2011 MBP 15" -OR- iMac 21.5"+MBP 13"?

[bobbyg3]

MacBook Pro 15"

• 2.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
• 4GB 1333MHz
• 750GB 5400-rpm
• Intel HD Graphics 3000
  AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 1GB GDDR5

iMac 21.5"

• 2.5GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5
• 4GB 1333MHz
• 500GB hard drive
• AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 512MB

I want to get a Mac that can do gaming fairly well. If I get the MBP 15" I am planning to hook it up to an 21.5" display. Or I can just get an iMac and a MBP 13" for the same price and have the iMac for power and the 13" for portability. I'm definitely leaning towards the second option but I'm worried that the iMac is not as capable as the MBP 15".

It boils down to this:
Does the iMac's faster processor (2.5 vs 2.2) overcome the MBP's larger amount of vram (512mb vs 1gb)? Keep in mind that I will be gaming on a 21.5" screen either way. Which will perform better on the big screen?

Thanks in advance,

 

[Young Spade]

1) Read up more. And by read I mean benchmarks, posts here concerning ALL of the aforementioned systems, and what others experiences are with the respective machines.

2) Common sense would tell me the iMac + MBP would be better in every aspect. Unless you have to do graphically intense work (like, hard editing, rendering in the field) the baseline MBP will do everything you throw at it.

When you need a much more powerful machine at home, the iMac would be able to handle the work as well.

But let me ask you this: What all are you using the machines for? IMO if you don't know the differences in performance off hand of a 2.2 quad core vs a 2.5 quad i7, chances are it isn't going to make a difference. Not saying that in a negative way, just stating it won't really affect you.

I'm a college student myself so I won't need anything stronger than the baseline MBP/MBA for a while. If you tell us what you're using the computers for, we can better nail down what's right for you

 

[TheBoors]

The macbookpro has a better graphic card, and if you connect it to to a monitor then it's perfect. Altought the imac may be better, considering it's never gonna overheat (mine never did). Well it has a better VRAM, but I think they'll do pretty much the same thing

And I agree with Spade, the processor won't change much in the end.

But I was facing the same dilemma, and I chose the 15inch high end MPB, but with 500g 7200 rpm, I found that it's a better option, considering 500g is alot of space for me and that I can always buy a cheaper external drive to compensate. I just think having one device is a beetter idea, and you can get some really good 27incehs screen with only 1ms response time for gaming for not that mumuch money.

Getting the iMac and the MBP seems like a waste to me