Hi, I know this is a common forum question, but I am deciding between a Macbook and an iMac for college. First some background:
I'm a senior undergrad EE student and I'll freely admit I do need a laptop... not so much for around campus (I've never had good luck taking notes with a laptop in class), but off-campus/travelling when I need to work. I currently just have a Dell E1505 laptop (15") as my primary and only machine. Some of the EE software I need doesn't have a windows version, so I would be a big parallels user. I owned an ibook a couple years ago, but it was slow, didn't fit well with my needs, and broke multiple times (logic board failures.. I don't think I mistreated it... the E1505 I've had as long and has yet to fail).
Since Apple has moved to Intel and parallels seems reasonably fast, I'm planning on switching back to a macs... I also want to get an iphone sometime soon. Again, I'm deciding between an imac or a macbook. If I were to get an imac I would keep the E1505 for when I need to give presentations... otherwise I would sell it. The MBP is out of my price range (even if I end up selling my e1505, I wouldn't want to spend that much on a portable)
I'm currently leaning towards getting the imac and getting a macbook (or, if apple releases a reasonably priced ultraportable, that instead) in a year. I prefer working on a large screen when I'm at a desk... and I find that I have so much stuff to go with the E1505 that having just the E1505 + an imac would be equivalent to what I have now in terms of bulk (laptop stand, external monitor, keyboard, mouse, usb dock, etc...). I also find a 15" machine to be a little large to carry for short trips (I end up using a separate laptop case and a bunch of accessories), though obviously lighter than a desktop. The iphone will help in this regard during trips where i don't need to work. Also, 160GB HD of the macbook is a little small if I need to keep a windows and linux parallels disk image around.
So, imac + keep e1505 and replace the portable with something smaller in a year or so... does this seem reasonable? any suggestions? Thanks!
I'm a senior undergrad EE student and I'll freely admit I do need a laptop... not so much for around campus (I've never had good luck taking notes with a laptop in class), but off-campus/travelling when I need to work. I currently just have a Dell E1505 laptop (15") as my primary and only machine. Some of the EE software I need doesn't have a windows version, so I would be a big parallels user. I owned an ibook a couple years ago, but it was slow, didn't fit well with my needs, and broke multiple times (logic board failures.. I don't think I mistreated it... the E1505 I've had as long and has yet to fail).
Since Apple has moved to Intel and parallels seems reasonably fast, I'm planning on switching back to a macs... I also want to get an iphone sometime soon. Again, I'm deciding between an imac or a macbook. If I were to get an imac I would keep the E1505 for when I need to give presentations... otherwise I would sell it. The MBP is out of my price range (even if I end up selling my e1505, I wouldn't want to spend that much on a portable)
I'm currently leaning towards getting the imac and getting a macbook (or, if apple releases a reasonably priced ultraportable, that instead) in a year. I prefer working on a large screen when I'm at a desk... and I find that I have so much stuff to go with the E1505 that having just the E1505 + an imac would be equivalent to what I have now in terms of bulk (laptop stand, external monitor, keyboard, mouse, usb dock, etc...). I also find a 15" machine to be a little large to carry for short trips (I end up using a separate laptop case and a bunch of accessories), though obviously lighter than a desktop. The iphone will help in this regard during trips where i don't need to work. Also, 160GB HD of the macbook is a little small if I need to keep a windows and linux parallels disk image around.
So, imac + keep e1505 and replace the portable with something smaller in a year or so... does this seem reasonable? any suggestions? Thanks!