dilmena on purchasing a MAC

[onesummer]

So I'm in the process of getting married very soon, so where is my mind right now? yep, it's thinking about purchasing a MAC for the first time.

yes, i'm a long time pc user. no, it's not the clever mac vs. pc commercials that have convinced me, but just the smoothness of use and overwhelming praise that designers give for the mac, specifically those designers who have worked on both a pc and a mac, that has won me over.

my question is, should I go iMAC or MAC Book Pro? obviously there's the fact that the Macbook pro is almost $1000 more expensive, but i'm leaning towards it due to wanting something portable that I can take with me on trips and or on visits to clients' offices.

my question really is then will the macbook pro provide enough power for all my needs (i.e. run any/all adobe cs3 software, maybe run illustrator, dreamweaver, photoshop while streaming music with multiple browsers open all at once)?

my other question is, and pardon my lack of basic MAC hardware knowledge: I have a 20" dell widescreen lcd display, and is my assumption correct that it should have no problems hooking to the macbook pro through dvi port? And I also own a logitech keyboard/ laser mouse combo (usb), will it have any issues working with the macbook pro?

and the final question. do you guys actually run MS office on the MAC that much? and what does it take to do so? not that i like office or anything, just wondering what it takes to do so.

[zumojuice]

Well in terms of iMac/Mac Book - both can come with good spec for all you need to do (unless you're doing high-level video and things like that). The question is space and usage. If you have little - go for the macbook. If you want to use it on the go - go for the mac book. If you want to keep it in one place with your scanner/printer/wacom pad/etc - get an imac... Honest thing though is, you'd probably find it far cheaper to upgrade your current PC to super fast.

Office? Yeah I have copy of it. Handy for word and excel (and in graphics, powerpoint when people ask for it) but don't use it that often...

[drewbie_wan]

im running all those on my g4 powerbook now, you shouldnt have an issue with a macbook pro.

[lolly]

[jeffross]

Originally Posted by lolly

Now THAT'S a machine!!

I would suggest the Pro if you will be doing professional work. Mainly because I've been hearing a lot of issues with the screen display on the iMac. Apparently, the screen seems to gradate a bit. I got one for home use last December, and I've noticed it on mine. There are forums popping up on Apple about it, but Apple keeps locking them, which are make a few people rather mad. Still a nice computer, but I'm glad I'm not doing my professional projects on it. I guess you'd have to see if they've fixed it yet... if you want to go that route still.

[onesummer]

so i ordered a macbook pro today. it'll be my first mac and first laptop ever. pretty excited. i ordered CS3 Design Premium 3.3 as well. and mac has a promo to get a free itouch (after MIR) so i got suckered into it too. I did get the educational discount though, which helps a little.

I had really been excited b/c they got another promo that gives educational discount people an extra $200 off when purchasing CS3 along with a mac, but then realized it's only for the "higher educational institutions" and i fall under the k-12 group. oh well.

now I just gotta wait on the thing to get here :)

stats for the macbook pro:
Processor 065-7729 2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Display 065-7474 MacBook Pro 17-inch Hi-Res WS
Memory 065-7476 4GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x2GB
Hard Drive 065-7485 200GB Serial ATA @ 7200 rpm
Optical Drive 065-7480 SuperDrive 8x DL

[d3niss3]

awesome! pretty nice specs you have in there!

Congrats!