imac, pro or book...help me decide

So, we're ready to make the big switch from PC to Macs...but help! We spent 3 hours at the mac store last night and we're still not sure. The sales guy was great but I am concerned I might regret my purchase. We're getting a macbook for my DH's work - that was an easy decision but now it comes to my computer (our family computer as well)...I am a budding photograph - will most likely never go pro, etc.. but I do enjoy photography, processing photos with PS (will be buying CS3 once we get our mac)...so what do we buy? Will the macbook do the job or will it be slow and I'll hate it the entire time? Is the macpro more than we need when it comes to running CS3 and lightroom, etc.. and will I hate trying to use PS with the screen (I do have the option of hooking it up to a different monitor if necessary but that takes away from it being portable)..or do I stick with a desktop and buy an imac and even so, would the low end one do the job or do I have to go with one of the higher end imacs? We plan to buy the 1TB external storage - I know we'll need that for the storage of all our videos and photos but I need some input on which system to buy so I don't regret my purchase - I will never regret switching to mac but I would really kick myself if I "saved" $1,000 but hated how slow it ran every single day if I went with the book and not the pro. A laptop would make my life so much easier but there's a part of me that thinks it can't measure up to a desktop when it comes to processing photos.

Thank you for any and all input!

Sue

Get the iMac. I consider myself somewhat of a amateur photographer. I just bought the 24in iMac, and love it. The Mac Pro is way overkill. I'm using Lightroom and CS3 with 2GB of RAM, and it still flies.

Thanks for you input...what about a macbook and then hook up with a monitor for final edits - or would that be a huge mistake?

*Moved thread to proper forum*

Well, that would work too, but the iMac is much more powerful.

The iMac has 3 major advantages over the Macbook. They are Video Card, Hard Drive Speed and Monitor size.

Base Model Specs

iMac
ATI HD2400 XT w/Dedicated 128MB GDDR3
7200RPM Hard Drive
20" LCD

Macbook
Intel GMA X3100 144MB memory shared with Main memory
5400RPM Hard Drive
13" LCD

Personally, I would recommend an iMac unless portability is really important to you.

-MikeM

So, if I go with the imac....will I regret buying the low end one if my main reason for going with the imac is for photo and video editing? Is there a huge difference between the 2.0 and the 2.4 GHz?

i would go for the imac they're great dekstops and if you're already getting a macbook you cant lose. The imac will perform alot better than the macbook, but all dekstops do perform better than their notebook counterparts. But the macbook is an AMAZING notebook as well.But like i said get the imac

well, the low end has a smaller graphics card, if that matters. If you have the money, get the 24in model. The screen is slightly better, and alot bigger.

For what it's worth, I just made the switch less than two weeks ago (Got a year-old MacBook Pro), and I was very surprised at how easily it handled photo work and graphic designing (with Adobe CS3). It really ran like butter.

Based on that, I think any modern iMac should work just fine for you, or even a used MacBook Pro... Just be sure to head over to Crucial.com to get any extra RAM you need. And if you get a notebook, count on buying a carrying case, and a cooler as minimum extras.

Hope this helps.

J

Thanks for all the input! We've decided to go with the 24" imac and the macbook (DH's work laptop). Now we just need to get our tax refund to buy them both, haha!

the x3100 is a great card. much more powerful than people may think. mb is a good value for the money.