iMac 27" 2012 vs rMBP 15"

Hey all,

Trying to decide between dropping the cash on a base model 27" iMac 2012, or investing in a refurb rMBP 15" (i7 2.3Ghz). I'm primarily concerned about best bang for my $1800, and which will last longer/be a better casual gaming machine. I play League of Legends on my current MBA 13" and it runs at a pretty steady 30 FPS with most settings on High/Medium, so I feel that either will probably be a pretty hefty upgrade, but still, I can't quite decide if the overheating and form factor (not a beautiful 27" display, just a beautiful 15" display ) are enough to sway me towards the iMac.

For the record, I do most of my gaming at home, and spend most of my "away from computer time" browsing the web on my iPad. I have my MBA hooked up to an external Samsung monitor, but that display maxes out at 1920 x 1080, so I'm guessing that hooking up the rMBP to the Samsung will degrade the Retina-ness of the laptop anyway.

Anyways, let me know what you guys think. Any and all help appreciated!

 

Is there a fundamental difference between the i5 of the iMac 27" base and the i7 of the rMBP? I know the rMBP uses a mobile i7, but according to notebookcheck, it actually outperforms the iMac's CPU.

Additionally, I've seen a few threads (on here, actually, I believe) that claim the rMBP's GPU is actually OC'ed to be faster than the GTX660m (the GPU in the 27" base iMac).

Only reason I point this out is because I hear the point you're making a lot, but unless I'm missing something, I don't see where portability (in this instance) sacrifices power...

 

I played with the Fusion Drive-equipped model at the Apple Store and didn't notice too much of a difference between it and the 7200 RPM HDD-equipped iMac, at least for oft-used applications, which was pretty surprising. It was certainly faster, but not by the light years I was expecting it to be by. Might consider investing the base $1,999 unit for that added GPU performance....