iMac 21.5" & Macbook

[JamesJ_]

Hi,
I'm looking to buy an iMac 21.5" iMac relatively soon, i5 quad core edition as well as a Macbook laptop.
However, I'm slightly stuck on which Macbook I should get, and I'm hoping you are able to help me out a bit.

My choice is between a 13" Macbook Air, 256GB SSD or a 13" Macbook Pro Retina with a 128GB SSD.
My main uses of the laptop will be general things (Netflix, YouTube, Google, Skype & Spotify), light gaming (my iMac will be the main focus of any real gaming [mostly Minecraft, maybe a little Insurgency/CSGO]) and Java development as well as my A-Levels (like College in the U.S.A) (the main purpose, but lets be realistic, that wont be the primary use). I wont need loads of storage space on either of the Macbooks as most, if not all, of my code will be hosted on GitHub.

The Macbook is being paid for by my parents, and they're willing to spend up to £999 ($999) however I can put my own money towards it.


Forum staff, if this is in the wrong category my apologies

Kind regards,
- James

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Hi,
I'm looking to buy an iMac 21.5" iMac relatively soon, i5 quad core edition as well as a Macbook laptop.
However, I'm slightly stuck on which Macbook I should get, and I'm hoping you are able to help me out a bit.

My choice is between a 13" Macbook Air, 256GB SSD or a 13" Macbook Pro Retina with a 128GB SSD.
My main uses of the laptop will be general things (Netflix, YouTube, Google, Skype & Spotify), light gaming (my iMac will be the main focus of any real gaming [mostly Minecraft, maybe a little Insurgency/CSGO]) and Java development as well as my A-Levels (like College in the U.S.A) (the main purpose, but lets be realistic, that wont be the primary use). I wont need loads of storage space on either of the Macbooks as most, if not all, of my code will be hosted on GitHub.

The Macbook is being paid for by my parents, and they're willing to spend up to £999 ($999) however I can put my own money towards it.


Forum staff, if this is in the wrong category my apologies

Kind regards,
- James

I would go with the pro for the screen alone, but you may want the 256gb version as 128gb fills up fast, especially if you want/need to run windows as well. It's not code that you have to worry about it's app size, especially for games these days.

As for the imac if you can wait until autumn then you may well have a 4K option!!!

 

[JamesJ_]

I would go with the pro for the screen alone, but you may want the 256gb version as 128gb fills up fast, especially if you want/need to run windows as well. It's not code that you have to worry about it's app size, especially for games these days.

As for the imac if you can wait until autumn then you may well have a 4K option!!!

Thanks for the quick reply,
I'm not really interested in Windows, I currently have a custom PC running Windows, that I despise -.-
Right now, I'm on Macbook Pro that is a 'family' one.

Nor am I really interested in 4K

I'm currently thinking of leaving the iMac (as I'll be buying that out of my own money) until October-y time, so if Apple do release a new model, the base ones may include the new Skylake processors (hopefully ).

Thanks again,
- James

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Thanks for the quick reply,
I'm not really interested in Windows, I currently have a custom PC running Windows, that I despise -.-
Right now, I'm on Macbook Pro that is a 'family' one.

Nor am I really interested in 4K

I'm currently thinking of leaving the iMac (as I'll be buying that out of my own money) until October-y time, so if Apple do release a new model, the base ones may include the new Skylake processors (hopefully ).

Thanks again,
- James

To be honest Skylake won't make all that much difference to the imac apart from slightly better graphics. Thunderbolt and USBC are of little use on a PC with a built in screen DDR4 is not much better than DDR3 currently and very expensive I don't see it coming in.
Don't be surprised to see the end of non-retina imacs, apart from the very low level one with the macbook air internals.
But yes skylake desktop processors are looking to be out in august just in time for an autumn imac update.