Why an iMac or Mac Mini when you can buy a MacBook Pro and dock it?

[WP31]

For what it's worth, a couple of years ago I lived through the position you are in right now. Our situations may not be exactly the same but if they are close, here are my thoughts:

All things being equal, buy the setup you want. Budget always impacts what we buy but if you can afford something a little more expensive I say go for it. I've spent too much money on some useless things in my life but I can't think of a time when I said "I shouldn't have bought that much memory, storage, portability, connectivity, screen, etc". In fact, most of the time, I've felt like I could have bought more computer performance than I settled on. Especially with Apple devices, they last a long time.

Timing matters. What you needed yesterday isn't what you will need tomorrow. Try to look forward as much as possible and buy what you will need for the next couple of years. Currently, I think that means portability. Most of us are a whole lot more remote than we used to be. If that is your situation, then prioritize portability.

I started with a 13" MBP and slowly grew into multiple external monitors. Over time I added eGPU, a dock, external hard drives and every couple of years I upgraded the MBP. Eventually I had a full blown workstation at home that I plugged-in to and unplugged the MBP from. After a while I got tired of the small annoyances that plugging/unplugging caused and instead of upgrading my MBP I bought a MacMini. So then I had a MacMini desktop setup like I was back in the 1990s (monitors, dock, lights, speakers, keyboard, etc) as well as an older MBP for portability. Then last year my MBP was getting a little too old and I replaced it with a middle-end 13" M1 MBA. Based on your response above I believe you are in a similar situation as I am in that we're one of the people for whom a iPad does not work. When I'm mobile, I need computer not a tablet.

So now I have a MacMini with all the peripherals like a traditional desktop setup and a M1 MBA for portability. Everything automatically syncs via iCloud, Adobe Connect, Microsoft One Drive, and Google Drive and it works pretty good 99% of the time. Every now and then, when I haven't looked at my MBA in a month, I have to open it up and let it update/sync before I grab it and go. This is hard to explain but the small but constant annoyances that happen when you unplug/replug a laptop from your desk setup every day (windows shifting all over the place, software glitches, occasional kernel panics, monitors not being recognized, bluetooth devices not connecting, drives not remounting, etc.) are about the same as the less frequent but slightly more problematic issues when you grab your separate laptop and go (a file or app isn't sync'd).

So what do I recommend? I'd say get the laptop and slowly build out a home setup (years) that you can unplug and replug from. Once you get tired of the issues that come with it, look into what's available and buy what you need then.

 

[profcutter]

I’ve been teaching and doing meetings with my iMac 27 and an external 27 inch display. It’s made doing these things possible, when many of my colleagues struggle with smaller and mismatched displays. If anything, the past couple of years taught folks how much they could do at home. That means having some separation between work and play is even more important. The desktop is for work, my iPad Pro is for browsing, grading, and media consumption. The MacBook Pro is for sensitive work.

 

[MBAir2010]

luckily I sold my 2012 Mac mini I3 10 GB ram for $300 last year.
the mini was nice, just did nothing but store info and hog electricity!

 

[kawa636r]

When I'm mobile, I need computer not a tablet.

I moved this and your entire reply too.
Thanks for your exhaustive and incredible attention to details while posting your reply.
I think docking it will be more simple than every because a single usb-c cable will connect MacBook to monitor and then in the monitor there are multiple usb-a, usb-c ports, together with speakers and power.
About keyboard and trackpad, they will be always present on the desktop, like it was when living with iMac.

 

[kawa636r]

luckily I sold my 2012 Mac mini I3 10 GB ram for $300 last year.
the mini was nice, just did nothing but store info and hog electricity!

And what have you got now?

 

[Ray2]

I don't think there's a right or wrong. If the cpu and gpu work for you, its pretty much irrelevant which way you go. I've been back and forth more than once. Now a mini. Within the next few weeks I'll trade that in on an Air And hook it up to the same peripherals. If you do go Macbook, you do need to exercise it at times. Permanent clamshell mode and swollen batteries seem to go together.

 

[MBAir2010]

And what have you got now?

MacBook air 2010-catalina and iPad
and others things made non  companies.
that tv was useless as well so I gifted that!

 

[PlayUltimate]

I use a iPad Pro when mobile. I would rather have a big iMac on my desk or a Mac mini connected to a 30 inch screen than a expensive laptop that needs a dock and that would encourage me to take away from the desk. I like having an area where I have to sit at the machine.

Ditto... 27" on desk, 12.9" IPP in bag.

 

[tpfang56]

Ideally, I'd love both. A MBP for portability, power, and plugged into multiple external monitors; the iMac for a simple, clean, and beautiful desktop experience. (That purple has my name on it!!) Of course, I do have an older non-retina iMac that I occasionally use and an M1 MBA, but the M1 iMac would be worth having just for the gorgeous display and redesign. You won't get an equivalent display that good with a mac mini and have it be less expensive than than the iMac.

I'd use the MBA/future MBP for "serious work", while the iMac would be used for more casual computing tasks, previewing my web pages, and doing any possible design work on illustrator/photoshop on a color accurate screen in the rare instances I do that.

The 27" iMac seems kind of... too big, and it's not the aspect ratio I want. I'd rather connect my laptop to one ultrawide monitor so that I can view code and research side by side, and perhaps one other monitor (maybe a vertical monitor? or a 3:2 monitor? who knows, I can't even afford to think about that yet.) Basically, they're for different purposes.

 

[Lloigorr]

I think I know what you mean. In my case, I use a M1 Air docked nearly all the time. For that I use an old 27” Apple Thunderbolt Display. Although old it still works fine as a thunderbolt dock. So a mini would have been okay for my needs as well (I still have an iPad for mobile use cases of course).

 

[richinaus]

Ideally, I'd love both. A MBP for portability, power, and plugged into multiple external monitors; the iMac for a simple, clean, and beautiful desktop experience. (That purple has my name on it!!) Of course, I do have an older non-retina iMac that I occasionally use and an M1 MBA, but the M1 iMac would be worth having just for the gorgeous display and redesign. You won't get an equivalent display that good with a mac mini and have it be less expensive than than the iMac.

I'd use the MBA/future MBP for "serious work", while the iMac would be used for more casual computing tasks, previewing my web pages, and doing any possible design work on illustrator/photoshop on a color accurate screen in the rare instances I do that.

The 27" iMac seems kind of... too big, and it's not the aspect ratio I want. I'd rather connect my laptop to one ultrawide monitor so that I can view code and research side by side, and perhaps one other monitor (maybe a vertical monitor? or a 3:2 monitor? who knows, I can't even afford to think about that yet.) Basically, they're for different purposes.

I agree with this. MBP for portability, imac for clean desk, however it is expensive.

My favourite set up ever was an Imac pro however I couldnt afford a laptop at the time once that had been bought and drove me a bit mental. If budget is tight get a decent laptop and hook it up to a monitor and then as others have said build the system.

But for my perfect set up.

Imac / mac pro [or powerful pc] on the desk
MBP portability
ipad - sketching

All synced in the cloud - I have this and barely have any issues, and this is with daily syncing with files accross multiple contractors who are all over the place [use one drive sharepoint]

 

[SpotOnT]

The short answer to your question is 1) power and 2) I/O.

1 Power) A high end laptop will never match the performance of a high end desktop. For example, comparing the MacBook Pro to the Mac Pro - you have a huge difference, particularly in GPU performance. That being said, Apple likes to use "laptop" grade chips in most of their "desktops", such as the iMac or Mac Mini. So in that context, just choose whatever form factor works best for you. If you need mobile and can afford an external display - go with that. If you don't need mobile, save some cash and just get the iMac.

2 I/O) This to me is actually the biggest difference. I used a top of the line MacBook Pro, which I docked to external monitors for a good decade. The bottle neck that I always ended up running into was port bandwidth (number of ports and what speed you can run all the ports simultaneously). After a decade I was in a better position at work and was able to grab a Mac Pro. The impact from the port bandwidth actually made a bigger difference for my work flow than the increased processing power of the desktop. Of course if you don't have a lot of input devices or network needs, than this won't impact you very much.

Side Note: I really wish Apple would release an external monitor in the 1k price range again. I know so many people who want to do exactly what you want - but they also want the seamless experience you get from using an iMac. Given the performance levels of the Apple Silicon mobile devices, I really can see a lot of people choosing to go portable and grabbing external monitor. And yes, I know there is the LG monitor, but that has always felt very subpar to me in quality.

 

[Ifti]

I will likely sell my MacBook Pro in a year or two and get an iMac instead.
The MacBook never moves from my desk - I see no need for extra docks etc to take up more space. the iMac would provide me with a more powerful machine at a lower cost - just makes sense for me.
I won't change my system until an iMac can offer me at least 4 Thunderbolt 3/4 ports, and at least a 10Gbe port though. I need those as a minimum.

 

[MBAir2010]

The mac mini served a great purpose while I had that
the fact that the mini would always worked and backed up many OS X of MacBooks and iPods
the computer was great for the price and could perform 2021 tasks all day.
the only "con" was the bluetooth being too close to something important were the connection was horrible.

 

[theluggage]

I still haven't found something which is performing bad on m1. I mean, on multicore until an i9.
There is no game against intel xenon 8 cores, but we are talking about Mac Pro which costs 7000 euros and it cannot be carried with you outside like a laptop.

No, the M1 doesn't "perform bad" c.f. the currently offered Intel Macs - which are all about 18 months out of date, anyway and not very "special" when it comes to performance - and if you're not using software that can make full use of multi cores or powerful GPUs then the M1's nippy single-core performance and super-fast SSD will quite likely make it feel faster.

If you don't need multi-core, GPU-based performance (or more RAM) then you can cross that "advantage" of desktops off the list.

When the M1X machines arrive they should offer a combination of serious multi CPU/GPU core performance and M1 "snappiness".

NB: The top-end ($3000) iMac is actually faster than the $6000 entry level Mac Pro (try looking at the geekbench scores on everymac.com).

 

[diggy33]

I think I'm going to see what the Mac Mini refresh may be. I have not yet found the setup that I like, with a stand/hub/dock combination that looks good on my desk.

 

[kawa636r]

After all your replies, I have been at apple store to pickup, just to try, an iMac i7 2020 with 8gb ram and 512ssd.
First of all this 2020 iMac compared to the old one has got the fans always on.
I like to work in a totally silent ambient, so, this noise is just something that wasn't present on my old i7 2014 iMac.
Also, even if Geekbench score are similar to M1, I notice that it is very far from having got a performance like that.

I will arrange a return to Apple and I will wait tomorrow for my Huawei monitor.
I will let you know about the experience with MacBook Pro m1 and Huawei monitor soon.
Meanwhile, goodbye to this iMac 2020.

 

[Fishrrman]

Why not?

Not enough "natively-available" ports on a MacBook Pro.

I want a "desktop" Mac for desktop things, AND a "laptop" computer for other, laptop things.

Sometimes I want BOTH of them available, side-by-side.

I often "change locations" at home -- downstairs with laptop, upstairs with desktop. Too much plugging/unplugging.

 

[EugW]

The 27" iMac seems kind of... too big, and it's not the aspect ratio I want. I'd rather connect my laptop to one ultrawide monitor so that I can view code and research side by side, and perhaps one other monitor (maybe a vertical monitor? or a 3:2 monitor? who knows, I can't even afford to think about that yet.) Basically, they're for different purposes.

Ironically, I found the 27" iMac too small, so I was using dual 27" iMacs for the longest time, a 2017 as the main driver and a 2010 simply as an external monitor.

However, I do understand what you mean about the ultrawide. It wasn't really that the 27" was too small, but that it was too narrow. I prefer larger width, which your ultrawide would solve. In fact, I find the 27" too tall for my tastes, partially because it has that big chin. The 27" iMac's visible screen is actually 6 inches above the table. To compensate for this I actually bought a VESA mount and lowered the iMac, but that caused other issues and looked crappy, so I went back to the regular stand.

For my secondary computer I'm now using a 30" Apple Cinema HD Display. Despite being non-Retina, that is ergonomically a bit better for me since it's "only" 4.5" above the table, and it's wider too (25 1/4 inches vs 23 1/2 inches). It's still much too tall, but my solution to that often is just to have application windows that don't extend to the top of the screen.

I think my ideal screen would be something like a hypothetical 34" ultra-wide Retina screen, but with Apple's aesthetics but without XDR type pricing. I don't know if such a thing currently exists. Even if it did exist, I don't know if a Mac mini could drive it. It'd have to be something like a 6.5K monitor.

 

[pshufd]

I don't like to have to plug in a couple of monitors every time I go to my desktop. I like to come down to my desktop and it's just ready to go.

 

[Clix Pix]

I don't have to plug in anything......my monitor is an LG 24" 4K Thunderbolt 3 monitor which plugs into the MBP and powers both itself and the computer. That is the only thing which is plugged into my MBP all the time, as my keyboard and mouse are both BT and I don't keep my external drives connected except when I am actually using one. This system works for me.

Actually, I also have another MBP, too, the 13" M1, which is the machine which does leave the house when an occasion arises or when I feel like sitting out on the deck with my computer to catch up on forums, do email, etc., etc.

 

[pshufd]

I don't have to plug in anything......my monitor is an LG 24" 4K Thunderbolt 3 monitor which plugs into the MBP and powers both itself and the computer. That is the only thing which is plugged into my MBP all the time, as my keyboard and mouse are both BT and I don't keep my external drives connected except when I am actually using one. This system works for me.

Actually, I also have another MBP, too, the 13" M1, which is the machine which does leave the house when an occasion arises or when I feel like sitting out on the deck with my computer to catch up on forums, do email, etc., etc.

So you have to plug in your monitor.

I have five monitors on my desktop. 3x4K + QHD + WSXGA. I have three iPhones and an iPad mini, microphones and two sets of speakers.

 

[Clix Pix]

Well, yeah, of course the monitor is plugged into power, a surge protector, and as I said, via the Thunderbolt 3 cable to the MBP..... A nice thing, though, about using an external monitor with an MBP is that when there is a power failure, the MBP will still continue working on its own battery power and of course since it has its own monitor I can still see it and what is on the screen. I do not keep my MBP in clamshell mode when I am using the external monitor; I prefer to keep it open as it serves nicely to either mirror what is on the external monitor or to show something different, my choice.....

I could not work with five monitors in front of me -- good grief! I do have two iPads -- 12.9" iPad Pro and an iPad Mini 5 nearby, plus two iPhones, one with my former landline number and one with my cell number. That's plenty! I don't need external speakers, the speakers in the MBP work just fine or I often use headphones since I'm in a multifamily condominium building.

 

[Serban55]

An iMac 27'' with i7 and 8gb of ram only, costs 2600 euros.
A MacBook Pro with m1 and 512 ssd costs 1600 more-less.
Even if you buy a 4,5k Huawei monitor (550 euros) and a trackpad and a keyboard (apple ones) you want reach the 1000 euros difference for the iMac 27. And you have got an m1.

you said the m1 24" imac and ofc i wasnt meaning any Intel imacs... nobody should buy an intel mac nowadays on Apple prices

 

[Roadster Lewis]

Every time I looked at this in the past, a well-specced iMac, plus a bottom of the range MacBook, cost the same as a decent MBP and monitor. Except that the monitor was likely not as good as the iMac screen, nor did it have a webcam etc. So I kept running 2 Macs.

Fast-forward to 2020 and global pandemic, I find myself working from home, with my work laptop docked to a monitor on my desk, squeezed in next to my iMac. With 2 keyboards and mice etc there wasn't much room. So as soon as orders open, I will be buying a 2021 MPB 14" to replace both my iMac and MacBook. I will also buy a new monitor to use for both work/personal laptops.