13" rMBP or 21.5" iMac? Help Please!

[MikeyAndTheCity]

So the time has come to retire the old 2006 17" MBP. It's been showing it's age lately and I have decided to replace it. However, I am having quite a bit of trouble deciding what to replace it with.

Gaming with mac has completely changed since Steam was released and wasn't really a factor to consider when I first bought my machine. My library of games has also increased, yet some of them remain uninstalled because this old thing just can't run them. I'm looking for a mac that can play today's current games on roughly medium settings (or high if possible). Portability is nice and I really like the idea of being able to take my computer anywhere (while I do have a MBP, the 17" was/is a chunky monster and it hasn't ever moved much from its desk position in it's long lifespan). TL;DR - I'd like something fast, nothing that chugs along. Gaming performance is moderately important and portability sounds appealing.

The budget is roughly $2,500 and these are the two different macs that I have specced out:

13" rMacBook Pro
2.8GHz Dual-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz
16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
512GB PCIe-based Flash Storage
Apple Protection Plan (of course!)
Total: $2,308.00

21.5" iMac
3.1GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz
16GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM -2X8GB
1TB Fusion Drive
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 1GB GDDR5
Total: $2,128.00

Basically, they're both decked out in an attempt to future proof them (it worked out well with this one!). I have also been considering a new iPad but that one has me on the fence until they release one with the Touch ID.

I guess the biggest question I have is how would each of these configurations be at gaming? I imagine that the iMac would hold up reasonably well, and I'm just nervous that the 13" would be way too sluggish to do much on. I would also consider other configurations or models, if you have a better suggestion within my budget!

Thanks for any help!

 

[eXan]

You don't want integrated graphics for gaming, even good ones that are currently being pushed by marketing can't hold up to even low-mid range dedicated cards outside of synthetic benchmarks.

You might want to consider getting a 2012 15" rMBP, as it will be roughly on par with that iMac, will still be much more portable than your 17" (its only 2 kg, insane). Most importantly, you won't be kicking yourself for not getting a laptop.

Going from 17" to 13 is a huge jump, I wouldn't recommend it, not to mention that 13" is rather underpowered compared to other options. You will find that 15" is really very "moveable" - the unibody construction especially on retina models is so solid. Compared to it, the 17" pre-unibody is a unfit mess that bends and creaks when you pick it up..

 

[Robster3]

Touch iD is hit and miss, no way i would buy a idevice for it.