What to get?

Fragil1ty

Fragil1ty

Fragil1ty

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Joined
8 Jan 2011
Posts
444
iMac 21.5" £1249 model vs MBP 13" £999 model.

What should I buy?

I'm going to be buying one come April, it's going to be used for my 3rd year project and what not, the common uses will be:

xcode,
adobe suite,
word/powerpoint suites,
light video editing here and there,
programming/coding mainly,
might play some light indie games also.

thoughts?
 
You may find the 13" screen too small for some of the tasks you want to do on it. I know sometimes it is for me (mainly coding).

I'd love an iMac though.
 
I don't have a clue how light we are talking when it comes to games, but as you'll expect, the MBP is not a gaming machine at all.

If you are looking at buying now and aren't willing to wait for Ivy Bridge, no matter the machine, check the Apple Refurb stores. The deals are great now.

Also do take a look at one place that has a logo with red text, in a hand-write font, with a light blue background, where you have to pick your goods up at a counter after they say "cashier number 5 please", and rhymes like "lard boss"...they've got some great deals on the old, pre-October 2011 MBP 13s, which are the same in every way as the current ones, sans the 0.1GHz speed increase. Got mine from said shop and felt that it was an amazing deal (slightly less so after both Apple Refurbs and this shop reduced their prices even further!).
 
If its for Xcode and general programming then the 13" won't be big enough. I use my 15" MBP for development and it's great but that is the smallest screen size I could effectively do 'proper' work on. Could you not consider the 15"? The portability of the MBP vs the iMac is a big bonus as I often want to code in front of the telly rather than being limited to my office.
 
Unless you've got an external monitor, I wouldn't recommend the 13" MBP for coding. There's not enough screen real estate.

TBH, even the higher end models struggle now. Trying to test anything on the iPad 3 simulator is very awkward.
 
The MBP screens are seriously lacking. I'm intending to buy an Air for dev work - as the current model has a higher res than the MBP. However, with an announcement expected within the next few weeks I'm hanging on for that.
 
I think that the scenario that it more likely is that the air and pro ranges are kept separate, but the pro will be losing its optical drive.
 
13" + Monitor > 21.5" iMac. But I would wait it out to see what next gen bring + September back to school promotion. Especially as you will be breaking for Easter anyway, exams then several months before the next Year.
 
Skyboat said:
If there's a 15-inch MacBook Air coming with discrete graphics I'm gonna be first in the queue :)
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I doubt it'll have discrete graphics, low power kepler just isn't ready. But the Ivy Bridge GPU is an improvement on the Sandy Bridge.

durbs said:
Seriously lacking ??!?!! I've a mid 2010 MBP and the screen on it is absolutely superb. Have they started putting worse screens on it since then? ;)
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Looking at a current gen MBP next to a current MBA, yeah - they're awful. Dull, and 1280x800 is nowhere near enough screen estate for coding. That sort of res was only just fine on the Galaxy Note I had for a few weeks - but on a 13" laptop screen (especially one that costs as much as an MBP) it is seriously lacking.
 
GeX said:
Looking at a current gen MBP next to a current MBA, yeah - they're awful. Dull, and 1280x800 is nowhere near enough screen estate for coding. That sort of res was only just fine on the Galaxy Note I had for a few weeks - but on a 13" laptop screen (especially one that costs as much as an MBP) it is seriously lacking.
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Sorry but I cannot agree with this.

The MBA display is better than I thought, but in terms of colour gamut it still isn't comparable to the MBP. All the MBAs I compared looked washed out in comparison, to my eyes at least.

That said I completely agree with the resolution comment.
 
I have best of both worlds, 13" MBP and 27" iMac both get used an equal amount. If you need to work on the move i'd go with a 13" MPB baring in mind you have an External Display at home. If not I would definitly go for the iMac.
 
lamboman said:
The MBA display is better than I thought, but in terms of colour gamut it still isn't comparable to the MBP. All the MBAs I compared looked washed out in comparison, to my eyes at least.

That said I completely agree with the resolution comment.
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I've only seen them under bright shop floor lighting so admit that this is not the best way to compare them.

However, as you say, the resolution is the real issue here - screen space is more important than better colour reproduction for coding!
 
Gilbert89 said:
I have best of both worlds, 13" MBP and 27" iMac both get used an equal amount. If you need to work on the move i'd go with a 13" MPB baring in mind you have an External Display at home. If not I would definitly go for the iMac.
Click to expand...

I have this too. Works well, the MBP with Lion's full screen mode is fine and does make the resolution difference between the Air and the Pro less of a concern.

GeX said:
I've only seen them under bright shop floor lighting so admit that this is not the best way to compare them.

However, as you say, the resolution is the real issue here - screen space is more important than better colour reproduction for coding!
Click to expand...

Under the shop lighting, the MBA fairs worse than in normal lighting conditions (as you'd expect). The MBP 13 has better black levels compared to the MBA 13, from all the ones I compared. Colour reproduction appears similar until you start looking at really deep, vibrant colours (reds in particular), where the MBP is in a different league, which is what you'd expect. The lower resolution helped in my case as my eyes are a bit rubbish, but the colour reproduction of the Air's display just did my head in, as did the less-than-black blacks (my work is all text). At full brightness, the difference doesn't seem large; the Air begins to fair worse when the brightness is lowered to realistic levels, however.

However, don't get me wrong, the Air's display is still great.
 
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