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Buying my First Mac soon need some advice!

R

Reaver

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 23, 2006
281
0
Columbus, Ohio
I am buying a new mac and I have narrowed it down to the MBP but I dont know if I should get the 15" 2.16 model or the 17" model is there really a difference in the screens to justify paying $300 more.

I know the 17" gives you the same workspace as a 20" iMac, I am pretty much wondering if I buy the 15" will I be shooting myself later for not getting the 17".

this will be used for Photography if that helps. and the size of the laptop and me hauling it around wont matter to me.
 
If you have the dosh go the 17" screen I'm sure you can use the extra real estate :) However if you are on a tighter budget just go the 15" I don't use an external screen and its more than big enough for me.
 
You'll need 2 GB RAM to counteract Rosetta's RAM cravings
while running CS2, so figure that into your budget.

Once Universal Binary CS3 is released this spring you'll be flying.

If this is going to be your primary workstation, then I suppose the 17" is better suited for photography.

Personally, I would go conservative on the notebook, buying
a loaded Macbook and then put my serious money into a Mac Pro Tower for all my heavy lifting.
 
the MBP will be for my mobility and no cost insnt a concern.

I will be transfering files from the MBP to a G5 tower to do the final stages of production. the MBP will be just having it with me so I can upload my shots on to the hard drive.
 
$300.00 is reasonable for true happiness, but I'd hold for 64 bit goodness with Merom.

Honestly, I've hauled around my daughter's 12" iBook enough to dread having anything much larger to carry around, but I love working on my friend's 15" PB for the extra real estate.

The 17's are great, but adding all the other stuff, you'll be carrying
along with it, might get a bit cumbersome.
 
I am on a macbook and I love the size I would not want it any bigger. We can not really help you because it is a personal choice. If they had a 12 inch modle of the macbook I would have probably picked that up, I would never want a 15" let alone a 17" but you may want to have a big laptop. I just know that the portability of a 17" is not very good.
 
i love the 15 inchers. I find they are the perfect compromise between size and portability.

I haven't used a 17", but i've heard people say they are a portable desktop with its screen.

I saw go to the shop and demo both of them. You might find the 17" is portable enough, or might find you like the slightly more compact 15". It's all personal choice.
 
I guess I am going to have to go to a apple store and look at them side by side to really get a feel for them. thanks for all the replies.

I was going to wait on the merons before I bought one, its nice when your boss gives you $5k to spend on photography equipment.

right now I am using 1 gig SD cards in my DSLR and then porting them back and forth it gets to overwelming at times, I just think the MBP would help with that.

my setup would be the MBP (2gigs of ram, 100 gig 7200 rpm HDD, and a 250 gig external HDD) and all my camera equipment.
 
Reaver said:
I guess I am going to have to go to a apple store and look at them side by side to really get a feel for them. thanks for all the replies.

I was going to wait on the merons before I bought one, its nice when your boss gives you $5k to spend on photography equipment.

right now I am using 1 gig SD cards in my DSLR and then porting them back and forth it gets to overwelming at times, I just think the MBP would help with that.

my setup would be the MBP (2gigs of ram, 100 gig 7200 rpm HDD, and a 250 gig external HDD) and all my camera equipment.
Click to expand...

You'd be carrying it all around with you? Then I might go for the 15" since it seems like it's a good compromise like someone else said.
 
If i was buying a MBP again (if they don't whine any more) i'd go for the 15". It's really really big. Well i had an iBook so i was used to smaller laptops but it was really nice. Perfect size for me, but i only realised that after i returned it because of that bloody whine.
 
I say go for the 15'' model. You'll save $300 on top of the fact that you want a PORTABLE, and imo 17'' screen isn't really a portable, too much of a hassle to carry around. Too big for me anyway.

And oh yeah be sure to wait a couple weeks, hopefully the Merom upgrade is right around the corner.
 
You'll be charging the battery a bunch more with the 17". The 15" is easier to carry around and the battery life is a little better.
 
thanks for everyones relpies it looks like I will be going witht he 15" instead of the 17" I saw them next to each other and although the 17" inch has the resolutiuon edge I think having to tug that thing around will get old real quick it is pretty big.

I will be waiting for the new update sept. 5th which will be a good early Bday present. I guess I will stick to the SD cards for now until then.

and all my equipment is in two bags about the size of two large duffle bags plus my camera bag. and I am thinking about getting a notebook backpack to haul my camera and 15" all together.
 
sulhaq said:
And oh yeah be sure to wait a couple weeks, hopefully the Merom upgrade is right around the corner.
Click to expand...

uh huh and lets wait a **** load more of weeks for the better batches. NEVER GET THE FIRST BATCH OF ANY NEW PRODUCT...my 2 cents
 
scorpion151 said:
17 inch has a better card i beleave... go with that..
Click to expand...

Same card, X1600, just standard with 256MB RAM, you can get the same card in the 2.16GHz 15" MBP.

seenew, the 17" MacBook Pro and the 20" iMac both have resolutions of 1680x1050 = same workspace.
 
Having hauled a 17" PB back and forth to work I can tell you it isn't much fun at all. Add the weight of camera gear and it makes for a sore back. While I am strictly an amateur I wouldn't willingly haul a 17" and my 20D system around.

I just received my 15" MBP. Yes I could have waited but I don't think that the new Merom systems are going to be sufficiently different to make me regret my decision.

If you are looking for a system to download and cull your shots then a MacBook may be a better choice. Less expensive and lighter. If you are looking for something you can use as mobile workstation then the 15" will be better because of the increased screen space.

Amazon has the system I am using, a 15", 256 Mb X1600 & 1 Gb ram for $2099 after rebate. I'm probably going to add another 1 Gb because I still use Adobe CS2 quite a bit.
 
Alag28 said:
uh huh and lets wait a **** load more of weeks for the better batches. NEVER GET THE FIRST BATCH OF ANY NEW PRODUCT...my 2 cents
Click to expand...

Umm, the Merom MBPs are not a new product..... It's like Revision D. Counting all the silent revisions.
 
I'm going to ask a really stupid question now but how do you know what Revision your model is?
 
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