[kill bill]

So, I've got $1500 from a scholarship to kick to a new computer. At present, I already own a 15'' Powerbook and it's working ok (slowing down and it does a weird thing where the monitor doesn't come on during start up). Next year, I will have to write my undergraduate thesis and I don't know that I will want to rely on my current computer to take me all the way through that.

Suffice to say, no matter what I choose I will have a laptop and some other type of computer. My option for the Mac Book Pro is the lowest priced one but, I have more options with the 24 inch IMac. I could even get the 24 inch monster. Of course, I will have to kick in a little of my own money to actually cover the entire cost, but I'm trying to figure out what the best use of my money. I would imagine that the Imac wouldn't succumb to obsolescence as fast as the MBP would, but I am not really sure. Are their any rumors of new mac products to be released soon?

I want to know what would you guys do in my situation because I can't decide. My main uses are music (garageband, finale, itunes, logic, pro tools), word processing, movie viewing (maybe some short video recording and editing if I had one of those neato cameras built in), and very light gaming (halo and the sims from time to time). I know I'll get way more horsepower and hard drive space out of the imac (I already have a 500gb external drive filled up), but I have not owned a desktop in over 5 years. I certainly enjoy the mobility of a laptop and I'll still own one even if I got the Imac. I just can't decide.

[BoingoBongo]

The most likely date for any updates would be January, but it's hard to say what those will include, so I don't see any problem with buying now.

As for which computer, it's a tough one. I had to make the same choice two years ago, and I went with a 20" iMac. It's a great computer, but it's currently up on eBay because I am looking to get a maxed out MacBook or MacBook Pro instead, so that says something. The 24" iMac is absolutely gorgeous though. I don't think you can go wrong, they're all great options. It's just whatever you want. Personally, I would probably go for the laptop.

Also, have you considered getting a maxed out MacBook instead? It does have a smaller screen, but it's such a great size and aside from the graphics card (which it doesn't sound too important for your needs), is just about as powerful.

I probably didn't help at all.

[mduell]

Upgrade in Jan/Feb will be minor... 100Mhz, 2MB cache, and a slightly bigger disk; RAM and GPU will probably be unchanged.

I'd go with the MacBook Pro... basically the same hardware as the iMac and portability was huge for me in college.

[Simon]

The iMac has a bigger and faster disk, but for everyday things like web, mail, Office the two will be pretty similar. IMHO it all boils down to: what's more importan to you, screen size or portability? Personally I favor portability, especially since I can always hook up a big screen and KB+M to a MBP when I'm at a desk (which I actually do daily). But if you know that you never want to carry it around or move it easily to other working areas, the iMac will offer more at a lower price.

[MacosNerd]

Originally Posted by Simon 

The iMac has a bigger and faster disk and a better GPU,

Better GPU then an MBP. There's been so much complaining of the iMac's GPU and so much praise of the MBP's I'm not sure about that.

I'm incredibly pleased with the performance of my MBP, except for one thing. Storage. My 150gig hard drive is filling up fast. Between my aperture library and my music library and other crap I only have 30 gig free and that itself is going down rather quickly.

My only option is to perform surgery and get a larger HD. Moving some stuff to an external drive will help a little bit but I need my aperture and music library on my local drive.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by MacosNerd 

Better GPU then an MBP. There's been so much complaining of the iMac's GPU and so much praise of the MBP's I'm not sure about that.

You're absolutely right! When I wrote that I was thinking about the X3100 and mixed up the MBP with MB. I removed the statement from my post. Thanks for pointing that out.

[mfbernstein]

The only clear advantage of the iMac is cost, screen size, and better internal storage options. Screen-size can be dealt with by using an external monitor.

An MBP and a good-sized (say 22") LCD monitor would be the most flexible setup: portability when you need it, and a good work environment too. If you keep an eye out, Apple's refurbished models can easily save you 20%. Refurb 2.2GHZ ($1700) + 22" LCD ($250) < $2000. Either way, keep a place in your budget for an external hard drive or two for backup purposes.

[SierraDragon]

Re: slowing PB, note that hard drives start slowing down after they pass something like half full. A good rule of thumb is not to exceed 70% full.

Originally Posted by kill bill 

...no matter what I choose I will have a laptop and some other type of computer. ...My main uses are music (garageband, finale, itunes, logic, pro tools), word processing, movie viewing (maybe some short video recording and editing...

As a student I found a laptop to be a necessity. IMO a key question is what do you do where? I needed all the power I could get no matter where I was using the laptop, and did most of my work at varying locations. For me a desktop box had little value and all my money needed to go to a max laptop and external hard drives.

IF OTOH your usage of more demanding apps will mostly be limited to a fixed location, and field usage of the laptop will mostly be for undemanding apps like word processing, then a desktop box might make sense and the 2.4 GHz iMac seems a nice value for your needs.

Whichever box you get, add a $190 4-GB RAM kit from OWC: Find the latest Performance Upgrades, Firewire and USB Hard Drives, SATA, Memory, Laptop Battery, and more at OWC

iMacs now come only with glossy displays, which add saturation and contrast to pix. Most consumers like added saturation and contrast, which is why Apple's consumer-grade iMacs come with glossy. Most pros prefer to work on their images without extra saturation and contrast being added by their computer displays. It is a matter of individual choice. Carefully eyeball evaluate and make your own decision. I chose matte on my MBP.

Note that both of your described choices are limited to max 4 GB of RAM. For many apps the RAM issue is huge. Concurrent with hardware evolution and falling RAM prices many apps are becoming more hardware/RAM utilizing. With continually falling RAM prices apps/OSs will undoubtedly evolve to increasingly take advantage of more RAM. Max 4 GB max RAM will become limiting to some apps. Apps will continue to "run" on lesser RAM; it is just that additional RAM will become increasingly cost-effective performance-enhancing.

RAM will be, in fact already is, the bargain of system performance upgrading. IMO the 4 GB RAM limitation alone kills iMacs as the preferable future desktop choice for heavy users even if the glossy display did not. Relatively, Mac towers always substantially outperform their by definition performance compromised iMac counterparts. Even though iMacs were recently upgraded, year-plus old Mac Pro towers knock the socks off iMacs. Personally I use demanding apps like Aperture and can take advantage of all the power available to me. IMO if considering being tethered to a desktop one should consider strongly consider Mac Pro towers. IMO the only reason to accept the RAM and performance limitations of MBPs and iMacs is to achieve portabilty (ergo no iMac).

iMacs are great value for lighter needs and/or for shorter perceived life cycles. Each buyer needs to decide how "light" his/her future computing needs are likely to be. E.g. you filled a 500 GB drive with something; certainly not Excel or Word documents. The kind of apps that generate 100s of GB of data are the kind of apps likely in the future to take advantage of more than 4 GB RAM.

In any event, the Mac product landscape is going to change a lot over the next 8 weeks. Hardware, OS and - as a consequence of the OS 10.5 release - applications as well. Even Adobe's apps that just upgraded may see some dot upgrades as OS 10.5 Leopard shakes out. We will see new Mac Pros and prices will rearrange.

My suggestion is to go MBP unless you really can use maximum power in a fixed location, and in that case look at towers. If possible it may make sense to see how hardware/software evolve over the next 8 weeks. Ideally, visit Mac Expo SF in January, always a worthy trek.

-Allen Wicks