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gadgetgirl85

macrumors 68040
Mar 24, 2006
3,797
365
I have a MBP which I use as my main computer and a PC on my desk and in the other room is the mini but its not getting much use now since I got my MBP. I think 2 computer is good to have though in case one breaks down
 

strydr

macrumors 6502
Mar 25, 2005
252
0
SoCal
I'm a multi-user too.
I have my trusty powerbook for on-site visits to customers.
@ home, I have my iMac for daily stuff, my Mini for certin windows tasks, a AMD PC for gaming, and a old PowerMac for file sharing. I've also just bought a MacPro, to replace the AMD system soon.

I love having several systems. The PB usually stays in the car (garaged). I sync all important doc's through email (either gmail, or my CO's email-love IMAP).

@ one point, I had 3 rack-mounted servers (file server, AD/DHCP/DNS, and security camera server) living in a closet, but the heat generated was way too much for my little house. I've since moved, and the security cameras are being replaced with IP based stuff, so I don't need so much equipment anymore.
 

thworple

macrumors 6502
Oct 20, 2005
349
0
Sussex, England
I have my trusty Powerbook for use at home, but it will soon be joined by a MacPro. I love the fact I can use my Powerbook al over my house with my wi-fi connection, and in the garden too, when it isn't raining (as it so often does in this damn country).

But I need a more powerful machine to accompany it, hence the MacPro. One for work, one for play!

In-fact I really want a Mac Mini as well, hooked up to my TV in the living room. Coupled with an EyeTV add-on and Front Row, it would improve our home entertainment system greatly.

So I'm all for multiple machines. As long as they all serve a decent purpose.
 

twoodcc

macrumors P6
Feb 3, 2005
15,307
26
Right side of wrong
i'm all for multiple computers.....but i must admit i have trouble keeping them organized.*

right now i have 2 laptops and a desktop. right now my girlfriend is borrowing one of my laptops
 

ITASOR

macrumors 601
Mar 20, 2005
4,398
3
I used to have my iBook G4 and a Quicksilver. It was a pain to keep trying to work on things and remember that I did that file on the other one, then having to copy it over. I really hated it. If I was working on something on the quicksilver and decided to move to another room to finish it on the iBook, I would have to copy everything back over to the laptop.

So, I eventually sold the Quicksilver and kept the iBook. Now, I've sold the iBook and bought a MacBook. I need portability, so having a laptop makes sense. It works just as good as a desktop on my desk for me, so I have no complaints.

I do have other desktops...powermac G4, G3, G5, etc. but I do not use any of them more than twice a month.
 

Chone

macrumors 65816
Aug 11, 2006
1,222
0
I couldn't do without a single computer, I have 5 computers currently, I used to have 2 PCs and 2 Macs but then I traded the PC for another Mac and got a PowerBook G4, honestly all I really need is two desktops, a PC and a Mac, portables are not really my thing.
 

FredClausen

macrumors regular
Aug 7, 2006
169
0
KALM
To be honest, I'd like to have a desktop and a portable but the inconvenience is too much for me. If I work on something on my laptop I want to be able to work on it on my desktop too, but I can't unless I sync somehow. For a while I used a network share on a third machine, which was alright but if I'm on the road and I don't have a the right services on my third machine I'm out of luck.

I also tried setting specific tasks for each computer. My laptop was for certain things, my desktop for others, but invariably I would want to do a task that the other computer was intended for. Also what is the point of having two fully functioning devices if you won't be using them to their fullest?

What a pain.

I'm now just on my laptop. I really do want a desktop machine with some real oomph, but I don't think that is in the cards. The only upgrade I can see myself getting in the next year or so would be to upgrade my MB to a MBP, but that is only if I get serious about photography, which I doubt I will unless someone donates a nice SLR camera with nice lenses to me. I can dream can't I :)

What someone needs to do, and if someone has please someone point it out to me, is automate syncing Macs so that if I can a file on one all I have to do is hit a button and my home folder is synced. I'm not asking for entire computer syncing, just my user folder. Rsync is nice, but I don't want to muck with that stuff on the command line, and I don't want an rsync repository on a third machine, etc.

Apple would do very well building that functionality into OS X.
 

EGT

macrumors 68000
Sep 4, 2003
1,605
1
I'm seriously considering a Mac Pro purchase in the next few months but until then, the Powerbook is my main machine. I'll probably keep it running for as long as possible, using it for email/browsing while on the road. I'm just in love with the Mac Pro setup. It has everything you could want, superb CPUs, RAM capacity and hard drive space (!!!).

Still not sure though, the portables pack so much power these days. It's hard to ignore them. But one machine is so much easier to look after. :p
 

FleurDuMal

macrumors 68000
May 31, 2006
1,801
0
London Town
Well, I'm seriously considering getting myself a Mac Pro, even though I already have a Macbook - although this won't be for a while (probably next summer).

In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think I should've just waited for the Mac Pro and then got myself a cheap refurbed iBook, as all I would really be using it for is my endless hours in the library. Although I love my Macbook to pieces and is perfect for my needs at the moment (I got one of the perfect ones :D ), I fear in a couple of years it may become a bit of an obstacle for my purposes. Its inability to drive a 30" monitor, or dual monitor setup, will seriously hamper any future plans I may have to buy get such a display setup for my photography. The fantastic upgradability of the Mac Pro means it'll probably be able to tackle any task thrown at it in the next four/five years - something which I very much doubt my Macbook will be able to do. Furthemore, the incredible potential for storage on the Mac Pro is better than having loads of different external hard drives cluttering up my desk, which is mandatory if you have a laptop.

I suppose time will tell whether I made a mistake in thinking that I could use a laptop as my main system. I can definitely see myself getting a Mac Pro when the latest editions of Photoshop and Aperture begin to show my Macbooks age. But I will always need a laptop as I spend so much time in the library - but I just think it didn't need to be as powerful as the Macbook.
 

FleurDuMal

macrumors 68000
May 31, 2006
1,801
0
London Town
FredClausen said:
I'm now just on my laptop. I really do want a desktop machine with some real oomph, but I don't think that is in the cards. The only upgrade I can see myself getting in the next year or so would be to upgrade my MB to a MBP, but that is only if I get serious about photography, which I doubt I will unless someone donates a nice SLR camera with nice lenses to me. I can dream can't I :)

I thought about selling off my MB to fund an MBP, then realised it wouldn't really be worth the money I'd lose out on. For photography purposes, the only gain you could get from doing it at the moment would be a 0.16GHZ speed bump (I don't know how much a dedicated graphics card really hampers photographic software such as Aperture and Photoshop - but my guess is not much). OK, you'd get a bigger screen with nicer resolution, but the money you would lose from the upgrade to the MBP would probably be better spent on a 23" ACD/24" Dell to attach to your MB.

Well, that was my thought process anyway :eek: . I personally don't think the different between MB and MBP provides value for money - not for us photographers anyway. I may be wrong.
 

milozauckerman

macrumors 6502
Jun 25, 2005
477
0
(I don't know how much a dedicated graphics card really hampers photographic software such as Aperture and Photoshop - but my guess is not much)
Photoshop not so much, but Aperture relies on the GPU quite a bit for a 2D program.
 

Nermal

Moderator
Staff member
Dec 7, 2002
21,020
4,599
New Zealand
I own two desktops but didn't find myself using the second (slower) one, so I put my website on it* and gave it to a friend for long-term loan. He loves it, and only touches his XP box for games now :)

*That was a sneaky way to get 24/7 uptime on my personal website. "You can borrow the computer for as long as you like, so long as you don't reboot it" :p
 

Cybix

macrumors 6502a
Feb 10, 2006
993
1
Western Australia
I find that since buying my MBP, I use it for everything, everywhere.. I gave my old P4 3Ghz pc to my inlaw's... it's garbage compared to my new mac anyway.

I still have a home office setup, with printer, card reader, 17" tft, and other peripherals that i can plug into while I'm at home, but find myself on the leather couch in front of the tv, with the MBP, more and more... (home office = wasted dollars!)...

Unfortunately I have to use an IBM thinkpad at work, i hate it. it's total junk compared to my MBP *sigh*.. it actually makes my job dull and boring, and sometimes annoying. I'm going to install SuSE on it today and see if I can get away with working on that instead of in wind0ws..... (at least it will be closer to OS X)..

with powerful portables, I dont really think desktop's are needed these days. Unless your a really hardcore power user doing seriously intensive work...

hrmmm
 

ghall

macrumors 68040
Jun 27, 2006
3,771
1
Rhode Island
I whouldn't know what to do with 2 computers. I think it's definitaly helpful for a lot of people, but having a laptop and a desktop whould only hinder me. I like moving around a lot. Sometimes I work on the couch, sometimes I work in bed, sometimes I work at my desk, sometimes I work outside, etc, etc. Having just a laptop is perfect for me, and fits perfectly with my lifestyle, which is what Apple is all about, right?
 

mkrishnan

Moderator emeritus
Jan 9, 2004
29,776
15
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
I was against it for the longest time, and then I really was in love with the iMac design and got an offer I couldn't resist. :eek: I've been really happy rockin' two. Part of what I like is that I can roll with the punches and be happier upgrading later and with used / refurb equipment... so it is not necessarily more expensive. (For instance, I bought my new iBook G4/800 in Dec 03, and then my used iMac G5/2.0 in Jan 06 for a very reasonable price. Because I have the iMac, I am pretty happy waiting even as long as for a used Merom MB with Leopard pre-installed...whereas I would've gotten sick of my iBook by now. Upgrading the iBook to a used MB won't be *that* expensive, cuz I'll get a little back for the iBook and a little off the MB....)

Also though I use them in concert sometimes. I suppose I could've done the same with a faster notebook and an external screen, but this setup wasn't particularly more expensive. I actually sort of viewed my iMac in some sense as a sort of compromise to get another display and wireless network attached storage. :D
 

daneoni

macrumors G4
Mar 24, 2006
11,844
1,579
I use to own two then i sold my Dell now i want to go back to having two machines. Dont get me wrong i love my PowerBook BUT i yearn for a full size desktop keyboard/mouse and display and something with a little more ooph which isnt possible by just adding a display and keyboard to my PB.

So i'll be looking to get a MacPro soon. 2 machines are definately better than one because relying on one isnt safe particularly nowadays where computers get more delicate and are prone to failure.
 

JAT

macrumors 603
Dec 31, 2001
6,473
124
Mpls, MN
We have several. One is now for the kids although it used to be pretty much the only one in the house, iMac (500MHz G3). Can't get rid of this right now since it can run both Classic and OS9 directly. My wife has a Macbook she uses for everything. I have an old PC running Win2K that is basically just sitting here so I can program remotes and Tivo hard drives when necessary, I never even put the cover back on since I only ever use it to swap stuff in and out. Some of that might switch over to my Mini with BC or Parallels; the Mini is intended to be an audio and photo server for the house, possibly video for the home theater at some point. But right now it's doubling as my main computer...I want a MBP for my main computer. Can't afford it right now, so waiting for RevB and cash flow.

This doesn't count the ancient stuff, but those are basically just collectibles now, never turned on.
 

DanielGilbert

macrumors member
Jun 10, 2006
50
0
London, UK
FredClausen said:
What someone needs to do, and if someone has please someone point it out to me, is automate syncing Macs so that if I can a file on one all I have to do is hit a button and my home folder is synced. I'm not asking for entire computer syncing, just my user folder. Rsync is nice, but I don't want to muck with that stuff on the command line, and I don't want an rsync repository on a third machine, etc.

Well, I'm currently a Windows user with a laptop and a desktop. I had the same problem as you do, so I browsed around for a while and found an app called FolderShare. Basically, it automatically keeps folders on both computers in sync. It does it over the internet, and it even means that if you log in on the foldershare website, you can access your files on the web. It has worked flawlessly for me.

Now, as you will have noticed, I stated I'm on Windows. However, I'm looking at getting a nice shiny MB to replace the laptop soon, so I browsed around and found that FolderShare actually works on Mac too, allowing for Mac-PC, PC-PC and Mac-Mac synchronisation.


It has worked perfectly for me - if you've got the same problem, the URL is:

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,62693-order,1-page,1-c,alldownloads/description.html
 

QCassidy352

macrumors G5
Mar 20, 2003
12,066
6,107
Bay Area
I had 2 (ibook G4 12" and powermac G5 single 1.8) for a while. To be honest, I didn't like it all that much. Keeping things synced was a real pain, and I'm the kind of person who's easily bothered by something like that.

Now, however, I do find myself very drawn to the idea of getting a desktop again (intel mini or imac). A lot of the reason is that my experiences over the past few months have shown me how easy it is to be left without a mac all of a sudden!
 

devilot

Moderator emeritus
May 1, 2005
15,584
1
iBook and iMac G5.

But I'm thinking of selling the iBook... I have always preferred desktops to laptops. Although, if I didn't have the iBook, I wouldn't be able to surf MR right now. :p (And seeing as my battery is one of those recalled, 4-6 weeks w/out a battery renders the "portability" aspect null.)
 

lasuther

macrumors 6502a
Feb 13, 2004
670
0
Grand Haven, Michigan
I have my iMac, which is a WoW machine. And I let my wife think the MacBook is hers.

I think a laptop is necessary. And having a desktop at home is really nice, especially if you don't life alone.
 

Origin

macrumors regular
Aug 11, 2006
115
0
Nantes, France
I have 4 Macs at home :

- MacBook Pro for my job and personnal use in "mobility mode" :D
- Soon, a MacPro for the day-to-day in "desktop mode"
- PowerBook G4 17" : for my wife ;)
- A MacMini G4 with an external drive connected to my plasma for HomeTheater/MediaCenter/Storage/Backup server

That's a great confort in fact. But, seriously, I think that a Desktop AND a Laptop is the ultimate combinaison ;)
 

7on

macrumors 601
Nov 9, 2003
4,939
0
Dress Rosa
I used to have a B/W 400MHz in addition to the Macbook - but I sold that tower for $175 in sweet sweet cash. I brought up my old P3 800Mhz up from home and have win98 on it for a good ole fashin FFVII playing.
 
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