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Book or iMac? or iPad?

post #1 of 12
4/26/10 at 5:54am
Thread Starter 
Hi,
Basically i am currently running a 17" hp laptop and have never had trouble with windows. Its always worked fine done everything i wanted and played all games i want.

I am starting a college course in september that will centre heavily on audio and video editing and production so ive decided the time is right for me to make the change i have been thiknig about for ages, in addition to this i have recently been working on the first steps of generating a podcast.

Due to this ive decided it was time to make the dive into macs due to their (in my opinion) superior media creation applications.

The end point is i am not sure what to buy:
1. iMac 24" and then when i have the money or choose it to be required i will buy an ipad.
2. 15" Macbook Pro
3. 17" Macbook Pro (to match up with the laptop i am currently using.
4. (posiblity) 13" Macbook Pro and iMac

This setup will primarily spend its time on my desk at home connected into an audio system but i would personally like to be able to have something to take to college for taking notes in class.

I would like to add i spend ALOT of time on World of Warcraft, so i dont know how important a factor this will be.

Any help would be great thanks.
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post #2 of 12
4/26/10 at 6:45am
Why did you through the iPad into the conversation? You can't edit video on it.

You can't take the iMac to class, so why ask about it?

If you are used to a 17" screen, you will be cramped on anything smaller. That seems to leave only the 17" MacBook Pro on your list. If it is too rich for your blood, then go with the 15" MBP.
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post #3 of 12
4/26/10 at 6:46am
I would go with option 1, but that is me. Go to an Apple store and test drive an iPad. Make sure it's adequate for note taking. My personal experience suggests that it is. Plus, check out a lot of the note taking apps out there, they may make you take more effective notes.

Check out
Ghostwriter
Notably
Penultimate
TakeNotes (formally PadNotes)
CourseNotes
And last, but not least, Pages.

They are all less than $5, except for Pages.
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post #4 of 12
4/26/10 at 6:53am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Me View Post

Why did you through the iPad into the conversation? You can't edit video on it.

You can't take the iMac to class, so why ask about it?

If you are used to a 17" screen, you will be cramped on anything smaller. That seems to leave only the 17" MacBook Pro on your list. If it is too rich for your blood, then go with the 15" MBP.

I would be using the ipad for note taking when in class as itd be lightweight and easy to carry around.
the plan is to use the imac at home for my work and use the ipad for note taking and text orientated work in class.

Thank you to Outsider, i was kind of leaning toward that option but someone had reccomended a macbook with an external display.
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post #5 of 12
4/26/10 at 7:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by glynnister View Post

I would be using the ipad for note taking when in class as itd be lightweight and easy to carry around.
the plan is to use the imac at home for my work and use the ipad for note taking and text orientated work in class.

Thank you to Outsider, i was kind of leaning toward that option but someone had reccomended a macbook with an external display.

You're welcome.
The new iMacs can be had with Lynnfield quad cores (8 thread), and up to 16GB of RAM, not to mention sizable disk drives and wonderfully large screens. It's a better long term investment, IMO. I'm getting the same setup this summer to replace my aging 15" MBP. I came to the realization, i don't do any heavy work on my laptop when I'm not attached to my work desk. I mostly check mail, browse the web and do some light work that an iPad can easily handle.
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post #6 of 12
4/26/10 at 10:09am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Outsider View Post

You're welcome.
The new iMacs can be had with Lynnfield quad cores (8 thread), and up to 16GB of RAM, not to mention sizable disk drives and wonderfully large screens. It's a better long term investment, IMO. I'm getting the same setup this summer to replace my aging 15" MBP. I came to the realization, i don't do any heavy work on my laptop when I'm not attached to my work desk. I mostly check mail, browse the web and do some light work that an iPad can easily handle.

That was exactly what i was looking to use it for so this is brilliant and its nice to have someone to assure me that they are capable.

Thanks again.
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post #7 of 12
4/27/10 at 12:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by glynnister View Post

1. iMac 24" and then when i have the money or choose it to be required i will buy an ipad.

The 24" iMac would be the old model with Core 2 duo. You get a large glossy screen, which isn't good for editing video as it's hard to make out the dark levels. The biggest reason to get an iMac is if you get one of the quad cores - either the i5 or i7 because then you get a boost in encoding performance.

Quote:
Originally Posted by glynnister View Post

2. 15" Macbook Pro
3. 17" Macbook Pro (to match up with the laptop i am currently using.
4. (posiblity) 13" Macbook Pro and iMac

The 13" model is powerful enough to use as your desktop and run a large external display and light enough to take with you to class.

Quote:
Originally Posted by glynnister View Post

I would like to add i spend ALOT of time on World of Warcraft, so i dont know how important a factor this will be.

The laptop obviously gives you the advantage of being able to play it anywhere. If you are in the library for example, lying in bed (prerequisite skill for college life) or even during a boring lecture.

If you need something very light for lectures, just get an iPod Touch and record the lecture. Then you can take notes after class. If you have a problem with your editing, it's much easier to take your laptop project to a tutor than sync your project to an external drive and try and load it on a university computer with the same config and then sync it all back.

The iMac does have a faster and larger hard drive, which is good for video but you can get a 7200rpm laptop drive or use an external FW800 drive for your scratch drive.
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post #8 of 12
4/27/10 at 1:01pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marvin View Post

The 24" iMac would be the old model with Core 2 duo. You get a large glossy screen, which isn't good for editing video as it's hard to make out the dark levels. The biggest reason to get an iMac is if you get one of the quad cores - either the i5 or i7 because then you get a boost in encoding performance.



The 13" model is powerful enough to use as your desktop and run a large external display and light enough to take with you to class.



The laptop obviously gives you the advantage of being able to play it anywhere. If you are in the library for example, lying in bed (prerequisite skill for college life) or even during a boring lecture.

If you need something very light for lectures, just get an iPod Touch and record the lecture. Then you can take notes after class. If you have a problem with your editing, it's much easier to take your laptop project to a tutor than sync your project to an external drive and try and load it on a university computer with the same config and then sync it all back.

The iMac does have a faster and larger hard drive, which is good for video but you can get a 7200rpm laptop drive or use an external FW800 drive for your scratch drive.


My apolgies.
I will be getting a current edition 21.5" iMac.
Also my classes arent lectures they are like high school type classes so its mostly notes based.

Do you still think a 21" iMac and iPad will do the job adequately?
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post #9 of 12
4/27/10 at 2:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by glynnister View Post

My apolgies.
I will be getting a current edition 21.5" iMac.
Also my classes arent lectures they are like high school type classes so its mostly notes based.

Do you still think a 21" iMac and iPad will do the job adequately?

The graphics card in the laptop is twice the speed of the 9400M in the base iMac so as I said in the other thread will play World of Warcraft at twice the speed. The iMac will do the job but I'd get the laptop + big screen.

The iPad will be £350 at the lowest in the UK, might even be £400 and the entry iMac is £969. So total cost is £1319-1369.

The MBP 13" with twice the GPU speed is £999 and a 22" Dell IPS is around £200. Total is £1199. Even getting a 500GB 7200rpm drive upgrade is £70 and an external FW800 1TB for backup and scratch is about £100.

With the MBP + display you get a dual display setup so you can put your Final Cut Pro browser window on the smaller screen. Plus you can output any video from the laptop, which you will need to do in some classes. The iPad won't work in all cases:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/26/a...ishing-the-s/3

You're the one that will be using it though so pick what you think will work best for you.
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post #10 of 12
4/27/10 at 2:33pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marvin View Post

The graphics card in the laptop is twice the speed of the 9400M in the base iMac so as I said in the other thread will play World of Warcraft at twice the speed. The iMac will do the job but I'd get the laptop + big screen.

The iPad will be £350 at the lowest in the UK, might even be £400 and the entry iMac is £969. So total cost is £1319-1369.

The MBP 13" with twice the GPU speed is £999 and a 22" Dell IPS is around £200. Total is £1199. Even getting a 500GB 7200rpm drive upgrade is £70 and an external FW800 1TB for backup and scratch is about £100.

With the MBP + display you get a dual display setup so you can put your Final Cut Pro browser window on the smaller screen. Plus you can output any video from the laptop, which you will need to do in some classes. The iPad won't work in all cases:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/26/a...ishing-the-s/3

You're the one that will be using it though so pick what you think will work best for you.


Sorry to be sounding like a complete noob in this case.
Ive always had trouble with speed and lifetime performance when it coems to laptops so...
also would i be correct in saying that for the money the laptop had a slower processor and smaller harddrive?

So in a lke shopping list what do you reccomend i get?
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post #11 of 12
4/27/10 at 4:02pm
I've got to say, as much as I love the iPad, it would be a mistake to consider it as a laptop replacement. You are going to school. You need a laptop. Otherwise, you will be one of those people who is always complaining about what the iPad does not have. It was never meant to be in that list of choices. Good luck with school.
Apple has no competition. Every commercial product which competes directly with an Apple product gives the distinct impression that, Where it is original, it is not good, and where it is good, it...
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Apple has no competition. Every commercial product which competes directly with an Apple product gives the distinct impression that, Where it is original, it is not good, and where it is good, it...
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post #12 of 12
4/28/10 at 11:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by glynnister View Post

Sorry to be sounding like a complete noob in this case.
Ive always had trouble with speed and lifetime performance when it coems to laptops so...
also would i be correct in saying that for the money the laptop had a slower processor and smaller harddrive?

So in a lke shopping list what do you reccomend i get?

The 13" has a slower processor and smaller hard drive for the money but twice the graphics card performance. The CPU is 25% slower so for example encoding a movie on the laptop might take 15 minutes and on the iMac it would take 12 minutes. Either way, you're not going to sit and watch it so the difference is not that important.

The base iMac comes with 500GB and as I say a 500GB upgrade for the laptop is £70.

The graphics card in the laptop will play games at twice the speed of the iMac but also compute GPGPU content faster. So, if you were to experiment with Apple's Motion then the faster GPU would be much better.

Your shopping lists would be one of the following:

shopping list 1:
------------
iMac 21.5"
3.06GHz Core 2 Duo (25% faster)
4GB RAM
9400M
500GB 7200 rpm
£969

iPad
£350-400

total = £1319-1369

------------
shopping list 2:
------------
13" Macbook Pro
2.4GHz Core 2 Duo
4GB RAM
320M (200% faster)
250GB 5400 rpm
£999

External 22" display: Dell 2209WA recommended = £200
500GB 7200 rpm hard drive = £70

total = £1269

As mentioned above, the iPad is not a laptop replacement and pretty much everyone at uni uses a laptop.
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