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One Mac or two ? What's ideal, the debate continues ...

robindahlia789 said:
woah ten!
how long did that take too accumulate
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Got my very first Mac January 2006.

Let's check my math

1 iMac 20" Intel CD ( Main household comp )
2 G4 Power Mac Mirror Doors, ( in the kids bedrooms )
1 G4 Cube( Just had to have it )
2 G3 iBook Clamshells ( Like the Cube, had to have, but will probably sell soon )
2 Black MacBooks ( Both currently for sale on ebay )
1 White MacBook ( Will be mothers day present for wife, she's going back to Uni for Masters )
1 Uni Body 15" MBP ( the reason the black books are up for sale )

Yup, that's 10! ( My wife definitely thinks I have a problem! )
 
I prefer 1 computer so I don't have to sync anything (docs/videos/music/bookmarks). And I think with 2 you wouldn't use each one to the max of their potentials etc. to get your $$'s worth (varies depending on individual uses)

With that said, however, I have like 3 computers (some older ones that I don't really count). a Unibody Macbook which I plan to use as my "main machine" (docs/video/music/bookmarks), a Windows Desktop PC I use for gaming, and I bought a Dell Mini 9 netbook just to mess around with since I hear you can hackintosh it well (and it does work very well indeed, everything seems to work fine on it including webcam, bluetooth, even the built-in SD card!).

I'd love to just have 1 computer that can do it all, but unfortunately the Unibody Macbook cannot handle the games I play at 1920x1200 at max settings when I game on the weekends (I'd get a MBP 15" but its a bit too cumbersome for me to lug to/from work every weekday and the 9600GT isn't that powerful of a video card anyways). So I need the Windows Desktop PC. The netbook is kinda extra so I'll probably try to sell it although it is SO cool to have Mac OS X working on a 9" netbook weighing ~2.25lbs.

I got a Dlink DNS-323 NAS to hold all my older media files, and a Time Capsule to run all Time Machine backups.
 
one computer is definitely the way to go for me. my 15" MBP has been great and I wouldnt change it for anything. If I spent more time in one place with it, I would consider getting a external monitor, but having everything in one place (backed up of course) cant be beat.
 
I've got two, a desktop and a laptop. To me, it's the best solution. As for syncing files, I don't even bother with that. Once in a while I'll get my iTunes libraries up to date, but that's it.
 
I have two computers.

One "Powerhouse" 3GHz Quadcore Hackintosh i can do e.g Handbrake Encodes and Home Video Editing on a 24 Screen on. And a Aluminium MacBook 2 GHz mostly for Web browsing and tinkering with other Networked devices in my home when i want to be near my wife.

If you need Data in one place, think about a NAS...
 
I personally use a desktop PC with a LCd display and a macbook pro which occasionally i will hook up the lcd to play games on boot camped windows...
see my MBP has more power for punch than my pc
 
I have 2.
Rev A Macbook Air to carry with me to the library and lectures for notes and papers.

And will order a new iMac (to replace my 4 year old powerbook) for my photography/video work as well as all the other normal computer stuff when I'm home.

I just use dropbox to share important docs between the two.
 
I have two.

My Core2Duo MacBook, which goes everywhere with me and is used for graphics work, email, and 'on-the-move' stuff.

I also have a 2009 Mac Mini, which is my home theatre and entertainment machine, dual boots XP for gaming (which it is surprisingly good at), and iPhone development.
 
Donar said:
One "Powerhouse" 3GHz Quadcore Hackintosh i can do e.g Handbrake Encodes and Home Video Editing on a 24 Screen on. And a Aluminium MacBook 2 GHz mostly for Web browsing and tinkering with other Networked devices in my home when i want to be near my wife.
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I hope your wife appreciates the consideration you're showing her! :D
 
I would much rather have, one expensive super powerful portable like a $2,000 MacBook Pro with a $200 24" monitor than a $1500 iMac and $1000 MacBook.

I have a MacBook Pro, and the family computer is a 20" iMac G5 iSight maxed out, it is the fastest G5 iMac ever made. I use it occasionally because it is a nice computer, I love the form factor but nothing beats my MacBook Pro.
 
TSE said:
I would much rather have, one expensive super powerful portable like a $2,000 MacBook Pro with a $200 24" monitor than a $1500 iMac and $1000 MacBook.

I have a MacBook Pro, and the family computer is a 20" iMac G5 iSight maxed out, it is the fastest G5 iMac ever made. I use it occasionally because it is a nice computer, I love the form factor but nothing beats my MacBook Pro.
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But the 2.93 or 3.06 Imacs will absolutely cream the top of the line MBPs, no?
 
I have two only because I need a powerhouse for one at least. I personally prefer one computer with all my files but sometimes things can get very limiting (Hard Drive space/CPU cores/Ram mostly).

Im using my Rev A MacBook Air as primary machine with my music library, academic/work files, e-mail, chat and such. Then the Octo Mac Pro with heavy duty work such as Virtual Machines (I need ram seriously... when my credit card is paid off next month I'll search for more) or photoshop/aperture stuff.

Its okay, but sometimes the files can get a bit disorganized. I have a 300GB tv show/movies collection (growing everyday) stored on the Mac Pro so the Mac Pro also turns into my HTPC (26" HDTV Connected along with 20" Dell Monitor)
 
Eric S. said:
I hope your wife appreciates the consideration you're showing her! :D
Click to expand...
Yes, she does. She recognizes i'm not always "lost" somewhere in the house, she can see some boring series on TV i'm occupied and not bored too. So we all are happy. :D Except when i screw up the HD Sat Receiver while tampering with it through the MacBook :eek:

[SIZE="-5"]*Nonetheless we do actually talk to each other...[/SIZE]
 
I like having two computers. The mac pro is always there, turned on and hooked up to dual monitors. No need to plug things in, just wake it up and its ready to go. Plus I can have stuff running while I am away.

MBP is perfect for when I need to travel or couch surf.

I think you could get away with only having a laptop, but you lose some processing power and dealing with connecting and disconnecting to a larger monitor (a necessity in my mind) is not worth it to me. However just having a desktop is too limiting for me.

Always nice to have a second computer for backup in case the other one has problems.
 
I have two and a PC. The shuttle PC for gaming and a Macbook Pro to a 24" monitor. The Macbook Pro is going to be replaced with a Mac Pro.

Then there is the air. It is used for getting online quick and doing server updates and checks. Damn hinges are broken but I can work with it till I get a Rev C.

So two machines is a must for me.
 
I have an old 20" iMac which I love... I bought it right before the first 24" came out :(

I also have a 17" Mac Book Pro but I'm giving that to my dad as much as I love it and am pained to get rid of it because I'm going to college next year and I need a smaller and more portable laptop

I'm getting another mac, not sure which yet, but the 17" was just too big :(

I'll probably get a 15" MBP but I'm considering the 13" 2.4 ghz aluminum mac book and then in a year or two I'll probably try to upgrade my iMac
 
I have one right now and it suits me fine—I've gotten used to the tiny screen.
But I'm going to be getting an iMac soon, and don't plan on getting rid of the iBook. While I suppose this technically puts me into the 2 computer desktop/laptop camp, I don't see myself using the laptop very much anymore. I noticed that I was toting it less and less over the last couple years, and then I got my iPod Touch a few months ago and it completely serves my mobile computing needs. If I needed a mobile solution, I would just get a macbook, since I do prefer one computer.
I just see no reason to get rid of a perfectly good computer. can't hurt to have a back-up. Might be fun to mod somehow (I have vague aspirations of a MAME cabinet).
 
I have a Power Mac for the iTunes stuff, but my MBP is the primary computer.
 
Right now I just have my macbook, a mac mini, and a linux server.
Ideally for me though, I'm planning on getting an iMac in august, letting the mac mini replace the linux server, and keep my macbook as my school computer.
 
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