For the last four years, my computer strategy has been to have a single high-performance notebook machine. First an Apple PowerBook G4, and currently, an Apple MacBook Pro. I’m reconsidering that strategy for two reasons:
Portability
My 17-inch MacBook isn’t the most portable machine. Even though it is one of the lightest and smallest 17-inch machines on the market, it still weighs 6.8 lbs and is 10.4 by 15.4 inches. I’ve been traveling more, and the weight and size of the machine have been restrictive.
Power and expandability
While my machine (even as last year’s model) is quite fast as far as portables go, it’s nowhere near as fast (or as future-proof and expandable) as a Mac Pro tower.
While traveling, I never need all the power of my MacBook Pro. On the road, I’m mostly doing e-mail, web browsing, presentations, and light web/WordPress development. The stuff that I do that requires a more powerful machine (photo processing, massive multitasking with multiple monitors) is done at my desk at home. And when at home, I work from home, in my office — not at Starbucks or Panera or anything like that.
The plan
So for 2009 (read: Q2-Q4), I think I’m going to trade in the 17-inch MacBook Pro for a 13-inch MacBook (or maybe MacBook Air), and get a Mac Pro tower for use as my main machine. While the MacBook/Mac Pro combo would run about $1,500 more than a MacBook Pro by itself (considering that I already have a monitor), it’d likely be less expensive over the longer term, because upgrading the Mac Pro would be less expensive than getting a new MacBook Pro every two years, and I could likely use the relatively inexpensive MacBook as my “road” machine for 4 or 5 years (performance not being such a big factor on the road). Plus, I’d have a much more powerful primary machine for home use, with the ability to upgrade things like memory and storage incrementally.
What do you think? Have I missed anything? Has anyone else made a similar transition?