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Which is better for video, photography & graphics?

M

Mantronix

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 21, 2007
177
0
Louisiana
Imac 24" or the Macbook Pro?

I'm in the process of starting a new business in within the next 6 months. It revolves around wedding digital photography and videography. I'm relatively new to Macs and I've been a longtime PC user for the past 15 years. Like new members I'm fed up with Windows. I've been doing tons of research and reading regarding Macs/OX S and I will definitely make the switch. My question is which will be best Mac for what I need?

I went to CompUSA (we don't have an apple store where I live at) and compared systems. I really liked the real estate of the IMac 24" screen and how bright the display was. A good display is very important for the type of work I will be doing. It's bright and has alot of room where I can run multiple programs as I work. The MBP is very nice and the portability of a laptop comes in very handy. I can do my work almost anywhere. In the bed, toilet, couch or my backyard. I can do my work even on my other job. Plus I can use a laptop, I already own 2 desktops. I've read some posts on the forum comparing IMacs to MBPs and how that MBP can be upgraded but Imacs can't? Can someone please explain that to me. Also I don't want to spend no more than $2500-2600.00 on my initial purchase. I'm leaning towards the IMac 24" but I want to make sure I'm buying the right machine.
 
I would totally recomend a MacBook Pro. For 2500 you can get a 15 inch one with a 2.33 ghz Core 2 Duo and 2 gigs of ram, a 120 gig hard drive, superdrive, etc.

The 17 inch model at 2799 gives you the same speed, but more screen real estate, more hard drive space and a faster dvd burner.

It is just as fast as the 24 inch iMac.

You can add an extra display if you really want that screen real estate.

It is portable, making it extra conveneint.

The only things you can upgrade in the iMac would be the hard drive and the memory, that's it. The MacBook Pro is the same.
 
If you get an iMac just order it online, and get apple to upgrade the ram from 1 to 2 gb when you order, or if portablility is an issue, than you could get a Mbp and a large sceen. It is possible to upgrade an iMac, but upgrading the ram in a mbp is easier than an iMac.
 
If you don't NEED the portability of a laptop, then don't pay for that feature. Personally, I think it really boils down to how important portability is to you. If it turns out that you don't think you'll use that feature much, then get the iMac - it's better spec'd.

Oh, and both the MBP and iMacs are pretty difficult to upgrade if you don't know what you're doing, with the exception of the RAM on the MBP. It can be done on both machines, though. I wouldn't let that sway you one way or another - it'd be a different story if you were considering the Mac Pro, for instance, which is very easy to upgrade.
 
Portability is not the deciding factor for me and I will be working out of my home. Granted it is handy but not a deal breaker. I will need a Mac that can handle Final Cut, Aperture and Photoshop CS with the greatest of ease. The Imac setup I was initially looking at from the Apple store:

2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x1GB
250GB Serial ATA Drive
NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT 256MB SDRAM
SuperDrive 8X (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Apple Keyboard & Mighty Mouse + Mac OS X (US English)
24-inch widescreen LCD
AirPort Extreme
Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR

Estimated Total: $2,505.91

That price includes tax. I may bump the hard drive up to 500gig for video but I'm not sure if that is overkill. I will get a Mac sometimes in November shortly after Leopard is released and recoup my funds after paying off the wedding this June. :p
 
If you plan on doing video work 250GBs is too small, get the largest you can. Seeing as you said portability is not a deciding factor, the iMac is the best bet by a long shot. Stick as much RAM as you can afford in it.
 
Cromulent said:
If you plan on doing video work 250GBs is too small, get the largest you can.
Click to expand...
No, get the 250 or even a 160 GB to save money. Then get an external to use as a scratch drive for final cut and aperture. Using the boot drive is NOT recommended for video and image editing.
 
zioxide said:
No, get the 250 or even a 160 GB to save money. Then get an external to use as a scratch drive for final cut and aperture. Using the boot drive is NOT recommended for video and image editing.
Click to expand...
I thought about getting an external hard drive to save money. Can you please explain why using the boot drive is not recommended for video/image editing?
 
Mantronix said:
I thought about getting an external hard drive to save money. Can you please explain why using the boot drive is not recommended for video/image editing?
Click to expand...

You'll overload the drive, which will result in it wearing out much sooner, slower performance, and dropped frames when playing back video.

As far as the type of drive, Firewire 800 would be ideal, but I'm not sure if the iMac has a FW800 port. If not, get Firewire 400. USB would be the last resort, because USB uses some CPU resources for it, it will slow down your performance. Plus USB has a way lower sustained transfer rate than firewire.
 
zioxide said:
You'll overload the drive, which will result in it wearing out much sooner, slower performance, and dropped frames when playing back video.

As far as the type of drive, Firewire 800 would be ideal, but I'm not sure if the iMac has a FW800 port. If not, get Firewire 400. USB would be the last resort, because USB uses some CPU resources for it, it will slow down your performance. Plus USB has a way lower sustained transfer rate than firewire.
Click to expand...
I Googled concerning the Firewire 800 port on the IMac 24s and they do have them. Actually they have the Firewire 400 and 800 ports. Here is the Link.

This is a noob question but is there a specific type of external hard drive I should get? I'm asking if there are one made specifically just for Macs or any Firewire external hard drives would suffice such as WD, Seagate, Maxtor brands?
 
Any drive will do. I have one from AcomData, which is probably not the most reliable manufacturer, but it works great. If you want it to last a long time, a Seagate or Western Digital would be my recommendation, but everyone seems to have a different opinion.

jW
 
More to confuse you

Do you know a student? An entry level mac pro at the student price would probably fit your budget (especially if you have a display laying around that you can use) and give you plenty of room to grow.

You said portability wasn't an issue....

Just another data point.

Fred
 
I really think that a larger screensize directly increases your overall capability and speed for this type of work. You're going to have lots of windows open and you can worker better and faster if you can see everything at once, instead of jumping between programs. Get the biggest screen that you can afford.

-T
 
Mantronix said:
I Googled concerning the Firewire 800 port on the IMac 24s and they do have them. Actually they have the Firewire 400 and 800 ports. Here is the Link.

This is a noob question but is there a specific type of external hard drive I should get? I'm asking if there are one made specifically just for Macs or any Firewire external hard drives would suffice such as WD, Seagate, Maxtor brands?
Click to expand...

Personally I have a Western Digital MyBook Pro. It's great. I'd highly recommend it.
 
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