Changing my MBP for an iMac?

[Paul C]

Hi all,

I've recently started thinking about changing from a MBP to a iMac, basically I used to need portability when away of a weekend but I bought an iPad mini which is does all things I need like youtube, twitter, games, etc so my MBP just sits on my desk now. Anyways back to my point, my MBP (see specs in sig) gets a geekbench score of 9781 and to be fair it's a really quick piece of kit, my worry is that if I move to an iMac I'll only be able to afford a 2012 21.5" i5 which won't have an SSD drive and isn't easily upgradeable either.

The main things I use my MBP for are iTunes, photo editing in Aperture, encoding video in handbrake/visualhub, video capture in Eyetv and editings video in iMovie, what model of iMac would meet my current setup or better it?

Thanks

Paul

 

[Ledgem]

Hi all,

I've recently started thinking about changing from a MBP to a iMac, basically I used to need portability when away of a weekend but I bought an iPad mini which is does all things I need like youtube, twitter, games, etc so my MBP just sits on my desk now. Anyways back to my point, my MBP (see specs in sig) gets a geekbench score of 9781 and to be fair it's a really quick piece of kit, my worry is that if I move to an iMac I'll only be able to afford a 2012 21.5" i5 which won't have an SSD drive and isn't easily upgradeable either.

The main things I use my MBP for are iTunes, photo editing in Aperture, encoding video in handbrake/visualhub, video capture in Eyetv and editings video in iMovie, what model of iMac would meet my current setup or better it?

Thanks

Paul

If your current MBP is meeting your needs, then an iMac with similar technical specifications would meet your needs as well. If you can't afford to get an iMac with a SSD or with the specifications that you want... well, what's the rush? Even if you're using your MBP as if it were a desktop computer, it's still working for you. Keep using the MBP, and when it starts to break down or doesn't meet your usage needs, then replace it with an iMac (assuming you don't need portability at that time, either). Save up starting now, and you'll be able to afford a system exactly as you want it.

 

[chrise2]

Have you thought about just getting a monitor / keyboard / mouse for your existing laptop? The Thunderbolt display is super sweet though super expensive. I splurged on it and don't regret it at all.

 

[Paul C]

Thanks for the replies all,

Ledgem: I agree that maybe keeping it might be an option, now is the best time though if I was going to change as I'm due to change my car and house soon, I though seeing as though it's just a desktop basically atm I could change it for something with a bigger screen.

chrise2: Yeah I've got a wireless apple keyboard and mouse on it which does help

To be honest another route I could look at would be a Mac Pro from 2010 as I've seen a few go on eBay sub £1000, I'd prob get about £1000 for my MBP so that would make sense, plus I could easily upgrade that where the iMac is a pain to change even the hdd :/

 

[Ledgem]

If it's a bigger screen you're after, then I'd echo chrise2's comment about getting an external display. You don't need to get the latest Thunderbolt display, either. The old Apple Cinema displays are still good, and if you don't care as much for having everything Apple (and possibly dealing with calibrating colors, which will be a pain for your Aperture usage), there are plenty of nice non-Apple monitors as well. I've been using dual and triple displays for a number of years now, and I find them to be more useful than having one single, large display.

Even if a second display doesn't sound appealing to you, switching to an iMac at this point doesn't seem particularly great. Even if you went for a higher-end iMac the performance wouldn't be that much better than your current MBP (graphics aside, although you didn't mention gaming as a usage for your system). If anything, you might experience worse performance. The Core i5's have four cores, but my understanding is that the quad-core i5's lack hyperthreading (which creates virtual double cores, yielding a performance boost that can be around 25% better than without hyperthreading). Lack of a SSD would also be a big deal.

Basically, you're looking at possibly paying a fair amount of money (even if you deal with the hassle of prepping your MBP for sale), giving up portability entirely, and possibly getting nothing but the same or worse performance. What's the reason for it? It sounds like you want more screen real estate and like the idea of the iMac. If that's right, I'd say to keep your MBP, use it as if it were a desktop, and get a nice second monitor. You'll be able to use the second screen with the iMac whenever you upgrade to it, but for now your MBP still has a lot of life left in it.

 

[Paul C]

Thanks for the feedback, I think I'm going to stick with my MBP and just get a Griffin Elevator as well as a 24/27" LED display (not Apple as they cost too much).

Thanks again

Paul

 

[chrise2]

Thanks for the feedback, I think I'm going to stick with my MBP and just get a Griffin Elevator as well as a 24/27" LED display (not Apple as they cost too much).

Thanks again

Paul

I originally thought that the Apple display was a rip off. I still think it sort of is even after buying it. However, its really nice that it has built in speakers and web cam as well as Ethernet and some USB ports (USB 2.0 only). Having the built in Macbook charger is nice too. Not to mention the display is awesome. I also figure I'll have the thing for a while. Unless of course Apple drops Thunderbolt. If that happens, I'll fly out to Cupertino with my useless $1000 display and beat Tim Cook to death with it. Why couldn't they just give the stupid thing a DVI / HDMI input? Or at least just accept mini-display port. Jerks.