Replace mid 2010 27" IMac

[Pigpen29]

We currently own a mid 2010 iMac "Core i7" 2.93 27-Inch Quad Core 2.93 GHz Intel "Core i7" I7-870 (Lynnfield) with 4 gb of ram and 1tb hard drive. We use it for photo and video editing mostly.

Lately I have been thinking it would be nice to have a laptop that I could take on work trips with me and family vacations for photo editing and general use. The 13" MBP I feel is likely what I want. My question is would that be able to replace my iMac at home as well? I was thinking of getting a regular monitor and docking it up to that with a an external HD for storage when home. Would I notice a significant drop in performance due to going from a discrete graphic card like the Radeon hd 5750 to the built in Intel iris 5100? The benchmarks put the 5100 less then half the capability of the 5750. But will the SSD and 8 gb of ram make up for that?

 

[Hieveryone]

Absolutely. If you get a 13" MBPr with 8GB RAM, 1 TB SSD, and 2.8 GHz i7 you'd be set. 2.6 is good too as well as 2.4. Whatever suits the bank account best. Just get an external monitor and a BookArc!!!

 

[Pigpen29]

1 tb ssd?! Doubt I can afford that. I was thinking 256 ssd and 8gb. With the i5 2.4. Just worried I will be getting the beachball a lot when doing audio video editing.

 

[mr.bee]

I bought a 15" after a 27" imac. I must confess the screen felt small the following months. An extra screen in the house surely helps

I still consider a setup of a smaller imac and a cheap macbook air. I think it still would be nicer then the rmbp setup.

 

[Pigpen29]

Ya I am thinking I will get a 24" screen and hook the MBP to that when home with wireless keyboard and mouse. Just hate to spend all this money and it be the same speed or even slower then my 2010 imac.