Should I buy an iMac even though I have a perfectly good 2011 MBA?

GKDAIR said:

I saw some 27 inch iMac models at the apple store and I pretty much drooled all over the floor. I really would like one

However. I already have a perfectly good Macbook Air 2011 13 inch 128 ssd that I use for school.

I wouldn't be able to buy an iMac until late march early april, but by then the new models should be out or close to coming out right? Would you think they are worth it?

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get a TB display for the best of both worlds?

I'm on the same exact boat as you, have the MacBook Air 13" 128GB ssd, waiting for 2012 iMac.

I think it'll definitely be worth it, but the wait is killing me.

its always nice to have a 'home one' machine and then the unit on the go- a place you can dump files onto and still have full use of them without having to go through external hard drives. I also use mine so I can be converting dvds to mp4 or doing running other things (large downloads, etc.) for my devices when I'm not home and needing a computer.

I do love my MBA for working in the living room and the portability but it so nice to sit in front of that large screen.
Even better if you have an SSD in the iMac which makes it just as snappy as the MBA.

I would get one as soon as I could, even if a refresh was 5 months away you can get 90% price by selling it on craigslist to upgrade to a newer machine. At least around here they sell near retail on CL.

Why not just buy an external display? The Apple Thunderbolt Display is great if you want to stay Apple, or there are a lot of other third party models you can buy.

Just get an external hard drive for extra space.

Xikum said:

Why not just buy an external display? The Apple Thunderbolt Display is great if you want to stay Apple, or there are a lot of other third party models you can buy.

Just get an external hard drive for extra space.

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how much does the dedicated gpu improve performance in 1440p..to be fair I've only noticed slowdown during hd flash video applications and gaming which obviously would show the lack of horsepower. Allegedly CS:S and SC2 "run" on the 3000, but I haven't tried that yet.

If you can afford it, go for it!

I have owned one since 2008 and I still LOVE it. Once you get it though, be prepared to almost never use your lappie. At least at home.

when I first got mine I said to myself (had a monster gaming laptop by Asus at the time). I won't game on it (iMac), just do my banking and things I want a secure machine for......

I ended up giving a 5k gaming machine to my mom because I was only using it for ventrillo or to look up something while in game....

The real question here is: why?

If you don't play graphics intensive video games or do some sort of creative content production (photo/video/audio) then you have no use for an iMac and will notice zero difference. I mean, they're great machines, but they're great for a collection of very specific things. It won't make your online browsing experience any better or anything like that.

Just get the TB display and an external hard drive and upgrade laptops every couple years.

Heck, I just bought an iMac, and I'm perfectly happy with the MacBook I bought nearly four years prior to that day. And I DO NOT regret my decision.