The Age Old Dilemma

[LawnBoy95]

So I know this has been covered in other threads but I haven't found one that specifically covers my story.

I am in the process of changing out my non-functioning Dell M1530 Laptop, and am hoping to change over to a Mac Laptop.

I am a student and I use my computer for light picture editing, the occasional movie edit, Office, Internet, Email, Internet games, and Music. I am a fairly on the go person aswell. I just wonder if i'll need the extra power provided my the macbook and macbook pro.

The configurations I was thinking about were either a macbook (after the revision) or a macbook pro (with perhaps an Ipad for the on the go stuff) or a Macbook Air (After the upcoming revision). While I like the form factor of the Air, there is something to be said about the computer you get for your money with the macbook and Pro. Also the form factor of the air is more or less defeated by all the external drives and what not that are required. This also makes it quite expensive for less of a computer than the pro. Mind you I rarely use some of the external accesories so I likely won't have to carry it all the time.

What is your opinion?

Also is it worth getting parrells for this computer if I have a fairly powerful PC desktop that functions fairly well.

Thanks for your advice.

 

[r0k]

I have a 3.5 year old Macbook that is showing its age but working well enough for me to make until the next Macbook Pro refresh. I've been tempted by MBA, iMac and MBP but I always come back to MBP as the best all around solution. Bear in mind I have an iPad 1 for my ultra portable machine. As for Parallels, I never bothered with it because I didn't want to give up the disk space. Now that I've upgraded to a 500 GB drive, I might just find the time to install Parallels so I can tinker with stuff I haven't seen since I walked away from Windows for home use.

 

[ChrisA]

..

Also is it worth getting parrells for this computer if I have a fairly powerful PC desktop that functions fairly well.

Thanks for your advice.

Is there some Windows application you can't do without that you need to ake with you. If so then get VMWare (not Parallels) and a notebook powerful enough and with enough RAM and disk space to run it.

VMWare has the advantage that it runs one other host OSes. You can get VMware to run on the Windows PC, on Linux and on the Mac and the you can move the VM disk images and the VMs are portable. VMware has free "players" so you can send an image file and run it anyplace. Parallels is mac only

Same for "Oracle's "Virtual Box" except VB is free, so it's the best deal out there.

If you need any of these get the MBP and 8GB RAM

 

[Orlandoech]

Macbook air over Macbook imo.

MacBook Pro if you want POWER
Macbook Air if you want PORTABILITY

 

[BiggAW]

Depends on what you want. Air is a toy, not a main computer. But it looks cool. I have a Pro, and I wouldn't give it up for size, as it is a portable but FULLY functioning computer that can out compute most desktops out there.

 

[LawnBoy95]

Thanks for the input.

I was unsure if the MBA had the abillity to run online games (like miniclip or addicting games)

I think I certainly need portability over performance If Im not editing a zillion movies. But as long as it is good for the occasional movie edit I think it should work. Is it debilitatingly slow for movies?

Depending on the refresh product I think I will go for a 11 inch and then buy a larger monitor for home. Is there a real difference between the 11 and 13 inch other than the obvious? Does anyone think and Ipad+MBP is a better option?

Thanks for the help

 

[Sackvillenb]

Don't forget, if you have the money you can upgrade the specs on the air and get the best of both worlds. You'll just need an external optical drive. But, of course, wait until the air gets refreshed!