Decision Time

[King_Boru]

Evening chaps/chapettes,

This is it. This is the decision that is going to change my digital workflow. I am getting a new Apple Mac and need to keep within the £1000 budget as much as possible. I have narrowed it down to just two options!

Option One

The iMac. Budgeted an iMac with the following specs;

2.0Ghz Core Duo
1GB DDR2
X1600XT
250GB Hard Drive
17" TFT
Aperture

This option will allow me to have a professional RAW workflow with my new business. Using Aperture to adjust my photos colour and so on. Using it alongside Photoshop will allow further editing.

Pros:

RAW workflow
More storage
Larger screen

Cons:

Not portable
No expandability

Option Two

The Macbook. Budgeted a Macbook with the following specs;

2.0Ghz Core Duo
1GB DDR2
Intel GMA 950
120GB Hard Drive
13.3" TFT

Aperture will not run efficiently/at all on the Macbook forcing me to use a destructive JPEG workflow which is potentially dangerous. However, having good file management skills will alow me to operate my own workflow (not interested in using iPhoto). This has its downside of being very time consuming though.

Pros:

Portability (this is a big pro)
Compactness

Cons:

No expandability
Limited graphics potential
Small screen

Basically I am torn between the two. The portability plays a big role with digital photogrpahy. However it can be overcome by storage devices like the Jobo Giga One. I really dont know. Can I have your thoughts and experience? Aperture really appeals to me though but the MacBook does to, greatly. I need a push in the best possible direction.

King.

 

[cyKey]

Just today Apple have annouced that Aperture runs on all Intel Mac's, including Macbooks. No word as to the performance of it though.

 

[themask70]

Being a Mac user myself, i would just like to inject that iMacs are actualy fairly portable, the CPU ect is all contained in the same case as the screen is and these are lovely machines. The only problem that i would say there is about a MacBook is that the basic MacBooks don't have the fastest of hard-drives which could cause a problem if you will be working with RAW photos, I have a MacBook pro and it still doesn't really have the best data transfer speed but does what i need it to. Also, a 13" screen isn't really the biggest of screen and i don't know wheather it will be big enough for your purposes although the screens on them have an amazing quality. So basicaly, if i had the choice of a MacBook or an iMac i would chose the iMac. Hope this has been some help, if you've got anymore questions just post them in this thread and i'll answer them, David.

 

[King_Boru]

Ill have to look into the Aperture working on all Intel Macs thing.

As for the screen size. It does worry me that the MacBook is limited to 1280 x 800. It is quite narrow.

One thing I wouldnt mind answering is the general speed of Macs. My G3 900Mhz is slow as can be, have things come on since these days? Is OSX responsive?

King.

 

[cyKey]

Ill have to look into the Aperture working on all Intel Macs thing.

As for the screen size. It does worry me that the MacBook is limited to 1280 x 800. It is quite narrow.

One thing I wouldnt mind answering is the general speed of Macs. My G3 900Mhz is slow as can be, have things come on since these days? Is OSX responsive?

King.

Its fine with 2gb of ram for me. Rosetta apps are a tad sluggish but usable. Aperture is very sluggish but annoyingly its feature set is stunning so it can be worth the pain.

 

[syke]

Personally, would be the iMac for me - im close to buying one.

I would only get a MacBook Pro if i was looking at the MacBooks - the screens are just too small for my liking.

The iMac's offer a really good price for the spec that you get.


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