Any current designs students in here?

Okay so I've been back and forward all over the place on which computer to buy for my design classes. I seem to have gotten slightly more grant money than I thought I was.
Im thinking either the 17 inch mbp with the 2.66ghz i7. And the monster 27 inch iMac 2.8 ghz i5 quad core. Any of you current design students have any insight on which would be the wiser purchase? Cause both are about in the same price range. And I'll be using mostly cs5 for class work and projects.

Depends if you need portability or not. 17" is not portable to me. I would get the 15" if you need something that is portable, and get the iMac if you don't need portability.

I'd get a 15" (because I want the portability), stick in 4GB RAM and a 7,200rpm HDD then splash out on a lovely big screen for home design stuff.

True Bassist said:

I'd get a 15" (because I want the portability), stick in 4GB RAM and a 7,200rpm HDD then splash out on a lovely big screen for home design stuff.

Click to expand...

Yep. That's the best plan.

I have the 13" MBP and a 23" monitor for home... 13" I find is a little too small when I'm working on spreads and stuff. If you're not worried about weight (I carry around my laptop + my 1DmkIIn and lenses every day... don't find it a bother) then by all means go the 17" + a monitor so you can still have a decent size screen when you're not home. But 15" + a monitor is probably the way to go.

True Bassist said:

I'd get a 15" (because I want the portability), stick in 4GB RAM and a 7,200rpm HDD then splash out on a lovely big screen for home design stuff.

Click to expand...

X2! When I enrolled in school this past February, my school "provided" us with a new MBP and software that we have to have. I am studying web design & development and my MBP has been perfect for everything. I do wish I had a bigger screen at times when it comes to working in Photoshop or Illustrator but in general I am glad I have a laptop over desktop.

Industrial design, my second favorite thing in the world. If I were looking for a specific Mac setup to best suite my CS5, I would pick a 15"mbp(if I wanted it to be portable), with the best processor my money could by, and upgrade the ram myself. What most people don't realize is that the same graphics card will act worse on the 17" than the 15", especially when using large image files. The imac's are good, but I wouldn't use one for your work.

imac for photoshop or illustrator. I've got a notebook and I can't use photoshop on it. Actually I can, I just don't like too. The miles and miles of screen space on my 27" imac for pallets and such is so freaking awesome. Also, you'll probably be working with a wacom tablet and those aren't really considered too portable. When you add everything up its just better to have a nice big desktop to work with. Its nice to have a laptop also for field work, but you'll end up doing all your projects hunched over a desktop pulling all nighters, not 'in the field' or in class, where you would need the portability of a laptop.

I can't do serious work on a small screen, and I've never seen a pro do much of it either. (queue rage and umbrage against me for making such an offensive claim).