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Bought a MBP without realizing the pitfalls of a laptop (heat and performance related) and wasn't using it in portable circumstances for the most part.

Got the Mac Pro. Thought about selling the MBP, but could only get about $1500 for it, and I still needed a notebook occasionally. No sense in downgrading!
 
I have both. The early 2010 MP is the work horse desktop shared by my wife and I (it's pretty well set up with an SSD to boot OSX or Win7 and ~6TB of HDD space).

I have a MBP that I use when I'm at the race track to analyze data from the car. I also take it when I'm on vacation instead of my work laptop (a PC). The MBP also is OSX or Win7 as the track software is windows only.

I also have a Time Capsule and a Windows Home Server on the home network to ensure I have backups of everything on-line and a couple external eSATA/USB enclosures that I use for extra backups that are stored in my office at work or in the safe at home (in case of fire or theft). All our financial files and other sensitive information are on a disk protected using PGP whole disk encryption.

I wouldn't go the WHS route if I did it again. It's a pain in the butt. A NAS or a Mac mini server would be a better choice IMO.
 
anybody else.?

It's so pricey but i love the fact that as a music guy i can have all my sounds on one machine with one hard drive, then movies, and media and even a mirror drive..

I have both. The early 2010 MP is the work horse desktop shared by my wife and I (it's pretty well set up with an SSD to boot OSX or Win7 and ~6TB of HDD space).

I have a MBP that I use when I'm at the race track to analyze data from the car. I also take it when I'm on vacation instead of my work laptop (a PC). The MBP also is OSX or Win7 as the track software is windows only.

I also have a Time Capsule and a Windows Home Server on the home network to ensure I have backups of everything on-line and a couple external eSATA/USB enclosures that I use for extra backups that are stored in my office at work or in the safe at home (in case of fire or theft). All our financial files and other sensitive information are on a disk protected using PGP whole disk encryption.
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are you using your time capsule to backup your mb pro and macpro ? do you rocommend the time capsule as a good backup device?
 
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I have a Mac Pro because the power speeds up my workflow.

Like Pressure said, it's not very portable and it's hard to move round. The MacBook Pro offers this.

If I need something I either connect to my network via VPN or carry an external HDD.

Anyways, I'm not sure what you mean by "music guy"; do you make music or just enjoy it? If the latter, you don't really a Mac Pro; an external HDD will do; personally I only have 3.2TB in internal disks, but I have 18TB in external drives to store my files, media, backups, etc..
 
I have both. Figure as a photographer/graphic designer, I have my main machine my Mac Pro with My start up drive, a 1TB Music/Files drive (I like music when I'm working), a 2TB Work Drive and a 2TB backup drive. 14GB RAM, and a workhorse when needed. Have a Powermac G5, but it is out of commission right now.

My Macbook Pro is for when I am on location. I am a sports photographer and need something quick to process images as I need images going out live. Also do other types as well but I need the speed for my sports work.

Also have a PowerMac as a server which I use as a backup server to my Music drive as well as a dual Backup to my Work Drive. That way I have 3 backups.
 
Bought macbook pro, used it for school. after a while I began using it exclusively with many external enclosures and in clamshell mode on the desk. Bought Mac Pro used for reasonable sum to condense many HDDs into a single package and for extra processing power for video conversion and Photoshop rendering. I now use MacBook pro for portability and so if I need to use another computer, I don;t have to suffer using someone else's settings or OS.
 
I have a Mac Pro because the power speeds up my workflow.

Like Pressure said, it's not very portable and it's hard to move round. The MacBook Pro offers this.

If I need something I either connect to my network via VPN or carry an external HDD.

Anyways, I'm not sure what you mean by "music guy"; do you make music or just enjoy it? If the latter, you don't really a Mac Pro; an external HDD will do; personally I only have 3.2TB in internal disks, but I have 18TB in external drives to store my files, media, backups, etc..

Im a music producer by night. My main machine is my mb pro but i have a mac mini that i use for mixing on the big speakers. it's not bad.. It just can't handle everything i do like purchase music and movies from itunes mix and be on the youtube at the same time looking for inspiration. and logic studio with my collection of vsts really spikes my cpu up.
 
Because not everyone uses their computer as just a toy or something to show off with, and sometimes you need to work away from the desk.
 
just curious as i want to see the reasons why people have both because the mac pro is my dream machine.

I have both. The MBP is my primary work/around the house machine. The Mac Pro hosts all of our iTunes video, music and pictures and keeps them online for the ATV's. It is responsible for protecting all of our family media (time machine). Yes, a mac mini could do that job, but I also use the MP for writing music. I need the processing power as I can get carried away with track counts. Lastly, I take my mpb to work, so my wife has something to use while I'm gone.
 
I had both for years (okay, it used to be a PowerMac and a PowerBook, but same thing), but eventually ditched the 15" MBP back at the end of 2009 simply because I wasn't using it any more.

Actually, that's a lie, I was using it...to browse the internet on the sofa and to watch movies on the train. iPad stepped neatly in to that gap, and is far more portable and lasts longer on the battery.

If I was looking for a laptop now, and I will be in 9 months as I'm going back in to education I'll be picking up an 11" Air.
 
For years and years I've only had desktop computers. Some performas and powermacs from the "beige" years, Yosemite G3, Sawtooth G4, Quad Core G5, and last year I got an 8 core Nehalem Mac Pro. About halfway through my design undergrad studies, I got a Macbook pro primarily because the computers in lab/class were terrible and I liked the reliability of my own machine. I would come home to my dorm room and work on my G5 with a 23" apple cinema display because it was both faster and had more screen realestate. However as time went on (and ultimately the release of Snow Leopard) the lack of an intel processor became a hinderance. Thats why I finally got the Mac Pro. Plus I had a $500 discount from the student developer program.

I've done all kinds of work that involves after effects, photoshop, indesign, maya, logic, fcp, and even programming. While I spend most of my days in Indesign lately, I got the 09 Mac pro because I knew it would last me for a good 3-4 years before I'd have to replace it. I knew it'd be bulletproof and never have to be tinkered with (hell, I average 20+ days of uptime before I restart, usually for software updates).

I use my Macbook pro when I have to go into the office (I typically work from home though), and I use my iPad for reading and general couch/bedtime surfing.

Could I get by with a suped up Macbook pro and a monitor? Probably. But I love how the Mac Pro (and the G5 before it) is always hooked up, always ready, and never fails.

The current iMacs are amazing machines though. If most of my work is still spent in Photoshop/InDesign 3 years from now, I'll definitely be looking at an iMac.

I just bought a Dell u2711 that I'm going to replace my 6 year old 23" ACD with (which, by the way, still runs and looks like the day I got it). I'll also likely be buying a new MacBook Pro soon because its getting embarrassing to do work at the office due to my 3GB of ram chugging constantly.

Ultimately it comes down to what you use your computer for,how often you use it, and it what setting. In most cases, a suped up MacBook Pro with a monitor is great for most people who work a lot at home and at the office/on the go.
 
You asked about backups...

I backup the MP to a 1 GB Time Capsule for only the system drive. The user files and other HDDs in the MP are backed up to the WHS using other backup software. And, as mentioned, I do a manual copy of the key HDDs onto an external drive to keep secure in case of fire.

The MBP is backed up using Time Machine but it goes to the WHS. I don't keep an external backup of the MBP as I sync all the pertinent files on it to the MP using Chronosync.

The Time Capsule and Time Machine are ok. I've never actually had to restore anything from them. A couple times I wanted to retrieve a file via time machine but found I had excluded it from backup due to file location and had to use other backups.
 
My reason

Like many have said one is to be out and about or use in other parts of the house. I wanted to be able to work simple videos on my MBP if needed I could bring the file to my G5 (new MP being sent out soon).

I do both video and photo and found I needed a computer for on the go, show people work with ease, and work from other areas. Plus I got sick of using an windows laptop that did not have applications I needed to work back and fourth.
 
Mac Pro for video editing, animation and Flash production ... when I need the drive space, horsepower and multiple screens to work effectively.

MPB for e-mail, web, writing scripts/proposals, etc. and making client presentations. And for my iTunes library. For portability, so I can get out of my office to do work where the Mac Pro isn't needed.

Keeping the above functions on separate machines is partly technical, partly psychological. If I need to hunker down and do a video edit, I can close my MBP and not be distracted by e-mail and urge to surf.

I use Time Capsule for MBP backup only ... nice having untethered backups. For MP, much better/faster to have hard wired backup ... for my MP, Time Machine to an internal 2TB drive, and other backups to external drives connected via FW800. A Time Capsule wireless connection would be way too slow to handle giant video files on the MP.
 
Why? Hard to take a MP with you.

Why not just have a MBP? Hard drive space, speed, ram. The MP is such a workhorse.
 
Macbook pro for at school and to do preliminary work, mac pro for the heavy lifting and rendering (love the rendering speed on mine)...
but now that I am graduating this year (may) I'm stuck wondering if I should spend my last student discount on a new mac pro (selling my 2009 to offset cost) or a new macbook pro (again selling my 2009 to offset).... I love having both, so convenient for all scenarios I come up against.
 
I like the option for a desktop and a laptop. I have had the MB for nearly 3 years, with plenty of memory. Only limitation is slowness when I first boot it up and start VMWare. Too much hard drive contention because I made the mistake years ago of not buying a separate hard drive for Windows. And now I also have Mozy on it, which starts it's search of the hard drive at login. Someday I'll buy a SSD.

The MBP was because after 4 1/2 years it was time to replace my Windows laptop, and I wanted a Mac this time. But I wanted a computer that could be expanded past 4GB, which prevented me from getting the Air.
 
Mac Pro: Stationary workhorse for my daily routine
Macbook Pro: On-site machine, presentations or "I need to leave my home at least once a week" machine.
 
Hmmmm....

Just got the Mac Pro after buying my first Mac in 10 years less than 2 weeks ago (Macbook Pro 15)
$6k in Mac hardware in less than a month...
Needless to say I have decided I like them both...

Needed a desktop to be on the desk....
Needed a laptop cause I did....
 
Because I edit a lot on location and do VJ stuff so have 3MBP's and 2 MP's. Still cheap tools considering what you can do with them / compared to the camera's I use. It all depends on what business you are in and what you need. They are just tools you know and in the end they pay for themselves anyway. There is nothing dreamy about a Mac Pro, without a purpose it is just another useless box :)

So if you have a purpose for it and work hard / got the talent, one will materialize soon enough and then you will find out the sad truth: it is just another computer.
 
There are three of us in our household (I have a 12 year old).

We presently have a 2010 Mac Pro, and we buy a new one about once every three years. Our next big iron purchase will be a 2013 Haswell processor based machine.

We also buy one new 13" MacBook Pro per year so that all of our notebooks don't become dated at the same time. They are great machines for general use, moving around the house or taking with you when you leave the house.

In addition to those, the new 11.6" MacBook Air is the handiest machine I have ever owned for carrying around in a backpack. As the Airs become more robust (performance wise) there is a good possibility that we will no longer purchase MacBook Pros unless Apple has something really special ahead.
 
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