iMac or Macbook?

[BenP]

I'm considering getting a new Mac. Right now I have a Rev. A white Macbook, and I'm considering selling that and getting either a 15" Macbook Pro or a 13" unibody Macbook with a cheap external display. Alternatively I could keep the MB I have now and get an entry-level iMac. Which would be better in general?

[Yontsey]

What do you do mainly with it?

What apps do you plan on running?

Personally, I'd rather just have one machine because trying to keep two that are up to date with each other is a pain in the ass. I have a unibody Macbook and I upgraded it myself to a 500gb hdd and 4gbs of ram so it can do pretty much anything I want it to do. Just food for thought.

[psmith2.0]

I believe I'd go for a somewhat tricked-out 13" MacBook Pro (a buttload of RAM and maybe drop a 7200rpm hard drive in it, if it was safe. If you've already got a notebook, I assume that means you're using it as one should be (taking it places, actually using it away from home, etc.). Just get a newer, better one. The MacBook keeps you at the size/weight you're already accustomed to, and it's quite a powerhouse machine.

And then I'd hook it to an external display (20-24") for home use (which you mentioned doing).

But just a single machine to keep up with, maintain, sync, etc. Adding an iMac to the mix, but keeping an older notebook...I don't know, that just holds zero appeal/interest for me. I wouldn't do that. But that's just me...

:)

I can get away with an iMac because my iPhone serves the purpose of a laptop for me, in the ways I'd use it most (surfing, e-mailing, etc.). But YMMV.

[BenP]

What do you do mainly with it?

What apps do you plan on running?
Nothing too intensive, Photoshop and Illustrator at the most. RAM is definitely my biggest concern. Having the fans kick on every time a flash video plays is a PIA though, and I'm not sure if a faster processor or better video card would address that.

If you've already got a notebook, I assume that means you're using it as one should be (taking it places, actually using it away from home, etc.).

Yep. I'll be doing less of it in the future though and I'll probably only need the portability if I want to surf the web from my couch or whatever.

Thanks for the advice... not having to worry about syncing is definitely a plus but I'm still not sure. I'm going to wait until the summer iPod promotion anyway so I have a little while to decide.

[PB PM]

Flash pushes the CPU, even a faster one wont make much difference, it still is going to heat up.