Some time ago I predicted that in the future I could see myself moving from a tower to a laptop as my primary system. And while I didn’t think this would happen so soon — I thought I’d at least live out the life of my current 8-core Mac Pro — I now find myself seriously considering making the switch sometime in the very near future. I suppose if you live in New York it will happen sooner or later. Everything here comes down to space.
Decisions, Decisions
On a recent furniture-moving — and the resultant space-assessing — binge, I’ve started wanting to clean my life of unnecessary possessions. (Admittedly, a few episodes of that Hoarders show have helped to spur this on as well.) So I’ve been looking around the house for things I might reduce or cut altogether, space-saving measures. Since computers are a large part of my life, they naturally come under consideration. And when I honestly survey my computer usage I have to admit, I hardly ever use my tower anymore. Instead, my “primary computer” — if you can define “primary computer” as the computer you use the most — is my bajillion-year-old PowerBook Titanium. Yes, you heard me right. Titanium. Shit is old.
Old
There are a bunch of reasons I prefer portability to power these days. One is that I’m doing far more lightweight work. Once was a time when I did a great deal of video work, and that meant compression. And working on and compressing video taxes nearly every resource a computer has, particularly the processor. These days, however, you can reverse most of that: I’m not doing much video at all lately (I’ve mostly shifted to drawing, which requires no computer resources whatsoever), and video is far less taxing than it once was. In fact, unless you’re compressing numerous (like more than three or four) streams of video simultaneously, you’ll probably do about as well on any of Apple’s MacBook Pros. They’re all plenty fast enough for most basic video needs. And my waning creation of video, and the increasingly powerful nature of computers have converged to make my video needs quite basic indeed.
The other big draw to the portability camp is space. I live in New York, and as any New Yorker knows, space is at a premium. A desktop system takes up all sorts of space. Not just the tower itself either. You need a desk, for one thing. You need all manner of cable, for another. And I keep my tower plugged into a giant Tripplite power conditioner, which also takes up a bunch of space. The square footage used by my tower system in my small Manhattan apartment is sinful at this point. It’s just wrong. Especially considering that I hardly ever use it. And I hardly ever use it partly because it’s become so ungainly to use, its crazy jumble of cables and peripherals all shoved together in a hot mass of discomfort at my small desk in my tiny office. Replaced by a laptop, the major problems associated with a tower go away.
So I’m considering the 17″ MacBook Pro. Since this will be replacing my tower, I would like something that has a bit of screen real estate and resolution. I mean, I’ll still be doing some video, after all. The 17″ also boasts longer battery life. It seems to me the best balance between the power and comfort of a desktop system and the portability and space-saving of a laptop. Plenty big for serious work, and yet, while not the most portable in the lineup, still plenty small to easily stow away when not in use.
The one big drawback to the 17″ is the immense price tag it carries. For about $800 less I could get a 15″ model, which, though perhaps not ideal, would certainly be plenty of machine for my current needs, and even more portable. And it’s got that cool SD slot.
So I’m a bit on the fence. I suppose to some extent it comes down to how much cash I can get for my tower. I’m currently considering an even trade with a friend of mine for her 17″, and if that goes through I think I’d be pretty pleased.
Nevertheless, I’ve never used a 17″ MacBook Pro for any length of time. I’d be curious to hear from any 17″ users on their experiences. Is the 17″ comparable — or better, or worse — than a Desktop system? What are the drawbacks of these beasts? How inconvenient are they to lug around? Are they good for video?
I’d also love to hear from desktop-to-laptop switchers. Anyone out there make the switch? Are you glad you did? Do you miss your desktop system?
I’ve read all the MacBook reviews I could find, and they’re glowing. But if you have any experiences you’d like to share, feel free to leave them in the comments. They’d be most welcome.
8 Comments
I’ve been using a 17″ 2.33GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro as my primary machine for over two years, and I love it. (Previously, I used iMacs.) The difference in weight with the smaller laptops is not very much, so unless you have a physical disability, it’s not really going to matter. You probably don’t want to spend a lot of time carrying it on one shoulder with a single strap, but a backpack is no problem whatsoever — I see students carrying 10 times that weight in backpacks!
As far as computer power is concerned, the 17″ is right up there with desktops, maybe not 8-core level, but it can easily compete with an iMac. My original hard drive is kind of slow, but you can get a 7200rpm or an SSD and be plenty fast.
I can’t really speak about the newer unibody models. In some ways, I believe they are inferior to mine. For example, the non-replaceable battery. My two batteries give me more hours than the in the specs for the newer MBP. Perhaps you can save some money by buying a used model?
Having said all that, I admit that I’m considering buying a Mac Pro, though I’ll still keep the MBP. I don’t find myself working outside the home as much as I used to, mainly because my home internet is so much faster than coffee shops and such.
I’ve made the switch from Desktop to MBPro and happy to have done it! I work with Final Cut Studio and ProTools on a weekly basis. Formerly had a G4, then G5, then Mac Pro. I have sold (or given away in order to “switch” my friends to a happier computing world) all of these computers, and now use a 15″ Macbook Pro (previous Generation) as my primary computer.
I must say at first I was annoyed that my portable was not as fast as the tower…. but it was all in my head. I love being able to have ALL of my stuff with me just by carrying along external HD’s in my computer case. Yes, rendering/compressing takes a while longer, but that is why you hit the submit button before you go to bed!
I do still have a MacPro at my work. I use it only for video and web development. 85% of the time I am on my laptop!
I am a former Apple employee, and even though I personally have never owner a 17″ the ONLY complaint I ever heard about them:
“It’s just too big and not so great for lugging around.”
It is heavier than the 15′s, does not fit too well on planes, and an external monitor increases your workspace at your house so you may not NEEd to go with the 17!
All of this being said, I love shiny new gadgets with Fastest Processor, Longest Battery Charge, Larger HD, etc etc etc. So if I could afford it, I’d go with the 17″ even though I love my 15.
I’m using right now a MacBook Pro 15″ Aluminum and, IMHO, this machine is the best Apple portable ever. Very powerful, nice 1440×900 display and fits perfectly on my backpack. Also you can attach any Hi-res external display to the MiniDisplay port.
Don’t get me wrong, the 17″ MacBook Pro is also amazing, but it’s really huge and kind of heavy to carry around…
As my desktop machine, I’ve got an 20″ iMac Aluminum, which has a descent display (could be a lot better though), a very good CPU and GPU power and is cheaper and has a much smaller footprint than a Mac Pro.
About the batteries, like Jeff said, the new ones aren’t user replaceable but, the autonomy is amazing just because of that. By the way, I use laptops for years and I can’t remember one single event that I needed to replace a battery on the go.
Regards
Thanks, everyone, for the comments. I suppose I should actually try to test out a 17″ before committing to one. It’s good to know that either of these machines is good enough for video and audio.
I will say, my old PowerBook (on which I’m, typing this very comment) has simply been one of the best, most useful, most versatile computers I’ve ever used. The fact that I’m still able to use it at all — let alone as my primary machine — after 7 years — 7 years! — is a testament to the superiority of Apple laptops. Good to know that hasn’t changed.
I think the hardest part will be unloading my tower. But I’m definitely ready to make the switch.
-systemsboy
Those 17″ MacBook Pros are HEAVY… You’ll never want to carry it anywhere, and external monitors are pretty cheap these days. I’m pretty happy with the 15″.
Thanks, Cory. Looks like I’ll have a chance to try out my friend’s 17″ soon. That should help me decide. I am a bit worried about the weight, and how it will fit in my lap, which is how I’ll often use it. And, yeah, for screen real estate there are always externals.
I’ll just have to try one out to tell for sure.
-systemsboy
I switched to a laptop as my main machine over two years ago. I never looked back. I currently use a 15″ MBP as a sysadmin. I am able to administer to my network and servers as well as help users over using ARD from virtually anywhere except planes. That comes with the tethering capability (read:hack) on my iPhone which works amazingly well over cable or bluetooth.
I can literally be in an airport terminal, establish a VPN to my network, take control of a server or user’s machine and solve the problem.
As far as 15″ or 17″, I can’t see using a 17″ on my lap personally. Too cumbersome in overall size and portability. But, I came up from a 12″ powerbook (which I still have) and the 15″ is huge in comparison so take that into account.
On a personal note, I still have a Quad Core Mac Pro I built with an eFIX dongle at home which I run headless in the basement. I do any editing on the MBP, transfer the file(s) to the Mac Pro and do all compression and/or rendering there. It also serves as a server for all of my music and movies in a RAID 5 config.
So while I see the argument to get some space back, I also need to know I have my data protected on a machine that isn’t in danger of being ported off or damaged on the go. Maybe you could look into something like a Drobo for backups?
Good luck. I think you will be pleased with the 15 or 17 in terms of the newfound space and computing power, but only you can decide what is small enough to carry around day to day. Oh, and definitely get a backpack over a shoulder bag, that’s a no brainer for those of us that carry consistently no matter the size of the machine.
Thanks, Ron. The more I hear from happy switchers the more excited I get to make the switch myself. Awesome!
-systemsboy