Imac and Macbook Pro

[Hoopdy]

Are the two similar and yield the same amount of power or is the desktop(imac) substantially better?

[HLdan]

The iMac is better in terms of raw processing power. Apple puts in higher spec CPU's in the iMac because they can handle the heat over the MBP. Also out of the box all iMacs ship with a 7200RPM HDD which is also a desktop class HDD.