Macbook advise

[sk66]

My 2 c on monitors.
LCD's are not ideal. You can get a CRT type cheaper (but it will be huge).
I personally prefer multiple monitors rather than wider ones.

I don't know if any of the Macs offers internal RAID arrays, but if they do I'd seriously consider that option.
No machine is a good investment but desktops have better performance/cost ratios. I would say there's two ways of looking at it...Get the biggest baddest you can afford and don't plan on upgrading anytime soon, or get something "more than adequate" and upgrade sooner. I would generally recommend the second since technology evolves so rapidly.
Of anything I would see as an "investment" computer related and pertaining to photography.....Very good Monitor(s) and a good calibrator.

[cameragirl]

Originally Posted by Eberbachl

EDIT:

...is this going to be your only machine, or is your laptop only used whilst on the road?

For a great affordable desktop machine, I think the 24" iMac is great. Be sure to max out the RAM though

It will be my only machine, since my powerbook G4 is near its end this one was a 15" screen, so anything bigger will be an improvement. Of course I could still use it as backup.
I will get a new computer next week so I appreciate all your advise and comments. I really think its going to be an imac (20 screen probably) since I actually not need a portable.

[Eberbachl]

If you don't need a portable, an iMac is a great choice

I highly recommend the 24" if it's in your budget. Although if not, the 20" is still a nice machine.

...come to think of it. You could even buy a 20" iMac for home use, and a 13" white MacBook for travel for just about the same price as a MacBook Pro.



to sk66: Mac Pros are available with RAID arrays, but not iMacs. Although having said that whilst I haven't tried I don't see any theoretical reason why a firewire RAID array wouldn't work with an iMac...?

[jdepould]

Originally Posted by maxharvard

Don't buy the Macbook Air. Complete waste of time/money.

If you are going into this professionally as you claim, you'll want to get more than a laptop. You'll want a very powerful desktop with the biggest monitor your poor little eyes can flutter. I get the advantages of a laptop over a desktop, but if you are truly going 'professional', then desktop is the ONLY way to go.

$.02

~Eric

Disagree completely. I just did a workshop with 60+ photo students and 30+ professional team leaders/advisors, and the room where we did everything was a sea of silver Mac laptops. There were two desktop machines in the room, for no apparent reason. We were all running CS3, Lightroom, Final Cut Pro, etc. I've never felt the need for a desktop.

[Eberbachl]

Originally Posted by jdepould

Disagree completely. I just did a workshop with 60+ photo students and 30+ professional team leaders/advisors, and the room where we did everything was a sea of silver Mac laptops. There were two desktop machines in the room, for no apparent reason. We were all running CS3, Lightroom, Final Cut Pro, etc. I've never felt the need for a desktop.

MacBooks and MacBook Pro machines are great (my laptop is the excellent, but humble 13" MacBook), but whilst the MacBook Air is highly portable and very stylish, they are quite limited on functionality.

[cameragirl]

Originally Posted by jdepould

Disagree completely. I just did a workshop with 60+ photo students and 30+ professional team leaders/advisors, and the room where we did everything was a sea of silver Mac laptops. There were two desktop machines in the room, for no apparent reason. We were all running CS3, Lightroom, Final Cut Pro, etc. I've never felt the need for a desktop.

Well laptops are much easier to bring to a class/workshop than a desktop machine
Today in the store they told me that the bigger screen and better resolution, the better is for photo-editing, which makes sense. And 24" is better than 20" of course. Although Macbook Pro 17" seems to be as good (better?) than the imacs. Opinion? sorry, don't want to be a pain, I just saved money for quite a while and want to make sure I get what I need.

[Eberbachl]

Originally Posted by cameragirl

Well laptops are much easier to bring to a class/workshop than a desktop machine
Today in the store they told me that the bigger screen and better resolution, the better is for photo-editing, which makes sense. And 24" is better than 20" of course. Although Macbook Pro 17" seems to be as good (better?) than the imacs. Opinion? sorry, don't want to be a pain, I just saved money for quite a while and want to make sure I get what I need.

For a desktop machine, leave the MacBook Pro at the store, and get the 24" iMac.



If you need a desktop machine for 90% of the time, and laptop 10% of the time, get the highest level 24" iMac that budget allows, and the great but affordable 13" White MacBook for about the same or less money than a 17" MacBook Pro.

If you need a good solid laptop to be mixed up between an even amount of portable use and desktop use, grab the 17" MacBook Pro and enjoy.

Regardless of which Mac you get, be sure to max out it's RAM capacity. You and it will be much happier. Apple tend to overcharge on their RAM upgrades though, so it's often wise to buy the stock Mac and upgrade the RAM yourself if you're so inclined.

[Cuchulainn]

The 17" Macbook Pro and the 24" iMac both have 1920 x 1200 pixels. If you don't need the portability of the Macbook Pro you can get the top of the line 24" iMac for about $600 less than the 17" Macbook Pro.

Originally Posted by cameragirl

Well laptops are much easier to bring to a class/workshop than a desktop machine
Today in the store they told me that the bigger screen and better resolution, the better is for photo-editing, which makes sense. And 24" is better than 20" of course. Although Macbook Pro 17" seems to be as good (better?) than the imacs. Opinion? sorry, don't want to be a pain, I just saved money for quite a while and want to make sure I get what I need.

[FGPhotography]

I have the new version of the MacBook Pro 15" and LOVE it! (Specs: 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB 1067 MHz DDR3 ram) and I absolutely LOVE IT. It runs my photo editing programs without seemingly any effort at all and uploads my photographs at a fantastic speed! I use to have a Macbook and it did nothing, hence the upgrade.

Here's more info on my laptop: http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/

I would never get anything else (other than a desktop, but we have no room in our house for one of those).

HTH

[jdepould]

Originally Posted by cameragirl

Well laptops are much easier to bring to a class/workshop than a desktop machine
Today in the store they told me that the bigger screen and better resolution, the better is for photo-editing, which makes sense. And 24" is better than 20" of course. Although Macbook Pro 17" seems to be as good (better?) than the imacs. Opinion? sorry, don't want to be a pain, I just saved money for quite a while and want to make sure I get what I need.

Apple gave us some of the computers. They had a network set up, it's not like this was a three-hour thing.

You do realize an iMac is--internally--a laptop, right? If you need a monitor, buy a monitor. Desktops don't make sense for photographers.