iMac vs Macbook Pro vs Hackintosh... Help!

I am having a huge internal debate on what to get. I am currently a photo student but only have one semester left. I had a discussion with my teacher and she advocated purchasing a mac due to industry standards. My current computer is crap and isnt cutting it, lagging greatly when using lightroom. My monitor is years old as well, but still works. I have history and experience in building computers (started out in computer engineering at school) and have previously had a hackintosh netbook that had all kinds of problems (did so just to see what hackintoshes were like). I plan on doing photography and graphic design as a career, with a little video editing thrown in there.

That being said, I am having many questions about what to purchase. imac vs macbook pro vs hackintosh being the main issue. If i get an imac, go for the 21.5 or the 27, i3 vs i5 vs i7? is the glossy screen hindering of photo editing? do i really need the portability of a laptop of which i will sacrifice performance or will macbook pro do what i want fine? will a hackintosh really cut it? I would like to get bang for my buck and i do realize that mac's are overpriced a bit. Id like to know the benefits of each as right now i am torn equally between all three. and i ask What do you all use and why?

I will be running the CS suite and lightroom mainly, with a little final cut on the side. I hate the lag that i currently get when running my machine i have and am just looking for smooth performance.

Thank you much in advanced!

A hackintosh desktop is easier today than it ever has been. They are very low maintenance and upgrades are pretty simple. It's usually a matter of running a kext installer after you do the OS X system updater (which is the only thing that causes problems). The key to success is getting the right mobo for the build.

In terms of cost, you can build a hackintosh with a 27" Dell display (same as what's found in the iMac) for about $100-$200 less if you don't need the features that come standard with all iMacs. My build would have been about $1900 (the 27" iMac is $2000) if I had included the Dell display (I already had a 24" HP S-IPS display) had I gone that route. I don't have an video camera or a wifi card in my hackintosh, which is where I saved the money.

i forgot to mention, i also have access to a 15% off coupon from a friend who works at the apple store

The turn-off for me with hackintoshes was that updates and future versions of OS X aren't guaranteed to work...if you're making a living off this, I think you're better off saving yourself the hassle and buying a straight Mac.

The processor should at least be an i5. Quad-core is preferable, which means a 27" iMac if you go that route. The glossy display is an issue for print-matching. Its contrast is much greater than matte screens, which are already more contrasty than paper. I think the diffusive properties of matte screens help simulate paper better, too... Color-wise, glossy screens are more saturated. I've edited on a 24" ('08?) iMac before, there was a big difference compared to the 20" ACD I was using at the time. I personally think glossy is better for viewing...you could try using an anti-glare film. Probably won't be the same, but it's better than glossy.

Only you can say if you'll need a laptop. I would pick a desktop for editing any day, I'd just get an old MB/MBP if I need to tether.

You can also look into older Mac Pros, if your budget is high enough...a new '09 2.66 is $1650 at CostCentral.

If you need display, the 27" on the iMac is great so long as you can control your ambient lighting. I have on in my office for work and it has a small footprint. The disadvantages include lack of ugradeability and if something fails you lose the whole machine.

15% off would get you that iMac for $1850. Not a bad price.

i would love to build my own but yea, i had a lot of problems with my hackintosh and updates and all that **** will be an issue. Id rather just have a working machine that has barely any maintenance. I am kind of sick having to tweak all the time.

laptops, my issue is, if i am going to have clients and im going to need a computer at a meeting or something? though i guess that cant be the main reason, i can work around that.

so imac? i just wish they made an i7 21.5...

so im looking at the refurbs and the new imacs. they have a refurb 27inch 2.66 i5 quadcore without hyperthreading for $1500ish. im lookin at benchmarks and it seems to compete with the i5 with hyperthreading pretty well. any thoughts?

Those benchmark apps don't use hyperthreading so there'll be no difference between same speed i5 and i7 chips. They come off the same die, but hyperthreading is disabled on the i5 chips. Lightroom nor Photoshop use hyperthreading. Aperture does and is faster than Lightroom at many tasks.

Aidenswarrior wrote in post #11355108
i would love to build my own but yea, i had a lot of problems with my hackintosh and updates and all that **** will be an issue. Id rather just have a working machine that has barely any maintenance. I am kind of sick having to tweak all the time.

laptops, my issue is, if i am going to have clients and im going to need a computer at a meeting or something? though i guess that cant be the main reason, i can work around that.

so imac? i just wish they made an i7 21.5...

Perception is 50% of getting customers. You have to look professional and for some reason when people see the big Apple symbol they are automatically interested. If you show up with a hackintosh they may ask themselves why you cannot buy a real Mac. Some won't know the difference.

An i5 is more than enough for photography though. And the 21.5" iMac screen uses older, but still good, IPS tech. I use my iPad to show customers (newspapers mainly) examples pix, and they're often impressed. I know it's not a good gauge of talent, but in this dog eat dog world every edge makes a difference.

i never thought about the ipad as a later option. thank you for that. im ordering the refurb, $1700 after tax and apple core. thanks all for the help everyone.

I've got a 27in iMac and now that I've had for awhile, I'd really prefer having a MBP and a large external monitor for home use, or in a perfect world both

Tony-S wrote in post #11355670
Those benchmark apps don't use hyperthreading so there'll be no difference between same speed i5 and i7 chips. They come off the same die, but hyperthreading is disabled on the i5 chips. Lightroom nor Photoshop use hyperthreading. Aperture does and is faster than Lightroom at many tasks.

Just bought my first iMac 27" i5 yesterday.What do you mean, "hyperthreading is disabled on the i5 chips? Would this affect the performance of the computer in general when you multi task? Sorry new to Macs and i even bought the one on one tutorial to guide me through.Since it is still in transit will i upgrade to 8GB(2x4)? THanks.

No, it just means that any application that can use hyperthreading (e.g., Aperture) will just use the 4 cores of your i5. On my i7 hackintosh Aperture uses the four real cores and the four virtual cores when processing.

Hyperthreading is Intels way of maximizing the processing power of their processors. Most apps can't take advantage of this except for the creative suites which is actually what you will be in most of the time. It creates virtual cores to do this but that is As far as I will go technically.

If it concerns you and you think that your productivity will be hindered, then go all out and get an i7 or even an i7 extreme. Ps and cs will work with what you get. If you thnk it will cost you a freelance contract or job offer, go apple brand. Adobe makes windows and apple versions for a reason and going between either isn't hard if not seamless

Personally the apple brand is like driving around with a porshe vs a cheaper ford brand. Both get you to the jobs all right but just like apple can function in a microsoft environment, a pc can work in a Mac environment as well.

Gl on your purchases

Thank you Tony-S and Coglis.
Aidenswarrior sorry to invade your thread.

I will call apple store to upgrade the CPU to i7. I will be using this mostly for Photography. I bought the CS5 bundle for $200 is it worth it.