Desktop better but how much better?

[Apps]

I'm getting closer and closer to purchasing my first Mac and I'm not sure weather or not to get a MacBook Pro or an iMac.
I have never owned a notebook because I always seem to find the better performance on a desktop of the same price more convincing.
I want to know how much better this iMac is better than this MacBook, the graphics card and the resolution are what's tempting me to go with the iMac.


15-inch: 2.4GHz
Intel Core i5
4GB Memory
320GB hard drive1
SD card slot
Built-in battery (8-9 hour)2
Intel HD Graphics
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M with 256MB
with the hi-res screen

27-inch: 2.66GHz
Intel Core i5
2560 x 1440 resolution
4GB memory
1TB hard drive1
8x double-layer SuperDrive
ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics with 512MB

Mobility isn't whats in question I just want to know how much better the iMac will perform, will I be able to run games dramatically better when I run them from windows on the iMac?

 

[VPrime]

Well, it will be quite a bit more powerful.

The iMac has a quadcore cpu vs the dual macbook pro.
iMac has a lot better video card. More video memory, high clock speeds, and overall better performance.

Macbook pro comes standard with 5400rpm drive, iMac comes with a 7200rpm.. so again faster.

Overall the imac is the better computer. If mobility isn't in question, why look at a notebook? Notebooks will almsot always be outperformed by a desktop.

 

[Apps]

I am thinking about portability but I don't want to sacrafice alot of performance for it. I don't want to have a laptop that that is 60% as powerful as a desktop of the same price. 80% of the power I could deal with, I find it easy to justify the portability for a minor loss in performance but I don't want to get something that's half as powerful.

Any idea of what the ratio of performance is?

 

[alust2013]

there isn't any easy way to put a percent on it, but the MBP is a very powerful computer, although if you are a heavy gamer, I think I would suggest the i7 for the MBP. If you are really concerned about it, I say just get the iMac

 

[SatyMahajan]

This might help

http://barefeats.com/mbpp24.html

 

[Badger^2]

no laptop is the equivalent to a matching desktop.

If your only reason and benchmark for owning a computer is running windows games, then why buy a mac at all?

just buy a PC.

 

[talmy]

I've got a 27" i7 iMac and a 2.4GHz 13" MacBook. The iMac does video processing in iMovie twice as fast (2x real time as opposed to real time transcoding on export). It's over 4x faster transcoding in Handbrake. There is nothing that is not noticeably faster on the iMac. Then add to that the huge display.

 

[alust2013]

I've got a 27" i7 iMac and a 2.4GHz 13" MacBook. The iMac does video processing in iMovie twice as fast (2x real time as opposed to real time transcoding on export). It's over 4x faster transcoding in Handbrake. There is nothing that is not noticeably faster on the iMac. Then add to that the huge display.

Hard to compare a quad core i7 with faster clock speed and twice the cores to a C2D MB. But I do see your point. The i5 iMac and i5 MBP are more comparable, but like you said, the iMac will be faster.

 

[cmosq]

I had originally bought a MBP Late 2008 model 2.6 with the 9600M GT video card onboard and then it was replaced by Apple to the newer early 2009 model. I noticed that I really wasnt taking the MBP anywhere and I was using it primarily on my desk in my home office. I sold it on Ebay and then got the 27" iMac and I haven't looked back. It is one mean machine and MUCH faster for gaming, encoding and everything in between!

 

[Apps]

I had originally bought a MBP Late 2008 model 2.6 with the 9600M GT video card onboard and then it was replaced by Apple to the newer early 2009 model. I noticed that I really wasnt taking the MBP anywhere and I was using it primarily on my desk in my home office. I sold it on Ebay and then got the 27" iMac and I haven't looked back. It is one mean machine and MUCH faster for gaming, encoding and everything in between!

What sort of gaming can I pull off with the iMac compared to the MBP?

 

[wisty]

What sort of gaming can I pull off with the iMac compared to the MBP?

Well, in some cases your frame rate should double. Except you have a much larger monitor, so your FPS will be pretty similar on either machine. But you will have a much bigger monitor.