£1.4k to spend on a mac

bimmerboii · 4 Mar 2008 at 14:38

Originaly the money was supposed to go to a top spec imac through HE.
But when apple released the updated mb and mbp, I was able to cancel my order and wait for the newer imac. Now the mbp looks so tempting, but paying a huge premium for a notebook dont do it justice for me. With this money i can only get the 15"

.. and i have been using/used to 22" all my life (im a pc owner). Also having a laptop for home use doesnt seem right to me so i decided to go for this instead:
Buy the 20" imac for home use and a macbook when i travel. Ill get 2 machines for the price of a single mbp.. Which is the better deal?

Founder_film · 4 Mar 2008 at 14:45

What would you use the mac/macs for? If it just email, web browsing, office apps and photos i.e. nothing too demanding then the 20" and the MacBook would suit you fine. However if you want to do more demanding image editing or video stuff then a MacBook Pro might suit you better or a 24" iMac.

bimmerboii · 4 Mar 2008 at 15:26

i do not do any video editing or photoshop.. just email, web surf and office apps.. however, I do sometimes use autocad and sketchup. though im thinking the macbook wont be able to handle this?

edit: the imac wil be my main computer (obviously) so ill be doing my work here. The only "heavy" work I can think of is autocad and sketchup. I remember the university computers I use before ran autocad and sketchup fine with just having onboard graphics.

the macbook will be for my travels since my father and I do business trips a lot. I may need to run autocad and sketchup occasionally on the macbook as well (for viewing and a quick edit maybe)

Founder_film · 4 Mar 2008 at 16:18

I have used sketch up on my MacBook and it ran fine, not tried autocad though. The iMac would be able to handle both as you say and I think the MacBook would handle autocad just fine.

I can see that it would seem weird to have a laptop at home for your main machine but since getting my MacBook I rarely use my Powermac. I can use it at my desk, in front of the TV or even in bed. My point is don't think that a laptop could not be your main computer at home as well as when you travel.

The new MacBook Pro's are very tempting just wish I could afford one