Which Mac solution for serious amateur photographer?

Hi Everyone,
This is my first post. I'm glad I found this forum. I am on the verge of purchasing a Mac. The question is, which one? The aim is to use it mainly for photography as I'm an amateur photographer (I use a Canon 5DMkII, RAW files), but also to stock our family's documents. I'm also just starting to use the video option (HD) on the 5DMkII. We would like a small laptop with an integrated webcam for 'on the move' and also a larger and FAST desktop solution. Should we go for:
1. a MacBook Pro (15 inch 2.8GHz) attached to the Apple LED Cinema Display 24 inch. Is the screen HD? Should we just consider a HD screen from another brand, ie: Samsung, as the Apple screen is very expensive?
2. MacBook Pro (13 inch 2.53GHz) AND a iMAC 27 inch or 21.5 inch? My concern with the iMAC would be that if the screen fails, then you've lost your pc??
3. Other options?
4. Time capsule, Aperture 3 and perhaps Photoshop Elements as I'm currently using it.
5. Am I right in saying that none of these Macs has a slot for Compact Flash cards?

Finally, perhaps a dumb question, but will the Mac run the files/documents (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) that I currently have saved on my Hewlett Packard PC?

Thanks for your suggestions...

i have the #2 set up and i love it honestly... the 27" i7 is a beast... and i have aperture 3 and lightroom... btw you are are a amateur photographer with a full frame 5dmkII that is not an amateur camera.... i always wanted one of those... *so jealous

MacBook Pros come with an SD slot I think. USB readers are super cheap. If you think you can justify getting an MPB and a 27" iMac, then the $15 card reader won't matter one whit to you.

macwannabe said:

i have the #2 set up and i love it honestly... the 27" i7 is a beast... and i have aperture 3 and lightroom... btw you are are a amateur photographer with a full frame 5dmkII that is not an amateur camera.... i always wanted one of those... *so jealous

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Thanks! I shoot weddings and landscapes but am self taught and not in the league of the pros, although people tell me I'm pretty good. I love my 5DMkII and saved hard for it - glad you're jealous ;D Here's my website if you'd like to take a look: Zenfolio | Entre Lumières Thanks for your tips! Having done a bit more research I think I'll go for the same set up. Now I'm jealous...

Aileen said:

2. MacBook Pro (13 inch 2.53GHz) AND a iMAC 27 inch or 21.5 inch? My concern with the iMAC would be that if the screen fails, then you've lost your pc??

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Switchers ask about this all the time as though screen failure was an incredibly common problem. To which I have to ask, "***?"

Apple (literally) sells a million iMacs per quarter these days, and the current "style" has been around for years. If this were a legit concern, I feel confident it would have popped up by now.

Besides, isn't the exact same thing true of all laptops?

Finally, the answer to this concern is "no" even if the screen DID fail -- both laptops and iMacs have video out ports, so it would be a matter of attaching another monitor and away you go, at least till you can get the thing fixed.

Finally, perhaps a dumb question, but will the Mac run the files/documents (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) that I currently have saved on my Hewlett Packard PC?

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Out of the box, TextEdit can read and write Word files. To read and write Excel and Powerpoint files, you'll either need to buy iWork (recommended, particularly for slideshows) or Microsoft Office for Mac.

But basically yes.

chas_m said:

Out of the box, TextEdit can read and write Word files. To read and write Excel and Powerpoint files, you'll either need to buy iWork (recommended, particularly for slideshows) or Microsoft Office for Mac.

But basically yes.

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I haven't tried it cos I bought iWorks but is Open Office any good on Mac?

I pretty much asked this same question a few weeks ago in this forum. I followed their advice and got the 27" i7 and a 15" MBP for my wife. I can't speak for her, but my i7 is insanely fast not to mention the Apple platform makes doing the same tasks so much easier than trying to do them on a PC. I wish I would have switched years ago. I will eventually upgrade my memory to at least 8GB if not max out at 16 since i like to have tons of images open in Capture NX2. So, if you have the money for it, I suggest you get the i7. The screen is huge (2560x1440) and beautiful and it's fast as all ****.

-Brent

I am using a 24" iMac with Aperture 3, and I am a happy photo geek.

brentD300 said:

I pretty much asked this same question a few weeks ago in this forum. I followed their advice and got the 27" i7 and a 15" MBP for my wife. I can't speak for her, but my i7 is insanely fast not to mention the Apple platform makes doing the same tasks so much easier than trying to do them on a PC. I wish I would have switched years ago. I will eventually upgrade my memory to at least 8GB if not max out at 16 since i like to have tons of images open in Capture NX2. So, if you have the money for it, I suggest you get the i7. The screen is huge (2560x1440) and beautiful and it's fast as all ****.

-Brent

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Hi Brent, I read your post and the answers. Glad you're happy with what you purchased and that it's insanely fast. I feel the need for speed! I have a relatively new PC and in theory it's meant to be as fast if not faster than a MBP but for some reason (and we have checked everything) it's so slow to open and upload my 21MB RAW files, and processing them a little (I try not to use too much photoshop) is like a long draw out slow motion movie. I took in a 16GB card full of images into my Apple store and asked them to show me how it uploads and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I think I'll do the same and go for the i7 and either the 13 or 15 inch MBP. Cheers, Aileen

My opinion, working in a professional photography studio
where we handle weddings, band shoots, fashion and portraits.

I'd go for the best imac you can afford.
Back up anyway you want.

We use Photoshop and Lightroom for our main editing.
Brilliant Programs.

Install light room on a 15" mac (one with dedicated graphics card)
This gives better colour reporting i think.

On the go, you can sort through and export the RAWS as TIFFs in lightroom.

Even do some colour changes, healing and cropping.

Then use photoshop as the big editor.

Elements is for home use when your have a mole on your face.
Ditch elements.

You definitely want to fastest option available. My MBP crawls when exporting 5DMKII files from LR2 and when doing video. In fact, I've moved all my video editing and such to a custom built i7 desktop.