Performance & Thermal Advantages of iMac Over rMBP

[luc182]

I'm looking into getting either an iMac or a rMBP 15". More specifically the 2.6 rMBP, 16GB, 750m or the 3.5 iMac, 780m (I would probably upgrade the ram myself to 16GB and opt for the flash storage).

The portability aspect aside, what are the realistic performance and thermal advantages that the iMac has over the rMBP? Will I really notice that much of a difference on the iMac?

Mostly doing Adobe CC design work, photography, web design and some app development.

 

[thedeske]

They bench somewhat close, but the availability of more Ram in Photoshop (from 32) is 1 item. More I.O. on the iMac, but perhaps that doesn't matter. GTX 780M with 4GB? Thermal? A non HD iMac runs cool and silent. Your hands will be on the laptop, so...? The iMac likely makes more heat, but you'll never be close enough to the heat source to notice. It will draw more power as well, but we're talking pennies more.

Screen size would be too obvious? Just Kidding, but zooming in on the 27 is darn nice

 

[yjchua95]

I'm looking into getting either an iMac or a rMBP 15". More specifically the 2.6 rMBP, 16GB, 750m or the 3.5 iMac, 780m (I would probably upgrade the ram myself to 16GB and opt for the flash storage).

The portability aspect aside, what are the realistic performance and thermal advantages that the iMac has over the rMBP? Will I really notice that much of a difference on the iMac?

Mostly doing Adobe CC design work, photography, web design and some app development.

The iMac runs silently even under heavy loads, and even if the fan spins up, it's a barely-inaudible whir.

I have a 27" with 3.5/32/512/780M and love it.

And it doesn't overheat as fast as my 15" rMBP (2.6/16/1TB/750M).

In benchmarks, both are very close.

 

[Truthfulie]

The iMac runs silently even under heavy loads, and even if the fan spins up, it's a barely-inaudible whir.

Unfortunately that's not the case under real heavy loads. Try doing some encoding with Handbrake and the fans will kick in loudly and rather obnoxiously in my opinion. But you won't hear that kind of noise doing what OP is planning to do. iMacs aren't particularly great with thermals either but it sure does beat any laptops.