Which Apple notebook is for me?

This is my first post and I appreciate your feedback. I have an aluminum iMac which is great and I'm finally ready to retire my Gateway notebook for a Mac notebook. Unfortunately none of the Mac notebooks are exactly ideal for me but I'm wondering which is the best. I don't travel a lot, vacation a couple of times a year and when I go shopping with my wife I like to spend the time at Barnes & Noble, Starbucks or Panerra with my notebook. I love the 15" MacBook Pro but I really was hoping to get something smaller, more the size of the Sony SZ or Dell XPS M1330 which Apple doesn't have a direct competitor. Also Penryn will be available in the next couple of weeks and it would be nice to get the latest technology since the timing is good.
The MacBook, doesn't excite me I'm not crazy about the cast and though it does have a 13" display it's pretty heavy for what it is and it doesn't have a seperate video card.
The MacBook Air is very cool, aluminum case, 13" display and pretty light but the slow and small hard drive, lack of a separate video card and no optical drive makes it not ideal for me. I was really looking for a powerful 13" notebook like the Dell & Sony I mentioned but Apple does not make it. Which of the three choices would be the best choice for me?

 

Well, the MBP is nearly as light as the MB, and it offers much more in terms of features and performance, so if you don't mind paying $700 more for it, then definitely, go for the 15" MBP.

 

Since you mention that the MacBook Air's graphics card is not your choice, then the only choice is the MacBook Pro, which features a very nice NVidia 8600 GT. I too would have liked to see Apple release a 13.3 or 14-inch MacBook with dedicated graphics...

 

Yes, Apple laptops don't have any graphics muscle unless you are going for the MacBook Pro; in your case 15" model seems to be the best choice, however much it compromises mobility. You have to sacrifice somewhere.

 

Just wondering, you basically said that you would be using the laptop to surf the net, and stuff like that. Do you really need a dedicated gpu for that?

The MBP is good, but if you dont have to spend the money just for the gpu, then you might want to consider the macbook.

Doesnt the imac have a decent video card in it?

But if you really want/need the gpu, then go for the mbp.

 

I agree with sulkorp, don't worry about GPU unless you are really going to use it. Also remember that even though the m1330 and SZ have video cards, they are bad video cards. Both use the 8400 which will struggle with most every modern game. So while yes they are better than the integrated Intel GPU, they still are not really adequate for gaming.

If you want to game or really need the GPU, get something with at least an 8600, like the MBP. If not then the MacBook will work fine.

 

My opinion, you only need the dedicated GPU of the MB Pro for doing specific things - 3d work, and mostly - Games.

The x3100 internal card in the Macbooks is plenty fast for desktop use, Internet, and multimedia. It also uses less power, which helps give the MB a long battery life.

The one things that bugs me is the 1280x800 resolution of the Macbooks. I don't think there's enough screen real estate to have a lot of windows open. So I much prefer the 1440x900 of the Macbook Pro. But, that's not a function of the graphics card. The x3100 could easily push 1440x900 if they put the right screen into the machine.

 

Hey, thanks for the replies. I guess I don't really "need" the dedicated video card at the moment, I do some light Photoshop but it probably wouldn't effect even that. I tend to keep my computers for a good 4 years and figure as time goes on I'll be better off with a video card down the road. I'm really quite disappointed, I personally would loved to have seen a refresh of the 12" Powerbook as a 13" MacBook Pro but Apple decided to go in another direction. I'm going to go to the mall where there is an Apple Store, SonyStyle store and Dell kiosk and see which notebook I like the best and is the best solution for me. I'm afraid 15" is going to be too big, otherwise it would be the MBP in a hear beat. I really do want to stay with OS X though.

 

Keep in mind that the footprint of the Macbook Pro is actually a lot smaller than other 15 inch notebooks.

Here is a comparison between macbook and macbook pro.

This page has a comparison shot between Macbook Pro and Sony SZ.

Compare between MBP and older Dell

Finally an Acer 14 inch against Macbook Pro

 

If you are doing some photoshop then gpu isnt gonna make a difference. Photoshop is more cpu and ram intense. But the macbooks screen is a little small for that but still its got the cpu and memory.

 

Yeah, the MacBook Pro is the best choice, if you ask me. For Photoshop, the MacBook does fine as well, as Photoshop is CPU and RAM dependent, both of which the MacBook also has lots of.

 

fully agreed. take a look at the links he posted. and honestly, i dont find my macbook to be that heavy.

 

I went to my local mall tonight, there is an Apple Store, Sony store and Dell kiosk very close to each other. The only Mac I would get is the 15" MacBook Pro, it is truly a beautiful machine which I guess will only be better when the new ones are released. The Sony SZ and Dell XPS M1330 are both very nice machines hardware wise, if I could legally run OS X on them without a problem I'd probably go for one of them as the size is exactly what I'm looking for, they are also pretty powerful. The notebook that I loved the most was that little Sony TZ I think, man that is one cool little thing! I'll wait for the new 15" MBP, I much prefer OS X to Windows so I have no choice!

 

good choice. i was debating between the xps1330, sony fz, and the mbp during the summer. so glad i went with mac and os x! good luck

 

Yeah, I would have to say that the MBP is probably your best bet. I even would prefer it to be a little bit smaller, I feel that it is too wide. But compared to other notebooks in its same league, it is much smaller and sleeker. You will love it when you get it.