Mac Book Pro vs iMac

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I'm about to make the switch from PC to Mac and I have a question as to whether I should buy a 24" iMac or a 17" Mac Book Pro. I'm weighing more heavily to the Mac Book Pro because of the portablilty, but I am wondering if it'll meet my needs...I want to do some video editing on it and also some Photoshop. I am not a viedo editing professional so this would strictly be used for editing home movies. Is the 5400 rpm dirve in the Mac Book Pro fast enaough where I won't drop frames or should I go with the 7200rpm 100gb drive? I already have a 500gb LaCie external drive so this would be where I import the raw video footage and it'll be used as my scatch disc for Photoshop....

Also, Photoshop CS3 or CS2...I've read that CS2 is sluggish on the new Intel chipsets...

Any feedback would greatly be appreciated.
 
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Either would be a good choice. The iMac has some killer screen real estate though :D
 
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Both have some great hardware, but you should really think about the form factor. If you're buying the Macbook Pro for the portability and then end up sticking it on a desk, then you should have just saved your money and gone with an iMac.

I suggest going to a local Apple Store and checking out both models. You should fall in love with one of them ;P
 
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...Also, Photoshop CS3 or CS2...I've read that CS2 is sluggish on the new Intel chipsets...

Hi -

I purchased my MBP back in June of 06, and Photoshop CS2 shortly thereafter. Having not had Photoshop before, I thought it was fine. However, it did take a while to start up and I don't typically process extremely large files (most often pictures from my 6MP camera).

Late last year Adobe offered a Beta version of CS3. After trying it I was hooked - load times were cut to ~10 seconds from roughly 30, and transformations were completed much more quickly.

CS2 is bearable, and I haven't yet upgraded to CS3 (the Beta expired), but as soon as I'm faced with a large batch of files to process I'll rethink the upgrade. I'm not sure where you'd get CS2 at this point - is it still available? If so, you could probably download trial versions of both and try them out to see what makes sense for you.

-Chris
 
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Thanks for your input...I have gone to the Local Apple store and I did fell in love with the Mac Book Pro. I do a lot of traveling with my family so portabililty is the main concern here, kids like to watch movies, I take a ton of pics and being able to edit them while relaxing would be great. I'll mainly be using the Mac Book Pro in the evenings after work and sometimes on the weekends, so during the week the storability of the Mac Book Pro is key.

I know I'm giving up realestate going with a laptop, but my main concern is disk speed...will the 5400rpm drive be sufficient for occasional video editing and photoshoping or should I downgrade the HD size and up the speed to a 7200 rpm model? If I end up using the Mac Book Pro alot more than I'm anticipating then I can always add realestate by adding a monitor...
 
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Yo, i was thinking the exact same thing...But today i spoke to my computers teacher and he explained it to me. I was pondering downgradding to the 100GB to get 7200rpms on the HD. But he said the difference between the 2 is barely noticeable. The most impotant thing is that it is a SATA HD and it is going at 150 mbps. That is the key. He told me that it would barely make a difference and you would always want more space on your notebook. I also have a 320 gig at home so i was contemplating it aswell. But he also said that the 7200 rpms will be using alot more battery power, and might also get hotter. His recomendations were to stick with the 5400 and the 160 GB.

Yay...now i still have to wait another 4 or so months till i have the money :(
 
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There is a performance hit going from 7200RPM to 5400RPM, but you also have to keep in mind that the faster drive sucks up more battery power, not to mention the increase in heat from the faster spinning platters.

For a notebook, I would definitely suggest sticking with a 5400RPM drive. It'll work just fine for the work you want to do. The only reason to go for a 7200RPM drive is if your Macbook Pro will be on a charger 90% of the time and you absolutely need the small increase in performance.

Also note that 7200RPM drives don't have as much capacity as 5400RPM drives
 
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In the video editing world though the faster the drive the better. Thats what I have learned.

Josh
 
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The paint ball Guy.... You just got your macbook pro right? Do you notice that it gets super hot or anything? or maybe after a while the battery dies quicker? It's a sick machine anyways, but what about those few things..
 
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No i have not gotten mine yet, well I bought it but it will get to me tomorrow!!! Once I get it I am going to put it through it's paces and will let you guys know what I have found out.

Josh
 

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Here is a speed comparison I made not long after I got my MBP.
The only thing I can point to in my MBP being slower in that test is the 5400 drive.
However, if you will use the external via FW800 for most of your editing work, the 5400 doesn't have a problem just in playing video. Have not done much recording and no video editing on my MBP after I ran that comparison. Have a FW800 / eSATA enclosure arriving this week and am hoping that will make a difference. Believe it will based on all my research.
 
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I use my C2D Macbook Pro (2.16, 2GB, 128mb Vram), for all my Final Cut and Photoshop work. Before I started using these programs, I too was a little skeptical about using the 5400rpm drive, and considered upgrading to a 7200rpm drive. However once I started using these programs, I was actually plesently surprised. The full retail version of CS3 runs fast (multiple times faster than CS2), and Final Cut, even though its 5.0 (PPC version) runs good also.
Keep in mind, all my scratch disks, swap files and data, is living on an external 1TB external FW800 drive, running RAID 0, which helps speed things up.

To answer your question, get CS3. Its alot faster than CS2, and yes...the Macbook Pro, even with a 5400rpm drive, works great.

It really comes down to screen real-estate.
 
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If you want to get a MBP and want portability I would strongly suggest getting the 15". It is a very powerful machine and you really feel like you need more real estate or you find yourself sitting at a desk often, just go buy a Cinema Display. They aren't that expensive and they are BEAUTIFUL.
Just my two cents.
 
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i bought a 22" HP LCD (w2207), love it.
 
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I initially got a 24" iMac, but recently caved and got a MBP too...but I got a used 2 month old one, otherwise it would have cost more than my iMac. So when ya can't decide...get both! You'll be broke but happy...hopefully!
 
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The paint ball Guy.... You just got your macbook pro right? Do you notice that it gets super hot or anything? or maybe after a while the battery dies quicker? It's a sick machine anyways, but what about those few things..

Hey,
Ok, i have had my 17 MBP now for about 5 days now. I have the 7200RPM drive and there have not been any issues with it at all! I can run it on battery playing music for almost 5 1/2 hours if the screen is off (I my car wired so I can plug my laptop into my stereo so I can have all my music with me. So when I am driving the screen turns off). Also my dads dell with the 5400RPM drive gets hotter than mine does and I have a faster computer then him. So I would say get the 7200RPM drive if you are doing anything with video. Hope this helps!

Josh
 
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I don't think you can compare a dell with the MBP... anyways... but I was also thinking of the 7200 with 100GB.. but what about an extra 60 gigs with the 5400... is it worth the sacrifice? Cuz people on laptops are always wanting more space..especially with video..but then I think these two cancell each other out. Because The 7200 rpms is fast for video, but then the 160 gig holds more video to edit.. so which do you go with?

edit: I actually found a site that compared the 2. http://www.barefeats.com/5472.html

See i'm on the boarder line of the 2 drives right now and i'm not sure which one I should get. I do edit video and lots of photoshop and illustrator stuff. Now I'd just be worried about a few things... Firsty, how much space does OS X take up.. Like when your got your comp how much space did you have... I'm not too worried about that cuz i have a 320 gig at home but still it'll be weird tranfering back and forth all the time... Secondly the heat issue... how hot does it get I know you said not that hot..but can it get unbareably hot... and battery life... I guess you can't compare but how long has it lasted you so far with the 7200? ( nvmind i just saw) 5.5 is tops. Were you running high power apps at that time or just normal...?

Thanks
 

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