Should I buy another 15" MBP, 13" MBP + 24" monitor, or 27" iMac + use old MBP?

[cleung]

Let me preface this by saying I'm not looking at buying for another month as I'm waiting to see what comes out from Apple at the end of the month but I've been trying to figure out which combo works for me. I currently have a Rev A 15 in MBP which is almost 4 years old. I've maxed out on RAM and replaced it with a 300 GB hard drive but it's getting really slow. I do a lot of photos when I travel and I travel everywhere (work and pleasure) with my Mac. I just started a new job and will be traveling a lot but will also have my work PC with me.

So I've thought about the following options:
1. Replacing my 15 in MBP with another 15 in MBP when the new one comes out;
2. Buying a 13 in MBP which will be easier to travel with and buying a 24 in monitor so I can plug it in at home and work on photos;
3. Buying a 27 in iMac and use it as my main computer while taking my old MBP on the road with me so I wouldn't worry about banging up a new MBP. When I'm on the road, I don't do heavy duty "work" on photos, etc.

Does anyone out there use their computer the same way I do and can give me suggestions as to which option has worked for them? I originally thought about getting two new computers but (1) not sure I want to spend so much and (2) want to avoid syncing back and forth. Any advice is much appreciated.

 

[Airforcekid]

It seems as if a MacBook Air is better suited for you and a low end iMac however I would keep the mbp and buy a new iMac second get i7 if you do!

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Let me preface this by saying I'm not looking at buying for another month as I'm waiting to see what comes out from Apple at the end of the month but I've been trying to figure out which combo works for me. I currently have a Rev A 15 in MBP which is almost 4 years old. I've maxed out on RAM and replaced it with a 300 GB hard drive but it's getting really slow. I do a lot of photos when I travel and I travel everywhere (work and pleasure) with my Mac. I just started a new job and will be traveling a lot but will also have my work PC with me.

So I've thought about the following options:
1. Replacing my 15 in MBP with another 15 in MBP when the new one comes out;
2. Buying a 13 in MBP which will be easier to travel with and buying a 24 in monitor so I can plug it in at home and work on photos;
3. Buying a 27 in iMac and use it as my main computer while taking my old MBP on the road with me so I wouldn't worry about banging up a new MBP. When I'm on the road, I don't do heavy duty "work" on photos, etc.

Does anyone out there use their computer the same way I do and can give me suggestions as to which option has worked for them? I originally thought about getting two new computers but (1) not sure I want to spend so much and (2) want to avoid syncing back and forth. Any advice is much appreciated.

I also have a Rev A MBP. (2.0 GHz, 256 MB video card, 2 GB RAM, still the 'stock' upgraded 100 GB 7200 RPM hard drive.) I use mine as my primary computer, for everything from web browsing on the road to holding my (gigantic) iTunes library, (gigantic) iPhoto library, and (insanely enormous) iMovie library (all on separate external hard drives.) I do all my movie editing, photo editing, etc, on my MBP. (I do have an external 1920x1080 display that I use along with the internal when I'm at my desk.)

So I'd say I'm very much in the same situation as you. And I've been considering a new computer as well.

With Apple apparently skipping the four-core Core i7 8xxQM series (Clarksfield) and apparently going for the dual-core Core i7 6xx series (Arrandale,) I'm starting to wonder about wether to get a MBP or an iMac as well. I do a lot of video editing, and I *REALLY* want four cores.

At this point, I'm leaning toward a Core i5 iMac. *MUCH* faster for video editing, and for what I would use the mobile for, my existing MBP would work just fine. For music/movies, I already have to 'sync' what I would want to hear mobile because they're stored on external drives at home as it is; so that wouldn't be a huge change.

For documents, I'll likely move to some "in the cloud" storage. I subscribe to MobileMe, so I'll probably set both computers to Sync my iDisk, and store files I need to share on there. (There are vaguely similar free services to accomplish the same task, but they require you to install software if you want the sync to be automatic.) And if you have *NIX command-line scripting experience, you can even script it to happen solely over your local network using some built-in command-line utility whose name escapes me at the moment.

Of course, if you don't do much heavily-CPU-intensive work, a new dual-core Arrandale MBP would probably work just fine. And if you want the extra screen real estate, a 13"+display would probably be your best bet.

 

[cleung]

Thanks for all the ideas. I did consider a MacBook Air about a year ago but have completely ruled it out now. It doesn't really seem to suit my needs, especially for the price.

I do subscribe to MobileMe but have hardly made use of iDisk except for a few occasions but as ehurtley suggested, I could do more with it, making it easier to "share" files between my computers.

I'm definitely leaning towards the i5...instead of another MBP but I haven't used a desktop in sooooo long...almost 10 years! I guess as long as I still have my old MBP that I can take everywhere, I'll be fine.... Do I really need an i7??

Decisions, decisions...