What would you choose? And why?

Xein

Xein

Xein

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Hello, I've asked lots of people about this but I'm still not sure.

I'm looking into buying an Apple Mac but not sure which one, I was looking at the 15"MBP low spec and the low spec iMac 21.5" and they both had good and bad points about them as the MBP would be portable and easier to carry and move about but the iMac is better value for money and would perform better? but harder to move about.

I was recommended to look at the 13" MBP (low spec) which I have done and it looks okay pretty much the same as the 15" MBP apart from the size, CPU and Graphics but I won't be using it for gaming.

The 13" would be a lot easier to carry around and would be generally easier for portability but I'm not too sure about the screen size and against the low spec iMac 21.5" and they are both the same standard cost which makes it harder to choose.

I'm going to be going to University in September and I will be able to use my HE discount then (Or before but not sure) and this would bring the cost of either the 13"MBP or iMac down to around £800? but the low spec 15"MBP to around £1300 - £1400. And £1300 is a lot of money and I'm not sure whether I could spend that but if it has its benefits I don't mind saving the extra.

I'm going to be going to a shop to have a look at all three and see which one I prefer and then make my mind up but I would also like to see what other people would choose and why?

Thanks :) :)
 
As a 13" MBP owner I can recommend it. I've never once regretted not buying the 15" as I prefer the mobility of it. All previous laptops I've owned I've had to buy a separate mouse but the Apple track pad is great and you won't require it.

With the HE discount the MBP @ £800 looks like a great buy imo.
 
Ranger07 said:
As a 13" MBP owner I can recommend it. I've never once regretted not buying the 15" as I prefer the mobility of it. All previous laptops I've owned I've had to buy a separate mouse but the Apple track pad is great and you won't require it.

With the HE discount the MBP @ £800 looks like a great buy imo.
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Thanks, for £800 you can't really go wrong and tbh they seem pretty good.

Disco Boy said:
Wait until you get to uni then decide if a laptop or a desktop would suit you better.
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Although that's a good thing I think it will be too late as I would have nothing to write notes up on, and although the iMac is a lot better I'm going towards the MBP
 
Decide what you really want to do with it first. You either need portability, or you don't. I have the 13" 2011 MBP and love it, but I do miss having proper screen estate. 1280x800 is pretty pathetic considering the other options they had available. If you don't NEED a laptop, you'll enjoy the 21.5" screen when you're working on a couple of things at once, or (better yet) watching a HD movie.

The gfx are also better in the iMac than the MBP, and it has double the hdd space (and a faster drive at that). Think carefully. I LOVE my MBP, and for my needs I wouldn't swap it for the world. It'd be nice to have the iMac though, I really was torn but portability was a must so that was that.

Have a good play with the iMac in store and decide from there. As I said, nothing against the MBP (they're awesome) but if portability isn't an issue I'd be taking the iMac in a heartbeat.
 
Rainmaker said:
Decide what you really want to do with it first. You either need portability, or you don't. I have the 13" 2011 MBP and love it, but I do miss having proper screen estate. 1280x800 is pretty pathetic considering the other options they had available. If you don't NEED a laptop, you'll enjoy the 21.5" screen when you're working on a couple of things at once, or (better yet) watching a HD movie.

The gfx are also better in the iMac than the MBP, and it has double the hdd space (and a faster drive at that). Think carefully. I LOVE my MBP, and for my needs I wouldn't swap it for the world. It'd be nice to have the iMac though, I really was torn but portability was a must so that was that.

Have a good play with the iMac in store and decide from there. As I said, nothing against the MBP (they're awesome) but if portability isn't an issue I'd be taking the iMac in a heartbeat.
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I'm undecided yet, It would be nice to have the MBP as then I could sit around the house (When I'm home) and then not be tied to my room at Uni, but for the 15" MBP it just seems Overpriced (To me anyway)

I wouldn't mind using the 13" MBP but I think it would be hard to cope as I'm not used to small screens but I'll have a look and feel when I take a look at them and decide from there.

I forgot to say in my original post I currently use iMac's at College 21.5" (2010 model I think) and I enjoy using them and they seem fast for what they do, but I can't really compare to the MBP as I've never used one.

As you've said I think the best bet is to try them all out in the store and see which I prefer most but its still down to the portability and whether it would matter going into lectures without a laptop or not. :)
 
What do you want to be able to do with it. I would get a macbook air myself; unless you really need the extra processing you will find the macbook air much faster than either the iMac or MBP as it has an ssd.

You will regret getting a desktop at uni at some point. Get a laptop and get a monitor cheap. You can get a 24" for £130-140 at the moment which would give you all the space, a second screen and allow you to remain portable.

When my 15" MBP dies I will seriously think about a macbook air as they are amazingly small and portable, very quick from what I have seen in the store and will do everything I need apart from photoshop which I don't use very regularly.
 
Frozo said:
Thanks, for £800 you can't really go wrong and tbh they seem pretty good.



Although that's a good thing I think it will be too late as I would have nothing to write notes up on, and although the iMac is a lot better I'm going towards the MBP
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LOL. How much writing up of notes are you expecting to do in the first few weeks? And why are you intending to write them up onto a computer?

Do you have absolutely no other computer which you can take with you?
 
fez said:
What do you want to be able to do with it. I would get a macbook air myself; unless you really need the extra processing you will find the macbook air much faster than either the iMac or MBP as it has an ssd.

You will regret getting a desktop at uni at some point. Get a laptop and get a monitor cheap. You can get a 24" for £130-140 at the moment which would give you all the space, a second screen and allow you to remain portable.

When my 15" MBP dies I will seriously think about a macbook air as they are amazingly small and portable, very quick from what I have seen in the store and will do everything I need apart from photoshop which I don't use very regularly.
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I want to browse the internet, word documents etc, watch videos, skype etc.

I've looked at the MBA but its not really my taste and I would prefer to get the 13" MBP instead.

I would go with the 13" MBP straight away but I'm just not sure on the screen size.

Disco Boy said:
LOL. How much writing up of notes are you expecting to do in the first few weeks? And why are you intending to write them up onto a computer?

Do you have absolutely no other computer which you can take with you?
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I don't know I haven't been before :p I doubt there is going to be much but I still like to have a computer with me to access the internet etc.

All I've got is my desktop pc which I don't fancy hauling to Uni :p


Edit: This is the comparison between the low spec 13"MBP and the low spec 21.5" iMac (Both are £1,071)

13"MBP;
2.3GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5
4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM — 2x2GB
320GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Backlit Keyboard (British) & User's Guide (English)
iWork preinstalled

21.5" iMac;
2.5GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5
4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
500GB Serial ATA Drive
AMD Radeon HD 6750M 512MB GDDR5
Apple Mouse
Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (British) & User's Guide (English)
iWork preinstalled
 
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You will regret getting a desktop at uni. I had to lug mine back and forth between uni and home in the holidays. I would have a bit of a play with the MBA just to make sure as I have found the biggest difference to a laptop is the hd. SSD it will fly, standard drive and it will be standard I guess! What don't you like about the macbook air.

Im not trying to put you off the pro but the airs are much better than they used to be.
 
fez said:
You will regret getting a desktop at uni. I had to lug mine back and forth between uni and home in the holidays. I would have a bit of a play with the MBA just to make sure as I have found the biggest difference to a laptop is the hd. SSD it will fly, standard drive and it will be standard I guess! What don't you like about the macbook air.

Im not trying to put you off the pro but the airs are much better than they used to be.
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Did you have a windows desktop? As I know the iMac's are smaller in size, still not small and your right about lugging it about.

I think its the components inside that I don't like as they are a bit out-dated.

Margaret said:
Get a sandy bridge Air - update due June/July :cool:
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Are you sure? If this does happen I might consider getting a MBA
 
From someone who bought a 13" MBP right before going to uni, as well as taking my desktop tower with me now just having finished my first year I'll share my thoughts...

I've barely used my desktop for all except the odd game that I can't get/run on my MBP or isn't on PS3. My MacBook has easily became my main machine during Uni as you can take it to lectures, the library, friend's, bed or just anywhere where you may have to use it - something you can't really do with a desktop, iMac included. Yes the screen estate is better but it's too much of a trade-off really if you had to make a choice between the two.

In an ideal world though, you'd have both :D

It's not as if you can't use an external monitor like fez already mentioned, even a 21.5" screen can be sub-£100 easy.
 
Skyboat said:
From someone who bought a 13" MBP right before going to uni, as well as taking my desktop tower with me now just having finished my first year I'll share my thoughts...

I've barely used my desktop for all except the odd game that I can't get/run on my MBP or isn't on PS3. My MacBook has easily became my main machine during Uni as you can take it to lectures, the library, friend's, bed or just anywhere where you may have to use it - something you can't really do with a desktop, iMac included. Yes the screen estate is better but it's too much of a trade-off really if you had to make a choice between the two.

In an ideal world though, you'd have both :D

It's not as if you can't use an external monitor like fez already mentioned, even a 21.5" screen can be sub-£100 easy.
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How did you find coping with a 13" screen? As I've never really used a laptop with a screen that small.

Yeah that's what I'm debating about because I can take it places and its easily accessible for when I need it and like you said its easier to carry.

I'm definitely going to try the 13"MBP and the 21.5" iMac out in the store to see which I prefer.
 
Frozo said:
Are you sure? If this does happen I might consider getting a MBA
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http://www.macrumors.com/2011/05/18/apple-to-launch-new-macbook-air-in-june-july/

:)

Rumours but it seems likely, they are usually right.

I'm selling off my MacBook in October and picking one up when I'm in New York. Can't wait.

Edit: The gap will be even smaller between the MBA and MBPs with the new ones, I bet they'll be clocked closer to 2Ghz this time and since they have SSDs it's very likely overall performance will be snappier than an MBP. Only raw encoding/Photoshop editing will be faster on the MBP of course but the difference between the 2010 Air and 2010 base MBP was quite small and that thing had a 1.4Ghz Core2Duo!
 
Frozo said:
How did you find coping with a 13" screen? As I've never really used a laptop with a screen that small.
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I only struggled with screen size when it came to programming in IDEs (I study Computer Science), word processing, web browsing and pretty much most tasks have been fine. Obviously the first thing you realise is you're not able to fit as many windows on the screen at once for multi-tasking (though Spaces is a good alternative) but I like to think I've adjusted quite well. It hasn't been a hinderance carrying it around in my Crumpler either, unlike my coursemate's 17" Dell brick :D

It's the perfect size for a laptop to, well, sit on your lap. Most generic 15" ones that people typically get are too heavy, too big or too cumbersome and doesn't feel comfortable after prolonged use. I think now if I got any laptop, of any brand it will won't be any bigger than 14" at absolute maximum unless its sole purpose is to be permanently sat on a table as a desktop replacement.

If I wasn't sticking to ITX, I'd replace my desktop with an iMac in September, but that's probably not going to happen now.
 
Skyboat said:
I only struggled with screen size when it came to programming in IDEs (I study Computer Science), word processing, web browsing and pretty much most tasks have been fine. Obviously the first thing you realise is you're not able to fit as many windows on the screen at once for multi-tasking (though Spaces is a good alternative) but I like to think I've adjusted quite well. It hasn't been a hinderance carrying it around in my Crumpler either, unlike my coursemate's 17" Dell brick :D

It's the perfect size for a laptop to, well, sit on your lap. Most generic 15" ones that people typically get are too heavy, too big or too cumbersome and doesn't feel comfortable after prolonged use. I think now if I got any laptop, of any brand it will won't be any bigger than 14" at absolute maximum unless its sole purpose is to be permanently sat on a table as a desktop replacement.

If I wasn't sticking to ITX, I'd replace my desktop with an iMac in September, but that's probably not going to happen now.
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I'm on a different scale to you as I'm going to be studying Law :p I'm watching a couple of reviews now on the 13"MBP and so far I'm not disappointed and the screen seems an okay size and would be perfect for what I need.

If I do go for the 13" MBP I will miss not going for the iMac but then again I will have to portability of the MBP and wont miss out on much as I won't be playing games on it.

Aha, I would love to have both as well as I use iMac's at college but I think for the best use I think it would have to be the 13" MBP but I'm still going to check them both out at the shop to make sure :)
 
You should definitely wait until late July though as the new Air will be biting at the heels of the base MBP for sure. If you're just doing web browsing and Office type stuff it'll be faster too.
 
Margaret said:
You should definitely wait until late July though as the new Air will be biting at the heels of the base MBP for sure. If you're just doing web browsing and Office type stuff it'll be faster too.
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Okay :D I'll have to keep looking around on Macrumors to see if there has been anything posted in the upcoming weeks and if its a lot better I might go for the MBA instead :)
 
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