Going from a 24" iMac to a 13" MBP, few questions...

OzyOly

OzyOly

OzyOly

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Hey, so I'm putting my iMac in the Members Market as soon as it's formatted because I need a laptop more than a desktop for my final 2 years at uni (doing an MEng).
I'm going to miss the iMac loads and the screen real-estate but needs must. If the iMac sells and I get a 13" MBP, there are a few questions I have;

Can I restore the contents of my iMac onto my new MBP from a time machine backup? I know it works when transferring from the same model but will
It work from iMac > MBP?
Will this also transfer software licences? I have a £400 adobe creative suit for which I've lost the serial number for. :(

Has anyone had a 13" MBP as their main machine? Is the lack of high resolution painful? And how is the speed (compared to the iMac in my sig)?

Can anyone recommend me a hard case? I'm not talking about a shell of incase, I mean like a sleeve that I can put the MBP in which I can then put in my backpack with a load of heavy books and the charger without the fear of it looking like I used it in an ultimate frisbee match?

Thank you to anyone who replies. :)
 
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Hi there,

I can't comment on using a 24" iMac, but I use the 13" MBP as my main machine. The resolution is good, but I would advise that you buy a nice big monitor so you can dock it up when you get back to your dorm :) I'm unable to use the 13" if I've got a lot of things running, just becomes too cramped. I have a 20" screen too, so have a dual screen setup when I'm docked up, which is awesome. I find it to be pretty damn fast as well, no cause for concern about speed!
 
I don't have room for an extra screen at my house, it's a small desk but I suppose I could use exposé. How is it for having two windows side by side? Say a 1 page PDF in preview and Xcode on the otherwise?

I'm glad about the speed. I don't game any more or do encoding, just the occasional Photoshop, lots of coding for my course and some OpenGL stuff. I only need it to last me 2 years before I buy a 27"(+ ?) iMac. :)
 
I have both (pardon the iPad, I am using the same pic in the show me the Apply hardware thread)



I have the 2.9Ghz iMac. Both the Macbook and iMac has 4G of ram and tbh, the iMac is a much nicer machine mainly because of the screen. The screen on the iMac is not only bigger, but nicer in terms of colours.

I have a Speck hard case shell to put my Macbook in. It stays on all the time and it covers everything but the vent and ports. It is a VERY nice hardcase, I also have a Paul Frank slip case if I want extra padded protection and throw it in the bag. I even went out and splash out on a Paul Smith bag that has a compartment specially designed for the 13" Macbook Pro. It is a really nice bag, but i am not sure of the price tag still....

if you like i can show you a photo of them tomorrow.
 
OzyOly said:
Can I restore the contents of my iMac onto my new MBP from a time machine backup? I know it works when transferring from the same model but will
It work from iMac > MBP?
Will this also transfer software licences? I have a £400 adobe creative suit for which I've lost the serial number for. :(

Has anyone had a 13" MBP as their main machine? Is the lack of high resolution painful? And how is the speed (compared to the iMac in my sig)?

Can anyone recommend me a hard case? I'm not talking about a shell of incase, I mean like a sleeve that I can put the MBP in which I can then put in my backpack with a load of heavy books and the charger without the fear of it looking like I used it in an ultimate frisbee match?

Thank you to anyone who replies. :)
Click to expand...

I used time machine to transfer all my files/program installations (with serial keys) from a 13" MBP to a 15"MBP. It worked great and all my files were exactly how I left them, every setting I had (even safari history) remained intact. I see no reason why time machine wouldn't work from your imac to a MBP (as long as the data you have in your time machine doesn't exceed the 320GB hdd on the MBP 13")

Incase do a really nice case. Its black on the outside and has a faux sheepskin lining with plenty of neoprene to protect. I would also recommend getting a speck see thru satin shell to protect the scratch prone aluminium of the 13" MBP.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I know the iMac has a better screen, I love my 24" and I don't want to get rid of it really but I need something portable. I've had a at with the 13" and standard res 15" today and I can really notice the lack of real estate compared to the iMac. On the 13" I have to have a safari window covering the whole screen to not have the horizontal scroll bar appearing, so I'm tempted to get a standard res low end 15" pro...

As for cases, is the aluminium really that scratchable? I wasn't wanting to put anything over the lapto, just a hard case to slide it into to protect it from big books in my rucksack. :S
 
The aluminium really IS that scratch-able. On the first day I owned my 15" MBP I put a small scratch on the top of the lid because it brushed up against the zip of my Jacket!

Grab yourself a speck satin see-thru case (the apple logo glows out of the back it looks really cool) and you won't have to worry too much about scratches. It also helps maintain the resale value of the laptop incase you want to sell in a year or two. Mint condition Macbook Pro's do hold their value well so it is well worth the investment.
 
Apart from the screen size, they are VERY similar in performance. I have no problem using mine for what i do on the iMac, all except photo work because of the screen.
 
If you do need more screen real estate then I'd just plug the Macbook into something like a 24" monitor. It handles it extremely well.

And your time machine back up will work fine, I did it when I got a iMac and I already had a Macbook. Though as for software licenses some seemed to work fine and others such as Aperture (at least for me) needed re-entering, so that might be a problem.

As for cases, I use the Incase sleeve and the Incase Compact Backpack. ;)
 
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