Which portable mac should I buy? Macbook, or 13" MBP?

[Macgirl12345]

Hi

I'm a design student and I use the adobe creative suite for school work(illustrator, photoshop, Dreamweaver, indesign). i currently have a toshiba laptop that cant handle the projects I work on, and freezes and is very slow. I decided that Im going to buy a new mac laptop but stuck on which model to buy.

I need a laptop that is really portable and am able to put in my bag, so Im looking at the 13" models.

I'm deciding between 3 different models: 1) macbook with upgrade to 4 GB of Ramm 2) Macbook Pro 13" 2.26GHz, and upgrade to 4 GB and 250 Ramm or 3) Macbook Pro 13" 2.53GHz.

I was looking for a budget friendly external monitor that I can use at home, since the 13" screen is so small... any suggestions?

does the high proccesor speeds make a noticeable difference in running the design programs?

Also I went into future shop, any they told me their warranty is better than apple care because if you bring in your laptop 3 times to get fixed they would replace your laptop with a new one... does any one how experience with this?

Thanks in advance!

 

[thegoldenmackid]

I would wait until January, especially if you are in a position to wait. There is likely to be a spec update coming in late January. If you must buy now, I'd get the highest machine that your budget allows.

As for the warranty: AppleCare has the same lemon law type policy, you get one-year free, by the way.

 

[flopticalcube]

Hi

I'm a design student and I use the adobe creative suite for school work(illustrator, photoshop, Dreamweaver, indesign). i currently have a toshiba laptop that cant handle the projects I work on, and freezes and is very slow. I decided that Im going to buy a new mac laptop but stuck on which model to buy.

I need a laptop that is really portable and am able to put in my bag, so Im looking at the 13" models.

I'm deciding between 3 different models: 1) macbook with upgrade to 4 GB of Ramm 2) Macbook Pro 13" 2.26GHz, and upgrade to 4 GB and 250 Ramm or 3) Macbook Pro 13" 2.53GHz.

I was looking for a budget friendly external monitor that I can use at home, since the 13" screen is so small... any suggestions?

does the high proccesor speeds make a noticeable difference in running the design programs?

Also I went into future shop, any they told me their warranty is better than apple care because if you bring in your laptop 3 times to get fixed they would replace your laptop with a new one... does any one how experience with this?

Thanks in advance!

AppleCare also follows the same policy although its not written in stone. Stay away from the FS extended warranty as its expensive and not as flexible as AppleCare.

I doubt you would notice a 10% difference in CPU speed.

 

[Macgirl12345]

thanks for your advice...
Future shop said they would price match everything including the warranty to the student discount pricing ( so the future shop warranty is also $218). is the apple care warranty better service than future shop?

 

[thegoldenmackid]

thanks for your advice...
Future shop said they would price match everything including the warranty to the student discount pricing ( so the future shop warranty is also $218). is the apple care warranty better service than future shop?

I have no clue about Future Shop's service. In general Apple has a maximum of a five-day turn around. Look into the location of Apple Store/Future shop from you, etc. This might produce a thread with information for you...

 

[TheQuestion]

wow...never seen this topic before. Just kidding friend, but try doing some research in the forums. This topic has been covered umpteen times. I think in either case, a 13 inch laptop will be a bit limiting with your pro Apps. I can't do much serious work without plugging in my 19in display -- too much moving pallets around and re-sizing things