What's the best? Advice needed.

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I am thinking about buying a mac, but im not sure what to get?

I create Designs and Video FX using Adobe After Effects Cs5, Photoshop Cs6, Sony Vegas, etc
so i need something which can deal with these programs without a problem?

My current computer struggles in areas e.g. certain plug-ins lag in after effects, when theres a lot going on. So i need something which will handle these programs with ease.

Any advice? Thanks! :)
 

pigoo3

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I am thinking about buying a mac, but im not sure what to get?

(btw i have never owned a mac before)

If you've never owned a Mac before...do you have ANY experience using them? If not...how do you know a Mac & the Mac OS is for you?

Kind of an important question before you spend $1500+ on a new computer.

- Nick
 
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21.5" iMac 3.1 GHz Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, NIVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 512 MB, iPhone 5 16GB
If you've never owned a Mac before...do you have ANY experience using them? If not...how do you know a Mac & the Mac OS is for you?

Kind of an important question before you spend $1500+ on a new computer.

- Nick

I have used them before, so i am familar with them just never purchased one personally. So i need advice on which Mac device would be best for me.
 
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If you are a designer I would recommend an iMac 27" giving you ample screen space to work with.
 
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If you are a designer I would recommend an iMac 27" giving you ample screen space to work with.

Okay thanks!! i'm torn between an iMac or MacbookPro really just wondering what one offers the most for media related work.
 
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You should talk to Deckyon, who WAS YOU a year ago. :)

PS. I'd suggest the iMac.

can't seem to find him.. /: does anyone have any suggestions on which one would be best, either an iMac or MacbookPro?
 
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There are a lot of factors involved, that only you know. The iMac has the advantages of a larger screen, i.e. work area while the Macbook Pro has portability. Do you mainly work out of one location or are you frequently moving around town?
 
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There are a lot of factors involved, that only you know. The iMac has the advantages of a larger screen, i.e. work area while the Macbook Pro has portability. Do you mainly work out of one location or are you frequently moving around town?

yeah that is one factor that would be great! however i do move around sometimes and portability would be useful, I'm just wondering performance wise which one exceeds the other? e.g. handles the programs better enabling you to render videos faster, experience less lag.
 
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Did you look at the Apple site for the specs of each model?

My Macbook Pro is from 2008 and is just as fast as the day I got it, even after years of encoding video (I do video editing, among other things). If portability is a factor then there really is no other choice, and you don't have to worry about it being able to handle your work.
 
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The CPU in the 2012 15" MBP is stronger then the CPU in the 27" mid 2011 iMac. The GPU in the mid 2011 iMac (6970m) is a stronger GPU then what is in the 2012 MBP. The iMac is due for a refresh so may not be worth investing in at this point until the new specifications are out.

For me, the best option was to get the 15" non-retina MBP and a thunderbolt display (so I had the power of MPB with the screen the size of the iMac). I do edit videos on it as well as transcode.

Either machine will have some lag when dealing with video, anything that is locked to the CPU will perform better on the MBP and anything that is locked to the GPU can potentially perform better on the iMac. I say potentially because I have been more pleased with nvidia GPU's on Macs then I have with AMD GPU's - but that is my experience and other people may disagree.
 
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The CPU in the 2012 15" MBP is stronger then the CPU in the 27" mid 2011 iMac. The GPU in the mid 2011 iMac (6970m) is a stronger GPU then what is in the 2012 MBP. The iMac is due for a refresh so may not be worth investing in at this point until the new specifications are out.

For me, the best option was to get the 15" non-retina MBP and a thunderbolt display (so I had the power of MPB with the screen the size of the iMac). I do edit videos on it as well as transcode.

Either machine will have some lag when dealing with video, anything that is locked to the CPU will perform better on the MBP and anything that is locked to the GPU can potentially perform better on the iMac. I say potentially because I have been more pleased with nvidia GPU's on Macs then I have with AMD GPU's - but that is my experience and other people may disagree.

thanks thats really helped! :) just need to have a good think about what one would benefit me the most. But i'm swaying towards a MacbookPro now really. ill give it some thought would be nice to know what the new iMac has to offer also, but this is apple...

i was thinking is the retina display really worth it as well as the price jump is a fair bit.
 

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Okay thanks!! i'm torn between an iMac or MacbookPro really just wondering what one offers the most for media related work.

Make your life easy. Come to a decision whether you need the portability of a laptop or not...then your choice has been made.:)

For folks that REALLY need portability...then the cpu question doesn't really matter. If you NEED portability...then you need portability!

Both are very powerful. If you need portability...get the MacBook Pro...if you don't need portability...then get the iMac ("More Bang for your Buck)!

- Nick
 
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Make your life easy. Come to a decision whether you need the portability of a laptop or not...then your choice has been made.:)

For folks that REALLY need portability...then the cpu question doesn't really matter. If you NEED portability...then you need portability!

Both are very powerful. If you need portability...get the MacBook Pro...if you don't need portability...then get the iMac ("More Bang for your Buck)!

- Nick

thanks Nick, yeah thats the thing portability is always good but i do already have a laptop and having two laptop's does seem a bit pointless to me so that makes me think the iMac would be best, as you do say "More Bang for your Buck" appreciate the help!! :)
 

pigoo3

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thanks Nick, yeah thats the thing portability is always good but i do already have a laptop and having two laptop's does seem a bit pointless to me so that makes me think the iMac would be best, as you do say "More Bang for your Buck" appreciate the help!! :)

Hey...like you basically said...everybody would like to have just one computer...that's has the:

- portability of a laptop
- power of a desktop
- price of a Mac-Mini

Well you ALMOST can have this. Apple laptops are very powerful & very portable...you just can't get them at a Mac-Mini price!;)

Basically (not totally...but basically)...iMac's are BIG BIG laptop's (without the internal battery)....that cost a lot less than MacBook Pro's.;)

- Nick
 
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21.5" iMac 3.1 GHz Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, NIVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 512 MB, iPhone 5 16GB
Hey...like you basically said...everybody would like to have just one computer...that's has the:

- portability of a laptop
- power of a desktop
- price of a Mac-Mini

Well you ALMOST can have this. Apple laptops are very powerful & very portable...you just can't get them at a Mac-Mini price!;)

Basically (not totally...but basically)...iMac's are BIG BIG laptop's (without the internal battery)....that cost a lot less than MacBook Pro's.;)

- Nick

Haha if only.. but well said! thanks for all the help guys! :)
 

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