Mac owners - looking for some suggestions/input

Relic · #1 11-25-2011, 11:15 AM

My wife is in the market for a new Mac as hers just recently died. She does a lot of art, ad and graphic design so will be using this for her projects.
She's torn between getting some sort of laptop vs a desktop and since I know little to nothing about Macs, she's asked me to ask you guys for opinions.

Her budget is in the $800-$1000 range. Do any of you Mac-lovers out there have any suggestions or insight into a particular model or type that may work great for an ad or graphic design application?

tplyons · #2 11-25-2011, 11:27 AM

There's only one new model in that price range... the bottom of the line 11" Macbook Air. Being that it's a compact model built for portability rather than power, I wouldn't particularly recommend it for graphic design.

If you can stretch your budget a bit farther, iMac's start at $1199 and would be much better if portability isn't an issue.

There's a 13" Macbook Pro for $1098 on sale today for Black Friday. It's roughly equivalent to the setup I use and it works fine for graphics, but not stellar. And it's portable. Best of all worlds IMHO.

MJ5150 · #3 11-25-2011, 11:29 AM

What model did she have before? You can find a Mac for sale in the classifiedhere every so often.

You can get the new 11" Air within your price range. I think all the other models are over your price range new.

-Mike

Relic · #4 11-25-2011, 11:54 AM

her previous model was some sort of bizarre souped-up eMac.

She's just informed me that I got it wrong though, her budget is $1200, so maybe an iMac?

L-A · #5 11-25-2011, 11:55 AM

I'd go for a refurbished iMac, or a refurb Macbook Pro + external screen. Small screens are a pain if you regularly use image processing apps.

Refurbished Mac Computers - Apple Store (U.S.)

charlie monroe · #6 11-25-2011, 11:59 AM

I use a Mac mini. You can get a brand new one for 700. Bumping it to 8gb ram for another 100. You will require some outboard CD/DVD and a monitor. I am very happy with my setup.

fdeck · #7 11-25-2011, 01:42 PM

Does she already have a desktop? If so, she could use its display with her new computer. Also, how did it die? For some people, a computer "dying" means that it just needs to have its OS an apps re-installed.

Relic · #8 11-25-2011, 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fdeck

Does she already have a desktop? If so, she could use its display with her new computer. Also, how did it die? For some people, a computer "dying" means that it just needs to have its OS an apps re-installed.

Yeah she had an eMac sort of semi-custom thing. It was a big, heavy ungainly dinosaur of a comp but it worked well for her. One day she went to turn it on and it just went black and would not turn on afterwards. I took a look at it and couldn't figure it out so we took it to a local Mac repair guy who basically told her that for what it would cost to get it fixed it, wouldn't be worth it. It was some sort of hardware issue with the motherboard I guess.
Now she's looking for something more compact with a bit more balls

pbasswil · #9 11-25-2011, 03:00 PM

I swear by the online Apple Store Refurbs.
("Special Deals" at the left, near the bottom of this page

Welcome to the Apple Store - Apple Store (U.S.)

They come to you with no sign of not being brand new, with hard drives replaced.
They're not crazy cheap (well, nothing Apple is), but it's a route that lets you move up to models that would otherwise be 15-20% above your budget.

N.B.: Just be careful to get a recent machine: The savings stop being worth it if you get an older model with outdated specs.

Hugh9191 · #10 11-25-2011, 03:50 PM

If she was previously using an emac then anything current will be a huge upgrade. I'd go for a macbook air with 4 gigs of RAM. I'm recommending that as it has a solid state disk instead of a regular hard drive like the others would have in that price range and SSDs bring huge performance boosts.

A.Diva · #11 11-25-2011, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by L-A

I'd go for a refurbished iMac, or a refurb Macbook Pro + external screen. Small screens are a pain if you regularly use image processing apps.

Refurbished Mac Computers - Apple Store (U.S.)

Agreed.

And if she can scrape up a student ID, sometimes the prices are up to $200 cheaper for hardware and significantly cheaper for software.

kanonfodr · #12 11-25-2011, 10:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hugh9191

I'm recommending that as it has a solid state disk instead of a regular hard drive like the others would have in that price range and SSDs bring huge performance boosts.

I wouldn't suggest the SSD as she is likely to be writing/re-writing/deleting files regularly, over time your drive will start losing sectors because each individual storage sector can only be written so many times. Unless you're running dual hard drives, that is.

Other than that, anything recent is likely to do well for her. My 15" MBP is over a year old and still kicking ass editing photos, HD video, and music.

Peace,
Greg

Stilettoprefer · #13 11-26-2011, 12:42 AM

My mom just got one of the new iMacs a month or so ago and it is awesome!! I use it for photo editing because my laptop screen is too small to do a good job. I suggest having an external hard drive for any computer though. I keep copies of all of my music, movies, photos and files for school on a terabyte hard drive just in case my laptop dies on me or I need to use more updated software for something.

carlos840 · #14 11-26-2011, 04:18 AM

If i where you guys i would try to get a bit more money and buy an iMac! Even the entry level 21,5"
I have had one for a few years and it is great! A lot nicer than when i had a macBook (even though i had the 17")

http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#iMac