Mac Advice? Macbook Pro 15", or Imac 24"

[peeker]

Okay Mac Fans...

As a professional photographer I need some "real world" advice regarding which computer to buy next.

I am currently using Aperture 2.1.1 to work with my RAW files on a PowerMac Dual 1.8 G5, with 4Gig of memory and a 24" Cinema Display. This computer works great and has been steady for it's entire life. I made the mistake of browsing through the Apple store the other day and was playing around with both the Macbook Pro and the iMac and of course found them a lot faster and not having to wait in between any mouse clicks in Aperture.

I would be looking at buying either the 3.06gHz iMac with 4gig of memory, or the 2.66gHz MacBook Pro 15" with 4gig of memory.

Now of course, this is on their store system that is not loaded down with real working files. I would like to gain your stories to help me make a decision between the laptop and the iMac. Excluding portability, let me know what your experience says about speed, etc between the two.

Happy stories!
Scott

[Mark Kaplan]

Really, portability is going to be the primary difference. That and a much smaller (and slower) hard drive in the MBP. Now if you were looking at a Mac Pro it would be a much different situation.

I'd like to be able to give you a comparison, between the MBP and the iMac, but I don't have an iMac personally. I can say though that my MBP has never really given me any problems or speed bottlenecks.

[S-Man]

I have a 15" Unibody 2.53 model. I absolutely love it. I have it hooked up to a Dell 2209WA 22" monitor and it's phenomenal.
I got a MBP because I wanted the portability to be able to work on-site if needed as well as show clients stuff while away from home.
It serves also as a powerhouse of a workstation at home for photo editing and such.

Although Aperture 2 still seems to have some slowness issues with it. Especially the Loupe. That thing really jerks around the screen. Normal?

But since you already have a decent portable notebook, you might benefit more from an iMac. You can get one faster than a 15" for about the same price, plus you'd have a 24" screen. The obvious caveat is that it's home/studio use only.

(I just re-read your post) I haven't used an iMac except just clicking around in the store. So I can't tell you my comparisons of speed.

I hang out a bit over at Macrumors.com forums and people there are quick to give advice/flame, but you'll definitely find some experienced mac users there.

Question: If you go with the iMac, what will you do with your 24" ACD?

[peeker]

Hey S-Man,
I was worried about a little jerkyness from the portable. I was using the iMac in the store and found it to be smooth as glass, and not even the top model with 3.06gHz and 4 meg of RAM.

As far as my ACD (23" - my mistake), I will be keeping it and possibly running two monitors. I just bought it 3 months before they brought out the 24" LED monitor. I like the matte finish it has rather than the glossy.

I look forward to more stories from others.
Thanks S-Man for the reply.

[RightAngle]

I would honestly try and save for a Mac Pro. The expandability and ease of use is so worthwhile. The iMac can limit you on what you can and cant upgrade and how easily other parts are to get to. I actually bought a top of the line iMac and returned it for a Mac Pro. I know its expensive but IMO it is really really worth waiting a bit.

With that said, if you for sure don't want to wait or don't want to invest that much than an iMac definitely wont do you wrong. It is a great computer for sure. I use them at school in my comp graphics class and they are definitely quick and do a great job. I think a laptop will struggle to give you the performance you want out of a computer and gives you much less room to grow.

[DavidsStudio]

I have both a MBP and an iMac. The MBP goes with me on the road for downloading and image review. All of the heavy lifting (editing, cataloging, ect.) happen on the iMac. If I had to pick only one, it would be the iMac.

David

[luis_relampago]

I own a Macbook Pro 2.5Ghz / 4GB and photoshop runs very smooth I also run Premiere Pro and After Effects and it runs pretty good. I also have the iMac 24" 2.8Ghz / 4GB the performance compare to my macbook pro is very similar I also run premiere pro and After Effects I have no problems at all but the video rendering time it's super slow on both units(HD video). I just recently bought a Mac Pro 8 core 2.26Ghz / 16GB and let me tell you, my rendering time used to be from 6 to 10 hours on both my older units for a one hour of footage with the new Mac Pro it only takes 40 minutes to render the same projects. This new machine makes photoshop a super sonic experience at full 21MP images from my 5DII the effects render in no time, also the batch processing experience is a breeze. This new generation of macs are just amazing. I honestly think that for photoshop only an imac or a macbook pro will do just fine but for heavy processing 4 core or 8 core mac pro will be your best option.

[jstevensphoto]

I use an iMac 2.8 Ghz duo with 4G of RAM and Aperture 3. I love the 24 inch screen. The only negative, if you can call it that, is the screen is so bright, my prints never look like the screen. Calibration might help, but the screen is just really bright. Other than that, I love it. Aperture 3 works great, along with several plug-ins.

[srwatters]

I have 5 Macintosh computers in the house and studio...

20" iMac G5 (used now by my 8 year old daughter)
Dual-Dual 2.66GHz Mac Pro (now my studio machine for tethered shooting)
15" MacBook Pro 2.4GHz Core2Duo (goes with me everywhere)
24" iMac Core2Duo (my 12 year old daughter's machine)
Dual-Quad 3.0GHz Mac Pro (my desktop machine)

I use the Mac Pro daily for editing etc. and love the 3.0GHz machine vs the old 2.66 GHz dual-dual. I have it packed with WD Raptor and 7200RPM 1TB drives and 16GB of RAM. I thought about an iMac for my desk, but the extra internal fast storage really did it for me. Using a pro external monitor will insure your prints look like the screen.

Yes they cost more, but I bought my current machine used for a very reasonable cost. I don't need the biggest baddest machine and what I have works really well.

Good luck!