save for macbook pro, macbook air or upgrade imac

[lamerlizer]

i'm in a dilemma... i've always wanted a 15 inch macbook pro to replace my macbook. but recently my dad bought an imac which i fell deeply in love with. i use my macbook most of the time because i am a polytechnic student (singapore) and it has all my documents in it. at home i rather use the imac because of its big screen and everything. this imac really put me in this difficult position. oh btw i do photoshopping and illustration and going into photography. HD space is very vital. and DVDs can't keep up with my data backup anymore ( i use time machine also) and i don't have a blu ray writer.
so i was thinking if i should save up for a macbook pro, macbook air, blackbook or upgrade my imac to 2.5gb ram and 750gb external, so in total 1tb of disk space.


macbook air
pros:

thin as hell
small
screen is just right. but more is better
light
aluminum
if i got this, i'll still utilize the imac, so i put my imac to good use, not wasting my imac

cons:

kinda ugly (i'm sorry its my opinion) esp the magsafe
footprint is the same as the macbook so it doesn't make much diff
hard disk is slow and small
expensive. it costs US$ 2100 here.



macbook pro:
pros:

will definitely become my primary computer if i buy
bigger screen
matte
aluminum
considerably light for that size
powerful


cons:
big as hell! (i find the macbook quite big already)
heavier (macbook is already heavy for me)
super expensive
hard disk space is little ( its a portable, can't do much, and can't afford an external for awhile if i buy this)


imac upgrade:
pros:
HD space ( 160 gig just isn't enough for me)
relatively cheaper to upgrade than to buy the two of the above
makes my sexy imac even sexier


cons:
its a new imac! it would be a huge waste to neglect it
can't show off to my pc friends ( its my apple pride XD)
its not a portable, can't use it on my bed or outside




how how how... zzz
oh is there a perfect software to sync my imac with my portable?images and music and documents and calender. i know that .mac does that, but only for small things like calender and addressbook and lame things like dock placements

 

[NAG]

Honestly unless you would benefit from the smaller size and less weight of a Macbook Air I'd just upgrade the iMac. And that is a perfectly good reason too.

 

[Trishul]

at the very least you could invest in an high capacity external hard drive, that way even if you do decide to get a notebook, you'll have a form of storage that will make it easy to manually sync data between your iMac and MB/A/P.. and if you find DVDs too small, you should definately invest in a 500GB-1TB external/internal drive.

Also you can now get pretty fast 7200rpm 200GB hard drives for the MBP, and being in Singapore i can only imagine you'll find them easier and cheaper than here in the west.

If you find the Macbook heavy then that's a simple solution, either start working out, or don't get one and wait until the Air is financially sensible for you. 80GB-160GB on a laptop should really be enough for Photo CS3 work, if it isn't buy an external USB powered 250GB hard drive (they're small light, and only need the one cable), and i really can't see how you'd need more space when out and about. I edit video on location, and i find 160GB in my MBP and a fast 100GB LaCie Rugged more than enough for my needs. When i get home i simply upload everything to my big external drives.

for syncing
http://sidesh0w.com/weblog/2005/02/02/mac_sync/

 

[elberggreno]

I would go for the MBP, as of now you can have 640GB drive space on that one 2X320GB, in februari you'll be able to have a whopping 1 TB of drive space, shure a bit expensive but you could always wait before upgrading..

320GB drives available now, Samsung will release a 500GB drive in feb.
Dual drives by using the superdrive-port.. see http://www.mcetech.com/optibay/

 

[lamerlizer]

wow! thanks guys. i think i've decided. macbook pro with an external hard disk. oh man i'm still gonna neglect my imac, dam dam dam