Mac Book Pro(s) and cons

[Shane Ross]

They are really easy to steal. Harder for a thief to try to slink off with a MacPro tucked under their arm.

No uncompressed HD. But, as has been pointed out…with the MBP and I/O HD and ProRes…who cares?

I too am seriously considering that setup for my next purchase. Keep the G5 and Kona LH as my desktop system.

Shane

Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net

[Chris Poisson]

Hey Shane,

Well, we’re in the same boat, I have the same G5 and an LH too. Think I’ll go over to the Apple store this afternoon and browse.

Would you get the flat screen or the glossy? 15″ or 17″?

[Shane Ross]

MATTE screen…NOT glossy. I don’t know why they say it is sharper, all it is is more reflective. You’ll see this when you browse. Plus, you never use the display to judge image quality, so the claimed benefit is moot.

I myself like the small form factor of the 15″…and the extra money saved can go towards RAM and eSATA cards and other accessories. But, others swear by the larger 17″ Up to your budget. 17″ is just too big for me.

Shane

Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net

[Matt Gerard]

I have a dual 2.5 for my office system, and I have a MBP 17″ (Matte screen) and a 20″ Cinema display in a pelican case for my instant shows. Works great. I use an xserve at work, and I use a SansDigital dual bay raid on the road, although I looking into a eSata enclosure for that.

the MBP works great on the road, need the 2nd monitor though, I would go batty scrolling through thousands of clips in a little 6 inch window.

As for security, don’t lock it down, and don’t keep anything critcal on the internal drive. I work in ballrooms and hotel rooms alot, and I hide the raid in its case under a mishmash of cases and boxes. I had a buddy who locked his up using one of those cable locks in the slot on the side, one laptop they took anyway, must’ve tore the lock out of the side of the case, and the other (His 17″ MBP), they couldn’t get, so they used it as a tether ball around the leg of the table he had it locked to. Personally I’d rather have them jsut walk away with it.

[Russell Lasson]

I also have a 15″ and love it. It should really come down to what you’re editing and if it works for your workflow.

If I had a 17″ I wouldn’t carry it around it nearly as often.

-Russ

[Chris Poisson]

Excellent thoughts on the size issue, 15″ seems to make sense if portability is what I’m after, and the sale to the missis would be a lot easier, “look how much I’m saving by getting the little one, Hon! See what a sacrifice I’m making?” LOL!

Good points all, thanks!

[Mitch Ives]

As someone who actually has a 17″ glossy, I would go any other way. I live in AZ… if reflection isn’t a problem here, it isn’t a problem for anybody. Second, the mattes still reflect, and they are way soft. Compare them side by side and you will have a real problem with the matte screen…

Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.
mitch@insightproductions.com

Apple Certified Trainer: Final Cut Pro

[Allthelightsarebroken]

Hi, I just bought a macbook Pro last week. I bought the 15″ because I went out to an apple store before I bought it online just to see how big it was to see if the 17″ really was too big for me. Its portable in the sense of having a car or moving it from desk to desk every so often but for a daily commuter like myself the 15″ was just big enough and not too small either. Its light and the battery life is great too, I also used to use a g4 and i was lucky to get 90minutes of video editing from the battery, I was editing with the MPB on the train the other day for over three hours and I still had some juice to spare! The illuminated keyboard is great too, it senses the ambient light and adjusts itself automatically. The matt screen is fine, I’ve use the macbook with the glossy screen and its so reflective it felt like I was looking at myself all day. Still have to finish up a project with my macbook so I’m looking forward to seeing how much quicker my render times will be. My only gripe is that the keyboard keys are plastic, pity they couldn’t have been titanium like the rest of it. Hope all this is of some use to you!

s

[Chris Poisson]

Hey Mitch,

I’m in AZ too, I remember hearing you talk about the glossy screen last month at the AZFCPUG meeting, but I wasn’t paying attention I guess. So you’re saying it is noticeably sharper? I’ll have to check that again at the Apple store…

[Todd Reid]

matte vs glossy screen.

Its so weird how different people have different views. When I looked at them side by side it was a no brainer….Glossy looked so much better to my eye.
I got the 17″ glossy and I’ve never had an issue with reflections, and I feel that it makes everything look nicer (I love crushed blacks) even normal computing.
I’ve had it for over a year and now I’m eyeing the new octos. MBP works fine, but with the increased bandwidth of my HD projects, I’m wanting a bit more power. NO problems when I’m straight SD though.

Just my 2 cents