hardware advice..?

When I eventually get to make my first Mac purchase - I would like some help in deciding which one to go for...

It comes down to the MB, MBP or iMac.

I am a complete Mac beginner - and have no intentions of buying a Windoh's pc ever again.

Money is not really too much of an issue (although I am in the UK - and we seem to have to pay way more for software & hardware!!).

Once familiar with my new machine - I would probably start dabbling with video editing / web design.

Portability would be nice - but not essential, and I currently do not have a suitable display. So would be purchasing everything in a one'r.

I am leaning towards a 24" imac with 2G RAM + 500gig HDD... or is the MBP so awesome it has to be that??

thanks

Don't buy a macbook. Not unless you have a very large screen to connect it too. People buy these things with the intention to do video and photo editing. It really sucks trying to do any editing at those resolutions. Even photo editing on the 15" MBP is mediocre with the screen size and resolution. That's why most people that do editing where screen size is crucial, go with desktops or monitors that can support the resolutions needed for it.

Sounds like the imac is going to be your best bet unless your intent is to get the MBP and a monitor and an external HDD if you fill up the one in the MBP.

I can tell you if money is not an option then do 2 computers. Get an iMac for home and spend some extra cash and get a macbook pro for when you need to go portable. That's what I did and I couldn't be happier! MACS ARE GREAT!!!

I'd agree with macproowner, I started with a macbook, had it for like a month, did a clean install and stored it back in it's box for a present for my son, and bought a macbook pro. I'm in the process of remodeling my home office and as soon as everything is set up, I'll be getting a Mac Pro to do all my gaming on.

One thing not hardware related. I am a huge fan of google applications. If I were you, I'd sign up for gmail as a start. It's very easy to transfer any other email accounts you have into your gmail account. I only recommend this because it really eliminates the chore of having to transfer all your email and data over to a new pc. On top of that no matter where you are you can access ALL your email. Google apps also has a great calendar as well and I think it, along with gmail is far superior to mac mail and icalendar. Just my opinion!

stoldie said:

Money is not really too much of an issue (although I am in the UK - and we seem to have to pay way more for software & hardware!!).

Click to expand...

yeah whats up with that

anyway, from what ive heard MacBooks are pretty bad - small screens, no graphics card, low specs.

MacBook Pro is really good, if you can afford it, I'd recommend it.

I've had my iMac since april 20 - first Mac ever, and it's really good. Unless you're going to be travelling all over the place, I'd recommend it. It has huge hard drives (I copied all the data from my Windows PC C Drive over to here, reinstalled Windows, then copied the stuff I wanted back...hopefully I wont have a Windows PC at all soon ), and I was amazed by 20" the screen size compared to my 19". It looks like they shipped me a 24" by accident lol!

The iMac is basically THE BOMB, and I'm sure the 24" one is even better!

Thanks for the info guys. I think an 24" iMac for the family to use is the way forward - then I could get a MBP as my personal machine...
There's a thought can you connect a MBP to an iMac to use as an additional display for the MBP??