Need advice, iMac or Upgrade MBP

[MikeArtworks]

Hey guys (and girls)!

I'm currently owning a 2016 rMBP with touch bar 13 inch specced out (i7 etc.). However, they 13 inch is good to work with on the go, but at home I'd like a larger screen. Now I have a 4k 27 inch monitor but that sadly does not work great. Even though it's the i7 version, it still can't run the 4k monitor properly. On internet and most apps it works, but in Photoshop at larger resolutions it stutters a bit, which is not great as detailed work is hard to do when there's even a slight bit of lag.

Now, I was thinking, as I'm going to University (CS) after Summer this year, I will DEFINITELY need a Macbook (pro). There are 2 options:

1. iMac 5k 27" with Radeon 580 and possibly sell the monitor I currently have and use the MacBook Pro for school etc.
2. Sell 13 inch Macbook, buy a full specced MacBook Pro 15 inch which will probably run the monitor flawlessly.

Could you guys give advice, what would you do if you were me?

Bonus question: Would you guys advice buying an iPad Pro to go with the MacBook Pro to school, and use it for note taking etc..? Money is no problem at the moment.

Thanks!

- Mike


PS... External GPU Kit is also possible, Developer account available. What about this?

 

[MacGizmo]

If money is no problem, then do whatever you want. I mean, you're asking to solve first-world problems here. You have a brand new MacBook Pro and a 4k 27" monitor—most people would kill for that setup. That being said, if it's not working for you or you're not happy with it then you should fix it.

First thing I would do is figure out what the problem with using that 4K Display you already have is. Or, perhaps you just buy a new display, which is much cheaper than buying a new Mac.

If it were me, I would want to keep as much as I could and spend as little as possible. So I would keep the 13" MBPro and use it for school and/or work on the go.

Get a 5K iMac, boost it with the i7, highest video card option, most pure SSD storage option you can afford, and buy the RAM from OWC separately (32GB should be enough for even the most demanding Photoshop work).

I fail to see what good the iPad Pro would be when you have a 13" MBP, so I wouldn't bother with it.

 

[cptn.nemo]

I use my iPad Pro for everything at school, the only thing I used my laptop for was one class which used a websites that didn't support iPad. Other than that I never took my laptop. If you have a MacBook the iPad Pro is kind of pointless. I use it for design with the pencil, and I do love having a tablet with pencil for college notes. Now I have an iMac and an iPad Pro and I'm loving it. There are macs at school I can use if I need it and I love having such a light iPad with me

 

[MikeArtworks]

Well what I'm afraid off is that my 13 inch MacBook Pro is too small for coding, and the 15 inch too big for taking it around campus & home.

What do you guys think?

 

[kschendel]

I cart around a 2013 15 inch rMBP regularly, and I'm hardly Atlas. (Plus, I'm old!) Carrying a 15 incher all the time might be a bit of a nuisance, but wouldn't be out of the question, for me at least. I agree with MacGizmo that I'd want to figure out what's the deal with your external monitor before throwing extra money around; is it the monitor? the GPU in the MBP? something about the cabling or resolutions? The CPU doesn't normally have anything to do with display stuttering unless it's having to re-render, or unless you're running off the built-in Intel graphics and it's not keeping up.

Programming and photoshop work are two entirely different things. I write code for a living and worked on a 24 inch Apple LCD for years, then went to a 32 inch monitor. You don't need crazy CPU speed or fancy GPU power for most programming / CS tasks, you need a reasonably responsive system and plenty of screen real estate.

 

[MacGizmo]

I carry a 15" MBP in my backpack all the time. Quite frankly, while there is a difference in weight, it's not that much. In other words, if you have to carry around the weight of the 13" - then the 15" is only marginally more weight at that point. You might as well get the one you're going to be happy with USING, rather than CARRYING.