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Need Help,, are the iMacs portable or not...?!?

E

esabourin

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 29, 2006
48
0
I'm between living places which means i'm spending a few nights a week in an apprtment and a few nights a week in a house,,they're 40 minutes away,,

are the iMacs portable?? would i be able to bring them from one place to another every couple days,,???? please hlep me. because if the iMac isn't really portable, i'd consider a MacBook or a MacMini,,
 
Well, you can carry them, but I wouldn't really call them portable. The 20" and 24" are pretty heavy, and then there's the keyboard, mouse and cables. Why not get a MacBook Pro?
 
esabourin said:
I'm between living places which means i'm spending a few nights a week in an apprtment and a few nights a week in a house,,they're 40 minutes away,,

are the iMacs portable?? would i be able to bring them from one place to another every couple days,,???? please hlep me. because if the iMac isn't really portable, i'd consider a MacBook or a MacMini,,
Click to expand...

They are a little less portable than a large microwave.
 
skunk is right, while the iMac can be moved, it's going to get real old getting everything together and lugging it in and out a couple of times a week. Get a MBP.
 
Macbook Or Macbook Pro is best for you because I know I wouldnt like lifting one of those 24 inchers every few days!
 
Get a 24" for each place and transfer data back and forth with a Macbook (or USB thumb drive)

Thats what I do.

At least in my dreams...
 
get a bag for the iMac.
just two things to plug in (power and keyboard) and you are good to go.
 
You can get a specialist carry-bag called an iLugger for the iMac but I'd really recommend getting a notebook if you're going to be travelling between places a lot. It can't be good to be moving a desktop computer around so much, plus they're not light to carry. Maybe pick up a cheap external monitor for whichever location you'll be spending more time at, if it's screen size you're worried about.
 
I just bought a 20" iMac and while it's fine for moving around the house - if I was taking it out and about a lot I'd have gotten a laptop.
 
skunk said:
Well, you can carry them, but I wouldn't really call them portable. The 20" and 24" are pretty heavy, and then there's the keyboard, mouse and cables. Why not get a MacBook Pro?
Click to expand...

yea,,i wish,,in a perfect world where money grows on trees, i would buy a macbook pro,,,but, i'm on a tight budget..so an imac would techinally make sense, accept the fact that i'm between living situations...

even the macbook is expensive for what you get.
 
I have a display and keyboard at home and in the office, and take my Mini and bluetooth mouse between the two. Extremely portable and (so far at least) very robust.

Displays (esp. CRTs if you have the space) are pretty cheap now (depending on your requirements) as are USB keyboards, even Mac ones (second-hand)
 
refurb mini, small padded bag/backpack, and second hand monitor/keyboard/mouse set to leave at the other location. portable goodness.

can't imaging lugging an imac around. unless it was the old g3 with the handle imac...
 
4JNA said:
refurb mini, small padded bag/backpack, and second hand monitor/keyboard/mouse set to leave at the other location. portable goodness.

can't imaging lugging an imac around. unless it was the old g3 with the handle imac...
Click to expand...

Trust me. Those old G3 iMacs are heavy bastards. The new Intel iMacs are much easier and lighter to carry around.
 
esabourin said:
even the macbook is expensive for what you get.
Click to expand...

compared to other notebooks, its one of the least expensive out there. You are comparing desktops to notebooks, and notebooks are known to be much more expensive than desktops when you compare specs.

Every computer is portable; just some are more portable than others. If you need easy portability on a budget, get a MacBook. if you need power and you don't plan to move it too often, get an iMac.:)
 
esabourin said:
yea,,i wish,,in a perfect world where money grows on trees, i would buy a macbook pro,,,but, i'm on a tight budget..so an imac would techinally make sense, accept the fact that i'm between living situations...

even the macbook is expensive for what you get.
Click to expand...

If you're expecting this to calm down after a while, you'll probably be just fine with an iMac. I have a friend that carries his G5 iMac on business trips (he's a programmer that does on-site installations) in his car fairly often. It's not too big of a hassle.
 
I gave a keynote presentation in my public speaking class tonight and brought my 17" iMac in. It wasn't hard. But it wasn't easy enough I would do something like that unless I had to. If I had a case, which it sounds like you would get, it wouldn't be so bad, because my main concern was not the inconvenience but that something would happen to the screen. As I was being driven I could hold the computer while driving, but if I had been driving I don't even know what I would have done. It doesn't seem like putting it face down would be safe, there'd be pressure on the screen. And if you put it the other way I don't know if that would be too much pressure on the base or if the base would push up all the way against the back of the iMac and possibly scratch it. I don't know, and I don't care to find out.

So if you can find a reasonable solution such as the iLugger that would alleviate that concern. But then there's the other issue of carrying it twice a week. The only reason I have a desktop over a laptop is that I spill things all the time. I am not safe around laptops. Otherwise I would much prefer one. What makes you think you'd like a desktop more? If it weren't for my clumsiness, to me, a laptop would be preferable, especially given your nomadic lifestyle.
 
Every couple of days? That would probably get to be rather annoying.

They are easy to transport, yes, but not at the frequency you're talking about.
 
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