Web Media Developer: rMBP as a work machine + Media Hub vs. Desktop + Air

[taylord22]

• What I have: iPad (3rd gen) + a 5 yr old --battery-less) Dell Inspiron (yeah...)
  
• What I work with everyday: 2011 iMac i7, 16 GB RAM
  
• Workflow: 15% Photo Editing; 10% Video Editing; 30% Coding; 20% Taskflow (omnigraffle); 25% Writing
  
• Programs of note I'll use: Photoshop; Screenflow; Omnigraffle; VMWare;
  
• A silly amount of multitasking

I'm looking to gain some advice from my fellow media developers/AV nerds. I need my set-up to be capable enough to handle a fairly wide workflow + be portable + function as a media hub. I've searched the forums extensively on the latter and it seems rare for someone to actually use a laptop + external hard drive as a media hub, set-up to stream to their Apple TV

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Budget: $2500 -- Though, I'd love to come in lower.

 

[taylord22]

Shameless Bump — sorry guys, I'm desperate for some wisdom.

 

[pjfan]

• What I have: iPad (3rd gen) + a 5 yr old --battery-less) Dell Inspiron (yeah...)
  
• What I work with everyday: 2011 iMac i7, 16 GB RAM
  
• Workflow: 15% Photo Editing; 10% Video Editing; 30% Coding; 20% Taskflow (omnigraffle); 25% Writing
  
• Programs of note I'll use: Photoshop; Screenflow; Omnigraffle; VMWare;
  
• A silly amount of multitasking

I'm looking to gain some advice from my fellow media developers/AV nerds. I need my set-up to be capable enough to handle a fairly wide workflow + be portable + function as a media hub. I've searched the forums extensively on the latter and it seems rare for someone to actually use a laptop + external hard drive as a media hub, set-up to stream to their Apple TV

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Budget: $2500 -- Though, I'd love to come in lower.

The rMBP will deliver on all your needs, and within your budget. I just purchased base rMBP with 16 gb ram + 2.6 CPU which notches just above your budget after taxes.

At home, I have a 2010 Mac mini with self installed SSD for OS + apps. EyeTV records our TV content, exports it iTunes and handbrake for physical media, with all content (including live recordings) saved on FireWire external HDD. It streams to our ATVs perfectly. The retina is one bad machine that smokes the minis.

One caveat, the mini is plugged into a 2009 time capsule via gigabit; I assume you're wireless up & down in your proposes scenario. Perhaps someone can advise how this works for them.

 

[taylord22]

The rMBP will deliver on all your needs, and within your budget. I just purchased base rMBP with 16 gb ram + 2.6 CPU which notches just above your budget after taxes.

At home, I have a 2010 Mac mini with self installed SSD for OS + apps. EyeTV records our TV content, exports it iTunes and handbrake for physical media, with all content (including live recordings) saved on FireWire external HDD. It streams to our ATVs perfectly. The retina is one bad machine that smokes the minis.

One caveat, the mini is plugged into a 2009 time capsule via gigabit; I assume you're wireless up & down in your proposes scenario. Perhaps someone can advise how this works for them.

Thanks for the reply! I am wireless up and down—an extreme and an express.

Do you feel like your Mac mini is a required piece of the set-up for streaming? Or would you feel comfortable plugging your rMBP into the external drives as needed? The only real reason I want portability is to work from the couch/bed.

 

[pjfan]

Thanks for the reply! I am wireless up and down—an extreme and an express.

Do you feel like your Mac mini is a required piece of the set-up for streaming? Or would you feel comfortable plugging your rMBP into the external drives as needed? The only real reason I want portability is to work from the couch/bed.

Haven't tried streaming with wireless up/down, but I can try.

I have the mini as content hub, so I haven't had a reason too.