Buying a new Apple rig: Apple Store or (other) retailer. Plus: new q's on the retina display-

[reish_lakish]

<p>I'm grateful for your views on choice and sourcing of a Apple new rig. My chief need: Still and video editing.</p>

<p><strong>Part I. </strong><br>

<strong> </strong><br>

Purchasing: a 27" iMac, standard config from Apple Store.</p>

<p>Noticed: <a href="http://www.adorama.com/ACMC813LLAW.html">Adorama sells the same standard config, plus Apple Care for less $.</a></p>

<p><strong>Question:</strong> Anyone ever purchase a computer or other electronics through Adorama? (I purchase camera gear through them and have always been pleased. One disappointment, quickly remedied.) But I'm a bit iffy about buying computers other than direct from the manufacturer. I'm grateful for discussion of your good/or bad experiences to warn me off or set me straight.</p>

<p><strong> </strong><br>

<strong>Part II.</strong><br>

<strong><br /></strong>Retina Display Macbook Pro v. 27" iMac? Looking for updated views to what's <a href="../digital-darkroom-forum/00aUqP">here</a>.</p>

<p><strong>Why I ask: </strong> Mobility. While I love the idea of the huge screen real estate offered by the 27" iMac, the mobility offered by the new Retina Display Macbook Pro, plus its amazing resolution, is a temptation. I figure: an additional (not Thunderbolt) monitor can add screen real estate to the MBP; that second screen being used for tools panels, etc. This is what I do now on a Linux laptop. Clearly, the answer resides in the value of the retina display, else I'd also consider the standard MBP. (I nixed that option due to price/performance when compared to the 27" iMac.) My chief concern: delivering the very best image possible to the printer. When comparing images on a 27" iMac to the Retina Display at the local Apple Store, areas of banding not apparent on the iMac show on the Retina Display. Being somewhat new to the Apple product line, I'm grateful for your views.</p>

<p><strong>Please note: </strong>I'm aware of the many pros/cons of the standard configurations of each machine. The new MBP Retina Display offers more RAM, but less, though way-faster, storage. But since both RAM and fast flash storage are ugradable features on the iMac, the difference really does come down to the value of the Retina Display and the mobility the MBP offers over the desktop.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance. Best for the day-</p>

[peter_cohen]

<p>What's your concern about buying from other than a manufacturer? Lower prices? ;-) Seriously, I've never bought one from a manufacturer and never had a problem with any aspect, including repairs and support. I can't speak for the config you've selected, other than to say that it looks like a lot of money for a possibly underpowered machine, especially for video. Only 4 gigs of RAM, USB 2.0, a single 1TB drive ... I'll shut up now since I don't use a Mac and don't want to come across as a hater. But you will get a lot more for your money with a PC.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Although the requirements for things like video differ across platforms somewhat (not so much as in the old days), it is absolutely spot on to suggest that video will use every bit of RAM you've got and then some. Go for the max if you can afford it. (ck for prices for RAM for the iMac model you're looking at, but often it works out about the same since you may have to throw out the smaller chips it came with.<br>

The 27" iMac is a terrific deal, since a 27" monitor for a tower + tower will be many times more expensive.<br>

Make sure the prices from Adorama or whoever are really for the same machine, <em>especially</em> the same processors, same everything.</p>

<p>Retina display or not, a laptop has limitations. I personally wouldn't try to serious video work on a laptop. Ideally, you need a decent but not the best laptop for mobility and a large iMac or tower for desktop use. That's what I do.</p>

[reish_lakish]

<p>Thanks for your quick replies. Spoke with Apple, which--wonderfully--does price matching. (News to me. Fate rewards those that ask.) With the savings on both the iMac and service plan, I upgraded memory, plus added some apps.</p>

<p>I'm grateful for your good advice, JDM, about video editing on the laptop. You're right: the convenience and mobility didn't outweigh the costs. The iMac 27" is the right choice.<br>

(The rub: we all know that Apple will announce a Retina Display across it's entire product line the day I take delivery.)</p>

<p>@Peter, thanks also for your reply. I'm not sure I agree. I've used PC's for years and never found the price/performance argument to hold. I'm forever buying into upgrades just to match the speed and ease of my partner's Mac hardware. I have no loyalty to the brand--to any brand. But I'm impressed by Apple's performance, design, and longevity of their products. I'm hopeful I won't be disappointed.</p>

<p>Thanks again-</p>

[johnw63]

<p>The thing that helps Apple is they have VERY tight controls on the hardware, since THEY build it, and the software, since THEY make developers certify their stuff. That means conflicts and lockups are not as much of a possible issue, as with a PC. They have also always worked for gaining the desktop publishing and multimedia user since doing that on a computer was viable. It makes for a nice stable platform. They do not always match up, performance spec to performance spec, with a Windows PC. If you're versed in all the small things you need to do to keep the PC running well, I wouldn't hesitate suggesting a PC to people. For the, " I just want it to work ! ", folks, I point them to a Mac. </p>

<p> </p>

[EricM]

<p><strong>"@Peter, thanks also for your reply. I'm not sure I agree. I've used PC's for years and never found the price/performance argument to hold. I'm forever buying into upgrades just to match the speed and ease of my partner's Mac hardware."</strong><br>

<br>

Even the hardest of hardcore mac fanboys would disagree with you here, Reish. Enjoy your Mac though. The 27" monitor, although average for photos and video work, is sweet indeed.</p>

[keith_b1]

<p>Unless you <em>require</em> the ability to edit on the road in hotel rooms and such, the iMac is way better than any laptop. Why suffer?<br>

This from someone who edited on a laptop at home for five years.</p>

[reish_lakish]

<p>Thanks all. The deed is done. Grateful for your good advice-</p>

[scottelly]

<p>The new Retina display is amazing. Get the 15" MacBook Pro with the 500 GB solid state drive. I am so impressed with the speed of my 13" MacBook Air, that I am never going to buy another computer that does not have a solid state hard drive. It's SO fast . . . in SO many ways. The quad core MacBook Pro is surely much faster, and that bigger hard drive and the new USB 3 must be so nice. Sometimes I wish I had a higher resolution screen. The retina display has that. If you have bad eyes though, you will not notice much difference, if you leave the display on the "Best for Retina display" setting. You will need to go to the higher resolution setting, which will allow you to see more video tracks, more photos, more of a photo in 1:1 view, etc. Portability is nice. A solid state hard drive is an absolute MUST. After using it, you will despise the wait times of other drives (like those slow, external, USB 3 "disc" drives). SSD is SO much faster! Try opening a program on a Mac with a solid state drive. It takes like a second, while it takes more than ten times as long with a regular hard drive. The same goes for opening large photos and videos.</p>

<p>You can always get yourself a 27" external monitor for the notebook computer. The Apple Thunderbolt display is really nice, and not much more than the other displays with equivalent resolution. And if you wait, you may see a new retina display come on the market, which will make your portable solution extra smart.<br /><br /></p>

[reish_lakish]

<p>Thanks, Scott. No question, the retina display is a draw. More the ssd hard drives make all the difference. I should mention that the iMacs can be upgraded to include a 256GB SSD and 1 or 2 TB HD, which I plan to do. For now, the speed of the iMac I ordered is plenty fine. I'm also guessing that, within a year, we'll see a slew of price competitive SSD external drives, thunderbolt-attached to cpu's.</p>

<p>You also make a good point about attaching a 27" external display. But that'll give me similar resolution to that of the iMac; it won't give me Retina, yet. What use, then, the small screen. I work on several images at once, so real estate is important. Besides, the cost--$1k for the screen and $2.5 for the MBP/Retina--is steep at the moment. </p>

<p>Thanks again for your good advice and helpful views.</p>

<p> </p>

[scottelly]

<p>Yes. The new MBP is expensive. Enjoy your new iMac Reish. I hope you ordered it with the extra SSD drive, so it has two drives in it. If not . . . no big deal. It will surely be a good upgrade anyway.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Actually, external TB external drives for backup are ridiculously inexpensive these days.</p>

[scottelly]

<p>JDM, I was looking a couple of days ago on NewEgg, and I found that the 3 TB drives are still the best deal. They have not come down in price at all in the past year or so. Neither have most of the 1 TB drives. I'm surprised at that. I expected to see 2 TB drives for $100 by now, with 1 TB drives at $69 and 3 TB drives at $129. I was also thinking that 4 TB drives would be under $200 by now, but that is just not the case. I think that the every-day consumer feels that 1 TB is big enough, and for some reason, the drive companies don't seem to be competing on price very much. Maybe there is more and more demand, and they just can't seem to keep up or something. Maybe we'll see some price drops this Fall. I'd LOVE to be able to get a second 3 TB drive for less than I saw them on sale for at Target a year ago.</p>

[EricM]

<p>the flooding in Taiwan last fall has totally effected hard drive prices</p>

[angkordave]

<blockquote>

<p>Unless you <em>require</em> the ability to edit on the road in hotel rooms and such, the iMac is way better than any laptop. Why suffer?<br /> This from someone who edited on a laptop at home for five years</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I have to say that Kieth B is very much out of date on his assertion that a laptop is inferior to an iMac. 5 years ago that would be very true. I've been using a Macbook Pro on the road and a home for a year comfortably.<br>

For editing; in terms of power, my macbook pro with i7 sandy bridge and 8GB Ram is an excellent performer. I did a recent Photoshop batch processing test and the Macbook was the fastest of the 3 computers it tested it with just a little faster than my i7 Windows desktop with 8GB RAM and twice as fast as my 2010 21' imac (no suprise as it was dual core) <br />The MBP screen is good but I prefer to use my 24" Dell Ultrasharp due to the resolution and anti glare screen.<br>

With firewire 800 drives; image storage and backups is a breeze. One day an affordable thunderbolt drive will come on the market; but only ludicrously expensive LaCie drive are available.<br>

I'm looking to buy a 27" iMac; but unless I go for a higher speed i7 there will not be any speed advantage.<br>

Personally I would not buy the Retina MacBook as it not upgradable and has no DVD drive. I'd rather use a normal screen version with an external display as I do now sometimes.</p>

<p> </p>