17" mpb vs imac for semi-pro photogrpaher

[Cloud9]

Hello,

Wedding season is killing me on my powerbook g4. I have put my money towards lenses, but I have a ton of weddings in september and I don't want to be a week late delivering my product anymore.

So I am deciding between new imac vs 17" mpb.

20-24" Imac= I have a desktop that is less likely to breakdown because it stays in one place. Bigger screen so I can do more while I am editing. Also if I go the imac route I will wait for the new ones that might come out in august. I have made it this far on this machine, I can wait a little longer for the revision. I would buy new. I would continue to use my 15" for sales meetings, and back up computer while the imac is doing large tasks.

or

17" MBP= SEXY! More impressive piece of equipment for sales meetings, (I know the photos count more!-brighter screen and bigger images is really important though.) I use this as my main machine and only machine and give my mom my current powerbook. If my 17" breaks down, I can always go over to moms and use it if I need to. With in 1-2 years I purchase a mac pro or Imac as my main machine and the 17" becomes my travel/sales machine. I have my first destination wedding in august and I feel there will be more of those in coming years and a more powerful laptop will be extremely useful. I would buy refurbed, and hope that SR refurbs hit the market in august.

What do you think?

 

[Digital Skunk]

Desktop all the way.

Everyone is too much in love with laptops but forget that you get more everything for your dollar with a desktop. If your work is important to you then get the 24" iMac or MacPro and keep the PB as your travel machine.

 

[F15Todd]

Two different beast here. If you don't do editing onsite I would opt for the imac and not the MBP.

 

[iBookG4user]

Where do you do your editing? If you don't do it on the road, then get the iMac, if you do it on the road, get the MacBook Pro.

 

[Lovesong]

Like everyone else said- unless you NEED the MBP, get a desktop. The guts of the two machines are essentially the same (provided the iMac gets an SR update this decade). The things that it has over the laptop is the larger screen- probably the most important part, a faster video card (if you go with the 24" and upgrade), and also more HD space- I have found my 160GB HD in my MBP to be less than sufficient.

One other option you may look into is a used G5. As antiquated as they may be, those things pack plenty of puch, are upgradeable to no ends, and will suffice until you get the funds for a MacPro.

 

[dllavaneras]

I would also suggest the iMac. You can take the Powerbook to the wedding to transfer/review the pics and do the real editing on the iMac

 

[xparaparafreakx]

The iMac is nice because of the huge screen you can get from it. Since you already have a laptop, you can use that for reviewing and editing. But I am going to admit, having a 17" MBP, I am able to do everything on it and just hook it up to an external monitor.

Witch brings me to another idea, can you afford a MBP and external monitor? Maybe you can have the best of both worlds.

 

[Digital Skunk]

The iMac is nice because of the huge screen you can get from it. Since you already have a laptop, you can use that for reviewing and editing. But I am going to admit, having a 17" MBP, I am able to do everything on it and just hook it up to an external monitor.

Witch brings me to another idea, can you afford a MBP and external monitor? Maybe you can have the best of both worlds.

Naw.... I would stick with the iMac and the harddrive space. I would love to have the 17" MacBook Pro as well and a 23" display but by that point he could get a MacPro and a 23" or a 24" iMac and some external drives or other business related things.

 

[CmdrLaForge]

Get the MBP

Unlike all the other posters here I suggest the MBP w/ 23" Cinema Display, mStand and Bluetooth Mouse and Keyboard. Just a great setup. Order the 250 gig drive and the high-res screen. I would in addition get an external FW 800 drive for backups. But only if you can afford it.

 

[marioman38]

The 17" MBP has as many pixels as the 20" iMac, and if you chose the HD option, it has the same amount as the 24" iMac. Also, currently the iMac has stock 1GB RAM, while the MBP is 2GB. I chose the MBP over the iMac, it's my only machine and it is killer at final cut pro. The new graphics card in the SR is excellent.