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SnowLeopard2008

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jul 4, 2008
6,772
19
Silicon Valley
I was thinking about selling my 15" MBP that I got last summer. It's the 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo model with the 9400M/9600M GT graphics cards. I was thinking about maybe replacing it with the new 13" MacBook Pro and Mac Mini. Thoughts?
 
I was thinking portability? When I bought it, I thought I would carry it with me to places. It's not that big of a deal but since I have an iPad, my MBP sits on my desk the entire day. I have brought my iPad with me to several classes I'm taking this summer and found no speed/performance issues or compatibility problems. Heck, I even wrote an essay in Pages and turned it online on my iPad without ever touching my MBP.
 
Do you need more portability and a desktop? Also, how demanding is your usage?

Maybe just getting the Mini is enough as iPad seems to satisfy your potability needs
 
Do you need more portability and a desktop? Also, how demanding is your usage?

Maybe just getting the Mini is enough as iPad seems to satisfy your potability needs

I do need a laptop from time to time, just not as frequently as before I got the iPad. I do some light video editing for my YouTube channel as well as Dreamweaver, Flash and Photoshop work. In the future, I'm moving from iMovie to Final Cut Express for some videos. I know that just a Mini won't cut it for me. I would love the iMac + 13" MacBook set up but I'm only 16 years old and I pay for everything.

The iPad only satisfies my need for a computer in certain types of classes. I took computer programming classes in the past and will do so in the future, and the iPad won't even come close in this situation. This summer, it's Macro Economics and College English at a local community college. The iPad is where I take notes, record parts of lectures, surf the web, access BlackBoard/Web CT, etc.
 
I do need a laptop from time to time, just not as frequently as before I got the iPad. I do some light video editing for my YouTube channel as well as Dreamweaver, Flash and Photoshop work. I know that just a Mini won't cut it for me. I would love the iMac + 13" MacBook set up but I'm only 16 years old and I pay for everything.

Why not to just keep your current MBP as it's faster than 13"? Get an external monitor and make it a desktop. If you need more portability, sell it and grab a 13" but it's a downgrade in terms of performance. You already have an iPad so IMO 13" would be pretty useless as 15" ain't that much bigger and iPad should satisfy most of your portability needs.

I wouldn't do anything else but switch the 15" for 13" if portability is worth more than power. Can't see any use for the Mini
 
Why not to just keep your current MBP as it's faster than 13"? Get an external monitor and make it a desktop. If you need more portability, sell it and grab a 13" but it's a downgrade in terms of performance. You already have an iPad so IMO 13" would be pretty useless as 15" ain't that much bigger and iPad should satisfy most of your portability needs.

I wouldn't do anything else but switch the 15" for 13" if portability is worth more than power. Can't see any use for the Mini

That's what I'm doing right now. But sometimes, I want to upload or encode a video and bring my MBP with me, I can't. I was thinking, let one machine do something, and another machine do something else. The base 13" MBP isn't that much of a downgrade in performance. The CPU is slightly slower in clock speed but is the same series as my 15". The graphics card is faster but it's not faster than my dedicated 9600M GT. The iPad is more of a toy than an actual computer. It's a tablet, but it's not a "computer".
 
That's what I'm doing right now. But sometimes, I want to upload or encode a video and bring my MBP with me, I can't. I was thinking, let one machine do something, and another machine do something else. The base 13" MBP isn't that much of a downgrade in performance. The CPU is slightly slower in clock speed but is the same series as my 15". The graphics card is faster but it's not faster than my dedicated 9600M GT. The iPad is more of a toy than an actual computer. It's a tablet, but it's not a "computer".

Well, this is completely up to you. 13" is a great piece of hardware so if you find the extra portability it provides crucial, go ahead and do it. If you really want power, build a PC and Hackintosh it. That provides more speed than Mini or MBP can offer, for less $. That can be used solely for encoding and as storage
 
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