iMac or MBP?

Fragil1ty

Fragil1ty

Fragil1ty

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8 Jan 2011
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444
I'm facing a little conundrum really and I've been talking about with friends and some are on both sides of the fence, some would prefer the power of the iMac but some would really prefer the portability that the MBP provides and it's always nice to have a laptop.

What do you guys think?
 
It's a personal decision, we can't really tell you if you need portability or power can we? =\

The only thing I can say is that a mbp is powerful enough for absolutely everything every-day as well as more intensive things such as photoshop etc.
 
I haven't needed a laptop since getting my Desire & I am completely in love with iMacs even though I have a PC & have never had an Apple product apart from my Ipod.
I am a victim of there superb marketing & gorgeous looking iMacs. :o + :p

*want want want want* :confused: + :D


Edit.
I am not being sarcastic or trolling by the way I meant what I wrote, It's just the Truth of how I feel.
 
I need portability so went for a MBP. If there came a time when I was no longer commuting and worked from home I'd probably go for an iMac.
 
Personally it would always be a laptop for me today - it's powerful enough for anything if you choose a 15 or 17" MBP and you can always add a monitor if you want a bigger or higher res screen. I can't throw my iMac in my bag and head down to cornwall at the weekend at the end of the day.

But, as said, it's a personal decision. Personally I find it difficult to envisage who a desktop suits better, you'd have to basically not go out or something but it's a personal decision, I'm away from home a lot so it suits me.
 
I had this kind of problem but decided I wanted portability more so went the macbook route, use it out and about in town, when at the girlfriends etc so glad I went that route.

I also thought about being able to connect it to a monitor for the short term if I ever felt the need to some more desktop space

Once I move and have more space and money I plan to get an iMac as well, they really are gorgeous
 
If you've got money to burn, I'd suggest an iMac + iPad. My MacBook Pro only gets turned on for doing coding since I got an iPad.
 
I used to have a 27" iMac. I now have a 17" MBP. Decided to fully deck it out with 240Gb Vertex 3 and 8Gb fast RAM. This thing flies! I love having this much power in a small form factor. I do a lot of day trading in stocks so I can now take it anywhere. I traded from my dads yesterday (50 miles away).

The iMac is great but if you like using a sandy bridge powered computer on your lap with a hi res screen then its a no brainer.

Also got 2x Dell 23" monitors attached as well in my office.
 
Ah, thanks for the replies guys, it's kind of putting things into perspective for me.

I'm heading back off to Uni for my second year come Sept. and well, I just wasn't sure, I mean, the iMac is very interesting due to it's high specifications, it's decent GPU and so on, but after reading through and what you guys have commented, I think I'm going to go down the macbook route, after all this will be my first ever laptop (i'm more of a desktop guy).

But yep, definitely going to go for the MBP 13", sounds good to me!
 
For uni a 13" laptop is probably your best bet I agree. :)

I don't see the point of laptops any bigger than that, the portability just drops massively (unless you go everywhere by car), so unless it was just for sitting in front of the TV whilst browsing a desktop/all in one would be better. A laptop should be about dumping it in your normal bag and essentially forgetting it's there until you need it, can't really do that with a 15"er...
 
I have a 15" MacBook Pro :cool:

Love it. Brilliant piece of kit. Still saving up for a 27" iMac though :p

iPhone 4, 15" Custom Spec MacBook Pro and hopefully in the near future 27" iMac specced up to just under £3'000 and a the new iPhone :D

Anyone got a spare £2'500 to let me have? :p

In all seriousness, I've barely used my PC (other then to play WoW on occasionally) since getting my 15" MacBook Pro, it's basically a desktop in laptop form. Battery isn't brilliant when out and about but pretty good, got a really nice case so carrying it and the charger isn't really a problem.

Still want a iMac though, they're just beautiful.
 
GSXRMovistar said:
This assuming you don't need power performance on the move.
Click to expand...

Could not agree more. My iPad has been resigned to 'consuming' media - books on the go, web browsing and the like. For light travel for work I have an 11.6" air.

iMac+Air is a fantastic combo. I only have the 17" MBP because I also need to run some intensive demo systems at client sites - I don't regularly carry that around, that's what the air is for.
 
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i went i different route, i ended up buying a iMac in 2009 as my first mac loved the whole apple feel of it and was gladly sucked in to the apple world and ended up getting a 13" MBP for the portability, nothing like been on a train and using the MBP the whole trip from London to York and still having 1 hour spare on the battery
 
Tunney said:
If you've got money to burn, I'd suggest an iMac + iPad. My MacBook Pro only gets turned on for doing coding since I got an iPad.
Click to expand...

Absolutely correct - Laptops are rubbish whoever makes them and will disappear in time, scrappy little screens etc. Desktop plus tablet is the way to go. :D
 
Fragil1ty said:
Ah, thanks for the replies guys, it's kind of putting things into perspective for me.

I'm heading back off to Uni for my second year come Sept. and well, I just wasn't sure, I mean, the iMac is very interesting due to it's high specifications, it's decent GPU and so on, but after reading through and what you guys have commented, I think I'm going to go down the macbook route, after all this will be my first ever laptop (i'm more of a desktop guy).

But yep, definitely going to go for the MBP 13", sounds good to me!
Click to expand...

I personally am going with the Macbook Air, as it has a higher res screen, and with the new Sandybridge refresh is a much more attractive option (and actually faster). No it wont do gaming but it's not something I would want to do on a 13" laptop anyway!
 
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