MBP or Tower?
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- mrbee2828
No PC vs. Mac debate or 15" vs. 17". This is a straight up which is better for me? I'm buying my first Mac here in a few weeks. I'll be full time freelance this spring and probably travel once a month for face time with remote clients. Other than that I'll be working out of the house. My thoughts, go tower to lengthen its shelf life by allowing me to add on RAM and other stuff. But could the MBP be fast enough with 3gigs of RAM and if so how long? I'll get a 2nd 24" monitor if I get a MBP.
I'm an interactive guy that will be in Flash & Photoshop 50/50. More development in Flash than motion graphics. I don't need a ton of power right now but who knows. Suggestions to owners?
- madirish0
mbp. without question.
- spl33nidoru0
same.
got the mbp and a 30 inch, will switch to a tower once i really need more power and will still have a laptop for when it's convenient.
- spl33nidoru0
btw if it helps you, similar situation here : web/flash mostly right now but slowly switching back to video.
- CyBrain0
Tough call. I love my old 17" PB, but towers are always more powerful. the real question is how often will you be traveling with it?
- Rand0
I recently got the mac pro 2.66 dual core xeon, radeon x1900, two 500 gb hard drives and a 30"
I love it
- Meeklo0
Tough call. I love my old 17" PB, but towers are always more powerful. the real question is how often will you be traveling with it?
CyBrain
(Feb 9 07, 15:35)well, he said he will mainly be working on flash development not motion graphics.. no neeed for a ton of power there, you can probably sabe a few bucks and getting an ibook as well..
I also think portability is N1, computers change so fast now that it does not really matter anymore, I switched as full time freelancer 2 years ago, and if I ever get a tower is going to be a secondary machine. get good external drive w/ FW800 to store your work, and a second monitor, that's all you need..
good luck!
- Rand0
I always felt like portables inevitably had more problems, but what do I know?
- Meeklo0
I ment to say
"you can probably save a few bucks and get an ibook instead"
- Meeklo0
I always felt like portables inevitably had more problems, but what do I know?
Rand
(Feb 9 07, 15:41)that really depends.. on luck really
you can (and probably will ) have problems w/ both..if you are going to be freelancing, having a computer to move around will probably make the difference in a lot of projects. I been working on agencies that did not had an extra computer for me to use. Because I had my own I can go to their office, and work from there, I have a meeting with a client in LA, I take my laptop and my projector, plug and play and no matter how horrible my work is, when they see it blown up that big they love it anyways.
I can work from anywhere, I'm in vegas, to see a few friends, a client needs me to re-send a file, I go to the lobby of the hotel send whatever I want right there, so many pluses for freelancing..
this could make the difference between you getting a job that someone else can't do because is stucked with a tower on a specific location.
- cinder0
I'm really happy with my 17" MBP.
Only bummer is the sotware that hasn't been updated for the Intel processor and the fact that I have a 2GB RAM ceiling on the MBP I have.
I've got the Dell 24" flatpanel at home.
Works great.Although, I might be a little bummed once I get into more video stuff since it's not THE fastest machine and doesn't have a ton of harddrive space.
(I got the 100GB 7200rpm drive)
- orkman0
Another vote for MBP. I do mostly Flash and web design as well and it rocks. Think about when Adobe finally releases universal version of CS, very snappy it will be.
I love the mobility and got a 24" Dell mon for it.
Tower would be best for video, 3D and motion graphics. That's where the speed/RAM of a tower would help.
Have fun!
- fortified0
MBP and another monitor
- tomkat0
yeah if you set up your mbp like a desktop environment, keys and screen, you're fine.. did so myself
regular backups and you dont need to worry about taking you main machine with you
- johndiggity0
mbp and 24" dell. i've got the same set up and it's great. i wouldn't go with a 30' i think that's just too big.
- tkmeister0
i got a 15" MBP. i am very happy with it. i live in the city so i prefer having mobile equipment, takes up less space. as far as speed goes, i never feel handicapped.
i am hoping to get a 42"+ LCD for my tv soon so if i need a bigger screen, i'd hook up to that. but to be honest, i am still designing for 1024x768 spec mostly i never feel i need to have more workspace. even when i do some flash work, i am fine with a small screen.
it's just what i am used to.
- Rand0
the 30" screen is great for print work, though. You can work on a 2 page spread with enough magnification to not have to zoom and still have room for palettes
- MichaelFelt0
so isnt a MBP powerfull enuff or After Effects???
im looking to get one
- MediaPimp0
It's useable.. but it currently runs in Rosetta. But the Intel release will make it so it's more than powerful enough. But you may want a 7200rpm drive.
- MediaPimp0
That was in reference to After Effects...
- CyBrain0
If you're a flash guy, I would not consider any laptop smaller than 17".