Time to go back to one computer? (iMac to new MBP)

[adamjackson]

I was a single computer user back in the day...always had a PowerBook then, after the intel transition), I went iMac for Core Quad chips / Core i7/i9 thanks to a higher TDP and nicer video cards and my mobile setup was always a lower end notebook like a 13" Air / MBP with integrated graphics. I do the heavy lifting on iMac and the laptop was a mobile machine that got basic tasks done.

Before COVID, the setup was:

• iMac 5K, 2019 w/ 3.8Ghz 8-Core i9 + 64GB of RAM, 2TB SSD and Vega 48 8GB card
• 15" MacBook Pro with Core i9 from 2018, 32GB of RAM 1TB SSD and the Radeon 560
• iPad 11" with a keyboard for writing and basic stuff

I sold the MBP in March in March of 2020 after we weren't going to travel for a while and honestly that MBP was still the old keyboard, Touch Bar and got VERY hot and hit its thermal ceiling so fast that I never even saw all of the performance out of the machine. The fan was on constantly, bad battery life. The Core i9 was the wrong chip for that computer and it was overpowered and thermally restricted so I was glad to be rid of it.

My setup is now:

• iMac described above
• 2021 iPad Pro M1 which I use when I'm on the go as it has cellular but it's not a work computer, it's for email, spreadsheets, omni-apps, Things, office, basic stuff....I try using iMovie and Photoshop and find myself always going back to my desktop apps

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My iMac's AppleCare is up in March. It's a fine computer still but I think the time has finally come that I can have just one computer again. That would be a MBP 16" fully loaded that I dock while at home and then, when my office re-opens, goes with me to the office.

I don't think the iMac of 2022 will get anything better than the M1 Max. It'll get the MBP chipset in a larger 30" 5K Mini-LED setup is my guess and if that's the case and Apple's claims of thermal load being trusted, I think I can make a 16" MacBook Pro fully loaded my only computer.

Question I have for all of you.

What about my 2019 iMac will be slower on the new MacBook Pro? Is the Vega 48 still a superior GPU for AdobeCS/FinalCut/Compressor? Is my RAM at 2667Mhz still faster than the new MBP? Is my Clock Speed of 3.8Ghz with 8 physical cores still going to have a higher single-thread speed than the new MBP? Will the thermals of the new MBP cause the machine to not sustain full load as long as my iMac which can seemingly run nearly full speed for hours without any hiccups if I'm trusting iStat Menus w/ Intel Power Gadget installed

Other than losing ethernet and the 5K display, what am I losing by selling my iMac for....it's worth about $1850 right now and spending $4200 on a new MacBook Pro then sticking it in a dock behind my Dell 32" display that's already on my desk attached to the iMac?

 

[ian87w]

I would wait until people are testing the thermal throttling limits of these new Macbook Pros. As good as the M1 Pro/Max are on Apple's slides, it's still inside a laptop. Previous tests have shown that the M1 Mac mini can perform better than the M1 Macbook Pro.

At the same time, Apple optimized apps like Final Cut will probably fly on these new Macbook Pros. The dedicated encoding/decoding media engines will be a boon for Final Cut users.

 

[khollister]

I just ordered a maxed out 16" MBP to replace a 10 core iMac Pro. My 13" M1 already smokes the single core performance of the iMP, apps are much more responsive and my testing with Logic (my primary use case) indicates the M1 isn't that far behind with native apps compared to the 10 core Xeon.

Geekbench scores show the single core is substantially higher than your iMac and the M1Pro/Max CPU performance is certainly higher.

While throttling might be a concern if you were running a render farm that ran at 100% load for hours/days, I'm not too concerned about the typical intermittent load with most interactive apps. If it is a disaster (I highly doubt it) I can always return it.

 

[adamjackson]

Now that shipping times have slipped to 12/31, I started thinking about tax year and decided to purchase a new Mac.

I'll be selling my iMac for about $1800 or so. I've seen some go up to $2,000 on eBay which, minus 10% fees is about $1800.

The plan is just to have this sit clamshell on my desk attached to my 32" Dell P3 4k Ultrasharp and I'll finally be back to just one computer.

 

[circatee]

Now that shipping times have slipped to 12/31, I started thinking about tax year and decided to purchase a new Mac.

I'll be selling my iMac for about $1800 or so. I've seen some go up to $2,000 on eBay which, minus 10% fees is about $1800.

The plan is just to have this sit clamshell on my desk attached to my 32" Dell P3 4k Ultrasharp and I'll finally be back to just one computer.

Hmm, not a bad idea about the 'tax year'. One can certainly 'write it off', and thus not have to wait to do it in 2023.
Well, I now have an excuse to give my Missus

 

[adamjackson]

Hmm, not a bad idea about the 'tax year'. One can certainly 'write it off', and thus not have to wait to do it in 2023.
Well, I now have an excuse to give my Missus

I kept waiting for apple to announce 6% cash back but now that we're into holiday season buying, it's clear they don't plan on offering it again.