Don't be shy! Come on all you artists and writers, share your thoughts with me! Now's the time....

I'm no artist or a writer, nor am I a Mac user, PC all the way here, but I've heard some good things about the Mac, try one out, see if you like it, if you do, get one, I heard you won't go back....:D

Patricia, I would be interested in the processor. That will be one of the determinants of speed. Further, I would put in as much RAM as I could afford. My preference is for a smaller hard drive. That means I would have an external hard drive(s) for back-up and storage. Why I like a smaller hard drive for the laptop is that, for me, less storage space means I am less incline to collect unnecessary 'stuff'. Is length of time for the battery a consideration for you?

I agree with Tink about trying it out, if possible. Why I make this suggestion is that the keyboard has to fit your hand. No matter how good your machine is, if you are not comfortable with the keyboard, then the work will be impacted.

If you would like me to expand on any of these points or discuss this further, please don't hesitate to send me a note.

Patricia, we are Mac devotees. I use a MacBook Pro..my husband uses the Mac Book Air. I also own an older Mac...which I have kept as a back up. One hint is to look up the Apple Store Site on line and look for re-conditioned computers. They sell almost new models for a deep discount...even if a customer has just opened the box and for some reason didn't like it and sent it back. The Air is very light...but not good for graphics etc a you have to purchase a drive to install CDs etc. Where as the Pro has an internal drive. Best thing to do is to go to an Apple Store and check the options. The computers are very friendly and they are virtually virus free. I use Firefox and Safari as browsers. Both have a lot of safety features. Now..inasmuch as I do not do publishing or a lot of stuff with photos...I am barely into all of the programs. My kids do use them. It is simply amazing what is possible. Best of luck.

Ande

If there is a rental store near you, try renting different models for a month or so to see what suits you before you buy. I have an iMac with a 22” screen. It isn’t a laptop but isn’t much bigger (no tower - it’s all in the flat monitor). I have Microsoft’s Office for Mac on it so it is little different than what I am used to from my PC.

Both Apple and Microsoft are now making lots of software for Macs now. There are still many more for a PC but they both have great graphics programs for a mac.

Enjoy!
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If there is a rental store near you, try renting different models for a month or so to see what suits you before you buy. I have an iMac with a 22” screen. It isn’t a laptop but isn’t much bigger (no tower - it’s all in the flat monitor). I have Microsoft’s Office for Mac on it so it is little different than what I am used to from my PC.

Both Apple and Microsoft are now making lots of software for Macs now. There are still many more for a PC but they both have great graphics programs for a mac.

Enjoy!
.

Hi Patricia,

I'm sometimes asked the same questions you've posed here. I'm not sure that a complete answer can be given until more is known about your computer habits and intentions. I'll ask some questions, and offer some thoughts.

1. Where will use your Macbook?

2. Do you need it to be a mobile device?

3. What percentage is the difference in use--sitting at a desk, roaming around the house (do you have a wi-fi network?) or outside of the home?

4. You list your intended usage as e-mail, Internet, writing and photography.

5. You mention "...if I can afford it?" What is in your budget limit?

6. How do you use your Mac? By that I mean do you have a lot of simultaneous applications open at once? Do you need to have simultaneous access to iChat or Skype, a browser, photo applications and a word processor?

Now some thoughts on the above.

1. and 2. and 3. If you mainly use a laptop at a stationery location, then there are some options to consider. You could, for example, get the basic iMac model for work at a desk, and an iPad for mobility for near the same cost as a middle/upper end MacBook Pro. You could also consider a Mac mini if you're mostly stationery, especially if you have a display lying around unused (a Mac mini does not come with a display, but it starts at $600).

4. Three of the four items listed require little processing power. It depends on how you work on your photographs whether or not you'll work more efficiently with more processing power. Notwithstanding how the EULA agreements for higher end photo applications restrict installation onto your new machine--typically, Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements restrict installations of their products. You can have the applications on more than one machine in your home, for example, but they cannot run concurrently if you're connected to your home network with those machines at the same time. However, both MacBook Airs, MacBook Pros, iMacs and Mac minis all come with iPhoto, which is a photo management, storage and basic manipulation application. If you need more control over manipulating your images then you can get Aperture, a professional grade management and storage application, from the App Store which is an application that comes with all new Macs. It's only $80 from the App Store, much more than that from other retail outlets, including even Apple's online store. A recent version of Adobe Photoshop will run you about $700.

So, if you need a lot of application processing power for your photos, both in the application, the hardware specs and storage space, then that would be a factor in considering which Mac you choose.

5. Remember that your budget can get stretched by the addition of items not included with your purchase. A laptop or desktop computer will always run better with the RAM maxed out. Apple will sell you additional RAM, at nearly twice the cost of a place like Crucial. I prefer OtherWorldComputing--macsales.com--for RAM as it's equal to or better than Apple specs at half the cost or less. If you're at 30k photos, and adding more all the time you'll likely need at least one external drives, especially if you go with one of the smaller models. But note that having an external for a laptop is a blessing and a curse. I have a large collection of photos, currently about 700GB in my main photo db. My main workstation is a Mac Pro desktop. It's important to have adequate space both to store your images and to provide a backup when the drives hosting your images fail. (Not "if" they fail, but "when" because they will. Solid state drives are less prone to failure (though I've had one go south) but they are prohibitively more expensive for much less space--currently). So on my main workstation, I have ready access to more than 20 TB (1000GBs per TB) of storage and application drives. I have seven internal drives. One, which is a mirrored RAID (duplicates data across two separate drives to prevent loss) holds my main photo database. That database is duplicated in 4 separate attached drives and to one drive that is located off site that gets updated less regularly. I'm careful about my data, but it's not foolproof. I lost all the images from a NOLA shoot because a drive failure occurred after loading the images and before the backup process began.

When I'm on the road I use an external 1TB drive to store my photo database which is matched to the main database on the desktop machine. After returning home, I take the new images loaded into the external and load them into the new database. I don't have room on the computer's hard drive for all my applications and my images db. I also have a second external for my media files--music and movies--for the laptop--no room for them either.

The point is that the externals cost money. OWC will sell a 1TB small external with a triple interface (Firewire 800, 400 and USB 2) for about $170. You'll need to factor that in with any laptop, considering the number of images you have. Currently, you can get a MBPro with a 750GB internal hard drive. Depending on the nature of how your images are taken, are they medium-res jogs? It will be possible to have your images on larger internal drive and have plenty of enough room for your other uses, but eventually you'll run out of space depending on how prolific you are at adding images.

6. I use a 17" MacBook Pro for my laptop, I also have a couple of older versions of MBPs that are 15" and found that when at home, I needed more screen real estate to have visual access to several different applications. If you also need that, then a 13 inch screen will get tiresome very quickly in moving stuff out of the way unless you adopt some keyboard shortcuts to get access to different things that are running at the same time (Command-Tab will show all open apps running, hitting tab again will cycle to the different apps, stopping at one will make it active and frontmost. A three fingered spreading on the trackpad will display the Finder without any apps showing--a three fingered vertical stroke down isolates the active app...etc.) My wife has a 13" MacBook Air. It's perfect for her--e-mail, Internet and writing. It drives me nuts when I have to so something for her on it because it's too damned small, but I'm used to working in much bigger spaces. (My desktop has two 23" displays that give me an effective 46" display as they span. Since I have bad eyesight, I need the extra space to process my photos. This is a screen shot of my desktop to illustrate: files.me.com/barrybdoyle/kf2xit

But you won't need that much space, though it's important to make sure you have enough space to be comfortable in how you work.

The advice of others here to sample the different sizes in an Apple store is good.

If you are still, or at all involved with education--PTA officer, paying for college tuition, a teacher or administrator or even working inside a school, you'll qualify for an education discount, which is usually about 10%. But that applies online, where you'll be about to Build To Order--BTO is not available at Apple stores. You can also get MacBooks at the various basic configuration from Amazon, usually for minimal or free shipping and without paying tax, which amounts to a little less than the Education discount. Education discount is not available from Amazon, only from the Apple online store.

Current offerings for refurbished MacBooks at the Apple online store are older machines, released in February 2011 or earlier. They have 1 year warranty, I don't know if you can purchase the additional 2 years of AppleCare on refurbished machines. There is no education discount for refurbished machines. Refurbished machines average about 10% off retail price of a new one which is then moot if you can use an education discount.

Sorry for the length, got carried away with some thoughts. Apologies.

Good luck.

One other thought. Look at this website:

http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/

It will list all the current machines, and give you a best guess on when a particular machine is at it's end of life, cautioning you that a new model is due or overdue for a pending release. Prices actually sometimes go down with a newer model, with better features. MacBook Pros are not listed as a Do Not Buy, but the current iterations aren't new either.

I can't add anything to what Barry said, except that for ordinary users (a category which does not include Barry!), you may not need as much as you think. I have a 2-year-old basic MacBook Pro that I use everywhere except at my desk at the newspaper. I run the entire Adobe Creative Suite, the entire Office suite and some proprietary programs, plus my browser, and I've never had a problem. The monitor seemed small at first because I have the super humongous one at work, but I don't notice the size now and it's very clear.

And — neener neener to you PC people! — I never have problems with either hardware or software. Never.

Believe it or not, your thoughts and excellent points really make a difference for me. Thank you so much!

The base model, in my opinion, tends to be a good value. Unless you specifically need more disk space, faster processor, etc.

I like the $1299 Macbook Air.

Or the $1199 Pro.

If you can qualify, the educational discount is nice. They now are throwing in $100 in apps with a back to school purchase.

I use a 15" MacBook Pro and love it. I had a 13" before this one, loved it. I owned a desk model G-5 and it was terrific (gave it to a friend who needed a new one), have an iPad and an Airtouch...The Airtouch is ok if you don't need many usb ports or a cd player/burner, but I found I wanted more flexability, even when traveling. Good luck, I've even converted my husband.

Such great comments, and I knew Barry's was his before I got 1/2 way through it as he gives such crackerjack info when you're fortunate enough to get his responses - I love that man!

I have my daughter's 15" Mac laptop (a G4 model) which is 7 years old ~ ancient in computer years. Never had a problem with it except that the disc drive is now gone. The repair shop said it would be best to get an external disc player rather than to attempt a repair of what is a difficult part to access and costly to replace. (Kind of like old plumbing, once you start something... watch out!) Be aware that Apple doesn't service anything over 5 yrs old. You have to find another local source for parts and service, should you need them. (I never have other than this one thing and it's not critical for me).

I have, however, gone through 3 PCs in 5 years including a Sony Vaio and 2 Dells -- losing a great deal of information, patience, and sanity. MAC users are not prone to premature balding (from yanking on hair) and the unsightly worry/frown lines that can be traced back to the sorts of problems that ALL PCs are subject to.

Once you go MAC, you'll never go back... so true, so true.

I have 1GB of DRAM and 1.5 GHz and can run several larger publishing and design programs in addition to the usual Word, mail, iphoto, etc. day to day programs, without any difficulty.

I've also been using Dropbox for 'cloud' storage lately and don't have to have a separate back up anymore for this reason. It's free, and so far -- it's been a good storage solution for me. I'd like to hear from anyone who might know of any 'cons' about using a cloud server for back-up and storage. (Also, I can get to it from any computer, not just my own at home, which has been very handy).

Enjoy your MAC Patricia!

Gabby, I don't know enough about cloud storage to comment. I'm still learning more. I appreciate your feedback. All of this is confirming what I've heard and read.

Our most technologically sophisticated client used nothing but Macs. He was a photographer, BTW.

However, just in case it's not obvious, whatever you use, no matter how fast, or how sophisticated, it won't conquer the lack of bandwidth at OS. . . . . ha!