Getting a new Computer

[Vicious]

hey guys,

i am getting a new computer soon, and i am dead set on getting a mac.

i just have 1 question. im not richy rich, and i will be saving up for this, but i was wondering if i should get the Black Macbook, or with 160gb ram, or should i really really save up, and get the macbook pro. i have 2 friends (one with the Black Mac, and one with the Macbook Pro) and my buddy with the black macbook pretty much said the only difference is that the Pro has a lot better speakers, and of course the 2 extra inches of screen.

i will be using this for Graphic Design. i will be majoring in it, and i want something thats easily portable. the 160gb is real nice, and the 2gb of ram is fine, i can always expand on that later.

so, should i take the macbook, or break the bank for the Pro?

im pretty set on getting the black macbook, i just want to make sure im not making a mistake.

thanks,

Vicious

[Davidson]

i reckon if you are at college, then its not worth the extra quid.

you dont need to break yourself for the sake of a few fancy peripherals in my opinion.

as long as it does the job (i guess you are just using ai and ps?) id go for the cheaper

option.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Isn't the black MacBook more expensive than the similar-spec'ed white MacBook? The black finish seems like a silly thing to spend an extra $200 or whatever on, but I could be off. Are you a high school senior now? If so, I'd say wait until you're enrolled. Your school will offer a discounted price and your department might be able to do you even better.

[You Got Zung]

Why do you need a portable computer as a graphic design student? Doesn't your school have a Mac Lab?

I would get a Mac Mini and utilize the school labs.

Laptops can drop and break easily.

Don't forget to use your Apple student discount.

[Jimmy!]

hey guys,

i am getting a new computer soon, and i am dead set on getting a mac.

i just have 1 question. im not richy rich, and i will be saving up for this, but i was wondering if i should get the Black Macbook, or with 160gb ram, or should i really really save up, and get the macbook pro. i have 2 friends (one with the Black Mac, and one with the Macbook Pro) and my buddy with the black macbook pretty much said the only difference is that the Pro has a lot better speakers, and of course the 2 extra inches of screen.

i will be using this for Graphic Design. i will be majoring in it, and i want something thats easily portable. the 160gb is real nice, and the 2gb of ram is fine, i can always expand on that later.

so, should i take the macbook, or break the bank for the Pro?

im pretty set on getting the black macbook, i just want to make sure im not making a mistake.

thanks,

Vicious

While I've never been a fan of laptops for doing graphic design work, whatever you end up getting, do your research and take your time. Apple has this nifty habit of coming out with something newer and better six weeks after you buy a product from them.

And make sure you take full advantage of student pricing. They saved me a bundle!

[mfoster]

While I've never been a fan of laptops for doing graphic design work, whatever you end up getting, do your research and take your time. Apple has this nifty habit of coming out with something newer and better six weeks after you buy a product from them.

And make sure you take full advantage of student pricing. They saved me a bundle!

I got an 2.4 Ghz 20" iMac recently with my tax refund and love it. jdub is right about getting the student discount. You also want to not get your extra RAM from Apple, as they massively overcharge for it. With the money I saved using a 3rd party vendor's email (maxing out to 4GB for about $100) I could have bought an external HD to run Time Machine and serve as an emergency boot disk (but didn't see the need for it).

[andrewharrington]

I thought having a computer that I could carry around would be sweet, too. It is sweet, but it is way overrated. You'll grow to hate doing work while you're away from your 'office' anyway because it ends up being the only time you spend away from the screen. You get so much more power and convenience for the money if you get an iMac. You'll get the same processor speed, the same amount of RAM, more than twice the hard drive space (320 GB as opposed to 120 GB), a keyboard and mouse and a 24-inch screen (as opposed to a 13- or 15-inch screen) for $100 less than the bottom line MacBook Pro. Or you could spring for the 20-inch iMac for $400 less. It's a no brainer, dude. The sacrifices you make in portability are far outweighed by the extra 200 GB of hard drive space and a monitor that's twice the size of the laptop's. In my experience, a small screen means a small work area in Illustrator and InDesign, and it's really annoying when you don't have room to work on your computer. Designing on a small screen is like trying to put together a 5000 piece puzzle on your bathroom counter.

[pcgd]

As much as everyone isn't for laptops...I'm so glad I got one now. I have an extra monitor at home so I've got the dual thing going and I carry my tablet with me if I'm going to do serious work away from my home office.

I understand how some people don't like the laptop, but I love my 15" MacBook Pro.

Not only that...having Madden 08 on there makes business flights go by really quick!

[andrewharrington]

That's the only thing I would ever get a laptop for again: traveling out of town. For me, the portability just isn't worth the extra money, especially when you get less hard drive space and screen area. I love my laptop, but I would just much rather have a desktop. I'm only getting a laptop as an extra traveling computer if I get one again.

[Vicious]

thanks a lot guys.

i will definatley look into the imacs. i do have a laptop now, but its just a crappy old dell. i do like to do most, if not all, of my Design work at home, so maybe the imac would be better.

My college does have mac labs (i will be a sophomore in the fall) so the arguement is strong for the imac. i willl take a hard look at them.

and if something better comes along 4 weeks after i buy whatever i buy. im going to throw a fit.

any extra opinions would help too.

-Vicious-

[andrewharrington]

Yeah, be cautious and check for rumors. They haven't updated the new iMac for a while, so you might want to take a few months to save your money because they may upgrade them in various ways. My girlfriend bought a MacBook Pro days before the latest upgrade with the LED monitors and iPhone trackpads and such. If you are going to get a laptop, wait until the next generation of MacBooks come out. I bet they will be really thin and awesome like the MacBook Air.

[slapshot]

the macbook air is only good if you have another machine with wirelss access. It has no disc drive, so if you want to install something you have to download it on another machine and network it over.

I just bought a white MacBook a little over a month ago from CompUSA's going out of business sale. It's a great machine, and seems good to do work when I can't be in front of my main computer. But if I need to do some serious color correcting or PhotoShop work in general, I find a color is better on a regular monitor than the laptop.

[Vicious]

thanks alot guys, i cant believe how much more you get with the imac. i think thats what i am going to get.

im getting a job at a bank making $10.50 an hour, which is pretty good here in michigan. i will be getting 40 hours a week, so i will get the imac (assuming the updates will be out by then) in the next few months.

thanks a ton nordiques for that site, i will be checking in with it regularly.

thank all of you for preventing me from making a mistake.

-Vicious-