Mac laptop

[offgridguy]

Hello Apple users; I am considering a new laptop and would like to try a mac.I have no experience with apple but the reputation is good, I realize they are not cheap, size is not critical, as
it's not going to be taken anywhere very often. Besides the basics, I use a computer for photo editing and management. I have
been told apple is the best for programs with lots of graphics.
Any suggestions on model, etc.?

[2F4U]

Should it be a laptop or a desktop? Technically, there is not much difference, because Apple desktops (aside from the PowerMac) uses notebook technology. But you get a large screen with the iMacs.

[offgridguy]

Should it be a laptop or a desktop? Technically, there is not much difference, because Apple desktops (aside from the PowerMac) uses notebook technology. But you get a large screen with the iMacs.

I would love to have a desktop, with a large high resolution screen, remote keyboard along with the tons of memory and ram.
However I am in a unique situation, as my username suggests we live off-grid
and power our home entirely on solar power. Hence power consumption is
always a concern, especially in the winter season when days are short, sky's are
cloudy or snowy, and electrical usage increases with more lights, etc.
During the summer months we have abundance of energy and could easily
use a desktop computer, but we couldn't use it year round, so we get by with
laptops, because when can use one year round due to the lesser power
requirements.
I have considered a remote monitor, connected to the laptop for the summer months, actually about 8-9 months are no worry, only Nov.,Dec.,Jan.
Monitors of course being the major power consumer of a computer system.
A rather long reply to your question ,I know, but thanks for asking.

[Lars Noodén]

The older notebooks based on PPC draw a lot less power, about half according to the adapter specs. (If I read them right) They'll run Lubuntu just fine. However, they are getting to be quite old at this point.

I had a lot of luck running 10.10 on a Macbook pro, but more recent versions are not recommendable at all until some bugs are fixed with the track pad, heating and (possibly) battery cycling. So if you go with a newer (Intel) MBP you are looking at running a version of Ubuntu prior to 11.04

[offgridguy]

Thank you Lars, I appreciate the input.

[2F4U]

If power consumption is an issue, at least during winter, a MacBook Air would probably the best solution. You can get that with 11" and 13" screen size and they come with Intel processor and graphics, but would still have enough resources for the intended usage patterns.
The MacBook Pro's are obviously more powerful, but due to their graphics cards and bigger high resolution screens draw a lot more power.

[offgridguy]

If power consumption is an issue, at least during winter, a MacBook Air would probably the best solution. You can get that with 11" and 13" screen size and they come with Intel processor and graphics, but would still have enough resources for the intended usage patterns.
The MacBook Pro's are obviously more powerful, but due to their graphics cards and bigger high resolution screens draw a lot more power.

The mac book pro may be okay, the computer I use now is not a real power miser
and it is possible to curtail the computer use for a day or two if necessary
Do you know if it has SSD?

[Lars Noodén]

The Macbook pro can come with an SSD. Check their online store for details. The Macbook air only comes with an SSD. The quality seems to have come down in recent years. Also, the way OS X has been heading has not been favorable for user freedoms. On the plus side, it now uses PF for a packet filter even if an old one. If you run Linux inside a VM on OS X, the VM will use a lot of power. No clue how or if you can use an external monitor with them on Linux, there is no longer a dedicated monitor port.

[offgridguy]

Very interesting Lars, Thank you. By the way do you have an idea what the
battery life might be ?
Right now with my acer aspire 5735Z , I average from 2 to 2 1/2 years, the
folks at battery world tell me this is very good.

[Lars Noodén]

The claim on the web site is about 7 hours, but that's for OS X and without running peripherals like a 3G dongle. With a 3G dongle, I've gotten about 3 hours. But that's also with Lion, which is supposed to be worse than Snow Leopard.

With 10.04 or (defunct) 10.10 you might get 3 hours or so also, I can't recall. With 12.10, it appeared to be sometimes discharging the battery even while connected to the mains, that's a dangerous and intolerable situation. I'll wait a week or so and try again with the development version of 13.04.