[MacNZ]

I was wondering whether I could get an opinion from a few knowledgeable folk on what to do with my current setup. I've been using a maxed out 12" PowerBook (1.5Ghz, 160GB hd and 1.25GB RAM) for two and a half years now. I'm using it as a personal system for the normal iTunes, internet stuff, movie collection, carrying just about everywhere! I've also been getting into my photos a lot more and putting together a few movie projects on iDVD etc. I plan to buy a really nice dSLR in the next 6 months or so, and want to use aperture, photoshop. So, I've got a plan to buy a new system by July next year, when I am moving from Japan to the UK, and this one's AppleCare runs out about March and its time to step up.

I've just realised doing some iDVD and iMovie '06 stuff though how bogged down this machine is getting. Anything intensive with video is really choking it. I have a few options and was wondering whether I could get some feedback from people with these machines and doing similar things;

Option A) Buy 15" or 17" MacBook NOW - probably reasonably well set up with ram and hard drive- I'd lose some portability, but would be able to take to the UK with no probs.

Option B) Hold on to PowerBook, mildly suffer, and then buy an iMac or MacPro for my main machine when I get to UK (keep the powerbook as a run around).

Option C) Pray for some kind of godsend high-end macbook or powerful enought mobility portable for release end of this year/start of next year.

Thanks,
Pete

[Tuoder]

The only thing keeping you from using a MacBook is Aperture. Even that will work, just slowly. Perhaps look up some benchmarks to see if it tolerable?

[mduell]

Take the 15" MBP; it's only a pound more than the 12" PB and can still be used pretty much everywhere a 12" could be.

[MacNZ]

Aperture looked like it would run respectably on a 15/17" MacBook Pro from what I managed to google up!? I can probably get a teachers discount in Japan, which would be sweet. Is it worth going for the 7200rpm drive? I've read heaps of threads on here before that have conflicting views.

[BelugaShark]

you should wait, new hardware should be coming soon, if not in october it'll be in january.

[amazing]

Question is how much it might be worth selling in Japan before you come back? They're still pretty popular over here and have retained good value, but could you sell it for more in Japan? That would determine when you would sell, i.e. whether to sell in Japan or to wait some semi-reasonable period over here for new gen MacBook.

I betcha the edu discount over here would be better than edu in Japan? Something for you check out, anyway...

Seems really like the perfect laptop for photography in the field, just maybe not for heavy editing and Photoshop in the field. Maybe you should keep it and get an iMac for editing?

[MacNZ]

Good point, thanks...I hadn't checked out the second-hand market here until you mentioned it. They seem to be commanding pretty amazing resale here. I am in two minds but may hold on and sell this thing just before I leave, then get a new machine in the UK with the education discount. They seemed to be selling a similar (but non-upgraded) machine for around 130,000 yen, which is fairly good considering a new macbook is about 140,000 for the base model.

[spacedog]

i have the same system - identical config - and am facing a similar dilemma. i already have aperture, and jumped through all the stupid hoops to get it installed and running on the technically-unsupported 12". there's a very good reason apple doesn't want you installing aperture on this system. it's miserably slow. great application, just painful to use.

i'm leaning towards the 15". i've had that size before (tibook) and it was okay. also had a 17" - way too big. the 12" seems perfect for me size-wise, and while the 13" would be close enough, the performance just looks to be too poor to be worth the upgrade.