What to buy?

[Wilmario]

Hi eveyone,

I currently have a windows laptop (Dell studio XPS 1640), but for the new schoolyear, I would like to switch to Mac. I am not sure what to buy though. I will use it mostly for Music recording/ editing (Logic), Photoshop, Flash and maybe some gaming. I don't mind if it is a desktop like the Imac, because I have an Ipad which I can use when I am on the road. My budget is max €1300,- below you will find the pro's and cons that I have with every mac within my budget.

Imac
- The problem is that the Imac is over a year old when it comes to specs and even though there are rumours it will be updated on the same day as Mountain Lion will come out, it could be in oktober or even 2013. But for only a €1080,- (with student discount) it is the best one when it comes to specs.

The Macbook pro 13 inch.
- The biggest problem I have with the Macbook pro is that it has no seperate GPU and that is someting I really need for Phtoshop. It is very portable though, so if I need something heavier then my Ipad this would work.

The Macbook Air 13 inch
- The same cons as with the Macbook pro 13 inch plus it has less connectivity options. I saw in several benchmarks that the Macbook Air with a bit of upgrading is even faster then the Macbook Pro. Ultra portable

The Macbook Air 11 inch.
Same as Macbook Air 13 inch except I can upgrade this one fully to 8 GB of Ram and the core i7 which would make it pretty fast. I have an external screen so the small screen is not that big of a problem.

Does anyone have any advice for me, when it comes to what would be the best option for what I will do with my Mac?

 

[Jackintosh]

Recommend looking into Mac Mini.

 

[RedCroissant]

Hi eveyone,

I currently have a windows laptop (Dell studio XPS 1640), but for the new schoolyear, I would like to switch to Mac. I am not sure what to buy though. I will use it mostly for Music recording/ editing (Logic), Photoshop, Flash and maybe some gaming. I don't mind if it is a desktop like the Imac, because I have an Ipad which I can use when I am on the road. My budget is max €1300,- below you will find the pro's and cons that I have with every mac within my budget.

Imac
- The problem is that the Imac is over a year old when it comes to specs and even though there are rumours it will be updated on the same day as Mountain Lion will come out, it could be in oktober or even 2013. But for only a €1080,- (with student discount) it is the best one when it comes to specs.

The Macbook pro 13 inch.
- The biggest problem I have with the Macbook pro is that it has no seperate GPU and that is someting I really need for Phtoshop. It is very portable though, so if I need something heavier then my Ipad this would work.

The Macbook Air 13 inch
- The same cons as with the Macbook pro 13 inch plus it has less connectivity options. I saw in several benchmarks that the Macbook Air with a bit of upgrading is even faster then the Macbook Pro. Ultra portable

The Macbook Air 11 inch.
Same as Macbook Air 13 inch except I can upgrade this one fully to 8 GB of Ram and the core i7 which would make it pretty fast. I have an external screen so the small screen is not that big of a problem.

Does anyone have any advice for me, when it comes to what would be the best option for what I will do with my Mac?

It looks like you would prefer a laptop as opposed to a desktop but you would settle for a laptop if that was your only choice. I would recommend looking at the Apple refurbished 15" MBP. That way you get more screen real estate, upgradeable RAM, larger hard drive, ODD(in case you need) and a separate graphics card. It will still be an awesome machine and this way you'd be able to take your work on photoshop with you instead of finding another solution to augment a desktop.

You can get a refurbished 15" MBP 2.2 GHz i7 for $1,359 which I think is in your budget and a much better choice than the options you already listed.

 

[LeandrodaFL]

Imac and MacMini will probably be updatred with Mountain Lion.

Do you already have a screen? If so, get MacMini when updated, great introduction to Mac and a lot cheaper.

 

[miles01110]

If you have an iPad I'd just go with the iMac when it gets updated. When does school start?