm just going off on a tangent. Decisions, decisions.......

And to answer your question, I'm still a student, and only interning right now, so unless I want to use some crappy windows machines with horrible software, then equipment is my own responsibility, not to mention that I would probably be upgrading regardless of my employment situation right now.

Thanks again,

Joe

 

[thomanjones]

Why doesn't your employer pay for it? I wouldn't buy a computer with my own money and leave it at the office.

My Employer was adamantly MS only, no Macs allowed for a long time. I got fed up and used my Christmas bonus last year to get a low-end refurb MBP for 1699. after 6 months, half of the department is on MBP (I ended up with a new one as well, sold the refurb on eBay for 1299). Being able to switch between XP, Vista, and OSX with Spaces totally wowed them

Sorry, that was totally off-topic. Go with the iMac. the 24" screen is lickable.

 

[joberster]

I did it!

It's done. I've just placed an order for a refurbished 24" iMac (3.06gHz, 2GB RAM [for now], 500GB 7200rpm hard drive) and it feels great! This should be a great combo with my MBP.

Thanks again everyone for your input. You all gave me a lot to think about.

 

[PuckDaddy]

just couldn't wait to see the impending refresh could you ?

hahhaaa, congratulations, it's a good machine