Are the desktops better than the equivalent spec Laptops

[gaz2548]

Over a year ago I set out to purchase my MacBook. A friend insisted that I buy a desktop, as although the computers may have the same spec, the laptop has 'laptop RAM', and a 'laptop processor' and is not as good.
I thought this couldn't have been true so bought the BlackMac, instead of the same computer as him, the iMac.
The computer I bought had;

2.4 Ghz intel core duo 2
2Gb RAM (I upgraded to 4Gb)
and 250Gb Hard disc.

His is practically the same computer, with not such a fast processor and only 3GB of RAM, but his computer is having no trouble at all with large logic projects, where mine is.

I just wondered weather its because his is ACTUALLY the better computer or if maybe there could be something wrong with mine!


P.S. I'm new here... Hello!

I'm Gary a 22 Year old Musician from near Glasgow!

 

[miles01110]

For a given price point the desktop almost always wins in terms of spec. Not sure what exactly was the difference between your Macbook and his iMac without more information, but hard drive speed can matter, bus speed, cache, etc.

 

[gaz2548]

thanks for the reply, i just thought that a Mac with a 2.4 processor and 4gb or ram would chew this stuff up... it cant even open the demo projects supplied with logic because they are SO big, yet my mates computer plays them no problem

 

[cderalow]

what you are failing to take into account is back then iMacs all had discrete video cards, which meant his related chipsets weren't doing as much work as the chipset based one in your laptop

 

[chill.]

laptop components are geared towards using less power and producing less heat, so yes they will be weaker than their desktop counterparts. however, most imacs use laptop components to get them so compact. so if you have equivalent parts, they should be the same

if the imac is performing stronger, then it doesn't have equivalent parts

 

[old-wiz]

IIRC, the non-27" imacs use laptop cpus and memory.