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FrightWait

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Nov 25, 2016
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Guys, I have been talking to my friends about this and wanted to get where the MacRumours crowd think regarding this.

Given how powerful MacBook Pro's are and the ease of accessing external displays, where do you see the future in iMac? I definitely see Mac Pros playing a role for the extreme requirements of some of the high end developers, but I'm not sure what market iMac would attract above MacBook Pros.

Does anyone have both iMac and MBP? How do you set your workflow with these 2 devices?
 
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Guys, I have been talking to my friends about this and wanted to get where the MacRumours crowd think regarding this.

Given how powerful MacBook Pro's are and the ease of accessing external displays, where do you see the future in iMac? I definitely see Mac Pros playing a role for the extreme requirements of some of the high end developers, but I'm not sure what market iMac would attract above MacBook Pros.

Does anyone have both iMac and MBP? How do you set your workflow with these 2 devices?
Reference Apple MacBook Pro (2021) vs iMac: Which one should you buy? - XDA-Developer 10/29

Form-factor aside, both of these devices offer a very similar user experience overall. The new macOS Monterey is a decent software bump over the macOS Big Sur and will perform very well on both machines. The iMac 2021 is a very capable all-in-one PC for those looking to set up shop for working from home. The MacBook Pro 2021 model, on the other hand, remains a fantastic and more powerful choice for anyone looking for portability from their Mac. The day-to-day experience between both devices will essentially be the same, but the MacBook Pros will be better for creative workloads, thanks to the improved GPU performance.
Right now the fact that we haven't seen larger iMac get released that uses a M1 Pro/M1 Max has unbalanced this traditional level playing field for usages. When that does happen, you going to see a lot of people that use iMacs be drawn to them compared to right now with the 2021 MBP 14"/16" models. But I value both of them for their different strengths.

I really haven't been going clamshell with a laptop and external monitors with my existing MBP because I use it as standalone mobile computer. The iMac offers a much larger resolution to watch/edit content and utilize multiple applications.

There's actually a lot of people out there that use both a iMac and MBP. Both act as backups to each other in case something happens. You can also do DFU repairs with this pairing. It also allows one to have two screen with different content on both so that you could be communicating with someone on either and use the other for other activities that you couldn't do with only one computer. :)
 
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Having an iMac 24" allows me to do a few things;
- Forces me to sit in my office which helps me focus more or at a minimum give me a break from all the noise that's seemingly in every other room (e.g. kitchen, living room, etc).
- Prefer the larger screen that has built-in 4K, solid webcam, and decent built in speakers.
- Prefer a mouse/keyboard that I can move around based on my sitting position.
- Feels redundant having a laptop in clamshell mode only to have an external mice/keyboard next to it. Additionally, before M1 chips you also had a lot of heat/fan noise in clamshell mode.
- Allows me to have a smaller MacBook or iPad for mobility or utilize as a 2nd/3rd screen via sidecar and upcoming universal control given Apple doesn't screw that up.
- I don't need MBP power but since the MBA has a subpar screen and only comes in one size I don't have a choice unless I buy a base model MBP 16" for almost double the price of a base model iMac and is a pain to lug around when out of the house.

In a nutshell, I use an iMac when at home enjoying the all-in-one experience and use my iPad 12.9" or MBA when traveling which is few and far between. Now if the new iMac Pro's have miniLED/ProMotion I might think about upgrading just for the display but if Apple doesn't fix their ongoing ProMotion issues in Safari I may not do it.
 
I switched to the iMac Pro after seven years of MacBook Pros+external displays. I absolutely love it. Dead silent. The 5K resolution is amazing. A lot less cables on the desktop. My Macbooks always got extremely hot with external displays.

There also seem to be more problems with laptops. My 17” fried the graphics card four times before Apple stopped repairing it.
 
Interesting. I can definitely appreciate how it could be easier to carry something portable such as MBA and use iMac as the main workstation.

I switched to the iMac Pro after seven years of MacBook Pros+external displays. I absolutely love it. Dead silent. The 5K resolution is amazing. A lot less cables on the desktop. My Macbooks always got extremely hot with external displays.

There also seem to be more problems with laptops. My 17” fried the graphics card four times before Apple stopped repairing it.

By the way, I use my new 2021 MBP with my old LG Ultrafine 5K display, and it is very quiet at the moment. My previous one (2016 MBP 15") definitely got quite noisy.
 
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Interesting. I can definitely appreciate how it could be easier to carry something portable such as MBA and use iMac as the main workstation.
Yes the only thing I’m missing is couch mode, fanless M1 MBA would be great for that but 13” is a bit small and 16” M1 pros pretty expensive as second computer. Maybe M2 MBA if the bezels are black
 
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Yes the only thing I’m missing is couch mode, fanless M1 MBA would be great for that but 13” is a bit small and 16” M1 pros pretty expensive as second computer. Maybe M2 MBA if the bezels are black
I honestly think the white bezel rumors might be true on the new MBA's. Apple will align the iMac 24" colors/style with the MBA as it seems this colorful path for non-pro models is here to stay and the pro models will get black bezels/better displays. Would be funny if next years non-pro iPhones had white bezels as well ha.
 
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I honestly think the white bezel rumors might be true on the new MBA's. Apple will align the iMac 24" colors/style with the MBA as it seems this colorful path for non-pro models is here to stay and the pro models will get black bezels/better displays. Would be funny if next years non-pro iPhones had white bezels as well ha.
Ouch, I would rather commit seppuku than buying anything with white bezels. I also would sell my intestines for a matte black iMac 30” M2 Max. I really hope the black area around the M1 MacBook Pro keyboard is a sign of a darker future. Please Apple do this.
 
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Really interesting topic. About 10 years ago I got a big powerful laptop, figuring it could substitute for a desktop. I was completely wrong.
But now might be the time to rethink this. Especially if Apple puts the same processor in all sizes of desktops and laptops; then the decision merely comes down to what wrapper you want it in.
 
Really interesting topic. About 10 years ago I got a big powerful laptop, figuring it could substitute for a desktop. I was completely wrong.
But now might be the time to rethink this. Especially if Apple puts the same processor in all sizes of desktops and laptops; then the decision merely comes down to what wrapper you want it in.
Yes a 6K 120Hz 30” Liquid Retina XDR iMac wrapper would be very very nice
 
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I love my desktop. I have a late 2015 iMac with a 27" display. I do a lot of photography work and the 27" display gives me editing capabilities I do not get in a smaller screen. I tried a laptop some years ago and, possibly because I am a creature of habit, just could not get into it. I like the mouse, the location of my system, and I use it as my central work station for everything. I do have an iPad Pro for other activities, but I will remain a desktop person.
 
All things being equal yeah, but things aren’t equal

1) external screens are second class citizens. Just watch a Mac mini buyer try to scale the interface. Or change brightness from the keyboard.

2) iMac always wins in value, especially if you are buying iMac spec parts anyway - screen, mouse, keyboard

3) iMacs are super reliable. Leave out the spinner (which is now required) and iMacs are just getting warmed up at 10 years.

4) clutter - built in is just tidier
 
The iMac 27" has always been a cost-effective desktop for those who want a reasonably large display. It has almost always been cheaper than buying any other Mac with a monitor of comparable size and resolution. That's why it's so popular in homes, offices, and university computer labs.

Laptops have been powerful enough to replace desktops in most uses for over a decade. They are just too inconvenient to use if you have to move them regularly. Connecting/disconnecting peripherals, making sure you are not interrupting fragile background processes, rearranging/resizing windows all the time, and packing/unpacking things quickly becomes annoying if you use a laptop as your only computer. A dedicated desktop makes so much sense if you can afford one.
 
I have a new 14" MBP being delivered today. But I think that's an extension of my workflow, not the center, which will remain my 2020 iMac 27". There's just so much that it does right. I've tried the docking thing with a laptop before, and the problem is that there seems to ALWAYS be intermittent resolution/syncing/screen issues when you first turn on. The other thing is cooling. Sure the new MacBook Pro's are power houses, but I still bet if I'm tooling around in 3D with multiple applications open, the iMac is going to be quieter.

Another point is that the design of the iMac is just so freaking classic. I love how this thing looks. I almost don't want Apple to change it too much (I really hate the look of the apple silicon iMac but its totally subjective to each person). And Apple STILL refuses to release a cost effective display, so even if I wanted to ditch the iMac, I'd have to go with a 3rd party display, which seems reasonable enough, except that I'm a true OCD apple fan and a 3rd party display would just feel 'meh' to me the whole time I used it.

That said, one thing I'm honestly struggling with, is that the iMac is causing me some serious eye strain (I know I know I just talked about how great it is.) I have no idea why, I look at all kinds of screen's for my work. But the iMac definitely causes me eye strains that lead to head aches. It could be a combination of posture, but again I'm very cognizant of these things and have tried everything.
 
If I am going to keep my laptop in clamshell mode, the current premium for the MacBook Pro display does not make much sense. The current models are portable, yes, but not ones I would want to casually have on my lap, as I do now with my M1 Air. I would much prefer the coming more powerful M1 Pro iMac's than the MBP's. That said, personally, I do not even remotely tap the need for that power.
 
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I've not figured it out yet.

I have a Windows Desktop with 3 4k monitors. Next to that an M1 mini with QHD + WSXGA monitors. And I have my MacBook Pro on my other desk. And I have been going through configurations in my mind using two or three of the systems. I could go Windows on one 4k, and the MacBook Pro driving the other two and the mini driving the QHD or just using the MacBook Pro and the mini. It will be a moderate amount of work experimenting as moving cables, computer, around is a bit of work. It would have been easier to decide if Apple had release a mini with the M1 MAX as I could just use that to power the 3 4K displays.

I had planned to use the MacBook Pro for mobile but it might be better as a desktop.

The problem I have with the Retina iMacs (and I considered an Intel 27 iMac), is having to rescale images. Not a problem on an external monitor running at native resolution.
 
For personal use, I have a 27" 5K iMac, with an attached 5K Thunderbolt monitor. I like it for photography, and general computing with two large 5K screens.

For work (now at home during Covid), I have a MBP that I typically use in clamshell mode attached to two Apple Thunderbolt displays and a full set of peripherals (KBD, Mouse, Trackpad). I mostly use office applications, so I do not need the high resolution displays.

For work in the office (zero in the past 20 months), I connect my MBP to a 5K display and a full set of peripherals (KBD, Mouse, Trackpad). I generally keep my MBP open as a 2nd display, but honestly, it feels too small next to a 27" display to be useful.

For my very frequent travel, I take my MBP and my 13" iPad. I have dual logins on my MBP, both work and personal. I use iCloud to keep my personal files synced between my iMac and my MBP, while I am traveling, I have access to all of my data. When I am working on something more complex on my MBP during travel, I will use Apple SideCar to use my 13" iPad as a 2nd display. I also carry a mouse with me. Having the dual 13" displays is actually quite nice while traveling, but in no way does it compare to having dual 27" displays.

One of the biggest reasons that I like to have an iMac at home is because 100% of my data syncs back to that iMac, and from there, it is backed up to multiple destinations including the cloud (BackBlaze), locally via Time Machine X2 (direct HDD and networked HDD), and is also cloned via CCC. I am a strong believer that backups with version history are important.

We used to have dual iMacs at home (myself and my wife). Over time, she used the iMac so infrequently that we gave one to the kids, dropped to just the single iMac and I gave her a login on my machine. Actually, she also has a login on my MBP, so if she needs to get to her data when we are traveling, she can borrow my MBP and get to all her data via iCloud.

/Jim
 
Until now I have an iMac and MBP. I gonna sell both in favor of a new 14"/16" + external display.
Much more convenient and flexible, and the M1 Pro chip is already more powerful than all recent iMac CPUs and most GPUs up to the 5500XT. I don't need more in the next 3-5 years, but ymmv.
 
I think wondering where the wonderful new super powerful M1 Pro & Max equipped laptops leave the current iMac, is based on the assumption that we all need or just want the most powerful CPUs available.

I love my new "humble" M1 iMac, which does 90% of what I ask using just the efficiency cores and only occasionally firing up a performance core or two to get things done...

I certainly don't need to pay for any more performance cores to just sit around idle! The same goes for the GPU!

For getting work done, and leisure, most of the time I much prefer using a desktop for a number of reasons not least of which the larger screen, and when I need to be mobile my 2014 MacBook Air still serves me well.

I'm sure the iMac has a bright future fitted with base Apple silicon for those of us who fall very much into the consumer category, and no doubt models fitted with the more powerful Pro & Max chips will be along soon enough for those who need more.

For my use I think Apple pretty much "nailed it" with the spec of the M1 24" iMac! ?
 
The same question could have been asked when the very first iMacs came out. Reality is, there is a market for all-in-one desktops. Don't have the clutter of cables, the need to find a compatible display. Just power up and do your business.

There will be more powerful iMacs coming, that is a given. In your price range? Depends on if you think these new MacBook Pros are cheap or pricey. An iMac with a larger display is going to cost more than a decked out 24" iMac, that is for sure.

The reality is, as great as these ARM designs sound right now, they will be eclipsed tomorrow. It's the nature of the beast. The early M1 adopters are already being left behind. They can still tout being faster than Apples older hardware... but then, most newer hardware always does better than the old without much real effort.

iMacs are here to stay... as to what color they will be, well...
 
Ouch, I would rather commit seppuku than buying anything with white bezels. I also would sell my intestines for a matte black iMac 30” M2 Max. I really hope the black area around the M1 MacBook Pro keyboard is a sign of a darker future. Please Apple do this.

I like that Apple is going 90's nostalgic.

White & Colors = Consumer
Black & Gray tones = Professional
 
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I feel like especially in the last five years or so, laptops have been more than capable of replacing desktops for the majority of users. I do think you'll see the iMac differentiate itself again once we get the larger "Pro" variant. As powerful as the MacBook Pro is, imagine an even larger chip or one clocked much higher due to much better cooling and designed around the idea of not conserving battery life.

For me personally, once I finished college my MacBook Pro was in a permanent clamshell setup as I didn't need a laptop and it gave me constant anxiety about the battery (whether justified or not). I find value in the iMac over a MacBook Pro + external display setup for the following reasons:
  • Much nicer display than what you'll find in most current affordable external displays.
  • Typically more port selection without the use of hubs that tend to be flaky (my current iMac has a headphone jack, SD card, four USB-A, two USB-C, and Ethernet)
  • Stationary = Easier to leverage external storage. Since I'm not taking my iMac from place to place, I've affixed extended storage to the system that remains out of sit, but gives me a much more cost-effective way store my data. I have an SD card always inserted for CCC to run weekly secondary backups of my music and photos, an always attached 4TB SSD to store my media, and an always attached HDD to run Time Machine). I never have to think about these as they're always attached and processes always running, yet they don't clutter my desk.
  • Having a stationary always-on (or at least "wake for network access") system means I don't need a secondary system to be a Plex/Media/file server. My iMac can be an always available home-base. This wouldn't work if my desktop was also a laptop that I occasionally disconnected and took "offline."
 
Great question as I just debated this before trading in my iMac for a 16" M1 Pro--after three generations of Mac desktops, from a Core 2 Duo Mini -> '13 iMac -> '19 iMac. The desktop(s) were the center of my humble home music studio.

So far, the benefits of a portable workstation far outweigh a location-restricted desktop. I've got everything I had in my iMac on my lap and I'm able to work "on a whim" from anywhere. Granted, recording and critical listening on studio monitors will still be done in one location, but all the other fine-tuning/light mixing can be done anywhere else. Plus, I can scratch out ideas fairly easily if the mood strikes. Of course, this new "portability" comes at a greater financial cost...
 
I love this thread already and am excited to discuss this with everyone over the coming months - I’m anticipating this to be an even more important topic when the 27” iMac replacement comes next year.

The question of whether to go with a MBP + External Monitor vs. an iMac is an interesting one. I really do hope that Apple releases their rumored Thunderbolt Display replacement next year so that those who choose to go with the MBP aren’t relegated to cheaply made plastic external monitors with inferior panel quality.

I love the simplicity of an iMac on the desk, but I do dislike the complication of having to manage two Mac file systems when also using an MBP (or alternatively use an iPad Pro 12.9” on the go, which is now inferior to the MBP in speaker quality, display size, OS capability, viewing angle adjustability, function keys, etc.). I also like not having to worry about making sure that my MBP is plugged in, I can just go up to the iMac and I know it’s all set up and ready to go. No plugging in the brains - it’s already there.

I’m probably going to write out what the pros and cons of the different alternatives are at some point, and ask everyone in this thread to contribute their own perspectives. I just sold my M1 iMac because I’m going to be traveling to Hawaii for a year and didn’t want to ship it out there, but I’ve already convinced myself to get the 27”+ mini-LED ProMotion iMac that comes out next year. That panel just sounds too tempting. And then I’ll either have to sell my MBP (and use an iPad on the go) or commit to managing two Macs again. We’ll see. :)
 
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commit to managing two Macs again. We’ll see.

That's one reason I've leaned toward the iMac + iPad Pro + iPhone combo.

iOS devices are fairly easily to manager or let iOS self manage, but my Macs have a lot of customization and a lot of software that isn't the "pay once in the App Store and use on all devices." I could have a clean laptop setup and my custom desktop, but for some reason if I don't have all my tools and customization on each system then macOS just feels broken.

Unless it's a very niche use case, if I 100% needed a portable macOS machine frequently then I'd just do the MacBook Pro as desktop setup even though it goes against my favorable iMac post above.
 
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