Advice on which portable laptop to buy in addition to owning a new Mac Pro

[MikeQuill]

Hi all,

I'm planning on buying one of the new Mac Pro towers this month when they're released, but I'd also like to buy a lap top to use for (1) at home research, (2) video watching and also (3) as an in field media offloader...I use the 7D, so having a portable system in the field to offload video from my cards is important to me.

Since I'm buying one of the new Mac Towers, I need to get something more inexpensive than a new MacBook Pro. Here are the different options I've been considering:

A) A new PC laptop
B) A new MacBook (non Pro)
C) An Ipad
D) A refurbished A), B) or C)

The Ipad seems appealing, especially if I can offload video/photos in the field for playback and then transfer it back to an external hard drive. But I also realize that it's in no way as powerful and functional as a laptop.

A poweful PC laptop is appealing, but I'm concerned about PC/MAC compatibility issues with external hard drives, and not being able to use the same editing software.

A MacBook seems like a happy medium, but is it really fast enough to run 7D 1080 video and work with RAW photos in Photoshop?

Any input and advice would be great!

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Jimmy Moss]

Really depends on how you like to work. I prefer desktops because of the power and expandability, but if you just doing 7D footage (and not RED or similar) you really don't need the power. Portability is probably what you want, so MacBook Pro.

You can get Paragon NTFS to solve the Mac/PC HDD compatibility issue.

I always by refurbished and then get the extended warranty. It cheaper and you get a 3 year warranty.

A normal Macbook does not have a decent graphics card, you need a dedicated graphics card which only comes on the upper end MacBook Pros.

I-pad sucks unless you work in a hospital or similar fast paced corporate environment.