Help Headspace pick a computer cuz he's too dumb to do it himself

[Cephius]

Why you think you need an i7 for photoshopping is beyond me

[Headspace]

Well I have this thing about paying 1199 for a macbook pro that has 4 year old processors in them.

[Cephius]

macs are overpriced? start a thread in general, this is breaking news!

[Headspace]

I'm well aware of their pricing bullshit, it's why I'm not fond of them, however...

Core II Duo? cmon man

[Greatguardian]

I'm well aware of their pricing bullshit, it's why I'm not fond of them, however...

Core II Duo? cmon man

My girlfriend's parents shelled out 2 grand in June '09 for a shitty macbook pro with a Core 2 Duo and a Nvidia 9400M that's ended up overheating and melting her cd drive shut while being used to play ES4: Oblivion on low settings on a desk twice now (ambient temps ~40 F). Anything newer than Diablo 2 makes that shit crawl. Expecting anything less than outdated and overpriced hardware in a Mac is novel at this point. The only real reasons to ever buy one are:

A) Someone else is paying for it. School, work, computer-illiterate parents, etc.
B) You absolutely need some mac-only software and don't have the technical know-how to get OSX and put it on a Windows machine, or get Windows versions of the software.
C) Your boss/professors/whatever won't let you use anything but a Mac, but this typically ties into A because they ought to be paying for some or all of it.
or the inevitable D) You desperately need Starbucks pussy.

I highly suggest just going the PC w/OSX route if you want a not-Core2Duo computer in your price range.

[Headspace]

Someone doesn't read ops

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[Greatguardian]

I read the OP, I also read the other posts suggesting you just get Windows 7 and get the Windows version of CS5 =P. There are ways to get around being caught torrenting on a school network. If you get a licensed copy of CS5 from your school, I'm fairly sure Adobe will let you change versions as well as previously mentioned. I'm just saying it will save you a handy chunk of money to just go one of those routes with a windows machine. Heck, you could just get a PC, install OSX, and use the Mac version of CS5 on OSX. I'm not really sure why that's a problem, and still saves you money.

[Headspace]

Hurdur buy a PC laptop while buying windows license of cs5. Not going to save me as much as you think.

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[Isiolia]

Photoshop CS5 Extended Educational edition is all of $190. To be frank, if what you're doing with PS actually, you know, requires PS and couldn't just be done with free software anyway, you probably can justify actually paying for it.

Heck, you could just get a PC, install OSX, and use the Mac version of CS5 on OSX. I'm not really sure why that's a problem, and still saves you money.

The Hackintosh route, while there are certainly many success stories, is not exactly a complete given, nor is it necessarily the best solution for someone who isn't necessarily into tinkering with it. Laptops aren't particularly popular for it either, outside of Netbooks, due to the obscene amount of hardware variation.

Personally, I say it's up to the user regarding platform - people pay much heftier price premiums for all sorts of items simply due to preference, and given the useful life of most computers, there's a fair amount of leeway there.

That said, if you -are- trying to get the most performance for your money, you're likely not going to get it from Apple's limited hardware selection (occasionally they do have a decent config for the money, but not often, and certainly not right now). Or a laptop in general. You can get a hell of a lot more computer for $1200 than an iMac (or a similar all-in-one from HP/Sony/Dell/whatever for that matter). You're not getting an i5 in an iMac until the $2000 model anyway - the $1200 one is an i3, which is pretty much on par with a good Core2Duo.

Granted, if you're actually serious about graphics work, you'll be paying a bit more for things on the PC side too...IE, not buying the cheapest piece of shit TN LCD(s) you can find...but you'll still get a fair bit more horsepower for the dollar.

[archibaldcrane]

Why you think you need an i7 for photoshopping is beyond me

Might as well be able to dual-purpose it for good PC gaming.

[archibaldcrane]

You're not getting an i5 in an iMac until the $2000 model anyway

...I pointed him to a sub-$1600 i5 27-inch iMac on the previous page.

...

[Isiolia]

...I pointed him to a sub-$1600 i5 27-inch iMac on the previous page.

...

I said "the $2000 model", since that's what the standard new price for the only quad-core/i5 standard config is (you can bump up the lower end 27" model to an i5, but it's a dual core version).

Granted, you might find it for less - they were on sale for Black Friday, it'd be less with an educational discount, etc. Either way, the sub-$1600 one you're referring to is a refurb, previous-generation 27" iMac, that when current/new would have been stickered at $1999. The $1199 config wouldn't necessarily cost that either, but it's a simple way to reference the particular config/model.

[Headspace]

Macbook Pros should be getting hardware bumps early next year, and I'm probably going that route, wait until May to get the free iPod touch, while getting an SSD to put in my current laptop for the time being, then putting it in the macbook once I get it.

[Isiolia]

Every laptop OEM under the sun will likely be doing hardware bumps in Jan/Feb, as Sandy Bridge should be dropping around that time.

Hopefully Apple actually puts some TRIM support into OS X...either that or be sure to pick up one of the otherwise subpar Kingston SSDs that are functionally the same as the Air's SSD, as they have good garbage collection in the firmware. I've hesitated on putting an SSD in my Macbook due to that, but Apple seems more concerned with making the OS into iOS than actually improving underlying tech :/

[archibaldcrane]

A simple "you're right, you can get a quad core i5 for significantly less than $2000" would have sufficed.

[Cyn]

So what exactly was the point of this thread?

[Isiolia]

A simple "you're right, you can get a quad core i5 for significantly less than $2000" would have sufficed.

I was clarifying, since I never said you couldn't buy one for less, I was just referring to models by price point. /shrug

[Headspace]

So what exactly was the point of this thread?

Because honestly mentioning you want to buy a Mac gets bitches on this forum so riled up it's not funny.

I want a Mac, I understand the price point, I was looking for advice on whether to get an iMac (and which one) or a Macbook (and which one), and the first 8 suggestions were PCs lol.

[Xfaustx]

Because honestly mentioning you want to buy a Mac gets bitches on this forum so riled up it's not funny.

I want a Mac, I understand the price point, I was looking for advice on whether to get an iMac (and which one) or a Macbook (and which one), and the first 8 suggestions were PCs lol.

This a million times over. I don't even bother mentioning Mac on these forums. Anyone who owns a Mac is automatically a fanboy or something along the lines of sucking steve jobs dick if you own one. I'd say it's quite the opposite and they're self righteous Windows fan boys. Sup, I said it. /rant

I have a MBP and I liked it for taking to class to take notes on and what have you, but then I kind of miss having the power of a desktop sometimes... Can't really go wrong either way, just decide if you want power or portability more. The new MBP's might be powerful enough where this isn't such an issue anymore though.

[Cephius]

This a million times over. I don't even bother mentioning Mac on these forums. Anyone who owns a Mac is automatically a fanboy or something along the lines of sucking steve jobs dick if you own one. I'd say it's quite the opposite and they're self righteous Windows fan boys. Sup, I said it. /rant

I have a MBP and I liked it for taking to class to take notes on and what have you, but then I kind of miss having the power of a desktop sometimes... Can't really go wrong either way, just decide if you want power or portability more. The new MBP's might be powerful enough where this isn't such an issue anymore though.

To be fair there was this same dude who would post macfapping articles every day, it fostered the reaction