Watching HD movies - Macbook + 24LED or iMac 24?

fender101

Hey guys,





To all you fellow cinephiles, out there I need some buying advice.



I live in Japan in a tiny appartment, so I have no real need for a television and all of my entertainment currently comes from my 15 inch Dell laptop.



Atfer seeing how well the iMac 24 handles 1080p video from apple trailers, i was ready to buy immediately.... but yesterday's announcements have given me a dilemma in the form of 3 great options:



IMac 24 inch (165,000),

Macbook 2.4ghz + 24 LED Cinema display (254,000)

Macbook Pro 2.4ghz and 24 inch Cinema display (298,000)



(Pricing in YEN is based on OCN's cashback in BIK Kamera)



Living in my small appartment and owning an iPhone, i don't really need the mobility of a laptop. If i had a laptop i could use it when I travel to the UK for holidays, but that's about it. My only worry would be if I decide to go live in another country - that 24 inch iMac is so heavy! But then again, watching a movie on the 24 inch cinema screen, whilst using the laptop screen to browse the net sounds pretty amazing.... But can the Macbook handle it?



So, my real question is two-fold. Firstly, will the Macbook 2.4 ghz manage playing a full-screen HD movie on the cinema display, without slowdown, whilst I browse the net and do basic tasks on the laptop screen? is this better suited to the Pro?



OR



Is it a waste of money for me to pay more money for a mobile solution and a large screen, if i'm only going to use the laptop as a laptop twice a year or so.



I need the system to last me for at least 2 years and slow-down of video is a big no-no. I have Blu-Ray rips at 1080p that I can't wait to watch and my Dell can't even open!



Thanks for any advice on this matter, I've spent the last 2 days researching but haven't been able to answer these questions myself yet.



Help!

cong0

At the Apple store, I did a quick HD video test on a late 2008 MacBook 2.4ghz. I downloaded two 1080p movie trailers--Madagascar 2; Speed Racer--and played them back simultaneously. They played with no lagging whatsoever. I was amazed! I then downloaded a third 1080p trailer to try to push the computer to it's limits. The three trailers played relatively smoothly. The fourth 1080p trailer, which also played alongside the rest, caused the computer to begin lagging, although the machine chopped through without freezing up the interface. The 1066 mhz bus and NVIDIA chip are more powerful than I was expecting, even more so than my late 2006 iMac 2.16 ghz with a dedicated ATI GPU, which can sometimes play a single 1080p trailer. To answer your question, I personally would go with the MacBook and 24" due to your living space arrangement. It's a great balance of power and space saving. You would get portability as needed, along with a stunning cinematic view. If you upgrade the ram from the standard 2GB to 4GB, you may get a tiny boost of video performance on top of that. Whew.

fender101

Thanks Cong0, I actually ended up going for the Macbook Pro, based on the quality of the screen. The viewing angle on the 13 incher is much, much worse than the pro and color warping is another issue, as shown in Gizmodo's comprehensive review. I'm loving it so far and you're right, it juggles HD movies with ease... Now im waiting for the cinema display!