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| Ren |
Mac specs- Suggestions welcomedHi guys!I'm an Advertising and Graphic Design student, and although I have managed to avoid converting to a Mac, my tutors are largely pushing that I should. I've been talking to various student who do own Macs, about what specs I should be aiming at, as a lot of people have said to aim fairly high as their Macs often struggle with design work (an example of to aim higher than was given with a CPU of 1.33 and RAM of 1Gb). The graphics card largely does not matter, nor the price range at the moment, I'm more worried about what you guys think the ideal "recommended" specs are for design work, not the bare minimum, but comfortably able to get stuff done, so largely just the CPU and RAM are the big deals. From the discussions I have managed to have with tutors, they have suggested going with a MacbookPro of some description, for the portability. Any help you guys could give is greatly appreciated 
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| Jude |
The trouble with getting a laptop is that they generally cost more for the same or lesser specs than a desktop, plus they are not as upgradable. But if you want portability, they are the way to go.
If you do get a laptop, I would definitely go with the Macbook Pro, so you can get the better graphics card, bigger hard drive, etc. Go to www.apple.com/mac and play around there at the store. It lets you put together different configurations to find what you want for the cost you can afford. ****Very Important**** If you are a student or a parent of a student, you can get a discount on Macs by buying through the education store. Also, often there are special deals where you can get a rebate on a printer or certain software or ipods, or whatever, so check out the special deals, too. ****Also, remember that if you want the 3-year extended warranty (which I always get) it will add to the initial cost, and the laptop one is more (because of the built in monitor and higher risk of damage). Anyway, I would suggest getting extra RAM if you can afford it--at least twice of what comes with the Mac--that way you can run several intensive apps at the same time. I would get a large hard drive (a faster one is better--and laptops usually have slower ones of 5200 RPM or less) or more than one hard drive if you get a desktop. Do not get an onboard graphics card if you can avoid it--they are pretty crappy (I think the lower end Macbooks have them). Anyway, check out the Education Store at Apple: http://www.apple.com/education/ If you are set on getting a portable Mac, then the Macbook Pro mid to high end is pretty good, especially if you custom design it for a faster hard drive and CPU, etc--and it already comes with 2GB RAM and a decent graphics card. If having high performance is more important, go for the Mac Pro, and custom design it up to what you can afford--remember to get a monitor if you don't already have one you can use. Otherwise a good non-portable, affordable choice is the iMac with extra RAM and the choice of the better graphics card. It comes with a built-in monitor, too. Do not get the Macbook Air unless you don't care that it doesn't have a CD/DVD drive and is pretty worthless unless you just want to surf the web wirelessly. Anyway, I would highly recommend going to the Apple Education store and playing with the options, seeing how the price adds up for various configurations (including Applecare warranty and taxes), and then make your decision. Myself, I have always gone for the desktop with the best grpahics card, extra RAM, and more than one hard drive (and sometimes and extra optical drive, and/or optional cards). But then I am probably crazy, and I always want my machines to be able to do more than they are able. (and they come very close!) 
Jude |
| Jude |
Oh, one more thing. If you intend to install Windows on your Mac, too, I would highly recommend getting 2 hard drives--one just for Windows. Otherwise, make certain to format your hard drive with 2 partitions BEFORE you start installing stuff!
Jude |
| nekotine |
y'know, it's kind of hard to say these days with something new coming out for computers every month, if not week, these days. i'm a sound/video editing student myself, which can strain a computer just as well, if not worse the graphic design, depending on the project (yay video rendering! lulz \o/).
the best advice i can give you for buying a Mac is...buy the most tricked out one currently available. unless you have a Mac whiz that knows how to upgrade them or you don't mind having to shell out the money to find someone to do so (which by now, there should be a few, especially if you have that many people pushing you to get one.) i made the fairly monumental mistake of buying a 'new' 17" Intel Macbook Pro...just a few months before they announced the Core 2 Duo ones. talk about a proverbial kick in the nards. mine has 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo and 2gb of RAM, but Final Cut Pro will still choke on me now and then. heck, it chokes on the Macs at school too so maybe that isn't saying something or it's saying something blaringly loud. iirc, my MacbookPro came up to $3200something, and that's with the student discount via the Apple Store website. oh, that's another thing, when i got mine, i requested the largest hard drive, which was also 7200rpm, while in the store and was told they don't carry those ones IN store, so i had to order it online. not too big of a deal, just a bit annoying to me but ah well. the student discount is easily applied when you're shopping online and it's a pretty damn good one... a few tips for if/when you get your Macbook though... DO NOT lose your power adapter. those things are like a diamond in the rough. i work at a computer/electronics store, and i remember the blind, red rage people would come in with when they've lost their power adapter, which would multiply tenfold when we tell them they just missed the last one because some lady came right before you. there was a time where Apple just STOPPED making the MagSafe adapters because they were going to EVENTUALLY release a new one. it was months...MONTHS before they did, and shelves in all stores, including Apple Stores, were empty of the adapters until then. talk about a Bad Idea(tm) to just stop making them without having the new product out yet... When it is possible, either turn off/sleep your Macbook when you're not using it or if you're like me and constantly have it on due to constantly downloading stuff, TAKE OUT THE BATTERY and just leave i plugged into the wall. i don't know if this is still a problem with the newer Macbooks but i quite literally had my first Macbook battery burst at the seams. evidence is here: 
yes, that's me, yes, that's my battery, and why yes, i love my green and blue monkey pajamas too!  anyways, if that happens, it's technically not covered by the AppleCare Protection Plan but the guys at the counter were sympathetic enough to go ahead and replace it for me but i figure i'll try to save you the trip there in the first place. n.n;
...and that's about it from me. i'm sure some of the other gals will be able to tell you a lot more since i'm primarily a PC user myself. if only they had Final Cut Pro for PC too... ( T~T) |
| Ren |
o.o that is some nasty battery burstage!
This mac will be used just for work/design stuff, as I use a PC for everything else (Mac is just not great for gaming), so I wont run Windows on it. It would seem a bit weird to do so heh. Thanks for everyone's input so far
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| nekotine |
yeah, i remember thinking 'huh, why does it feel like my Macbook is on a seesaw... maybe there's something underneath it... OH SHI-!' x_x;
and same for me. my Mac is my 'work' machine, while my PC is my gaming/fun machine. |