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Wayne Priestley
19,579 PointsReally! Can't decide which new Mac to buy.
Hi All,
I'm having a really hard tome trying to decide which new Mac to buy.
I had it all figured out until Apple released the new Retina iMac, now I'm back and forth between two models.
Option 1
15" Macbook Pro with retina display £1475
. 2.2GHz core i7
. 16GB memory
. 256GB solid state drive
PRO'S
. More powerful,
. Has memory i need included
. Faster HDD than Fusion drive
. Portable
CON'S
. Small screen
. Have to keep images and music on external drive
Option 2
27" iMac with 5K retina display £1865
. 3.5GHz core i5
. 8GB memory (I will upgrade to 16GB)
. 1TB Fusion drive (which has 128GB solid drive)
PRO'S
. Huge screen with fantastic display
. Can have many apps open and view them all without having to keep minimising them to make room for others
. Large storage so i can keep my images and music on main drive instead of an external drive
CON'S
. Not portable, so i'll be sitting in study instead of on sofa
. Not as fast as MBP, but still very fast
. I'll have to buy 16GB ram @ a cost of £130 to upgrade
It will be used mostly for webdesign and a bit of graphic design too.
If i go for the MBP i'll save some cash that i can use to update some apps, but i don't see that as a big plus really
My heart says iMac but my head says MacBook Pro.
If I go with my head I'm worried i'll regret it when I'm sitting trying to work with multiple apps on my MBP.
Any thoughts?
4 Answers
Salman Akram
Courses Plus Student 40,065 PointsHi Wayne,
I can't decide too, just browsing 15" MacBook Pro Retina all days compared to other products. Have a hard time to buy it due to very high costs, I will be mostly using coding including Ruby on Rails for practices. Maybe some designing Illustrators/Photoshop.
From my understanding, many users said it is good enough to have 15" MBP than 13" which is too small screen.
Wayne Priestley
19,579 PointsI'm glad I'm not the only one LOL.
Wayne Priestley
19,579 PointsThe screen size & quality is a big plus for me when i think about the iMac, i have a 17" MBP at the moment.
It's funny but before the retina iMac was announced i didn't even consider the iMac as i knew the retina display on the MBP would be a lot better.
Now Apples gone and messed with my brain.
Vittorio Somaschini
33,371 PointsHello Wayne.
Well as I read through your question is your where your doubt stands. If you forget for a second the problem related to images and music, the main point is that (according to my personal experience):
For example I like to see youtube videos on sofa or bed. Not only xfacotr videos but lots and lots of tutorials. I think this happens quiet often. Personally I could not count the hours of the day that I use the macbook when I lay on the bed. I think it is a huge factor.
I do love big screens too and I have 2 (not as big as imac's) on my desk that I do not move (pretty obviously) and attach to the macbook when at the desk.
Also if you want to go somewhere for working like a shared desk for a day or a coffee bar.. Or showing a client around you some cool stuff..
I am more of a laptop guy..
;)
Wayne Priestley
19,579 PointsHi Vittorio,
I've used a laptop for the past 7 years so i understand what your saying about portability, but since i bought an iPad air i don't think I've used my laptop for much except building websites and some graphic design stuff.
I do quite a bit of photo editing also, but my MBP is getting so old its annoying me with the speed of it now.
Wayne Priestley
19,579 PointsI was thinking of a Macbook pro and getting an external screen as you mentioned.
One of the things i didn't mention was that having an iMac in the study would help me concentrate on work a bit better :)
I very easily distracted when I'm sitting on the sofa working and someone turns on the TV or starts a conversation lol
Wayne Priestley
19,579 PointsToday I ordered the 15" MacBook pro, it will arrive tomorrow.
Decided working on the sofa or out in the garden in the summer is worth the trade off in screen size.
Aurelian Spodarec
7,369 PointsIt's a great deal. I wish I could work on sofa too as under stairs on chairs it get challenging to stay there. Though on sofa you might fall asleep so well xd
Confratulations! :D
Salman Akram
Courses Plus Student 40,065 PointsCongratulation!!
Dang, I still haven't decide yet for so long because I already have latest Window desktop + large screen which is similar power such as 15" MacBook Pro's i7 core and 16GB RAM.
:(
Aurelian Spodarec
7,369 PointsAurelian Spodarec
7,369 PointsHi, i , well one that i use and it costed around 2.1k pounds was the Option 2 .
Its great for working with the big screen, you can't put everything on the side and its just wonderful . But i think depends on what type of work will you do .
The different on iMac i use is that it got:
i7
16GB
254GB od ( Solid Drive) or something like that . Apparently better than fusion because well, you can do a little research of it . It added around 300 pounds to the 1800 but well , look at maybe customise your iMac too.
You can go and try to customise your iMac online . In the stores , like all are the same ;d so if you want to check it out i don't recommend it apart form screen sizes .
I hope this helps .