Switching to Mac

[Blaklyte]

Well I know I'm not the first one to ask this question but I have a hard time to decide. I want to buy my first Mac, switching from my 5 years old computer, I been shopping for a Mac for a long time (2 years) but I'm pretty sure next week will be the week I will order my computer.

I finally made my mind for the screen, I will get the anti-glare HD screen. But I don't know if I should buy the 15" i5 2.4 or the i7. I was thinking of buying the 2.4 and update the hard drive later on.

What I want to know is what kind of battery life are we looking at with a 5400 hard drive vs a 7200 hard drive. What I will do with the computer is game (Diablo 3 / WoW / CS:S and other), the normal browsing and watch movies. I will also use the computer for video and music editing.

Could you please give me your input on this. Thanks for all your help. I might not reply for a couple of days because I will not have access to a computer. I'm going on vacation and I will try to stop by the Mac Store and see if I can look at the anti-glare HD screen and check the forum at the same time.

 

[Giuly]

Video Editing? i7, it's just +$200 and it will have a higher resell value. And a 7200RPM hard drive. If you use i.e. a WD Scorpio Black 500GB 7200RPM, you won't notice much about the battery lifetime, because Apples 5400RPM drives are old. There is the Momentus XT with a SSD-Cache of 4GB which boots the system faster and starts most used Apps faster.

A new, 500GB Scorpio Black 7200RPM draws as much power as the Toshiba 5400RPM drive Apple puts in the MBP. The Scorpio Blue 5400RPM even less.
The Momentus XT with it's SSD-Cache a little more.

Posts #9 and #15 eliminate most questions regarding 2.5" hard drives.

 

[Hellhammer]

Is video and music editing your job or just a hobby? If it's just a hobby, I would get 2.4GHz because your money income is not dependent on the speed of the machine. If it's your work or work related, get the best you can as you will have more time to do the work and wait less when it's rendering&encoding etc

 

[Blaklyte]

Is video and music editing your job or just a hobby? If it's just a hobby, I would get 2.4GHz because your money income is not dependent on the speed of the machine. If it's your work or work related, get the best you can as you will have more time to do the work and wait less when it's rendering&encoding etc

Video and music editing is just a hobby I would like to start. My computer right now is not really up for the task.

 

[Giuly]

Video and music editing is just a hobby I would like to start. My computer right now is not really up for the task.

Spend $120 to max out the RAM to 3GB - You'll be amazed what that thing can do.
$100 for a faster hard drive - it'll fly, but you could skip that.
After that, you can keep that machine another year or two. Apple gives you for this amount of money a keyboard, a wireless mouse, a pair of in-ear headphones and a lolly. If you just update the RAM, you'd get an Apple keyboard, a wired mouse - and no lolly.

 

[Mac7]

Get the base model

 

[Hellhammer]

Spend $120 to max out the RAM to 3GB - You'll be amazed what that thing can do.
$100 for a faster hard drive - it'll fly, but you could skip that.
After that, you can keep that machine another year or two. Apple gives you for this amount of money a keyboard, a wireless mouse, a pair of in-ear headphones and a lolly.

2GHz single core AMD isn't really suitable for video and music editing. Those upgrades could make it usable for some time but I think OP was looking for a new computer, not upgrading his ancient one. That 220$ can be put towards the new one

 

[Blaklyte]

2GHz single core AMD isn't really suitable for video and music editing. Those upgrades could make it usable for some time but I think OP was looking for a new computer, not upgrading his ancient one. That 220$ can be put towards the new one

Yeah you're right, and I would like to upgrade to a laptop. I will keep my old computer as a media server.

 

[Giuly]

2GHz single core AMD isn't really suitable for video and music editing.

My 3400+ (Call it 2.4GHz if you like) wasn't really much slower on single threaded tasks than my 2,66GHz Mini. There's a reason they called that one 3400+, and still is. For multi-threading stuff, you might be right. But I doubt he's going to render 2 hour movies in 1080p in his learning phase. Nor render full orchestra Midi arrangements.

However, if you need a laptop, good choice for a Macbook, you'll be satisfied with it. As I stated, get the i7 for $200 more. It's faster, and if you sell it to get a new one in a couple of years, you'll get more. Yes, you can sell a 3 year old MacbookPro and actually get real money for it, unlike PC laptops where most of them won't be worth more then $100-200.

If you're capable to use your hands and a screwdriver, don't do any BTO (Build-to-order, the things you configure on the Apple Store website when you order it) upgrades, upgrade the RAM and the hard drive yourself, you get better stuff for less money. It's all described in easy steps on iFixit.

Oh, and you want to stick in another GB of RAM in your current PC anyways, the cheaper kind for $35 will do, even if you use it as a file server. You'll regret that you haven't done this years before. If you don't believe it, take out 512MB and boot it up - you see what I mean then. Back in 2004, I paid $240 for 2x512MB DDR-400 CL2, it was what 2x4GB of DDR3-1333 CL7 is now. Today you pay $35 for 1GB DDR-400 CL3, and it's worth it.

The two at the top: $240 in 2004
The one at the bottom: $50 in 2009
Increase in overall system speed: priceless.
(And yes, the iPhone 3G camera sucks.)

These things however consume far too much power to run 24/7 as a file server, but $62 for an Atom board and $40 for memory correct that.

 

[Blaklyte]

Thanks Guily for all your help. I'm at the Apple store right now. I checked the Anti-Glare and I like it way more then the glossy one even with the silver bezel I think it looks better. They have the computer I want right here and I could get the student special as well that would be awesome. But the only problem is that I need to give them a proof that I'm a student and I can't.

Also I was talking to one of the rep here and he was explaining mobilMe. It looked kinda cool. Do you guys think that the service is worth it. Any of you are using that?

 

[Hellhammer]

Thanks Guily for all your help. I'm at the Apple store right now. I checked the Anti-Glare and I like it way more then the glossy one even with the silver bezel I think it looks better. They have the computer I want right here and I could get the student special as well that would be awesome. But the only problem is that I need to give them a proof that I'm a student and I can't.

Also I was talking to one of the rep here and he was explaining mobilMe. It looked kinda cool. Do you guys think that the service is worth it. Any of you are using that?

Don't you have student ID or some kind of acceptance letter? MobileMe is cool but don't buy it from Apple, it goes for 40 bucks in eBay

 

[Blaklyte]

Don't you have student ID or some kind of acceptance letter? MobileMe is cool but don't buy it from Apple, it goes for 40 bucks in eBay

No I couldn't give a proof at that point and we didn't have place in the car to bring the computer and the printer. I checked and there's about 350$ difference between the i5 and the i7. So at this point I'm still debating the i5 and i7

 

[Blaklyte]

Well I was shopping yesterday and I decided to not by the Applecare from the apple store and will buy it on ebay later. So right there I'm saving 275$. So the base model i5 with the HD screen is 2136$can, tax included. The i7 with HD screen is 2475$can, tax included. So it would be a difference of 330$.

I was wondering if I add ram or change the hard drive on the computer do the applecare still valid.

 

[Blaklyte]

Well I made up my mind and I will buy the i5. I don't need the power of the i7. That way I'm saving about 350$ and I will upgrade the ram and hard drive later. I'm sure the i5 should be enough to play WoW and Diablo 3 and do the little music and video editing I will do.

Any thoughts before I buy it, I will order tonight.