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The Ultimate Mac

M

machopeful

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 1, 2007
133
294
hello all,

this is my first post here on macrumors and ive been following closely on various users opinions regarding the wonderful world of mac. its officail guys, ive convinced my parents to get me a mac. no more windows for me!!!

as a 15 year old sophomore in high school, it became apparent that a new computer would be necessary to follow the school curriculm with ease. ive decided to wait for leopard as my first OS but im still having trouble deciding whether or not to get the desktop or laptop. i will be using my mac for all my school work (presentations, word documents, research etc.) and will be running the computer for about 5-8 hours a day with constant usage. to be honest, this computer will go with me until the end of my freshman year at college. i will do some video editing and music editing and enjoy my computer as much as i can. the reason ive also considered the notebook is the portabiliy factor and small size. but when they released the new iMacs with the glass and aluminum enclosure, how can anyone in the right mind pass that up? my father has decided himself to get the 24inch iMac and said that i should pick up the notebook. but the desktop is amazing. so its between the 13inch blackbook and the 20inch 320gb HD iMac. they are also the same price so it truly is a hard decision. and i also adore the iMacs screen, so there is a plus.


so from all Mac users, which would be a more viable computer to get until the end of my freshman year at college? i prefer portability, but i am willing to sacrifice that for the beautiful desktop.

P.S. my mom is getting it for me as an early BDAY present (bday is on the 16th of november) and she thinks im getting the laptop, so should i stick with the notebook or go for the desktop.


thanking you all,

machopeful
 
Are you going to be a resident or a commuter at college? If you are going to commute, then I would say go with the MacBook.

Otherwise, unless you need/really want the mobility I would go with a new iMac. :) :apple:
 
I was in the same boat; went with a desktop. NOT disappointed, I do however go to a small private (catholic...) school and no one takes laptops to class and there is a computer (albeit, vista) at every turn.

What I am saying is consider where you are going to school first and see what makes since.
 
im looking at attending rice university in houston, and like i said, its until the end of my freshman year.


it is, i beleive, required to stay on campus for my first year, so no commute. i may also pick up a notebook before college. just a thought
 
From someone who has a desktop

if you would consider an iMac a "desktop" I have one. I got an iMac G5 as a graduation present. I wish I would have gone with a notebook. Whenever I am at curtain places sitting there I always find myself thinking, "I could be doing something more productive if I had a notebook." Don't get me wrong though, I am still incredibly happy with my iMac G5. :apple:
 
Well... unless you need the graphics card in the imac for something... and since your dad is picking up the 24inch imac anyway (which i'm sure he'll let you use for anything you really NEED it for in the meantime while you are at home) I would go with the blackbook. And if you have a part time job (or are going to get one when you turn 16) you could pick up a nice 19 or 22 inch external to hook the blackbook to, so you get the best of both worlds :)

HOWEVER... unless you are really really particularly lovin the black, perhaps go for the white and pick up an external harddrive (if you need the space) and monitor from the get go...

OR I know I know.. I forget how much blackbook is, but perhaps a refurb macbook pro lower end? I think they are comparible in price to the blackbook. It just seems that you are paying extra money for color, and perhaps a refurb MBP would give you the best of both worlds, slightly faster, better graphics card...

Just a thought.

Either way, You don't need portability now for school, but in my experience, college it will come in handy for your first year of college, and it might be nice to have and hold on to just for taking notes after freshman year, you can just get a nice super desktop at that point, and you'll still have a great little portable note taking machine still around in this macbook :)

not to mention, it sure is nice to be able to chill on the sofa or in bed with your computer sometimes, specially writing late night papers and stuff even in HS.
 
I have a laptop because I need it for school. But I would prefer a desktop, and will get one when I graduate and no longer need a laptop.
 
Refurb Macbook 2.16 GHz, 2 GB of RAM and Hitachi 7K200 (200 GB) from Newegg, and you have a screaming fast notebook with a massive HD (for a notebook) for $1400 delivered (you can keep the original HD in an external USB 2.0 enclosure as a backup or sell it, and keep the original RAM for an emergency, or sell that too). $50 less than a BlackBook (even bigger difference if you sell your original RAM and HD), but twice the RAM, and much faster HD with 25% higher capacity. Except for apps that rely heavily on 3D acceleration, almost as fast as a MacBook Pro.
 
If you can swing a Macbook with a 20" or larger (24" is better) screen from Dell or someone cheaper than Apple (just as good), that might work out well for you. Get the 24". Trust me.

In college, you WILL need a notebook anyway, and you'll already have a screen for it. You'll be guaranteeing your money's worth on the screen.

You can use any old USB mouse & keyboard (which you prob already have lying around) to make it a desktop.

By college, if your MB is still functional, you can take it with you to class for note-taking and use it as a beater computer. Transporting notebooks back and forth everyday is really hard on them unless you take really good care of them.

Don't expect the computer to last you until your freshman year of college, other than surfing and word processing. Video editing will be difficult, music might be possible.

By then, it'll be perfect for those things & you'll probably want a more powerful computer for the programs you'll want to run then.

For now, spend less, get the Macbook and a screen. 5-8 hours??? why?

20" screen is really too small. I like the iMac otherwise. This setup gives you flexibility. I've used it before and it works like a charm (yeah, and we currently have 4 macs waiting on a 5th).

Hope everything works out well for you. Don't forget to hug and kiss your parents with a big "Thank You!".
 
piggybacking kbub,

get an external hard drive. get a big one from G-technology (the most reliable drives we've ever used- we are not nice to our externals (video editing)). Your entire family can use it to backup their stuff. At least 500GB if you're going to get one. You'll need it if you do any video editing. Not sure a Macbook would do so well in that dept. FCP, yes. Motion, no.
 
seany916 said:
If you can swing a Macbook with a 20" or larger (24" is better) screen from Dell or someone cheaper than Apple (just as good), that might work out well for you. Get the 24". Trust me.

In college, you WILL need a notebook anyway, and you'll already have a screen for it. You'll be guaranteeing your money's worth on the screen.

You can use any old USB mouse & keyboard (which you prob already have lying around) to make it a desktop.

By college, if your MB is still functional, you can take it with you to class for note-taking and use it as a beater computer. Transporting notebooks back and forth everyday is really hard on them unless you take really good care of them.

Don't expect the computer to last you until your freshman year of college, other than surfing and word processing. Video editing will be difficult, music might be possible.

By then, it'll be perfect for those things & you'll probably want a more powerful computer for the programs you'll want to run then.

For now, spend less, get the Macbook and a screen. 5-8 hours??? why?

20" screen is really too small. I like the iMac otherwise. This setup gives you flexibility. I've used it before and it works like a charm (yeah, and we currently have 4 macs waiting on a 5th).

Hope everything works out well for you. Don't forget to hug and kiss your parents with a big "Thank You!".
Click to expand...


absoultuely!!! and thank you all for the responses. i think ive narrowed down to the notebook and i guess the main concern is the beauty of the screen. how is the screen? is it sharp and vivid like the iMac itself?
 
and are the iSight cameras good at taking videos? (i will use the camera to take a video review for youtube once i get the notebook)

is it fast at capturing video?
 
look at the reviews already on youtube for the mac. A LOT of them were done with the camera in the computer itself.. and they all look pretty decent as far as youtube world goes.

Once again, if you are going for the blackbook anyway... I'd check into a refurb mbp if you want to do video stuff like some people mentioned.. unless you just really like the look of the blackbook.

From what I have seen the macbook screens are pretty nice (although I am very anti glossy being one of the reasons i got a refurb pro instead) and vivid it seems. If you have an external monitor the size won't be an issue, so yeah.. for normal stuff, nice.

:)

Enjoy your new comp when you get it! :)
 
Seany..... he's a SOPHMORE in HS... by my calculations, his freshman year in college will only be 3.5 years ish... his computer will be able to still hold it's own by then! I have a core-duo mbp... which is techniqly almost a 2 year old computer as far as tech goes... and it's not coming near it's end. My tibook lasted 6 years and was still plugging along with simple video editing and graphics stuff pretty darn well... when i finally upgraded to intel.

No doubt in my mind that this computer will last FINE till freshman year and for more then just word processing and surfing.
 
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