Probably been asked a thousand times...

[cardboardcowboy]

Hi all. I'm looking for a second opinion from you fine folks of this forum. I, like many others, am in limbo. I have been using a 15" powerbook G4 for about 3 years now and I feel that it is time to upgrade to something bigger and better but I don't necessarily need a beast of a machine for illustrator and photoshop work. I am liking more and more the idea of snagging one of the current 20" 2.4ghz iMacs and calling it done but I like to overthink things before I make a decision. So, my question for you is this: if you were within months of graduating college with a major in visual arts (and a future of illustration and graphic design work) and were looking to upgrade your machine, what would you do? Buy a refurb iMac and use the saved $ to boost the ram, buy a MBP (that multitouch pad is tempting) rendering the powerbook useless and unnecessary but leaving me with options to add an external monitor and obvious mobility, or wait for the imac update that is (hopefully) just around the corner just to have the "latest and greatest"?

I know it all comes down to my own decision in the end, but something about buying a MBP and completely chucking my powerbook out the window seems wrong to me. We've been through a lot together, you know?

Also worth noting, the glossy vs. matte thing is of some concern. I've read the posts, I've done the first hand experience test, but I wonder just how important it would be to my work. I've been working on this matte powerbook for years and had no problems with print output using my current display calibration and pantone color books. Any thoughts from those who use imacs for design work (if any do?)

thanks in advance for reading my novel of a post

 

[takeabyteoutta]

Hi all. I'm looking for a second opinion from you fine folks of this forum. I, like many others, am in limbo. I have been using a 15" powerbook G4 for about 3 years now and I feel that it is time to upgrade to something bigger and better but I don't necessarily need a beast of a machine for illustrator and photoshop work. I am liking more and more the idea of snagging one of the current 20" 2.4ghz iMacs and calling it done but I like to overthink things before I make a decision. So, my question for you is this: if you were within months of graduating college with a major in visual arts (and a future of illustration and graphic design work) and were looking to upgrade your machine, what would you do? Buy a refurb iMac and use the saved $ to boost the ram, buy a MBP (that multitouch pad is tempting) rendering the powerbook useless and unnecessary but leaving me with options to add an external monitor and obvious mobility, or wait for the imac update that is (hopefully) just around the corner just to have the "latest and greatest"?

I know it all comes down to my own decision in the end, but something about buying a MBP and completely chucking my powerbook out the window seems wrong to me. We've been through a lot together, you know?

Also worth noting, the glossy vs. matte thing is of some concern. I've read the posts, I've done the first hand experience test, but I wonder just how important it would be to my work. I've been working on this matte powerbook for years and had no problems with print output using my current display calibration and pantone color books. Any thoughts from those who use imacs for design work (if any do?)

thanks in advance for reading my novel of a post

Wait on the macbook touch. Really though, wait for the may-june iMac revision. Anyone know if there's a 1 month "grace period" on the student discount after you graduate?

 

[iPhil]

Wait on the macbook touch. Really though, wait for the may-june iMac revision. Anyone know if there's a 1 month "grace period" on the student discount after you graduate?

I've heard of people using student ID up to 6 months after graduating College and no problems...

 

[skiesforme]

I've heard of people using student ID up to 6 months after graduating College and no problems...

I agree. I got my Macbook on 02/02/2008 and MBP on 02/26/2008 on student discounts. When I asked the Store employee about the rule -"1 device of a kind per year" he said "I don't care about that, all I need to see is an ID"
So here I am, with 3 apple products (iPhone, MB and MBP) on student discounts of which the MB and MBP were bought 2 months after my graduation.