It's time for a new laptop and I'm having trouble deciding. My main uses will come from Abelton and Serato DJ, GoPro studio and probably Adobe. So music production and video/photo editing are my primary concerns.
I'm lookig at the 13 in with 2.9GHz and 512gb or the 15 in with 2.2GHz and 256gb....
My budget is $2000 and below. Any suggestions are welcome!
Thanks for any help!
Look in the refurbished section of the Apple online store. Your dollar will buy you more. I have done it three times and every time the MBP was in pristine condition with the same warranty and support as a 'new' one.
Dollar for dollar, you will get more performance from an iMac than a MBP. Portability has a very high price.
My rule of thumb for add ons is in order, STORAGE, RAM, CPU. Video files can become very large and a faster CPU is rarely necessary unless you are in a vocational situation where time is money.
The final choice is always yours.
Ciao.
Hi BroganMax:
Check out the following video where they compare a Top of The Line 13 inch Macbook Pro to the Lowest 15 inch Macbook. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2pEPUuKqu4
Maybe that will be something to think about.
Keep in mind that the 15 inch MacBook Pros come with a Quad Core CPU, where the 13 inch come with a Dual Core CPU, which may make quite a bit of difference for video editing.
Kim
Question #1: as a video and music producer is portability absolutely vital or merely just nice? You’ll get more for your dollar with a desktop than a portable and since a portable is portable the opportunities for loss and damage are much higher.
Question #2: given that portability is a need balance speed vs battery life and portability vs large work area. That should help you choose between the 15” and the 13"
Question #3: have you looked at the options in Apple’s refurbished store? You can often save serious money, not just a little bit of money, buying refurbished. These computers come with the same 1 year warranty of a new computer and the warranty can be extended with AppleCare just like a new computer.
Portability is a must so I am going to choose a MacBook forsure. And my plan is to buy a refurbished one! The 15" seems a better choice due to the Quad Core. But for the price of the low end model I could purchase the most high end 13". What do you think?
LIke I said my main use will be music production and video editing. I'm not real tech savvy but I'm not sure what the best specs for me would be?
Over the last 10 years or so I’ve transitioned to ever smaller notebooks from 17” to 15” to 13” and almost to 11” - the 11” was just way too small! I made the shift because as I got older and airlines became stricter about what you could carry on (and use on the plane) shifted. In choosing the 13” I’ve lost two things I valued - some power due to the loss of the quad core processor and screen real estate. For both music and video production that could be important. Then again, how much of that work will be done in the field? An external display back at the office/home can make up for a small display. That plus the greater portability of the 13” is what made the difference for me.
As I said in my original post, the 13” vs the 15” involves trade-offs. A new 15” with a quad core CPU is going to make work faster/more convenient than the 13” Then again, a new 13” is going to be faster than the one you are using now.
Help choosing a model? (Music Production, Video/Photo Editing)
