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what made you buy imac over mbp?

frocco

frocco

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 27, 2009
498
43
I am torn between the MBP 17" and imac i7 27"

I know you get more for your money on a desktop, but I also like not being chained to my desk.

I was thinking of maybe getting an imac and a cheap windows laptop or windows desktop for gaming and a mbp.
 
I chose a iMac over a MBP because I already have a MB. I would have bought the MBP had I not already have a MB. I love the portability of laptops. That's what you are going to have to decide. How much does portability matter to you? Will you be using your computer a lot away from a desk, such as the couch, etc? Or will you just be doing basic surfing and will save the real work for when you are sitting at a desk?

I just ordered the iMac i7 refurb and even though it will be head and shoulders over my MB, especially encoding/rendering video, I know I'll still use my MB a lot when I'm on the road or even on the couch.

Good luck.
 
I found out that my laptop sat on my desk 99% of its time. I also had a laptop already but not a desktop.

A thought for you: MBP with external monitor and KB&mouse. Best of both worlds, a laptop and a desktop. That's what I would get now
 
I choose the iMac for the 27" screen, desktop quad processor and a graphics card sufficient enough to play the occasional game, all wrapped in a tidy package.
 
Just buy the 27" IMAC for your desk and a 13" MBP for mobility. Thats what I am thinking of doing now...
 
My MBP and iMac mostly serve different purposes. The MBP is my primary business machine. It contains my entire technical library, all my various networking software bits and pieces, and my main productivity software (spreadsheets, graphics, project planning etc.). In contrast the iMac is very much my study and leisure machine. Although it runs simulation software used to test concepts and for use in learning new technologies it also gets used for content creation and all my hobby stuff. It's there as a backup in case the MBP fails, but otherwise there is no reason for it to leave my home office, and therefore it made sense to me to get the better specs per £ iMac.
 
frocco said:
I am torn between the MBP 17" and imac i7 27"

I know you get more for your money on a desktop, but I also like not being chained to my desk.

I was thinking of maybe getting an imac and a cheap windows laptop or windows desktop for gaming and a mbp.
Click to expand...


I bought the 27" iMac because I wanted the screen real estate and already had a company notebook (a Dell M1530 with 64-Bit Windows 7).

The Dell notebook also makes a pretty good Hackintosh or Linux machine. But since I need Windows for my every day work, I run the Dell as a pure Windows box.

If you don't need the large screen, a notebook might be the better choice for you - you can use it in bed and everywhere else and most of the time it might be hard to justify having a desk at home...
 
I've got a 27" iMac (with a additional external monitor!). When I need to be portable I've got a 13" Al MacBook. With both about the same cost as a 17" MacBookj Pro the choice seems obvious!

One thing rarely pointed out is that the ergonomics of a notebook computer are horrible. With there ever-increasing usage as full-time systems, expect lots of physical disabilities 10 years from now. If you must use one all day get an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse, set up at a desk, and run it with the lid closed.
 
I already own a regular 17" laptop and a netbook, so i'm mobile enough. I just wanted raw processing power, and you get a lot more bang for the buck in this area with a desktop than a laptop. 27", i7 and a fixed working area (i have a lot of cables that need to be plugged in/out when i'm moving my laptop) helped me make the decision.
 
iMac all the way.

I am a designer and I use an iLugger bag to bring my iMac to work with me everyday. Yes it is a bit heavy and I cannot use it away from a power source like on a train or bus but it can go with me for 99% of where I will be. I use it at home at the studio and even bring it to my parents house when I visit for the weekend.

You really need to ask yourself if you really find yourself one of those people that like to sit in a coffee shop for hours not really doing anything. I used to own a laptop and the few rare times I was in an environment to use a laptop I ended up not doing any real work. I use software like Final Cut Pro, Cinema4D and After Effects and honestly if I was at a coffee shop I hardly ever had a need to use them. I usually ended up surfing the web, aka wasting time, or at the most typing a document.

I have started to see a real use for the iPad for the above situations. I can use my iMac at home, in the studio and short driving trips to visit friends or family. I can then use the iPad for all the time filler stuff when I am bored at the Doctor's office.

Now because I am a designer I still have this concern that when I get an iPad I will discover quickly a situation where I really need a laptop to run some design software such as Photoshop or After Effects for a quick change in the field. If you find yourself in the same situation you may want to then consider getting a 13" Mac Book. Honestly they are slower then a higher end laptop but not really by a huge amount that would cause you to not get your work done. Running Final Cut Studio may be the only thing I would consider a little awkward but it can still be done in a pinch. Personally I'm still debating between a 13" MB, iPad or iPod Touch 4. I can tell you that since I bought my iMac I have not had a situation where it has been an issue except for international travel. I just cannot find a decent way to get an iMac on a plane outside of a custom made hard case.

So to conclude I prefer the power and bang for buck of the iMac and add to it perhaps the portability of an iPad. With this combination you can do almost anything. You can have great quad core power with a darn goof gpu for real work/play and then use the iPad for all the casual time filler stuff on the road.
 
frocco said:
I was thinking of getting a cheap windows desktop for gaming and a mbp.
Click to expand...

Do this solution above and you will never regret it.

I've used both Apple & Windows laptops concurrently for years. If I had to choose just one, hands down it would be the new Core i7 MacBook Pro I bought. It's the best laptop I've had.

You'll be shocked at how nice it is in day to day use.
 
As one who works with graphics and video a lot, I wanted a very powerful desktop in my own little studio environment. The 27 inch quadcore iMac suited me perfectly.
 
I have a 15" MBP and wanted an iMac for the (supposedly) awsome display. The additional resources (CPU, memory, disk capacity, GPU etc....) were also a factor.
 
I am looking at this configuration:

Configuration
2.93GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x2GB
2TB Serial ATA Drive
8x double-layer SuperDrive
ATI Radeon HD 5750 1GB GDDR5 SDRAM
Apple Wireless Keyboard (English) & User's Guide
Magic Mouse
Country Kit
 
I got an iMac as an "accessory" to go with my iPad! Therefore no need for mobility of a MBP, and the iMac gives me a bigger screen, more powerful computer and cheaper to do my photo editing. Everything else (email, web, etc) is all done on my iPad.

David
 
Scuby said:
I got an iMac as an "accessory" to go with my iPad! Therefore no need for mobility of a MBP, and the iMac gives me a bigger screen, more powerful computer and cheaper to do my photo editing. Everything else (email, web, etc) is all done on my iPad.

David
Click to expand...

Thats a good idea. The more I think about it, the imac offers much more power for the money. If I got the MBP and monitor, it still would not be as fast or able to hold as much as the imac.
 
Not me but my sister.



She went with the 27" iMac i3 (should be here tomorrow) because of the iPad. She doesn't have one right now but soon she will.
 
The deciding factor for me is the screens that come on the MacBook pro models. I would much rather have portability but the uneven brightness that me and the lady notice on the 15 and 17in models isn't acceptable to me for a $2,000 machine. The top left is always brighter than then bottom right on the mbp's. Just my 2 cents.
 
I got my iMac because I have a MBP already. Early 2008 model which will be updated as soon as the new MBP`s come out. The 27" sure makes a difference which was another reason.
 
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