Aaron Donohoe

I have already outlined my interest in Moving to Mac, provided the bank account allows me to do so. Thankfully I am now in the position to invest in some Apple hardware — once I make up my mind.

Since my last post on the subject in March my needs and tastes have somewhat changed. I no longer want cheap and cheerful, but instead I’d prefer to opt for something in the premium end of the market. The higher end MacBook Pro’s and iMac’s are certainly whetting my appetite, it’s just that it’s quite difficult to get a hands on experience of them anywhere in Dublin. Well I’ve used quite a few MacBook Pro’s, but the new 21.5 & 27 inch iMacs aren’t readily available, in fact the 27″ is in such demand that Apple can’t keep up the supply. I will more than likely be ordering in the next week or so, but I have to make up my mind first…

The new revision iMac appeals to me firstly as it’s an all in one with some serious processing power and has a fucking huge screen. It’s been revised with the new Intel i5 & i7 processing chips. It could handle everything I throw at it with ease, and has loads of screen real estate. Only downside is the portability aspect, and that they’ve been experiencing some screen issues in the 27″ i5 & i7 versions.

The 15 inch MacBook Pro is the portable alternative. Specifically the 2.66GHz & 2.8GHz models. It comes with two graphics cards in the higher end models and could handle what I throw at it. It’s machined from aluminium and feels quite sturdy due to its unibody construction. The only downsides are despite the fact it is portable, I will be reluctant to take it to some places do to the wad I’ve laid down for it, and secondly it’s due for revision in January 2010: the base MacBook Pro 13 inch units probably getting the Intel i3 processor, the 15″ & 17″ models getting the Intel i5 and possibly i7 processors.

So firstly should I go for an iMac or MacBook Pro? And if I go for a MacBook Pro should I order now or wait until the revisions in “Early 2010″?

Bear in mind I am intensively inpatient and the computer would be used for Photoshop, Coda, iPhone SDK, Java SDK, Word Processing, and other bits and bobs (Email, Web Surfing, Twitter, iTunes) … probably all at the same time