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Are Two Macs Better than One?

Macky-Mac said:
maybe you could get a mini as a second computer to leave at home with the music and as an emergency computer
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Interesting proposal. I need to learn more about the mini. Would it be crazy to think that a MB and a cinema display would be a good option to start with and a mac mini could be down the road? I guess though with that I wonder just what I'd use a mini for as compared to a full out iMac. Something to think about indeed.

So I guess the next question would be: 13" MacBook 2GB/120 GB loaded for ~$2000 or 15" MBP with 1GB/120 GB for $2150? Does it all come down to 2GB vs. 2 inches of screen (seeing as the video card isn't really an issue)? Is there something else I should know?
 
Looking at what your original post said your usage habits are, I think a Macbook is the best bet, and if you absolutely must have a "Desktop-like" setup, perhaps a nice monitor to plug the Macbook into when you are at home, so you get a nice big display to work with.

Horsepower shouldn't be a problem with the MacBook, since it seems the most resource intensive task you will be doing is the iLife suite.

My suggestion is purchase the Macbook from Apple, then purchase the larger hard drive and memory sticks from 3rd party suppliers, since Apple charges nearly double the actual cost of components to put into your Macbook.

Labor for the upgrades is a poor justification for the price, since there are videos that demonstrate how rediculously simple it is to replace the hard drive and ram in the macbook.
 
QCassidy352 said:
I wonder how the macbook would do driving a 23" ACD. I used to have a 1 Ghz 12" powerbook driving a 20" ACD, and even things like exposé made it struggle a bit. Clearly the macbook is a lot more powerful, but I still would worry about a shared GPU driving a 23" display. Perhaps there's an intel mini owner out there who could comment?
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I've found this with a quick search...

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/203535/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptE2DMTwZbg

EDIT: Hmm... YouTube video not working for me, but comments are helpful.
 
SC68Cal said:
Looking at what your original post said your usage habits are, I think a Macbook is the best bet, and if you absolutely must have a "Desktop-like" setup, perhaps a nice monitor to plug the Macbook into when you are at home, so you get a nice big display to work with.

Horsepower shouldn't be a problem with the MacBook, since it seems the most resource intensive task you will be doing is the iLife suite.

My suggestion is purchase the Macbook from Apple, then purchase the larger hard drive and memory sticks from 3rd party suppliers, since Apple charges nearly double the actual cost of components to put into your Macbook.

Labor for the upgrades is a poor justification for the price, since there are videos that demonstrate how rediculously simple it is to replace the hard drive and ram in the macbook.
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This is solid advice all around. I'm taking an extra hard look at the top end Macbook and thinking about a Cinema display down the road as I determine my usage habits.

Any advice on 3rd party suppliers worth their salt?
 
colgate13 said:
Any advice on 3rd party suppliers worth their salt?
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I got my MB's RAM from MS4ME.com, which sells the same Samsung memory that Apple uses for the MBs. I've purchased RAM from them before (an upgrade to the Mac Mini I bought for my dad last year), and he hasn't reported any problems with it.

I got the hard drive for eWiz.com. It's my first time doing business with them.
 
colgate13 said:
This is solid advice all around. I'm taking an extra hard look at the top end Macbook and thinking about a Cinema display down the road as I determine my usage habits.

Any advice on 3rd party suppliers worth their salt?
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OtherWorldComputing.com is the most informative, and helpful online store that I've dealt with. I would reccomend them in a heartbeat.
 
colgate13 said:
This is solid advice all around. I'm taking an extra hard look at the top end Macbook and thinking about a Cinema display down the road as I determine my usage habits.

Any advice on 3rd party suppliers worth their salt?
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Not saying that you shouldn't do it, but AppleCare will be awfully awkward if you have third-party RAM and a Hard Drive and something goes wrong with them. Of course this doesn't matter if you're not getting AppleCare.
 
Yeah don't bother with two computers. Its such a hassle, so much nicer when you have one with all your settings/files, and you don't feel divided about which computer you are using all the time. You can waste so much time working it out, perfecting the sync, thinking about it. Why not have just one computer.

If you get a high spec MB or MBP with a really nice screen and keyboard/mouse, maybe with an 7200 hard drive and an external hard drive this gives you a desktop and laptop at the same time. And so easy, just plug it in.

Plus, if you buy a really good screen, you'll be able to use it for years unlike whatever desktop you end up getting (unless there are some defects about these screens that I don't know about)

Seriously I wonder these days about desktops, such a waste of space unless you are doing hardcore processing/video/gaming (or you can't afford a laptop - but thats slowly changing now)
 
colgate13 said:
Through work I will get this fall some sort of small Dell laptop for work and travel. Does that change anyone's thoughts?
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I would personally get the Macbook/External Monitor (not Apple as they are pretty expensive for what you get) combo as it provides power and portability, for the laptop would you be able to get your work to contribute the money for the Dell towards the Mac and just use Parrelells/Bootcamp for the Windows side of things (for work)?

If you still wanted a 15" MacBook Pro I'd wait until the autumn as it will probably get a case re-design then. For the MacBook, Merom will provide more future-proofing but other than that there's little reason to wait.
 
I have two macs, but don't use one. I'll definitely be getting an external to go with my MacBook and getting shot of the old G4.
 
BlizzardBomb said:
Not saying that you shouldn't do it, but AppleCare will be awfully awkward if you have third-party RAM and a Hard Drive and something goes wrong. Of course this doesn't matter if you're not getting AppleCare.
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That's crap to say that unless you buy your ram and hard drive upgrades from Apple it voids your warranty.
 
BlizzardBomb said:
Not saying that you shouldn't do it, but AppleCare will be awfully awkward if you have third-party RAM and a Hard Drive and something goes wrong. Of course this doesn't matter if you're not getting AppleCare.
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actually I dont think it matters at all...unless ofcourse its the user installed ram or HDD that cause the problem. Either way..apple's upgrades are never a good deal
 
SC68Cal said:
That's crap to say that unless you buy your ram and hard drive upgrades from Apple it voids your warranty.
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I never said it voids your warranty. If they think the RAM or Hard Drive is at fault they won't replace it which is why you need to check that your third-party extras also have warranties.
 
I would get the loaded 15 inch macbook pro. Thats what I have, and it has worked perfectly for me. Eventually I will get a bigger external display, but seriously, the macbook pros can handle almost anything you can throw at it.

Personally, I couldnt stand having two computers for the reasons already stated, I like all my files in one place :)
 
colgate13 said:
Interesting proposal. I need to learn more about the mini. Would it be crazy to think that a MB and a cinema display would be a good option to start with and a mac mini could be down the road? I guess though with that I wonder just what I'd use a mini for as compared to a full out iMac. ....
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you could use the mini for your music around the house, the cinema display could be used either with the mini or with the notebook when you wanted a bigger screen which would be the advantage of the mini over the imac
 
The thing about the Mac Mini idea is that your basically getting a headless macbook.
 
Steven1621 said:
i personally don't like working from two different computers. i find it annoying having my files in two different places. it is difficult to keep everything in sync perfectly.
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Yea, to the OP, definitely take advice from people who have actually owned and used two macs at the same time.

Though the idea of a portable/powerhouse sounds great, I hate having my iMac and iBook both at the same time. I can't keep photos, documents, music, bookmarks, garageband projects, and all that synchronized, it just gets too crazy. I end up wishing I had a file from the iMac when I'm on the iBook, and vice versa. I'd recommend the Macbook Pro, and just be careful with it! :D
 
SC68Cal said:
The thing about the Mac Mini idea is that your basically getting a headless macbook.
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yeah but he can leave it at home so the kids dont scream when he takes the music away if he has just the macbook, plus he gets the advantage of having a second functioning computer around in case the dog bites the macbook or whatever
 
One thing that keeps me sane with two Macs is the fact that I can remote connect to my desktop with SSH. Hoping that I can continue this trend, even as I move into off-campus housing.
 
Electro Funk said:
ever try a .mac account? it would do exactly that... ;)
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That's not true. .Mac only syncs iCal, Address book, keychain, mail accounts, and Safari bookmarks. It doesn't sync photos, music, documents, drivers, fonts, or any other files or folders on your hard drive.

I'd like to know what methods are people using to keep those things in sync.

EDIT: I forgot that you CAN keep a local copy of your iDisk on your Macs and sync via .Mac, so Electro Funk was correct. However, without buying a lot of extra iDisk space, that feature's not too handy for me (which is probably why I had forgotten about it).
 
Yeah, but you can sync quite a few Word documents with around 900MB of iDisk space on .Mac (leaving 100MB for e-mail). And I just found a new use for it this weeK: freelancing. My colleagues just drop documents (normally Quark files and PDF/PPT briefings) in my Public folder, and I work on them from my iDisk. It's so much handier than e-mailing or VPN-ing.

@colgate13: what did you ever decide? There are so many threads like yours, but no one ever says what his decision was.
 
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