Need Advise on Buying My 1st Mac Notebook.. help?

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I'm buying a MacBook to take advantage of some of the great apps for the Mac. Yet, I have no idea what to look for. I buying a new one and have a couple of questions.

(My current machine is the Lenovo x300 with a SSD and it's blistering fast..)


1.) I need to the specs that will comfortably run the following applications:

- Flow
- IMovie
- Keynote
- Adobe AF & Premiere
- Recording audio & maybe video...

2.) What other apps do you recommend that are killer apps for the Mac?
( I'm a writer, speaker, and serial entrepreneur. )


3.) My wants:

- Lightweight
- Cool (temperature.. not hip.. because all Macs are hip, right?)
- Decent Battery Life
- To avoid the 17" notebook (had one.. and I prefer a smaller notebook)
- VGA out
- Audio In/Out

----- Here's the one I'm currently looking to purchase: Please advise

Key Features
Processor Core 2 Duo 2.26 GHz
Installed Memory 2 GB (DDR3 SDRAM)
Display 13.3 in. LED

Processor
Processor Type Core 2 Duo
Processor Manufacturer Intel
Processor Speed 2.26 GHz

Motherboard
Bus Speed 1066 MHz

Display
Display Tech LED
Display Size 13.3 in.
Display Max. Resolution 1280 x 800

Technical Features
Security Features Kensington Lock Slot
Expansion Ports 2 x USB 2.0, RJ-45 (NIC)
Special Features Integrated Video Camera

Hard Drive
Hard Drive Capacity 250 GB
Hard Drive Rotation Speed 5,400 RPM
Storage Controller Type Serial ATA

Memory
Installed RAM 2 GB
RAM Technology DDR3 SDRAM
Max Supported RAM 4 GB
RAM Speed 1066 MHz
Installed Cache Memory 3072 KB

CD / DVD
CD / DVD Type DVD±RW Dual Layer/CD-RW
Optical Drive Read Speed 24x (CD), 8x (DVD)
Optical Drive Write Speed 24x (CD), 4x (DVD+R Dual Layer), 4x (DVD-R Dual Layer), 8x (DVD+R), 8x (DVD-R)
Optical Drive ReWrite Speed 10x (CD-RW), 4x (DVD+RW), 4x (DVD-RW)

Video
Graphic Processor NVIDIA GeForce 9400M
Max. Video Resolution 2560 x 1600

Audio
Audio Input Type Integrated Microphone, Line In (3.5mm)
Audio Output Type Headphones, Line Out, Sound card, Speaker(s)

Networking
Networking Type Bluetooth, Integrated Wireless LAN
Data Link Protocol Bluetooth, Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n

Thanks for your guidance...

Saltwater
 
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Your Mac's Specs
Macbook : 2.26ghz,2gb ram and love it
Hi.

I would not use a Macbook for Adobe Premiere. I did use to use that on a pretty powerful PC workstation and it even slowed it way down and my PC has specs way beyond a macbook. Adobe is so intensive. I own a macbook, the new one and there is no way i could comfortably run After Effects. I would probably look at the higher end Macbook pro ( they have the 15 inch also )for that use or even buy an actual mac pro.

imovie works great for basic videos. I use Sony Vegas pro 8 for my bigger video projects. Only as a hobby though. I am going to make the transition to final cut once i buy a mac pro.

I am also new to Mac so shall let the more experienced guys deal with the rest of your questions.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
Late 2009 Macbook Pro 2.26, 160gb HD, 2gb RAM, OSX 10.6; Emac 1.42ghz 80gb HD 2gb RAM OSX 10.5
My suggestions:

Go with the 13 or 15 inch. You've shown interest in the 13, but the bigger screen will do you well if you'll be doing video and photo editing.

Go pro, for sure. It has firewire and SD slots, so you can capture your images and video with ease.

For video I highly suggest going with a good size hard drive. 250 is good, however, if you do alot of video, I would suggest an external drive for storage, as well. Those videos will fill your hard drive very quickly.

Also for video, DEFINITELY make the jump to 4gb of RAM or more. 4gb should be fine, though. You may also consider the faster processor, but honestly, that's going to make a much smaller difference compared to the RAM.

I'm not sure what video card upgrades are available for the macbooks pros, nor am I sure how powerful the built-in one is. Maybe somebody else can chime in on that.

Now, apple has their own propriety mini display port for video, so you'll need an adapter to go VGA, I believe.

Other than that, it's a great machine. If it's lightweight stuff you'll be doing, I think you can get by with the RAM upgrade, but if you'll be doing anything half serious, I would highly consider my suggestions above.
 
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The video cards are fine. The truth is, there's not a single Macintosh sold right now that won't perform admirably for all of those things you've listed. Please remember that a decade ago people did the same things on 350MHz computers with 512MB of RAM.
 
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The video cards are fine. The truth is, there's not a single Macintosh sold right now that won't perform admirably for all of those things you've listed. Please remember that a decade ago people did the same things on 350MHz computers with 512MB of RAM.

But a decade ago there was no HD either. The OP mentions Premiere and AE - both can be graphics intensive. If all you are dealing with is standard definition or DVD type, you should be able to get away with any of the mac notebooks. If you are dealing with HD, you will need as much power as you can get. The 9600GT with its discrete memory will also help. Note also you need a 7200 RPM drive as well. Adobe Premiere Pro CS4: System Requirements

Plus if you want better performance you probably want 3 separate disks
Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 * Specify scratch disks to improve system performance
Usually one for video, one for audio, and the main program disk - so on the 17" I have an SSD 32GB express card, a USB Drive, and the main 7200 RPM drive. I think you can use USB and Firewire and get the same performance enhancement.

Again this is how I have my machine setup for Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 and AVCHD editing and it does fine for the little movies I do.
 

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