iMac Pro or 15'' MacBook Pro + 5k Display

[tomdwan]

Hi,

I do some video editing (1080p at the moment and 4k in the future) and podcasting.
I am well aware, that this is some pretty light work and that the iMac Pro is total overkill for that.

Nevertheless, I have a budget of $5.000 that I will either spend on:
- a 15'' MacBook Pro + a 5k display
- a base iMac Pro

Just in terms of value for money, what would you advise (I mostly work from home)?
Given my work, would I even notice the benefits from the iMac Pro (mostly rendering and exporting files from Final Cut Pro and Logic)?

My thinking is: even if I don't really need the iMac Pro, if it can speed up my work compared to the MacBook Pro, it will probably be worth it.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

 

[pajako]

I am ‘downgrading’ from a MacBookPro 15” tb with ultrafine displays to an iMac Pro. Reason: I rarely need the portability of a notebook and I never saw a real increase in needed speed when I upgraded my late 2014 MBpro with the late 2016 MBpro. And regularly I find that I would love some more snappyness and speed when working hard so I hope moving to an iMac Pro will deliver.
I am afraid the culprit is Adobe CC though, but I will find out in a couple of weeks...

 

[tomdwan]

I am ‘downgrading’ from a MacBookPro 15” tb with ultrafine displays to an iMac Pro. Reason: I rarely need the portability of a notebook and I never saw a real increase in needed speed when I upgraded my late 2014 MBpro with the late 2016 MBpro. And regularly I find that I would love some more snappyness and speed when working hard so I hope moving to an iMac Pro will deliver.
I am afraid the culprit is Adobe CC though, but I will find out in a couple of weeks...

Thanks for your reply.
What config are you going to get?

 

[pajako]

Thanks for your reply.
What config are you going to get?

Hi, i chose the 10-core 64GB 2TB SSD and Vega64

 

[Bryan Bowler]

The first thing to evaluate is whether or not you need the portability of a laptop. If the answer is yes, then you need a MBP. If the answer is no, then your money would be better spent on an iMac.

For your current usage, a high end 2017 iMac (with base-level RAM that you upgrade yourself to 32 GB) would totally serve your needs and serve them well. Also, with a 2017 iMac, you could very easily bump up to 64 GB of RAM in 4-5 years. If you have no need to save that extra $1,300, then you certainly could buy an iMac Pro now and it’s a nice machine to have, but it’s not really needed for what you do now.