Sell iMac now have 16” MBP + 4K Ultrafine display

[helix21]

Hi guys,

I have been given a 16” MBP at work, and had a 27” iMac at home. I’ve just bought an ultrafine display and I do enjoy how I can just plug away my laptop and take it to the couch.

I know I should probably get rid of the iMac now, which mostly isn’t used now, but I can’t bring myself to do it. It’s a 2019 model, and I’ll probably get back 60% or so of the cost of it if I sell it.

The thing that annoys me is having to update and sync the software between two machines. I kinda want to consolidate into one machine, but something’s stopping me.

To those of you with 2 machines - what advantages do you feel you have with that?

Or is it MBP as main machine for most people?

 

[interbear]

I had a very similar experience and after trying to manage both machines I realised I was doing so for the sake of it and the iMac (only a year or so old) was largely redundant. The portability and utility of the MBP 16 meant it quickly became my go to machine for work and personal use. So the iMac was sold on and I now only use the MBP 16, connected to a widescreen monitor when at my home office desk, or not when I want to sit elsewhere.

My view - if you’re happy with the MBP 16, and no one else in the household needs the iMac, bite the bullet and sell the iMac sooner rather than later. It‘ll happen at some point anyway so may as well crack on. 60% of something will also be of more use to you than an iMac that never gets used and keeps depreciating in value.

 

[chonkvandelay]

With 4K Monitor you will be sorry to sell your iMac. Since MacOS optimized for 5K displays, 4K monitor doesn't really look good with it. Texts will show up blurry and bold. I was thinking doing same thing too. But after I see how it looks on 4K, I stay away from that option.

So if you care about display and colors you should go with iMac or buy 5K Monitor.

 

[baummer]

With 4K Monitor you will be sorry to sell your iMac. Since MacOS optimized for 5K displays, 4K monitor doesn't really look good with it. Texts will show up blurry and bold. I was thinking doing same thing too. But after I see how it looks on 4K, I stay away from that option.

So if you care about display and colors you should go with iMac or buy 5K Monitor.

This is not true. I have a Dell 4K display hooked up to a MacBook Pro and it’s gorgeous. Text isn’t blurry at all.

 

[helix21]

I had a very similar experience and after trying to manage both machines I realised I was doing so for the sake of it and the iMac (only a year or so old) was largely redundant. The portability and utility of the MBP 16 meant it quickly became my go to machine for work and personal use. So the iMac was sold on and I now only use the MBP 16, connected to a widescreen monitor when at my home office desk, or not when I want to sit elsewhere.

My view - if you’re happy with the MBP 16, and no one else in the household needs the iMac, bite the bullet and sell the iMac sooner rather than later. It‘ll happen at some point anyway so may as well crack on. 60% of something will also be of more use to you than an iMac that never gets used and keeps depreciating in value.

Thank you! This feels like such a first world problem haha! But it definitely is a real one.

I’ll sit on it for a while and then you’re right probably get rid of the iMac. If I do, I can then invest in another 4K monitor for more screen space.

This is not true. I have a Dell 4K display hooked up to a MacBook Pro and it’s gorgeous. Text isn’t blurry at all.

Yes the 4K monitor is great!

 

[chonkvandelay]

This is not true. I have a Dell 4K display hooked up to a MacBook Pro and it’s gorgeous. Text isn’t blurry at all.

Blurry is not the right word maybe. But it is definitely not crystal clear and sharp as it is on 5K display. Can you say that your 4K display show everything better than your MacBook Pro Retina display? No.

 

[clueless88]

If you do any non-business work on your computer I would recommend that it should be done on a non-work provided computer. I am a proponent of having a wall between work and real life-that especially includes technology. When I was working I had an iphone and a laptop that was provided for me by my employer and I did all of my remote work on the laptop (when I was on site I used my work provided desktop pc), did all of my work related phone calls/texts on my work phone, and did my personal phone/text/email stuff on my personal iphone. I did all of my life-related computer work on my personal laptop and/or desktop. The company I worked for actively searched the iphones and laptops for "inappropriate" material (including music in the itunes library) and would remove the material during the company's periodic device scans. Your employer owns the devices and has the legal authority of scanning your hard drive (as well as installing/deleting/updating programs/apps).

I didn't like the idea of the company accessing my personal files/information/emails/etc so I made it a habit of keeping work stuff on the work devices and life (non-work) stuff on my personal devices.

When I retired I just turned in my phone and my laptop--I didn't have to copy files off the laptop or texts/data from my phone. Didn't have to notify anyone that my phone number had changed.

 

[ght56]

I use a 16-inch for both work and personal use and I use it to drive anywhere between zero and three additional displays (beyond the built in) with resolutions ranging from 1080p to 4K UHD. I have a different user account for each and do not have sharing enabled between the two OS'. On the work OS, I don't have things like personal email, shared bookmarks, etc, and even backups are done with two separate physical disks. It works really well, but I definitely recommend using two separate and segregated user accounts.

Mac for Office is nice in that you can have a different Office account used with each different user account, so I use my work's Office 365 on my work account, and my personal Office 365 on my personal account. Especially if you are using OneDrive/Sharepoint, this ability to separate is really nice.

But the caveat might be if the 16-inch was provided as a work machine and either they are strict about how you use the system or certain functions and admin rights are disabled or locked down. My 16-inch is my personal machine so that isn't something I had to contend with.

With 4K Monitor you will be sorry to sell your iMac. Since MacOS optimized for 5K displays, 4K monitor doesn't really look good with it. Texts will show up blurry and bold. I was thinking doing same thing too. But after I see how it looks on 4K, I stay away from that option.

So if you care about display and colors you should go with iMac or buy 5K Monitor.

I disagree.

MacBook Pros, Airs, and the 4K iMac do not use 5k displays...these indeed have a high pixel density like the 5K iMac, but they are not using a 5K resolution. Text does not look blurry or distorted on these. For that matter, the MacBook Pro 16-inch has a bit higher pixel density than the 5K iMac and the 4K iMac has an almost identical pixel density to the 5K iMac.

With a good 27-inch 4K display (and not all are good), you are getting good pixel density of about 165 PPI to where small text displays well (versus the 5K at about 220). If one is say 6-12 inches from the screen, they can certainly notice a difference between a 4K and 5K 27-inch display. However, at the common viewing distances one may use with a 27-inch display, text looks pretty crisp on both. For that matter, text looks reasonably good on a 24-25 inch QHD display, although obviously not as good as 4K/5K. An additional reason text may look better on the 5K iMac is because of its notably high brightness and tendency of excellent panel uniformity.

If text is showing up bold, I do not have an explanation for that other than font smoothing may be enabled?

 

[panzer06]

Hi guys,

I have been given a 16” MBP at work, and had a 27” iMac at home. I’ve just bought an ultrafine display and I do enjoy how I can just plug away my laptop and take it to the couch.

I know I should probably get rid of the iMac now, which mostly isn’t used now, but I can’t bring myself to do it. It’s a 2019 model, and I’ll probably get back 60% or so of the cost of it if I sell it.

The thing that annoys me is having to update and sync the software between two machines. I kinda want to consolidate into one machine, but something’s stopping me.

To those of you with 2 machines - what advantages do you feel you have with that?

Or is it MBP as main machine for most people?

I use Dropbox for the files and the shared keychain for logins and passwords. it worked very well But I finally just settled on the MBP16 with 4K monitor and eGPU. The external monitor is primary and Final Cut and games work great via the eGPU.

 

[Christopher Kim]

For what it's worth, I've used my 13" MBP for a number of years now in closed-clamshell mode, into a 27" LG 4K monitor (a true resolution of 3840 x 2160 running at "Looks like 2560x1440") with external Magic KB / TP2, and really enjoy it. Even though the monitor won't look quite as good as the 27" 5K iMac (which has true pixel-doubling at "Looks like 2560 x 1440") running this way, it still looks really good. So I wouldn't let that necessarily be a significant deterrent - macOS' handling of resolutions IMO is really well done, even when not a true pixel-doubling situation.

As you said, you can have the "desktop" experience when you want it, but also can easily take the laptop with you either to couch / bed or traveling, and keep all your files perfectly with you.

I agree with @interbear, sounds like the 16" MBP suits your needs better than the iMac, and the value of the iMac will only go down over time. So the sooner you bite the bullet and sell it, the better.

I echo the consideration though that the 16" MBP being a work device, in addition to any permissions / security protocols that are different than just having a personal computer, what happens if you leave? (ie. Do you have to give it back? And how likely is that occurring?)