So i bought a windows but...

Last year I've had some questions here about a macbook pro. I was almost 100% sure to buy a mac, and at the very last moment I went for a Windows.

Instead of a notebook I bought a custommade desktop,
8800GTS 640mb
320GB HD
Asus p5n E sli
2gb memory
samsung syncmaster 20"
Quad Core

I use 3ds max, Adobe premiere, After effects, flash, mirage, fruity loops, itunes, msn, photoshop, maya, toonboom and boujou a LOT.

It's all working great on my desktop, but I would rather have a notebook; a macbook (pro?)

What do you guys think? Can I run ALL of those programmes without trouble? (not @ the same time of course )
Can you run photoshop, final cut pro and another programme at the same time without having to much trouble?

I really love the mac design, it would be a diamond on my desk, and me and my family are always leaving home saturday so I need a notebook really bad...

What can you guys advice me? Stick with boring, always crashing windows? Or buy a macbook (pro?)
And if you advice a mac, which version? pro? how much memory?

Thx Soo much in advance

Gideon, from the netherlands

 

sure mac can run those programs without any issues. photoshop, 3ds max and final cut are relatively cpu+gpu intensive programs, so macbook pro would be your better choice. speaking of system crash, my MBP never crashed on me once in pass 14 months of usage. WUXGA and 4GB RAM is a must for 3dmax and photoshop, so my conclusion is get the 17" model with high resolution.

 

Thanks for the fast response.
WUXGA is something with widescreen I assume?
I think i'd rather take the 15,4" version because I'm not having much space while working @school, car, bus, train.
So what about a macbook pro 15,4" 2,5GHz?


And one more thing- Apple is asking ridiculous prices for a bit of extra memory, can I buy 2GB of memory from another brand without trouble and quality lose?

 

yea you can buy RAMs from newegg etc.

 

Okay, but do you think that the 15,4" version will serve my needs?

 

higher resolution is always recommended.

 

15.4 is more sensible. its much more portable, and you can always hook it up to a high resolution external when you are at home.

you will have to toss your 2GB of ram in the machine and buy 4 GB (2x2GB). there are only two slots for ram and they are both used (2 x 1 GB) when you buy the machine.

 

Definitely buy RAM elsewhere. Apple and other manufacturers love to charge for RAM, when it is cheaper in places like Newegg and are easy to install, no warranties voided.

 

OWC has pretty good RAM prices (They also offer the higher performance RAM that I got for my MBP). I'd say the desktop is great for your home usage and gaming, while the MBP is a great choice for portable power. As long as you have the money, go for it. I'll probably be saving up to build a gaming desktop later in the year to go along with the MBP I just purchased
Then again, with those college expenses that might be tough

 

Any brad of RAM will suffice, no need to get nit picky. As long as the manufacturer backs it with a lifetime warranty(which pretty much all manufacturers now do).

 

I'm not very rich, if I change to MBP I have to sell my whole system Anyways, I have a xbox360 for gaming and stuff. I bought a game PC but I never game on it... So I thought it would be wise to have a notebook with lots of power so I can go on with video editting, modeling, animating and photoshop when I'n not @ home.

Would you guys change your Desktop Quad Core, 8800gts, 2gb ram for a MBP?

 

In a heartbeat.

I saw an ad for a toshiba 17inch notebook for $499. It is tough to pay Apple prices when you read about deals like that. Sometimes I wish Apple would just let me install Leopard on one of my old Dells but then I remember that one main reason the Apple experience is so seamless and so trouble free is the absolute control over the hardware. I have never been sorry for any Apple purchase I ever made. I don't think you will be either. If I had it to do over, I'd grab the Penryn MBP but I'm still very happy with my Penryn midrange Macbook.

Go for it!

BTW, I know that parallels and boot camp provide a safety net but try to hold on as long as you can without actually loading windows. I've made it and never had to look back. I do have Crossover for that handful of windows apps that can run under wine but I haven't allocated a single byte of my 160 gig to windows files and I don't plan to. Adobe allowed me to upgrade from a windows serial number to a mac serial number for dreamweaver cs3. I'm sure the same would be true for their other apps but I would ask first just to make sure. 2 gig is enough, but if you do plan to run parallels, it wouldn't hurt to go grab 4 gig of memory but not from Apple unless you are in the mood to make a hefty donation.

I should mention I have a rolltop desk which means my notebook is my desktop machine. I have network attached storage: two buffalo units and a time capsule. I'm not really a gamer any more. Too busy. But I've heard that if you are a gamer, then boot camp is the way to go.

 

Seeing as a Quad Core desktop nowadays only costs about £500 to build, while a MBP retails for at least £1000, if I can backup my data and if the exchange is quick and swift, then hell yeah. I could buy 2 Quad Core desktops after selling that MBP on eBay

 

Gideon, I would listen to nirvana regarding the 17" model. It is not much bigger that an average 15.4" PC laptop and it is still very portable. I worked with a few people using 17" MBP for Final Cut Pro and they were very satisfied (professional HD video editing for Premier League football clubs).

WUXGA is the highest resolution for 17" (1920x1200) and WSXGA is 1680x1050.

You mentioned that you don't have too much space. This is another reason to go with a high-end MBP, because if you buy 15" and realise 1440x resolution is not enough, then you won't have space for a 24" monitor to solve your problem.

 

true, I need to save money first, but i will DEFINITELY change to apple within a short time I hope.

Thanks for all your responses! I appreciate it a lot.