Need help picking a Mac please.

[Forelli87]

Hey everyone (Mods if this is in the wrong section, could you kindly move it - thanks).

Long time luker, first time poster. Cut a long story short: I broke my old 2008 MacBook and the insurance company have issued me £899 Argos vouchers to replace the laptop. I have decided to contribute money towards a new computer/laptop. I don't mind whether it's a Laptop or Computer. The only way I'd get the iMac is if the performance was significantly better than the said Macbook Pros.

The computer/laptop will be primarily used for surfing & gaming (SC2/WoW, but would like it to be able to play some more demanding games).

The following are what Argos offer and are within my budget:
Apple MacBook Pro 13 Inch - £1299
-2.7GHz Dual Core i7 -4G RAM
-500GB HD
-Intel HD Graphics 3000 graphics card, 384MB graphics memory.

Apple MacBook Pro 15 Inch- £1299
-2.4GHz i5
-4G RAM
-320GB HD
-nVIDIA GeForce GT330M graphics card.

I could squeeze out extra funds for the following if it'd be worth it?

Apple MacBook Pro 15 Inch £1549
- 2.0GHz Quad Core i7 -4G RAM
- 500GB HD
- AMD Radeon HD 6750M graphics card, 256MB graphics memory.

They also sell the following iMac. As I am not too bothered about whether I get a laptop or desktop, how would this compare with the above laptop?

Apple iMac 27 Inch - £1399
-2.7GHz Intel Quad Core i5
-1TB HD
- 4G RAM
- AMD 6770M graphics card with 512MB memory.

There is also a Apple iMac 27 - Inch 1TB, 3.1GHz Intel Core i5, AMD 6970M graphics card with 1000MB memory, for £1649, but I would rather not pay that much extra... unless it was going to make a significant difference.

Thank you for any help given.

 

[alust2013]

If you're buying it with a lot of gaming in mind, the only one to really go for is the 27" 3.1GHz. The rest of the graphics cards are pretty weak. If you don't mind lower settings, then the 15" i5 would be ok as well. However, I'd say it would be better to buy a gaming PC if you just want to game.

 

[Peteman100]

Yep, you want to get the fastest GPU possible if you want decent frames on demanding games

 

[Young Spade]

Well if you KNOW you aren't going to move it, get an iMac. They are going to be generally more powerful, have better specs, and of course you get a bigger screen.

All of those machines (CPU wise) will be able to run the games, however the graphics card is going to be the bottleneck in this situation (I think?). If you're playing more intense games having more memory in the graphics card will allow you to play those games at a higher framerate with better graphics.

If you can, save up for a separate monitor as well, that will definitely improve the overall experience.

 

[SPBMacintosh]

you basically answered your own question, you want games and you dont really wanna move it

the imac is a nobrainer!

 

[opeter]

Or a PC for 700-800 £ with Windows 7 Home Premium, a 22" or bigger monitor and a nice graphic card. For games, you don't need an x-IPS monitor anyway.

 

[aery]

Get the iMac.

 

[Kendo]

Definitely go with the high-end 27" iMac. The other GPU's are great for browsing the net and watching movies however they are simply "adequate" for gaming. The 6970M on the other hand is a GREAT gaming GPU. It is the 2nd most powerful mobile GPU in the market.

 

[jmpnop]

Windows based PC is undoubtedly the best for gaming. Build your own PC, it'll be a lot better and cheaper.