New Quad-core 27" iMac or new Quad core MacBook Pro + 27" Cinema Display?

[xxBURT0Nxx]

@xxBURT0Nxx: You're arguing for the sake of arguing. It was fun for one day but really, this has proven to be nothing but a waste of bandwidth. Later.

Arguing? I'm trying to tell you that you beliefs about the differences between mbp and imac are false....

guess you don't want to listen, oh well not my money that's being wasted.

Good day!

 

[Mintin8]

OP, I'd go for the ACD and the MBP 17. Best of both worlds and that in itself should be your deciding factor. I'll probably move to 17 and ACD setup next year, but for now, the iMac suits my purposes.

 

[mrwonkers]

To the original poster go with MBP and external screen, but look at other alternatives to the ACD. I have a Dell Ultrasharp IPS that cost half what the ACD costs and the image quality is definitely as good if not better than the ACD. Good luck making a decision.

 

[Crunch]

Arguing? I'm trying to tell you that you beliefs about the differences between mbp and imac are false....

guess you don't want to listen, oh well not my money that's being wasted.

Good day!

I guess I'll waste one more minute on responding to your ill-conceived perceptions of reality. If you do some searching on the highest-end 2011 MacBook Pro 15" and 17" (they have the same guts except for the screen size and resolution), you will find some fresh benchmarks that are making the rounds on quite a few blog sites. The consensus is that there are VERY FEW Mac's of ANY kind (including Mac Pro's, and recent model, high-end iMac's) that are faster than the new 2011 MBP powerhouses. So sorry, but I only gave myself a minute, remember, so you'll have to do the digging cause time's up. Laters...

OP, I'd go for the ACD and the MBP 17. Best of both worlds and that in itself should be your deciding factor. I'll probably move to 17 and ACD setup next year, but for now, the iMac suits my purposes.

<exhaling violently> LOL...THANK YOU........ Ok, so I guess this was going to happen sooner or later, but I think I just had the pleasure of talking to a certifiable bona-fide Mac "fanboy". I hope this is as bad as it gets, because I can't get caught up in trivialities of this sort all the time and it's just not fun either.

...and that's exactly what I wanted out of this, to have fun playing with the crazy idea about trading in my super gorgeous 27" iMac for the combination of the 27" Cinema Display and a 17" MacBook Pro.

It is not exactly something that I have ever done or thought I would want, but when I switched to the Mac platform, I went all the way! I even bought the darn Apple battery charger (haha), although I recently swapped that baby out for an iPad 2 dock, but that's for another thread. So while I believe that I have done sufficient research, I just wanted to run all this by you guys to see if there were some fundamental problems with doing so.

It is refreshing to read that you guys (Mintin8, mrwonderks and other likeminded folks that I've quoted in previous posts) understand what it means to seek the Best of Both Worlds and not just wanting your cake but woofing it down, too. (why is there no slice of cake emoticon anyway?) lol

By the way, I can't wait until we have some ThunderBolt devices happening. My 4TB NAS only has 500GB left, so this is perfect timing! Actually, the 17" MBP has one more advantage over the 15" besides the already mentioned ones: It has an Express card slot! Doesn't that mean that I could stick a USB 3.0 or eSATA card in there and enjoy higher speeds with moving large files around, which I tend to do a lot. FireWire 800 only goes so far!

I guess it doesn't matter anymore now with the ThunderBolt storage devices coming up shortly, right?

To the original poster go with MBP and external screen, but look at other alternatives to the ACD. I have a Dell Ultrasharp IPS that cost half what the ACD costs and the image quality is definitely as good if not better than the ACD. Good luck making a decision.

The above response is for you as much as it is for Mintin8 except you raised another good point. Does it really have to be an ACD or can a similarly equipped monitor do the job equally as well or even better for less cash? As far as my research has led me to believe that there isn't one, and co-incidentally, I've heard good things about the Dell Ultrasharp as well. What I need is around 26-30" with IPS, and the high QXGA resolution (2560x1600) or "QXGA-like", such as the 2560x1440.

This actually brings me to one other question: What do you guys think about my getting the 30" Cinema Display that Apple discontinued last fall when it introduced the 27" one? They sold them forever, so there must be some recent ones out there, right? What if I come upon one that's a couple of years old? How long do these displays usually last? I certainly wouldn't mind a matte display, which the 30" ACD has and which I used to insist on for every laptop that I ever bought. At the same time, I love the 27" screen that's part of my iMac (and therefore the one in the 27" ACD).

Glossy and matte certainly both have advantages and disadvantages, but I am actively considering getting a recent version of the 30" ACD that was discontinued by Apple.

Thank you all very much and I look forward to more responses about this new question, which is the fruit of this lively debate. I honestly never thought I could have this much fun with Mac's, iPhone's, iPad's and also things like the wireless keyboard and the Magic Trackpad...Shiny, beautiful pieces of art that do some really cool stuff.

 

[daneoni]

And what are you talking about, in the macbook pro nothing is more accessible than in the iMac. Not sure where you heard that, but the only things you can upgrade on a mbp are the ram and hard drive. Same goes for an iMac, neither is meant to be upgraded by the user beyond those two pieces of hardware...

and your original post is still wrong... the macbook pro is no more "upgradeable" than the iMac. Not sure who told you this but that is grossly wrong! No portable computer is considered "upgradeable"

It is far easier to access the HDD (or even the ODD) on the MBP (10 screws and you're in) than on the iMac (pretty much a full disassembly) and there's no dust on screen or insane spinning fans to worry about or afterwards. The tone of your posts suggest an instant dislike towards the OP...you've been on his case from the get go...dunno know why.

 

[davidlv]

Check this review out, it actually has a lot of info on the MBP and an external monitor too, as the reviewer had that setup.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4340/27inch-apple-imac-review-2011

 

[Uofmtiger]

Check this review out, it actually has a lot of info on the MBP and an external monitor too, as the reviewer had that setup.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4340/27inch-apple-imac-review-2011

Thank you for the link. I have been trying to make this decision, too. After reading the article, I think I am going to get the iMac ( now I have to research the differences in the 27 inch models and options). I mainly use an iPad for portability and I can just use my (hardly ever used) HP laptop (or iPad) with Logmein to have access to my desktop if I really need it.

I am mainly deciding based on price and convenience...I like my laptop near the couch and having to dock it in my home office is just an extra step I could live without. I just hope they come out with a way to use the monitor as a display for other stuff ( ps3, PC, etc..), but it is not a huge problem if they don't.

 

[benbrownlol]

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That Burton dude was talking alot for somthing he was wrong about lol, the HDD in the new iMacs is not upgradable at all