imac, mac pro, or macbook pro???

1TB drives are well within reach (economically) these days... it's amazing the storage we can have.

I like the server idea. I might have to do a dual boot thing on my games PC.

i agree with Krapo about the multiple HD's. the alternative is to just buy externals and set them up for raid. i've used all the macs and my 24" iMac is fine just for photo editing and design work.I still use a pc for heavy 3D work though. IF i had to pick one machine to do it all, in my case it would be a mac pro. i don't find the macbook pro's to be as fast as i'd like but i'm still going to buy one just for the sake of having a laptop with OS X.

cory1848 wrote in post #7856718
I dont see why people make a big deal over the internal space issues. "Dont buy an iMac cause it only has one drive, etc." My old G4 had room for 4 drives and that wasnt enough... What did I do? I built a server...something every serious photographer should have. It has space for 10 drives, runs WHS on a cheap platform. Take that old PC you have, turn it into a server and get that imac, you wont be disappointed. If you want the cheaper route, get the mini, use your existing monitors and be done with it.

Another option is to buy the largest drive you can, put it in an external enclosure and use that for external storage.

In fact in my case it's even worse. The fact that the iMac doesn't allow for internal extensions is a no-go for me, but there is a high probability that I won't need extra internal HD, as I'm also considering building a server.
I guess it's just the feeling of being stuck. I don't edit videos for now, and I believe that the iMac is enough for photos (or at least at an amateur level, which I am).
But what if... I suddenly decided to buy a 1080p camera (or dSLR...)? I don't want to be stuck with 4Gb of memory.

So for a 10% probability of me getting into full HD, I'm going to spend twice as much in a high end machine... Doesn't make any sense from a rational point of view.

Im a recent convert to the Macworld from other systems running Windows, and seeing as i was faced with exactly the same question as the topic for this post ill put forward my 2 pence.

I chose the entry level MacBook pro over the MacBook for the following reasons:

- The screen is of much better quality on the pro. And by this i mean the viewing angle is heaps better, you can almost view the screen from any angle without distortion, which im sad to say you do get on the MacBook.

- The pro comes with 2 graphics cards installed. One which is dedicated to the higher end graphics, and one which is for general everyday use. This is a power saving feature, as the more powerful card does not run all the time, increasing battery life. Which coincidently ive measured around 4 hours on general use and 3 hours playing movies.

- The onboard speakers are among the best on any laptop i have ever seen (or in this case heard!!!)

- The 17inch screen version of the pro does have the option of a matt screen instead of the glossy screen, but this version was too large for my needs.

Now i think most people have made their feelings clear on which format they prefer between standard laptops and macs. I think it is down to personal taste. I did find the transition a little complex, and getting used to the mac OS takes a little time if particularly like me, you've spent all your life using Windows! However, after a few hours you soon get used to it. This is when you start to notice the common sense features of the mac OS over Windows. No excessive toolbars getting in your way, no advertisements, no junk as i would put it.

The macs are quick to boot up. Even the new 'gestures' used to control certain functions like zooming in and scrolling are amazing. I was using my old laptop the other day and didn't realize how difficult it was to navigate around without the mac gestures until then!

Cost is a big topic on the replies to this post. And initial cost is higher, however, i have never had a program freeze, never had any spyware/adware/virus', never had to reboot the mac due to an OS malfunction. All these little failures which are much more likely to happen on standard Windows based systems cost time and money. For an extra £200 or so, i think the MacBook Pro is well worth the investment.

But as i said just my 2 pence

The latest iMacs support up to 8 GB RAM.

When building an external server, you'll have the option of gigabit ethernet or firewire 800, short of eSata speeds.