Mac Advice? - Hardware & Software

Hi there facepunchers I would like some advice on which mac to purchase and why? I do a media diploma at my college and work on one pretty much all week and I would like to go into the media industry when I finish college, preferably graphics design or along those lines with some slight video editing thrown in. I am in need of an upgrade to my desktop PC as it is getting old but was thinking about getting a mac instead for the reasons explained. I would like your advice on whether I should get a MacBook Pro or a iMac (I will be keeping my pc desktop for gaming anyhow). I will be saving up around £1000 pounds and could possibly scrape together a little bit more if it is worth the upgrade, I will also be buying 8GB DDR3 1333Mhz ram myself so I can max out the system I choose. I will also receive [B]15% student discount[/B] on my chosen mac. These are the options available to me. [IMG]http://gyazo.com/a5f2092d9278679cf9be59b4b647190e.png[/IMG] [IMG]http://gyazo.com/ed5119594d7796f47e3b469078238536.png[/IMG] From what I can see the laptops and desktops are roughly the same price however the notable difference is that both iMacs will have quad core and the Macbooks either have a i5 2.4ghz or a 2.8ghz i7 both of which are dual core. Now I'm not really sure how it will work out on a mac as I only really use it casually for college work so if any of you are in the design industry and can tell me if more processing power is that important then please do say, I am also not interested in the size of the hard drive or the GFX card as I will use my PC for games and my PS3. I also see it as a fair trade between the power of the iMac and the ease of taking the MacBook wherever I go being more convenient. I will be using the likes of Photoshop and Illustrator mainly with some Final Cut or so thrown in when needed. What do you think is worth getting and why?

From one designer to another, I own a 13" macbook, and a desktop PC that I have converted to a hackintosh. I'd like to eventually upgrade the PC to either an iMac or a Mac Pro, to alleviate some of the nuances that come along with the hack. The 13" is very nice, I like to be able to bring it around with me and I definitely work on projects with it. But in all honesty, I much prefer the desktop for serious design work. It is more comfortable, and the larger screen is really what you will need for comfortable designing. You do have a minidvi for a second display, but still, I think the iMac will be more comfortable. If you are planning on using final cut, you will definitely want that extra processor power, but as for photoshop/illustrator/indesign, I run all of those just fine at the same time on my MacBook. Some filters or larger projects will start to hang a bit, but it's not enough to drive me crazy. So, honestly, I think you'd be ok with either, the iMac will be without a doubt more comfortable to design on, but you do loose that portability aspect, you should really assess your own situation and decide if portability is going to be an issue for you, and whether it's going to actually be worth what I see as a bit of a downgrade given what you'd like to use it for.

I don't mind hooking a MacBook up to a screen if needs be and Final Cut will be a rarity.

You may be ok with a macbook, then. One thing you will want though is a quality monitor to hook it up to, this could cost you quite a bit. I have a pretty decent dell monitor that I hook mine up to occasionally, but it really doesn't compare to an Apple display. I have found Apple's display color to be more closely representative of a final print project. Even with the dell color corrected. So that's another thing to think about, the iMac will be giving you a larger top quality display. When I design on my Hackintosh I always dropbox the project to view it on my macbook before I send it out. A bit of a pain sometimes. But for you, it wouldn't be too hard to just drag it over, although it might feel cumbersome after a while. Something more to think about

I would just use the screen I use for my desktop it's decent and I can just look at the mac screen to see how it will look.

If you are keeping your PC as a desktop, I would recommend a 15" MBP as you mentioned video. If you aren't going to do any video then the 13" MBP will be fine. Recommend you put a faster harddrive in. Personally recommend the Momentus XT which is a hybrid of 4GB flash memory and rest HDD, works pretty well for me and many others.

[QUOTE=MisterM;33252691]If you are keeping your PC as a desktop, I would recommend a 15" MBP as you mentioned video. If you aren't going to do any video then the 13" MBP will be fine. Recommend you put a faster harddrive in. Personally recommend the Momentus XT which is a hybrid of 4GB flash memory and rest HDD, works pretty well for me and many others.[/QUOTE] It sounds like he's probably on a shoestring budget. But that HDD sounds interesting. I don't however trust maxtor/seagate, personally I've lost a lot of files over the years with this brand.

[QUOTE=MisterM;33252691]If you are keeping your PC as a desktop, I would recommend a 15" MBP as you mentioned video. If you aren't going to do any video then the 13" MBP will be fine. Recommend you put a faster harddrive in. Personally recommend the Momentus XT which is a hybrid of 4GB flash memory and rest HDD, works pretty well for me and many others.[/QUOTE] I have a budget for a reason, i'm 17 and work my ass of and a grand is quite a bit of money and I dont think the 15 inch is worth it for the price. Video is not there as the main reason, I am quite happy looking at a 13 inch screen and putting up with a bit longer rendering time etc. Also the mac would pretty much become my main computer.

[QUOTE=Flem;33255771]I have a budget for a reason, i'm 17 and work my ass of and a grand is quite a bit of money and I dont think the 15 inch is worth it for the price. Video is not there as the main reason, I am quite happy looking at a 13 inch screen and putting up with a bit longer rendering time etc. Also the mac would pretty much become my main computer.[/QUOTE] If it's going to be your main computer on top of a design machine, I would say just go with the 13 inch instead of the iMac, you will probably get more use out of it if you find yourself out a lot, or plan on bringing it to class.

[QUOTE=MisterM;33252691]Recommend you put a faster harddrive in. Personally recommend the Momentus XT which is a hybrid of 4GB flash memory and rest HDD, works pretty well for me and many others.[/QUOTE] I did exactly this and it's absolutely worth it. Only requires you to take out about 12 screws to replace it too and doesn't void the limited hardware warranty. If screen space isn't a concern, go for the entry level 13" MBP IMO.

[QUOTE=WaLLy3K;33256484]I did exactly this and it's absolutely worth it. Only requires you to take out about 12 screws to replace it too and doesn't void the limited hardware warranty. If screen space isn't a concern, go for the entry level 13" MBP IMO.[/QUOTE] Yeah was thinking the 2.4ghz one then with the money I save on discount get 8gb ram then possible HDD upgrade? Sorta stuck between that and the 1st iMac as I could also upgrade that and have a sick desktop. Also when will the next gen of Mac be coming out as its nearly the end of this year?

[QUOTE=Flem;33256517] Also when will the next gen of Mac be coming out as its nearly the end of this year?[/QUOTE] [URL="http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/"]Oct 24, 2011[/URL], it just updated.

[QUOTE=Flem;33256517]Yeah was thinking the 2.4ghz one then with the money I save on discount get 8gb ram then possible HDD upgrade? Sorta stuck between that and the 1st iMac as I could also upgrade that and have a sick desktop. Also when will the next gen of Mac be coming out as its nearly the end of this year?[/QUOTE] As long as it's got 4gb of RAM, you honestly won't see much (if any) improvement unless you intend on being more serious with your video editing. The HDD upgrade though, is a difference you can easily notice if you're running the stock HD. Tinos posted the link for the MBP, but there's no hints that I know of pointing to an imminent iMac refresh.

[QUOTE=WaLLy3K;33269358]As long as it's got 4gb of RAM, you honestly won't see much (if any) improvement unless you intend on being more serious with your video editing. The HDD upgrade though, is a difference you can easily notice if you're running the stock HD. Tinos posted the link for the MBP, but there's no hints that I know of pointing to an imminent iMac refresh.[/QUOTE] Yeah I saw a boot up with a SSD was damn fast compared to the one next to it with HDD but if I was to get a iMac I would rather get the next gen one.

Yeah, you'd be better off waiting for the iMac refresh if you're going to hold off.

[QUOTE=WaLLy3K;33269557]Yeah, you'd be better off waiting for the iMac refresh if you're going to hold off.[/QUOTE] Sigh Backbook or iMac... Would the iMac be able to play games well? I dont care for maxed settings I just wouldnt want 2 desktops.

The current gen iMacs in Bootcamp with drivers updated off the GPU manufacturer's site would run pretty nicely I reckon

[QUOTE=Flem;33255771]I have a budget for a reason, i'm 17 and work my ass of and a grand is quite a bit of money and I dont think the 15 inch is worth it for the price. Video is not there as the main reason, I am quite happy looking at a 13 inch screen and putting up with a bit longer rendering time etc. Also the mac would pretty much become my main computer.[/QUOTE]If that's the case then you'll be very content with the 13 MBP. The lack of dedicated gpu to me wouldn't be a good long term investment at that price, but graphic design will be fine without it. [QUOTE=Flem;33270166]Sigh Backbook or iMac... Would the iMac be able to play games well? I dont care for maxed settings I just wouldnt want 2 desktops.[/QUOTE]The current iMac would does a nice job of gaming, saw some videos on youtube where the 21.5 inch model runs BF3 around 30-40fps at ultra (except shadows) at 1280x720. Be worth looking into but for gaming it would be pretty solid. I think gaming natively within OSX, like steam and whatnot should be okay as well. CSS and TF2 run terribly and you can't run special settings like on windows with OSX, but when I run them through bootcamp it runs much smoother at higher settings on my 2010 15" MBP.

[QUOTE=MisterM;33278714]If that's the case then you'll be very content with the 13 MBP. The lack of dedicated gpu to me wouldn't be a good long term investment at that price, but graphic design will be fine without it. The current iMac would does a nice job of gaming, saw some videos on youtube where the 21.5 inch model runs BF3 around 30-40fps at ultra (except shadows) at 1280x720. Be worth looking into but for gaming it would be pretty solid. I think gaming natively within OSX, like steam and whatnot should be okay as well. CSS and TF2 run terribly and you can't run special settings like on windows with OSX, but when I run them through bootcamp it runs much smoother at higher settings on my 2010 15" MBP.[/QUOTE] Thanks man! Might wait for next gens iMac.

[QUOTE=Flem;33282738]Thanks man! Might wait for next gens iMac.[/QUOTE] IMO an iMac is [I]much[/I] better for you, but you seemed pretty keen on that MacBook.

[QUOTE=tinos;33282773]IMO an iMac is [I]much[/I] better for you, but you seemed pretty keen on that MacBook.[/QUOTE] True but at the end of the day I would rather have a powerful desktop that will last me much longer than a macbook

Well today we had a 3 hour lesson with the ex ImagineFX Art Editor who taught me some amazing things today, I asked him about his mac and that and has recommended me the MackBook as being able to take your work everywhere freelancing is a must have so contemplating one much more now, he also said my work was fricking good! :dance:

Then yeah get the 999 pound 13 inch MBP and get an SSD/RAM upgrade if at all possible. You will love how quick and snappy it will be. My workstation (at work) boots off an Intel 320 series and is fully rebooted and ready to login in 22 seconds. I can't imagine what a difference it'd make on a MBP especially going from a 5400rpm drive.

[QUOTE=Protocol7;33302431]Then yeah get the 999 pound 13 inch MBP and get an SSD/RAM upgrade if at all possible. You will love how quick and snappy it will be. My workstation (at work) boots off an Intel 320 series and is fully rebooted and ready to login in 22 seconds. I can't imagine what a difference it'd make on a MBP especially going from a 5400rpm drive.[/QUOTE] The video I saw was about a 10 second boots up or something, SSD and Ram it is!

[QUOTE=Protocol7;33302431]Then yeah get the 999 pound 13 inch MBP and get an SSD/RAM upgrade if at all possible. You will love how quick and snappy it will be. My workstation (at work) boots off an Intel 320 series and is fully rebooted and ready to login in 22 seconds. I can't imagine what a difference it'd make on a MBP especially going from a 5400rpm drive.[/QUOTE]Is that counting from pressing reboot to the login screen again? sounds pretty good, I've noticed Lion is a bit slower for boot times. 20-23 seconds for a cold boot in my hybrid drive, wishing I bought a small SSD and external now that I think about it.

[QUOTE=Flem;33302500]The video I saw was about a 10 second boots up or something, SSD and Ram it is![/QUOTE] Who boots a macbook? No reason to turn it off with sleep, I restart rarely. Interesting the dude said that about the iMac vs MB. I mean, he has a point, being able to sit down with a client and show them what you're looking at is handy, but at this point I honestly don't think you will be doing much of that. Also, some of the top freelancers never even leave the house! Their work is sent out all over the world, they rarely meet a client in person unless its a huge huge job. Just yesterday I was designing on my macbook, all I could think of is how much I couldn't wait to get home to the desktop. haha You should maybe go to a store that has display models of both the choices, mess around with both for a while, go through some normal everyday tasks you use your computer for, if you can, make a decision after that.

[QUOTE=tinos;33307088]Who boots a macbook? No reason to turn it off with sleep, I restart rarely. Interesting the dude said that about the iMac vs MB. I mean, he has a point, being able to sit down with a client and show them what you're looking at is handy, but at this point I honestly don't think you will be doing much of that. Also, some of the top freelancers never even leave the house! Their work is sent out all over the world, they rarely meet a client in person unless its a huge huge job. Just yesterday I was designing on my macbook, all I could think of is how much I couldn't wait to get home to the desktop. haha You should maybe go to a store that has display models of both the choices, mess around with both for a while, go through some normal everyday tasks you use your computer for, if you can, make a decision after that.[/QUOTE] I have but the there's nothing on the macs in the store and the staff don't have a fucking clue.