Replace 2011 27" iMac with new 2012 13" MBP+Apple Cinema Display?

[Azzin]

Folks, as per title really.

I've just had an offer from a desperate customer for my iMac of £1400, so I was just going to accept it and get a new one.

However, I was going to get myself a 13" MBP today anyway (waiting for Black Friday prices), but now I'm wondering if I should just get one and add 27" Cinema Display (as opposed to getting the MBP and then a new iMac?

I don't game, I simply use it as a business tool. I have MS Office and run W7 for my invoicing software in a VM using VM Fusion.

I guess my main query is regards resolution, as I run the iMac at 2560 x 1440, which presumably a 13" iMac doesn't do?

Cheers all.

[Edit] - I just noticed this:

A bigger display for your biggest ideas.

Connect your Mac with Mini DisplayPort to the LED Cinema Display for a panoramic viewing experience unlike any other.

You get a huge 27-inch widescreen display with a cinematic 16:9 aspect ratio and an astonishing 2560-by-1440 resolution.

And its glossy finish shows off graphics, photos and video in rich colours and deep blacks.

Works with every new Mac.

You can connect your LED Cinema Display to any of the current lineup of Mac notebooks and desktops: MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, Mac mini and Mac Pro.

http://store.apple.com/uk/product/M...)?fnode=53&fs=m.productKind=displays#overview

 

[T5BRICK]

The 13" MBP will work fine with the 27" thunderbolt display.

 

[Azzin]

The 13" MBP will work fine with the 27" thunderbolt display.

Thanks.

What about in terms of power, presumably the June 2012 i7 2.9Ghz MBP will be a fair equal to my 2.7Ghz i5 2011 iMac?

 

[Azzin]

OK, well I did the deed and I'm typing this from my MBP!

A couple of questions if I may...

I have opened Finder and right clicked, copied/pasted the following folders to an external USB HDD:

• Documents.
• Downloads.
• Movies.
• Music.
• Photos.

I've installed iTunes on my MBP too, but I want to make sure that it will continue to recognise my iPhone, when I want to add music to it for example.

So are there any folders that I need to copy too, apart from the actual "Music" folder?

Other than that, I think I'm done and ready to go.

The only other thing I'm going to do is replace the HDD with an SSD, put the existing 750 gig HDD in the optical bay and stick 16GB of RAM in it (rude not to at circa £60 delivered for 2 x 8 gig sticks).

The question I have about that is I currently have a 750Gb drive and I'm going to put the 256 gig SSD in.

How should I start the process?

Obviously take a backup of the 750 gig drive, then put it in the optical caddy in the optical bay, but should I just install ML on the SSD and then manually copy stuff back?

What's the best procedure?

Actually, maybe it's better not to get a 256 gig drive and just get a smaller one to run the O/S on and also programs? Then, just use the 750 gig drive for data storage?

For info, I have the following in terms of folders:

• Circa 260 gig of music in the Music folder.
• Circa 100 gig in Movies folder (all iMovie stuff).
• Circa 25 gig in the Pictures folder.

Thanks all.

 

[NewishMacGuy]

Were I you, I'd put the SSD in the optibay and put the 750GB HDD in the main bay and make a "Fusion" drive. That way you keep the SMS protection on the drive that needs it and your system will recognize the two drives as a single 1TB boot volume, and manage the shuffling of data between the SDD and the HDD "auto-magically" (as my kids say). That way you can keep everything on the laptop without the hassle of having to manage two drives.