Hey y'all, my almost 4-year-old PC laptop is on it's last leg and it's about time to upgrade! Of course, I wanted all of your lovely advice.
First off, right now I only do Photoshop work. However, it'd be nice to have a computer that could handle After Effects/Premiere if I wanted to do more video in the future.
Secondly, I would like portability. Meaning, a laptop. Or a cheap desktop and then get a tablet...but the laptop seems a bit better.
Thirdly...I would like to switch to Mac. I have an iPhone, so I'm in the Apple ecosystem already. However, which Mac? MacBook Pro or Air? I'm not opposed to a PC, by the way...just has to be really, um, powerful...so if you have any recommendations there that would be great as well.
Also, my budget is tight. $1200 or lower, preferably.
Thank you all so much!
First off, right now I only do Photoshop work. However, it'd be nice to have a computer that could handle After Effects/Premiere if I wanted to do more video in the future.
Secondly, I would like portability. Meaning, a laptop. Or a cheap desktop and then get a tablet...but the laptop seems a bit better.
Thirdly...I would like to switch to Mac. I have an iPhone, so I'm in the Apple ecosystem already. However, which Mac? MacBook Pro or Air? I'm not opposed to a PC, by the way...just has to be really, um, powerful...so if you have any recommendations there that would be great as well.
Also, my budget is tight. $1200 or lower, preferably.
Thank you all so much!
Here is a 15" quad core i7 for the same price:$1350 Quad core i7 500gb HD 4gig ram - http://store.apple.com/us/product/FD318LL/A
From what I know of the airs, they're not worth it for any heavy work. I think they're aimed at the business man who wants a tablet with a keyboard lol!!
I do barely any work at home anymore though, so I can't justify an upgrade yet. I definitely "get" the budget situation!
13inch MBP:
$1269 Dual core i7 320gb HD 8gb Ram: http://store.apple.com/us/product/FD102LL/A
15inch MBP:
$1100 Dual core i5 320gb HD 4gig ram- http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC371LL/A
$1250 Dual core i7 500gb HD 4gig ram - http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC373LL/A
-->This is the one I'd get if you can scrounge up the money<--
$1350 Quad core i7 500gb HD 4gig ram - http://store.apple.com/us/product/FD318LL/A
I'm using a Macbook Pro 2.2Ghz i7 HD with 8Gb RAM...
It handles multiple threads of HD video from my Canon 60d (heavily compressed codec) just fine. Using After Effects, specifically anything in 3D, is not something I'd use a dual-core, yes even an i7, processor for... but maybe I'm just impatient? Yeah, I'm probably just impatient...
I started looking into building a tower for video, but then opted for a mobile solution and bought a Mac largely because of this Video Guy's review...
I've bought 'Apple refurbished' with five of our machines and have never had a problem.
On a different yet related note, I was also fortunate enough to buy a 27" iMAC this year, they are great... The only issue, I've found, is keeping it cool... within a few months I noticed a discoloration on part of the screen... it turns out I had actually burned that area of the screen...
Apple replaced it, no questions asked... I got the impression that they had come across the issue before... now I keep a small fan blowing against the back of the machine and have had no problem so far, it's just inconvenient...
All that to say, the cooling system for the 27" iMAC is problematic if your intent is to use it for programs like Premiere and After Effects... I think it just has trouble dissipating the heat across such a large surface. You'd probably never run into this issue with the 21.5" model...
That's my experience anyway...