General Mac hardware discussions forum: the college Mac... imac vs. macbookpro

...it's about more than just whether or not you take your computer to class.

As you mentioned, it'll be much more of a hassle to pack up a 24-inch iMac. You may even opt against it if you're just at home for the weekend. The MacBook Pro can follow you just about anywhere.

Plus, there may be times where you may want to work at a coffee shop or somewhere other than your dorm room (including the library - you don't want to have second thoughts about this two years down the road). The MBP gives you that freedom.

But if you do go that route, get AppleCare and get a good protective sleeve or bag (I recommend Tom Bihn and Crumpler, but others are good as well). If it's your only system, you don't want to be ruined by a simple accident.

Also, as a tip true for many notebooks: use something to protect the screen while the notebook is closed, like the thin foam slips that shelter the notebook when it's in the box. If your hands tend to be greasy, you don't want to leave oil marks on the display every time you close it.

With an external display, you actually get more screen area than the iMac would give you, as you can use both screens at the same time.

In addition, you can have a display in your dorm room, and another one at home, and have this advantage in both places.

I have used my MBP in all parts of my house, friends and relatives' homes, and even in doctors' waiting rooms, as the time there can be interminable (and the magazines extremely old).

You may think you will only need to use it in one spot, but being portable makes quite a difference in how you work even in the one home or dorm.

I work for a state university. Campus culture has totally gone to the notebooks. You will have group projects to collaborate on. You will have presentations to give during class. You may have to work at the reserves area in the library where they DO NOT let you checkout the material. etc etc etc...

GET A NOTEBOOK FIRST!

Are you confident you don't need the 3D chipset of the MacBook Pro?
* No games
* No engineering or calculus (matlab)
* No advanced graphic arts
* No MS Windows Vista Aero Glass

If so and a large screen is important to you, get a MacBook, and use the money you save to buy a Dell UltraSharp 2407WFP @ $600 or an Ultrasharp 2008WFP @ $380. These monitors have built-in USB hubs, vga, dvi, component, s-video, composite inputs. Both rotate to Portrait mode. They feature picture-in-picture and picture-by-picture. They both have an optional speaker soundbar that attaches neatly beneath the screen and gets power from the monitor. The 24" model has outstanding picture quality and adds a media card reader and is greater than 1080P resolution (the 20" is slightly less than 1080P and picture quality is very good).

Avoid the Dell monitor models beginning with the letter E (for economy).

All you need is a $15 mini-DVI - DVI adapter from Apple (not required for the macbook PRO). You might also need the $15 mini-DVI - VGA adapter to use with projectors (free with the macbook PRO).

And for your sake PLEASE get AppleCare! You should also consider getting accident/theft insurance (or adding it to your parent's). Apple is not generous when it comes to repairing accidents under warranty or AppleCare. And computers accidentally die many strange deaths on campus.

Also, get a firewire+USB hard drive for backups, or use the .Mac service.

If you're set on either the MacBook Pro or 24 inch iMac, I'd go with the MacBook Pro.

Both machines can do music and video very well, there are a few major differences to weigh in your decision:

1) Portability: In college you have to write papers every now and then, and sometimes you just want to get out of your room to work on them. With an iMac you'll be a slave to the computer lab or your dorm room, but with the MacBook Pro you can take it wherever you want.

2) Storage capacity: The internal hard drives for laptops are more expensive per GB than desktop hard drives. Therefore the iMac will have more internal storage capacity than the MacBook Pro. Both systems can be connected to an external hard drive. With the right card you should be able connect an eSATA drive to a MacBook Pro, but I don't think there is an eSATA connection on the iMac. eSATA is faster than firewire 800, which is about twice as fast as USB2.0

3) Screen Size: The iMac has an obvious screen size advantage, but you could buy a large monitor and run your laptop as a dual monitor system. Once you've used a system with 2 monitors going back to 1 monitor will feel cramped unless you have a huge monitor. A 22" monitor will run about $300 unless you find yourself a really good deal. Dell makes decent monitors and also offers student discounts. The Apple monitors are quite pricey in comparison, and I can't tell the difference in quality between them.

If price is a concern, you could always go for the MacBook to get the portability and buy the large external monitor and an external hard drive. This would run about the same price as a MacBook Pro or a 24" iMac. The MacBook should be enough processing power for you if you max out the ram and don't plan to do lots of video editing or working with professional editing software on a regular basis. The major advantage of the MacBook Pro over the MacBook is the dedicated video card memory instead of an on-board video chip and shared memory. There's also the LED backlight and the new chipset with an 800 MHz bus, allowing you to install 4 GB of ram.

If you'd still prefer an iMac be advised that the iMac line is due for a Major revision in the next couple of months, so if you can wait until August to order your computer I would wait and see what changes Apple has in store for the iMac line. The MacBook Pro line was just updated, so there most likely will not be a change in the MacBook Pro in the near future.

Good luck with your decision