Switching from PC to Mac - Need advice

[Mordo]

Hello, in the next few months I'm planning to change my aging 17" laptop for a mac. However I'm still trying to figure out what to buy.

I'm currently working away from home and I'm using my laptop to surf the web, read e-mails and watch tv shows and movie (streaming and dvd) when I'm in my room after work.

On the week-end, back home, I plug my laptop on my 21" screen, or plasma tv to do the same as above plus doing some 2D & 3D CAD design (AutoCad & SolidWorks), doing some image editing (Gimp, Inkscape), video editing (Sony Vegas Movie Studio) and sound editing (Soundforge).

I'm planning to install Windows 7 (already have a spare license) with bootcamp as some of office work I do over the week-end need to run on Windows (Project, timesheet application etc.)

So what I'm looking for is either a mackbook pro (probably 15" 2.2 GHz, 8 Gig RAM, 128 Gig SSD) or Mac mini, with max out RAM (for week-end work) + iPad 2 (for web browsing when I'm away). I don't want a Mac Pro as I got a laptop to get rid of the huge tower. And I'm considering a smaller laptop because I find my current laptop heavy and cumbersome to carry around.

Now I know that the current Mac mini is far from par with the MBP, should I wait for the mac mini upgrade? Would it be worth it?

Thanks

 

[Hellhammer]

Mac Mini will most likely be far behind the 15" MBP anyway. Sounds like the 15" MBP is better suited for your needs as it offers more power and is still very portable. iPad lacks a DVD drive so you couldn't watch DVDs while on the go.

 

[Mordo]

Mac Mini will most likely be far behind the 15" MBP anyway. Sounds like the 15" MBP is better suited for your needs as it offers more power and is still very portable. iPad lacks a DVD drive so you couldn't watch DVDs while on the go.

What can be expected from the Mac mini update?

As for no DVD on iPad, I can do without as I rip most of the show or movie I watch in order to put them on my WDTV...

 

[Hellhammer]

What can be expected from the Mac mini update?

Look at the 13" MBPs. I would still consider the 15" MBP as better deal though.

 

[balamw]

What can be expected from the Mac mini update?

It'll probably catch up with the low end MBP 13", at least for the high end model, but who knows for sure. (I would not count on quad core minis). EDIT: Hellhammer beat me to it.

Any reason you're not considering the high end 13" models? I find the 13" form factor really portable and really effective when connected to an external display.

Nothing wrong with my 15", but it is less toteable.

B

 

[Mordo]

Any reason you're not considering the high end 13" models? I find the 13" form factor really portable and really effective when connected to an external display.

Nothing wrong with my 15", but it is less toteable.

B

Actually, maybe it's just a PC guy old habits, but the quad core and dedicated graphic card is the reason I'm looking for 15"

 

[nefan65]

Actually, maybe it's just a PC guy old habits, but the quad core and dedicated graphic card is the reason I'm looking for 15"

You may future proof yourself a bit going that route. Or help with gaming. But don't use the same reasoning when getting a Mac vs. PC. OS X runs well on all the systems Apple makes. It's a matter of what you're doing with the system that dictates what you NEED. If you're doing mostly Web, email, some games, and even some light photo/video, the 13" is more than capable.

Suffice to say, the idea of "Over Buying/Provisioning" is a Windows thing, not a Mac thing.

PS: When I say PC, I'm referring to a Windows box. I know, I know...the Intel Macs ARE a PC...

 

[Mordo]

You may future proof yourself a bit going that route. Or help with gaming. But don't use the same reasoning when getting a Mac vs. PC. OS X runs well on all the systems Apple makes. It's a matter of what you're doing with the system that dictates what you NEED. If you're doing mostly Web, email, some games, and even some light photo/video, the 13" is more than capable.

Suffice to say, the idea of "Over Buying/Provisioning" is a Windows thing, not a Mac thing.

PS: When I say PC, I'm referring to a Windows box. I know, I know...the Intel Macs ARE a PC...

My concern is mostly with AutoCAD and Solidworks, that will be running under Windows 7...

But I totally agreed that "Overbuying/Provisionning" is a characteristic or consequence to many PC user

 

[Hellhammer]

My concern is mostly with AutoCAD and Solidworks, that will be running under Windows 7...

They will run fine on the 13" but of course the 15" would be a lot faster. Depends how important that stuff is for you. If it's just a hobby, then 13" should be sufficient. However, you would be able to take advantage of the faster hardware so unlike usually, you aren't buying a faster machine just to grow your virtual penis (that's what a lot PC guys do)

 

[balamw]

However, you would be able to take advantage of the faster hardware

Ultimately though, the proof is in the pudding.

My 2009 MBP 15" (2.8 GHz Core 2 Duo) significantly outperformed (~15-20% on my own benchmarks) a 2010 Dell Workstation (i5 520) that spec-for-spec it should have legged behind for some heavy Matlab and other Engineering software. Both were running W764 bit.

Note that there is a major issue with Solidworks and Parallels on recent Macs. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1043498/

Nothing wrong with a bit of overbuying, just that if you are looking at a mini's performance as acceptable and portability is a factor the current 13" strikes a good balance on both those fronts. The TB port makes up for the usual problem with the 13", constrained I/O.

B

 

[Mordo]

Thanks alot to everyone, I'll ponder this until next pay, and I'll let you know what MBP I bought. (You've already convinced me that the mac mini/iPad solution is not worth the wait)