Hello - I am new here so please go easy!
I have read through most of these posts here and the stickies, in relation to the MBP but still need some advice from you MBP users - apologies in advance for the long post...
I posted this on another forum but did not get any response - I see this one is a bit more active so have jumped ship to see what it is like...
The situation is this...
I currently have a 24" iMac White which was BTO 2.33, 2GB 250GB HD.. Love it.. however I am wondering if I am not getting the best out of it. I did pay a lot of money for it and it is only a year old...
I have recently become a proud dad and the spare 'computer room' is shortly going to be a nursery. So I need to clean out a lot of computer bits and bobs (do I really need all these bits.. I mean do I really need??). One side of the room has my iMac on a large desk with printers etc, HDD's, a rats nest of cables etc - the baby will be moving into that room soon and goes to sleep at 7pm, as I get in at 6pm from work I use to go straight up stairs after tea and go on the iMac while the wife uses the MB. I won't be able to potter about on my computer when she is a sleep and also will be limted at the weekend...
What I use it for...
I am learning FCP (when I get the time), I am trying to get into Photoshop, but mainly love photography and movie making, general surfing and working on it...
Photos...
I do a lot of photo editing - we visit a lot of family, I take my MacBook with me, take GB's of photos (2GB each time) edit them on my MB to refresh the SD card but find it a pain in the bum, after editing to transfer them to my iMac which is where they are all stored in iPhoto (copying the edits and originals as I don't want to overwrite them).
Music
I also have all my music on my iMac too. It is a nightmare keeping it in sync having some photos on one, songs all over the place as I buy music when I am at work on my MB - making my file system a right mess... I also sync to my Apple TV from my iMac, and not from my Macbook and is a pain switching libraries...
Apple TV
I have got an AppleTV downstairs which streams from my iMac which is always on upstairs. (Not sure if it needs to be on to use Apple TV all the time?)
Reason to go Portable all the time..
Anyway, the reason I didn't use my MB much is because of syncing and the small HDD 120GB wasn't big enough for ALL of my iPhoto library 50GB, iTunes 40GB and all my documents, movies and Virtual PC's. I naturally presumed it would be better to edit the photos on the iMac because of the 24" screen. However I bought a 250GB HDD recently and everything fits on it - wow this is so much easier having ALL my photos in one place, all my music, connect to TV at the relatives house etc... I could use this a lot more, my MB now everything is on there... However using Photoshop on the MB 13" display is a bit of a bind... Movie editing is also a bit cumbersome (for me that is)
I initially bought the MB for my wife and she loves it, at the moment she has docs on the MB and also the iMac but she doesn't use the iMac as much, just for browsing. I am going to keep the MB for my wife...
(Sorry for going on but this is what I am thinking so thought I would give you as much info re my situation as possible!)
Now then, I am giving serious consideration to selling my iMac and finally getting a MBP.
So I want to make movies, use photoshop, take it to work, basically do everything on it but games, use VMWare, FCP, iMovie, iPhoto, looking at either Aperture or Lightroom and general use. I wondered about going the full hog and getting a 17" rather than a 15" but are they too big size wise?? Are they cumbersome as they intended to be used on a desk? Too big for sitting on the sofa at night browsing? They look big in Apple Store, but I use to have a Dell 17" and got on ok with that but it was quite cumbersome at times - but am I thinking that because I love the handy size of the MB? I see my MB as an extra - an in-between computer - The problem with the MB is I would like more screen as 800 deep is a bit annoying.
So...
1. Apple TV - anyone else out there with MBP that has all their media on there have any issues with an AppleTV? - would there be any problems? What would it run off? I know the music is copied to the AppleTV, do the photos? what is streamed? Is it a case of when iTunes is opened it just syncs like an iPod and job done?
2. How would I get on not having an External HDD plugged in all the time? I have a lot of images and storage - I do have airport extreme, I could use AirDisk but wouldn't that be slow as it is USB2 connection slowed down even further by wireless? I have got a large FW800 drive which I love as it is fast and file transfers are sweet! (I know MBP has got FW 800 which is one of the reasons I want one)
3. Time Machine, I understand that I could just plug in the Time Machine HDD and it would back up. So I could come home from work, connect HDD and TM will back it up, but when I am out and about, TM would be pretty useless as I could not restore could I...? Would that pee me off? Does it anyone else who has used it found that? I am annoyed TM won't back up to air disk now as my TM drive is USB and would be fab at backing up - as soon as I saw the demo on Apple.com over Airport I thought that would solve all my problems! Now it is gone Grrrr...
4. Anyone out there gone for a 17" over a 15"? What made you go for the bigger? Do you take it out and about a lot? Do you wish you went for the 15"?
5. What made you go for a MBP in the first place? Are they really that good? The MB runs hot even when I am in bed with it on my lap (duvet in between) my legs get so hot it is uncomfortable - is this the same with the MBP?
6. I LOVE the keyboard on the MB, the MBP is different - what do you think?
Thanks in advance - it is appreciated as I am currently confused.com, it will be a lot of money, but now is the time as won't be able to spend this much on a computer ever again due to baby etc so want to make the right choice! I think I have convinced myself enough to have a laptop as my main computer but MB isn't up to it for me for what I want to do...
I have read through most of these posts here and the stickies, in relation to the MBP but still need some advice from you MBP users - apologies in advance for the long post...
I posted this on another forum but did not get any response - I see this one is a bit more active so have jumped ship to see what it is like...
The situation is this...
I currently have a 24" iMac White which was BTO 2.33, 2GB 250GB HD.. Love it.. however I am wondering if I am not getting the best out of it. I did pay a lot of money for it and it is only a year old...
I have recently become a proud dad and the spare 'computer room' is shortly going to be a nursery. So I need to clean out a lot of computer bits and bobs (do I really need all these bits.. I mean do I really need??). One side of the room has my iMac on a large desk with printers etc, HDD's, a rats nest of cables etc - the baby will be moving into that room soon and goes to sleep at 7pm, as I get in at 6pm from work I use to go straight up stairs after tea and go on the iMac while the wife uses the MB. I won't be able to potter about on my computer when she is a sleep and also will be limted at the weekend...
What I use it for...
I am learning FCP (when I get the time), I am trying to get into Photoshop, but mainly love photography and movie making, general surfing and working on it...
Photos...
I do a lot of photo editing - we visit a lot of family, I take my MacBook with me, take GB's of photos (2GB each time) edit them on my MB to refresh the SD card but find it a pain in the bum, after editing to transfer them to my iMac which is where they are all stored in iPhoto (copying the edits and originals as I don't want to overwrite them).
Music
I also have all my music on my iMac too. It is a nightmare keeping it in sync having some photos on one, songs all over the place as I buy music when I am at work on my MB - making my file system a right mess... I also sync to my Apple TV from my iMac, and not from my Macbook and is a pain switching libraries...
Apple TV
I have got an AppleTV downstairs which streams from my iMac which is always on upstairs. (Not sure if it needs to be on to use Apple TV all the time?)
Reason to go Portable all the time..
Anyway, the reason I didn't use my MB much is because of syncing and the small HDD 120GB wasn't big enough for ALL of my iPhoto library 50GB, iTunes 40GB and all my documents, movies and Virtual PC's. I naturally presumed it would be better to edit the photos on the iMac because of the 24" screen. However I bought a 250GB HDD recently and everything fits on it - wow this is so much easier having ALL my photos in one place, all my music, connect to TV at the relatives house etc... I could use this a lot more, my MB now everything is on there... However using Photoshop on the MB 13" display is a bit of a bind... Movie editing is also a bit cumbersome (for me that is)
I initially bought the MB for my wife and she loves it, at the moment she has docs on the MB and also the iMac but she doesn't use the iMac as much, just for browsing. I am going to keep the MB for my wife...
(Sorry for going on but this is what I am thinking so thought I would give you as much info re my situation as possible!)
Now then, I am giving serious consideration to selling my iMac and finally getting a MBP.
So I want to make movies, use photoshop, take it to work, basically do everything on it but games, use VMWare, FCP, iMovie, iPhoto, looking at either Aperture or Lightroom and general use. I wondered about going the full hog and getting a 17" rather than a 15" but are they too big size wise?? Are they cumbersome as they intended to be used on a desk? Too big for sitting on the sofa at night browsing? They look big in Apple Store, but I use to have a Dell 17" and got on ok with that but it was quite cumbersome at times - but am I thinking that because I love the handy size of the MB? I see my MB as an extra - an in-between computer - The problem with the MB is I would like more screen as 800 deep is a bit annoying.
So...
1. Apple TV - anyone else out there with MBP that has all their media on there have any issues with an AppleTV? - would there be any problems? What would it run off? I know the music is copied to the AppleTV, do the photos? what is streamed? Is it a case of when iTunes is opened it just syncs like an iPod and job done?
2. How would I get on not having an External HDD plugged in all the time? I have a lot of images and storage - I do have airport extreme, I could use AirDisk but wouldn't that be slow as it is USB2 connection slowed down even further by wireless? I have got a large FW800 drive which I love as it is fast and file transfers are sweet! (I know MBP has got FW 800 which is one of the reasons I want one)
3. Time Machine, I understand that I could just plug in the Time Machine HDD and it would back up. So I could come home from work, connect HDD and TM will back it up, but when I am out and about, TM would be pretty useless as I could not restore could I...? Would that pee me off? Does it anyone else who has used it found that? I am annoyed TM won't back up to air disk now as my TM drive is USB and would be fab at backing up - as soon as I saw the demo on Apple.com over Airport I thought that would solve all my problems! Now it is gone Grrrr...
4. Anyone out there gone for a 17" over a 15"? What made you go for the bigger? Do you take it out and about a lot? Do you wish you went for the 15"?
5. What made you go for a MBP in the first place? Are they really that good? The MB runs hot even when I am in bed with it on my lap (duvet in between) my legs get so hot it is uncomfortable - is this the same with the MBP?
6. I LOVE the keyboard on the MB, the MBP is different - what do you think?
Thanks in advance - it is appreciated as I am currently confused.com, it will be a lot of money, but now is the time as won't be able to spend this much on a computer ever again due to baby etc so want to make the right choice! I think I have convinced myself enough to have a laptop as my main computer but MB isn't up to it for me for what I want to do...
