15" 2016 mBP or iMac + 13"?

[kis]

Right now, I have a decently spec'ed 27" iMac 5k I bought a year ago and the new 13" Touchbar MBP. I'm a photographer and a teacher - so I do heavy LR editing but I also need a laptop to take from class to class on a daily basis.

My thoughts are, however: why not get rid of both the 13" MBP and the iMac and go for a maxed out 15" TB MBP? I've always loved the bigger screen real-estate of the 15" model, but until now, it was just too heavy. I think I could probably live with the new 4 pound-version. I'd probably get an external screen for the 15" but I'm not sure I'd even need it.

I know these are first-world problems - but what would you choose?

 

[imbadwithusernames]

Honestly, I would buy a decent BTO 15" MB Pro with touch bar and keep the iMac, so you can always have a good computer to use wherever you go and then have the iMac to the finishing touches, that's at least how lots of people I know work and they seem really happy

 

[xraydoc]

The iMac will still be faster than the 15" MBP (though getting closer than in previous years), so if you need that much power, it's hard to find in a laptop.

Also, if you need an always-on computer, that's also something you won't find in a laptop - for example, using the iMac as a server of some kind at home, etc. For me, I use my iMac at home as an iTunes server for the household (music & movies off the Apple TV). Can't do that if you take the computer with you.

Can you do your photo editing on a 15" laptop screen. While it may be "retina" quality, it's still only 25% the size of the 27" iMac.

And how about storage? All those images must take up a lot of space? Consider the inconvenience of disconnecting/reconnecting external hard drives when you need to edit.

Anyway, my 2¢

 

[kis]

Thanks for the replies so far - yeah, storage is an issue. My main drive is a LaCie 2Big Thunderbolt drive which I have next to the iMac. Due to the noise of the drive I only have it plugged in when editing pictures, however, so I need to fiddle with the cable on a regular basis anyway As for speed: the iMac is a beast - it's fast and very quiet. I used to have a 15" rMBP some time ago and that one went compeltly nuts with fan noise whenever LR was running. Don't know about the new MBPs yet in this respect. The 13" is very quiet but I've mainly used it for MS Office so far.

I might save up for a MBP in addition to the iMac - will take a month or two but I think imbadwithusernames might be on to something