Question for iMac/MacBook users

[kaiser]

Well my laptop is on it's last legs and i'm thinking of crossing to the dark side of Mac. My plan was to get the base model 13" Macbook with some extra RAM- and the 24" cinema display to hook up the MacBook at home for the more serious editing. Some questions on this: 1. Will I get the full benefit of the 24" display running through the base model 13" Macbook? ie HD resolution. 2. Will the base model MacBook be enough to run cs3/4 efficiently? 3. I've heard the new mac lcds are overly saturated- will proper calibration solve this issue in order to do accurate colour matching? Cheers, matt.

[davwhite]

Matt, I'm not going to be much help on the technical side there.
My Grandson has a macpro and he runs a seperate display without any problems and he is studying Multimedia so it must be ok.
If you don't need a macbook why not get the imac, plenty of powerful options there and would work out cheaper perhaps.
I have a 24" and I can calibrate very easily with a Pantone.
Hope you can grab something from that. Might be wise to speak to Apple direct before you make that final decision.

[Calxoddity]

Hi,
Make sure you max out the RAM - 4GB makes a substantial differences. I don't know about the behavior of the new 24" LCDs, but the 24" iMac screen suffers from excessive brightness, not excessive saturation. The new monitors use LCD backlighting rather than fluorescent, so that might result in a difference.

I considered a laptop but chose the iMac in the end - better bang for buck and, whilst it is an all-in-one unit, that made for better utilisation of space in my study.

Make sure you plan your migration carefully. Some data may need to be converted on the PC before you pour it across to the Mac.

Regards,
Calx

[kaiser]

Thanks for the feedback. Unfortunately I was unknowingly redirected to the US Apple Store last night so here I was thinking I could get a 13" MacBook for $999 and a 24" display for $1099
Now that I'm working in real dollars my theory has lost a lot of its momentum. The portability of a laptop is fairly important as I tend to travel a fair bit and use the computer at work.
If it wasn't for that then I'd definitely be going straight for the 24" iMac.
So I could either go for the baseline MBP for $3199 or;
Base 13" MB and the 24" Cinema display for about the same $$. Second option seems good as I get portability when I need it and screen real estate when I need it.
Now just a matter of deciding whether the slightly different specs of the two (graphics card, processor) will make a real difference in performace.

To be honest I'm not even sure if I will purchase CS3/4 yet. Will be running Nikon's NX2 and I'm still trying to get my head around the difference between Aperture and Lightroom. I know theres a few threads on here about that so I will have to do some reading today.

[kaiser]

Argh - I've run into another dilemma. If I plan to run a 2nd display from the lappy, the base model MB may drag down system performance with its lower end graphics card. So that would mean I'm looking at a MacBook Pro - more $$$

[Calxoddity]

is this going to be a 2-computer solution? iMac plus low-end laptop? Sounds like your costs are increasing rapidly...