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iMac or MacBook

I

iwanttobuyamac

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 16, 2015
10
0
I'm going to buy a new mac, and i'm not sure which one i should buy..

I am currently working on some commercials and my other mac couldn't do the job anymore. I'm going to need a pretty powerful mac to handle my projects and now i'm wondering wether i should buy the most upgraded MacBook Pro 15" or the 27" imac i7.

I know that the iMac is going to do the job better, but it's going to be a pain un the ass to drag around since there is going to be a lot of traveling.

Is the difference between these two machines really that big? Is it that big, that it is worth draging around a huge 27" iMac everywhere?
 
I'm not an expert by any means, but here's the comparison page at Apple for the differences. You can rearrange the models anyway you want by dragging them.

http://www.apple.com/mac/compare/

From what I see, the real difference is just portability and screen size. If you travel that much, I don't see how you could do without the MacBook Pro.
 
I thought the MBPs used -M Mobile processors, more optimized for power saving where the iMac use full blown desktop processors
 
Dartanian77 said:
I thought the MBPs used -M Mobile processors, more optimized for power saving where the iMac use full blown desktop processors
Click to expand...

What you're saying is almost correct! The MBP 13" laptops all have dualcore mobile processors, but the MBP 15" laptops comes with quadcore ;)

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Jack Parker said:
I'm not an expert by any means, but here's the comparison page at Apple for the differences. You can rearrange the models anyway you want by dragging them.

http://www.apple.com/mac/compare/

From what I see, the real difference is just portability and screen size. If you travel that much, I don't see how you could do without the MacBook Pro.
Click to expand...

I'll check, thanks! :D
 
If you are going to be on the go, i recommended the 15' retina with dual graphics thats what i have and i use it for college and its great. Also if you want to do work and like sit at Starbucks you can't do that with an iMac.
 
andy9l said:
They're still mobile processors in the 15 inch.

Check the benchmark scores: http://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks

Obviously benchmark results are only an indication of real-world difference, though.
Click to expand...
The 2.8GHz i7 in the 15" can score over 15000 points. Very close to the 3.5GHz i7 in the 27" non retina iMac.

Mobile processors have come a long way.

The HQ-processors in the 15" are also actually TDP-unlocked. Some place tested the HQ-processors found in the 15" and discovered that they only throttled when thermal conditions became too hot, and not when TDP went past its design limits.

So with adequate ventilation, that 15" can really scream.

My 15" from late-2013 has an i7-4960HQ 2.6GHz with 750M, and it does my 4K work pretty smoothly. Raw 2K footage from my Arri Alexa also works well.

I did a somewhat long transcoding job on my machine before for almost an hour nonstop, and it barely throttled. It averaged 3.7-3.8GHz throughout, and only throttled down to 3.4-3.5GHz when it got a bit hot. Even throttling was only momentarily.
 
yjchua95 said:
The 2.8GHz i7 in the 15" can score over 15000 points. Very close to the 3.5GHz i7 in the 27" non retina iMac.



Mobile processors have come a long way.
Click to expand...


Never said they hadn't! I was simply stating they are mobile CPUs.

Ultimately, you're looking at a 10-15% performance increase from the 4790K iMac vs. the 4980HQ rMBP.

You're still stuck with a mobile GPU in the iMac though.
 
andy9l said:
Never said they hadn't! I was simply stating they are mobile CPUs.

Ultimately, you're looking at a 10-15% performance increase from the 4790K iMac vs. the 4980HQ rMBP.

You're still stuck with a mobile GPU in the iMac though.
Click to expand...

The mobile GPU in the iMac is already good enough for most purposes, and are almost on par with their desktop counterparts.

10-15% increase in performance wouldn't mean much.

Considering that the mobile CPUs in the rMBPs are TDP-unlocked, they can be as powerful as their desktop counterparts assuming that thermal conditions are identical.
 
If you are doing any form of photo editing then there is no question in my mind which is superior. I use a rMacbook Pro for editing using Lightroom and Photoshop when traveling but the riMac just blows it away for clarity and the ability to discern details that the rMacbook doesn't display. As for processing power I haven't noticed that much difference as they are both fast enough for my purposes.
 
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