Switching to Mac, a few questions for you all

[stridor]

Hi guys,

I've finally had it with M$ and Windoze. I'm switching to Mac. I picked up an iPhone, bought my wife a new MacBook and I am now looking to replace my home PC which just recently died. I have some questions I'm hoping to get your advice on.

My needs for my mac will be sorted primarily into 3 categories,

1. photo management and editing with Lightroom and Photoshop CS3
2. 1080p video editing with Final Cut Pro (I'm getting the new Canon 5d mkii soon)
3. Music and audio with Logic and Pro tools.

Now, I was wondering if the new MacBook Pro would be able to process the video at a decent speed, but I've kind of talked myself out of it because of an unknown to me; Would the MacBook Pro have enough power? I figure the Mac Pro is meant for these things and then some so why take a gamble?

I was planning on waiting for the new Mac Pros to be available (hopefully in January) but when I bought my wife a MacBook last week, the apple sales rep offered me what I consider an odd, but cool option. Buy a current Mac Pro from him, and he said if Apple release the new Mac Pro in January that he would "swap it out for a new one".. Has anyone heard of Apple sales reps doing this before? I didn't get into details with him because I was short on time, but if this is a legitimate apple supported option then I'd do it.. I need a new machine soon and waiting til January is seeming like forever!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the Apple sales rep option of swapping out the Mac Pro for the refresh in Jan, as well your advice on if the MacBook Pro would be able to handle my 3 main needs, or should I just stick with the Mac Pro? Mobility is not a huge issue for me. Lastly, do most people here opt for 3rd party Ram/HDD upgrades? I find the cost of those upgrades through Apple to be very high. Would buying 3rd party Ram and HDD's void an apple care warranty?

Cheers in advance for your help.
STRiDOR

 

[ntrigue]

Not to suggest the sales rep didn't tell you that but it's a highly unlikely scenario that likely won't play-out when the sales rep is working elsewhere next month.

I would go into the Apple Store and simulate an average product on the MBP that they have hooked-up to the 24" LED and see if you're pleased. All their computers are loaded with licensed software anyway.

 

[Diseal3]

Not to suggest the sales rep didn't tell you that but it's a highly unlikely scenario that likely won't play-out when the sales rep is working elsewhere next month.

I would go into the Apple Store and simulate an average product on the MBP that they have hooked-up to the 24" LED and see if you're pleased. All their computers are loaded with licensed software anyway.

Agreed. You need this statement in writing, I head many bad things about apple reps getting "amnesia" when it comes to a promise they made a while back. If you want me to be perfectly honest, If you need a mac go for the pro if you are a in need of a computer with horsepower CPU wise. If you are not doing anything TO graphic intensive the MBP suits my needs perfectly and I run the same software you do. (Early 2008 Model.) If you want a true opinion for the software you want, building a pc will be your BEST option. The reason being is because of the interchangeable video cards and CPU which is a must when it comes down to the latest graphic processing technology and fastest rendering times. Mac only supports up to a 8800 video cards and although the processors are amazing dual 2.8 cpu (Server Motherboard.) Its not practical as you cant update to intels latest and greatest chips (Slot incampatibility.) Im running 64 bit Vista and it works fine, smooth and fast.

 

[stridor]

If you are not doing anything TO graphic intensive the MBP suits my needs perfectly and I run the same software you do. (Early 2008 Model.)

Interesting. Are you actually editing and encoding 1080p footage? How does that compare to your PC's setup in terms of speed?

Thanks

 

[ChesterP]

An aluminium MacBook Pro should suit you just fine... self-upgrade the ram and you'll be fine. The new MBP's have dual GFX so you should be JUST fine with Final Cut Pro. Things you might want to think about is buying an external monitor, a good quality 24".

 

[digitalfrog]

I'm not sure any of the posters that suggest you will be fine with video editing on macbook pro have tried themselves...

Video editing, as in cutting and slicing will be fine.

But forget applying effects and so on, that will just take too long. I'm also a photographer and do video (at a much more amateurish level) and I'm so glad I upgraded to a Mac Pro.

I just bought it BTW, why wait ? It's already so powerful I could never saturate more than two cores out of the 8 I have ! And prices of memory and so on probably will go way up with the new architecture when/if it comes out in january, or Feb, March ????

Life is too short to wait :-0

 

[Wardotron]

The Macbook Pro is a powerful laptop, but to be honest for your needs I would go for a Mac Pro desktop, they cost a few quid but you'll be glad of the extra horsepower. I also imagine that you will get frustrated with the small screen size of a laptop in the long term. I would hold on until January as Mac Rumors suggests the Pro might be updated then.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

The Macbook Pro is a powerful laptop, but to be honest for your needs I would go for a Mac Pro desktop, they cost a few quid but you'll be glad of the extra horsepower. I also imagine that you will get frustrated with the small screen size of a laptop in the long term. I would hold on until January as Mac Rumors suggests the Pro might be updated then.

Pretty much my sentiments, too. Wait and see what the next upgrades bring, and then possibly consider a MBP when it has been upgraded, if you like it; (I have one and am very happy with it).

Cheers and good luck

 

[Les Kern]

I concur with the majority of posts.... There is simply no substitute for the Mac Pro loaded for bear. Sure, the MBP is a fine machine... very fine in fact, but it's really a question of productivity/time. Look at the typical benchmarks and you'll see that the MBP is fully 1/4 to 1/2 as powerful as a similarly equipped tower. For encoding a single ACC to an MP3 is but a few seconds, but "twice as fast" means HOURS when talking about working with 1080i video. Only you can make the determination by honestly answering what your actual use would be. And of course there is the portability quotient. Need that? If so you've answered your own question.
Either way you win I think.

 

[Les Kern]

Pretty much my sentiments, too. Wait and see what the next upgrades bring, and then possibly consider a MBP when it has been upgraded, if you like it; (I have one and am very happy with it).

Cheers and good luck

Nah. a speed bump of 5% just isn't worth waiting for... UNLESS he waits for the upgraded machines and grabs a machine from the refurbished or discontinued models area at Apple. Could save a LOAD of dough that way... I did when I got my daughters machine. WAS 1400, I got the 2.4Mhz iMac for 994.