12-28-2009, 05:03 AM

Hi, I've been a lurked on here for a while and finally signed up.

I want a mac. I currently have an old athlon xp1600 pc dual booting windows xp and ubuntu that I use as a tinkering and downloading machine.

I also have a 2 year old pc core 2 duo with 4gb of ram running windows 7 64bit. This is my main pc and runs as a media server and also my photo editing pc as I'm a keen amateur photographer.

Both of these are connected to a 20" Dell Monitor.

Ok enough about the pc's. I've been wanting a MacBook pro for some time and have been looking at the top end 15" one with the 3ghz chip and upgrading the he'd to the 128gb ssd. My problem is I just can't get the new 27" iMac out of my head as it's cheaper and of a much higher spec than the MacBook.

I'm not sure my desk could cope with all the kit if I got the iMac. But I could possibly bin my oldest pc. And use the 2year old one as my tinkering and download pc. Then put windows 7 dual booking on the iMac.

But I wouldn't be able to stick it in my bag and take it around with
me which is why I was looking at MacBooks.

Any advice or has anyone one faced similar dilemas?
Apart from my iPhone this will be my 1st mac.

Thanks
Scott

12-28-2009, 05:20 AM

Mate it seems the only real dilemma for you is ..... Do you want to be able to take it with you. There would be no problems with the MBP and having W7 on it at all. Yes its a little more in $ wise but having the portability is why i have a MB and not a iMac.

If worse comes to worse you can also hook it up through the 20" you have and get a wireless mouse and keyboard.

Do you want to take it with you ??? To the look of it from my perspective that is the only question you need to ask yourself..
OH and they do look rather nice the new MBP ... Sleek and very stylish

Cheers

12-28-2009, 08:13 AM

Thanks.
Well I did want it to be portable and still do. It's just the **** iMac is much much better specced. I don't have any kind of netbook or laptop now.

The mac (whichever) I get will be mainly used for my photography.

Scott

12-28-2009, 01:39 PM

well my wife just bought my a 21.5 imac. i have a pc laptop that's on it's way out and needed a new good computer so she bought me this. She was going to get my a 13.3 mbp but my good friend told her to get me this instead as we are starting up photography together and it would be better suited for me to do photo editing and such. if you never had a laptop before then you are not really knowing if you are missing anything or not. Myself i would go with the 27" i5 or i7 system and have fun. later down the road you could always get a lower end mbp if you want mobile function too. After getting this 21.5 i am glad im not running a 13.3 or a 15" screen.

12-28-2009, 06:10 PM

If I were you, I would get the 27" iMac i7 because that ends up a lot cheaper than the top end 15" macbook pro. By getting the iMac you would save about $600 (the macbook pro configured with the 3.06 ghz C2D and the 128 gb SSD). You could then either save that money you saved from buying the iMac you could find a used macbook if you need a machine for portablility.

12-28-2009, 07:18 PM

Not sure if this matters to you either, but applecare is much cheaper for an imac than a laptop.

So if you are figuring on a protection plan for your investment, iMac has the advantage in that area.

12-30-2009, 06:24 AM

Thanks for the advice guys, thing is I don't really need another desktop unit even thought the quad core and 8gb ram seems like a cracking deal regardless of the so called Apple Tax.

I think I'll wait and see if the macbooks are refreshed in January/February and then make a decision.

I'm sure I'll be round here even more then!

Thanks
Scott