Macbook pro pluss iMac or just add 27" display?

[AfroAlien]

So, the title says most of it...
I have got a macbook pro, 15" 2,3 i7 with a 600gb intel SSD,
and I was wondering about buying a iMac 27" or if I should just go for a display?
is here a big difference between a top spec macbook pro and a top spec iMac?

lets say I get the iMac, is it possible to run windows on it and play, lets say, Battlefield 3 online with it?

also, first post.. be gentle

 

[philipma1957]

Yes you can run your imac in windows and run battlefield 3

OKAY the 27 inch imac or display pushes a lot of pixels.

you can argue buy a 21.5 inch iMac with the hi end cpu at 1499 plus 200 or 1699. the gpu is a 6770m with 512mb . this is a lessor gpu but the 21.5 inch imac pushes less pixels so it is not terrible. or you can buy the top of the line 27 inch with the better cpu 2199 plus 200 is 2399 with a 6970m 1gb gpu card. some would say add the 6970m 2gb card for 100 more. cost is 2499


if you set this machine at 1920 x 1080 pixels it will run battlefield well.

personally I would buy this from the apple refurbished store.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FD063LL/A


why ?
top of the line cpu
the gpu is good

it is 500 less then the same model new with the same warranty... also sometimes you get better specs

extra ram

better gpu

bigger hdd

since this is a savings of 500

you can buy


http://store.apple.com/us/product/TW851LL/A


for 30.00




http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/09/elgato-thunderbolt-ssd/

a thunderbolt ssd for 400

 

[mellofello]

Honestly if the 27 inch cinema display was available at the time I bought my imac, then I probably would have purchased that and a top line macbook pro. My timeline for upgrades is every 3 years for computers, but monitors usually last for 5-10 years. I would have preferred the flexibility of being able to take my main computer with me sometimes instead of transferring files to my mac air.

Honestly next go round will probably just be the top line air, and hopefully my POS imac will last long enough to be used as a display for the new mac air.

 

[bungiefan89]

Honestly if the 27 inch cinema display was available at the time I bought my imac, then I probably would have purchased that and a top line macbook pro. My timeline for upgrades is every 3 years for computers, but monitors usually last for 5-10 years. I would have preferred the flexibility of being able to take my main computer with me sometimes instead of transferring files to my mac air.

Honestly next go round will probably just be the top line air, and hopefully my POS imac will last long enough to be used as a display for the new mac air.

That sounds like a good plan and one that I may try to replicate. I've got a top-line 27" iMac and a late-2009 Macbook right now. When the Macbook is no longer any good, a top-of-the-line Air (maybe in 2013 or 2014) would be a great partner to my iMac with thunderbolt.

And on a side not about Battlefield 3's performance on a top-line 27" iMac... in my experience the machine can't quite run the game at a decent framerate with Ultra settings at 1080p, you'd have to tone the graphics down to run it at that resolution. However, it played at 1600x1200 with ultra settings just fine and I did not notice any pixelation despite the reduced resolution.

Furthermore, the funny thing I've noticed about Battlefield 3 is... there's really not much of a visual difference between Low and Ultra settings. So if your Macbook Pro can run the game even on the lowest settings with a decent framerate, you're not really missing out on much, and the display might be the better choice over the iMac in that regard. Check some graphics comparison videos for BF3 on YouTube.