Advice on a computer for graphic design.

[bismark0612]

Hi,

I'm looking for a new computer since my old iMac 21,5", 2011 is started giving up a bit.

In my country (Iceland) there is a clearance sale on a couple of computers right now.

The computers I am looking at are an iMac :
27" 5K screen
3.2 GHz i5
16 GB RAM
1TB hard drive
AMD Radeon R9 M380 2 GB graphics card.
2.328,01 $

or a Macbook Pro:
15" 256 GB Touchbar
2.6 Ghz Quad-core Intel Core i7
16 RAM
256 hard drive
Intel HD 530 Graphics
Radeon Pro 450 graphics card 2 GB GDDR5.
2.945,65 $

I need a computer that can handle running Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign at the same time ( With a couple of tabs open) + Safari and Spotify. + The occasional game ( Skyrim, FM, XCOM 2 and such, my old mac doesn't handle it at all anymore )

I am on the move quite a lot right now because of living arrangements, but I don't always need to take my computer with me, although that would be nice sometimes.
But when I settle into an apartment I would like to have a workspace with a desktop computer.
The iMac is much cheaper but I am willing to spend a bit more for being able to travel with the computer.

I just want to know which choice would be best, especially from people who are in a similar line of work. Am I losing that much in terms of Processing power with the MacBook Pro ?

Cheaper iMac that I can't travel with, or an expensive MacBook Pro that I can travel with ?

Thanks.

 

[mBox]

Screen space is a must for any design needs.

Laptops are great for mobile, from my experience not so great for designing.

 

[dacreativeguy]

Any Mac will run the apps you need for graphic design. A big screen is the most important thing. So either by the 27" Imac or buy the MacBook + a 24" or larger monitor. You won't be happy designing with a 15" screen.

 

[Foxglove9]

Both set ups will work great. 15" is a little small for designing but definitely doable.

 

[thejoshhoward]

Either setup would be great. I'm like you in that I like to be mobile sometimes. My setup is now a MBP 2017 which, while at home, I plug in to a 30" 4k LG monitor. It's really nice to have that screen real estate for large print work or inDesign layout. It's also great to have for work in FCP and Motion. I tend to plug in for everything but web and mobile design which I do in Sketch, which is fantastic even on a 15" laptop screen. I couldn't be happier with my setup. For reference, I switched from a 2013 6-Core Mac Pro and don't regret it.

 

[bismark0612]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'll most likely get the iMac if it's not sold out. There was one left when I checked late today :/