NanaB99 Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 Ok, narrowed down to: 3.06 GHz Intel Core i3 with 8GB RAM; 500 GB Hard drive ..... or .... 3.20 GHz with 8GB Ram and 1TB hard drive. Will be running CS5 on it so will have photoshop open, indesign open, web connection/surfing on. Is the larger machine an overkill??? Is 3.20 GHz and larger hard drive worth the $300 difference. I'm on budget but.... I apologize if this has been addressed elsewhere - I'm short on time and need to decide. Thanks for any help you guys can give me. Bobbi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkRiders Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 I'd go with the 3.20 ghz... if you can afford it .. you'll have it longer, the technology will last longer .... I run cs4 on my 2.26 ghz macbook just fine with no issues but again if you can afford the little extra i'd go the extra mile ... macs are good investments.. my husband just replaced his 6 year old macbook pro which honestly there's nothing wrong with it our 8 yr old son has claimed it ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SandiC. Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 That 1 TB HD sure looks tempting to me...I'm looking at an imac as well (currently using MacBook Pro). I'm not sure the difference in the processor is significant, and the RAM for both is terrific. For graphics and photos, the largest HD possible is certainly attractive. I've got 500 GB on my MacBook and I've had to move most of my graphics files and photos to EHDs. That space fills up fast. You could get an EHD with at least 2 TB for less than $300 I imagine, if that would work for you as well. Not necessarily with an iMac, but other computers in the past, when I've gotten the less expensive version, compromise buying, I've ultimately been disappointed. Just my 2 cents, but I'd work at saving that other $300 and go for the Rolls Royce model if you use it a lot. For a casual user it would be overkill, but it doesn't sound as if you are just a casual user. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MariJ Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 I'd go for the bigger now when you can... Amazing how fast space gets eaten up when you start digi-scrapping! I just swapped out my hard drive on my 13-inch mac for 500 GB of space! I'd think it would be better to do it from the start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dotted Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 A bigger hard drive means bigger backup external hard drive to give time machine room (if you use time machine) I have Model Name: MacBook Pro Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo Memory 4gb Processor Speed: 2.53 GHz I can run CS5, iphoto and firefox. at the same time. So your low end should ( blow me out of the water!) run well with indesign going too. And I agree with Sandi about the processor .14 is not a big difference. I've ask before about processors and have been told that you need to make a bigger jump to make a real difference. Something to check is the real speed and reliability of the theo internal hard drive. I was looking up info to upgrade my laptop hard drive and was finding loads of bad reviews on some of the Theo hds. at the time I looked (about 5 months ago) they were too fast for the hard drive and caused failure. But the more reliable ones were slower than your avg. hard drive. which could slow your system down. So I have no idea how they are now. when I bought my laptop I bought a 250gig hard drive then upgraded with a larger one on my own. I checked the ratings on it to be sure it was a good one and it has been great! It was a lot cheaper than buying it from apple. In fact the guys at the apple store told me to find a good one to put in on my own. The only store I've ever been in where they talked me out of buying their stuff because they didn't think I needed it. Anyway that's just two cents. Love to hear what you end up getting! ok, one more thing. lol I also have my pics and scraps on an external hard drive and find that works great. I back it up with another theo external with free software. There are some good buys for small external theo harddrives for around $118. And that's for a small one that's nice to travel with. ok, i'm done. -blush- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrstucci Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 I agree-the difference in processor speed is not anything. Like someone mentioned, with the 1TB hard drive, if you plan to use Time Machine, you will need a 2TB external hard drive for backups. But I think it's a good thing to get, the 1TB. One can NEVER have too much space/storage (applies to computers and houses). One thing to consider when you think about a hard drive, some Macs you can't open and replace the hard drive so be sure to ask wherever you buy it to make sure. The MacPro's are easy to open and I think the laptops but I am not sure about iMacs. So that's my two cents and can't wait to hear about it when you get it! Judy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NanaB99 Posted February 5, 2011 Author Share Posted February 5, 2011 Thanks for info on the processor speed..I was wonder if the difference between the two was significant and am glad to know that it isn't. I store all my work on EHDs so I'm thinking the 500 HD will be be enough and not slow me down, right?? This is where I get confused. I can get 2TB of storage for much less than the xtra $300... and would rather get the extra RAM. So, again, what do you think... is going with the 500 HD a mistake on my part?? thank you all for your help so far! Bobbi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrstucci Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 I don't think it's a mistake to get a 500GB hard drive since you store everything on external hard drives. I have one and don't store all of my stuff on an external hard drive and I have had my MacBook Pro for about 18 months and I have 288GB free (need to do some cleaning up I think...). So 500 should be fine. Oh, yes, you are so right that you can get a 2T drive for less than $300!!! Judy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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