Hi all,
Long time reader, newbie poster.
So bit of a niche situation with input very much appreciated, first a bit of background:
The machines and roles:
The iMac:
At present I have a wonderful late 2014 iMac 5K that I have had since new, running a 4 core Intel i7 @ 4Ghz, 256GB SSD, 8GB DDR3 and AMD Radeon R9 M295X 4 GB. (Full specs below)
I bought it mainly for its wonderful display, and despite a couple of hardware issues over the years it serves as my main desk machine, for a variety of tasks, most of which involves heavy web based applications such as Webflow for development of client sites.
The MacBook Pro:
I also have a Mid 2019 MacBook Pro 15,1 with a 6 core i7 @ 2.6 Ghz, 16 GB DDR4, 256 SSD and AMD R Pro 555X 4G.
I got this as a more portable powerhouse that would allow easier working in client offices when that was still a thing. Apart from it’s not inconsiderable weight, it too serves its function very well.
The Query:
With the iMac 5K now hitting 7 years old, it has started to show its age at times, SSD failures aside however it still serves its purpose and the display just continues to impress. However I have noticed that at times it does appear to feel sluggish.
Therefore I am considering swapping the iMac out and using my MacBook Pro as my main daily machine, with a nice large UHD monitor to attempt to compensate for the loss of the iMac display.
The Conundrum:
To confirm my thoughts that the MacBook is indeed a much more capable machine, I ran some quick GeekBench tests to see how they stacked up. The results that came back however have left me puzzled…
Full results are below, and obviously in areas such as disk speed the MacBook Pro with NWME rinses the iMac, but in others such as Compute for both Metal and OpenCL the iMac has a very clear lead.
Both Macs are running the same version of MacOS, both were tested in similar conditions such as apps open etc.
So my query now is whether actually I should stick with the iMac, fill it to the brim with RAM, or switch to the MacBook Pro?
As a pretty competent power user these results have certainly left me puzzled, any insight or suggestions would be very welcome!
Thanks in advance!
O
GeekBench 5 and BM Disk Results:
Long time reader, newbie poster.
So bit of a niche situation with input very much appreciated, first a bit of background:
The machines and roles:
The iMac:
At present I have a wonderful late 2014 iMac 5K that I have had since new, running a 4 core Intel i7 @ 4Ghz, 256GB SSD, 8GB DDR3 and AMD Radeon R9 M295X 4 GB. (Full specs below)
I bought it mainly for its wonderful display, and despite a couple of hardware issues over the years it serves as my main desk machine, for a variety of tasks, most of which involves heavy web based applications such as Webflow for development of client sites.
The MacBook Pro:
I also have a Mid 2019 MacBook Pro 15,1 with a 6 core i7 @ 2.6 Ghz, 16 GB DDR4, 256 SSD and AMD R Pro 555X 4G.
I got this as a more portable powerhouse that would allow easier working in client offices when that was still a thing. Apart from it’s not inconsiderable weight, it too serves its function very well.
The Query:
With the iMac 5K now hitting 7 years old, it has started to show its age at times, SSD failures aside however it still serves its purpose and the display just continues to impress. However I have noticed that at times it does appear to feel sluggish.
Therefore I am considering swapping the iMac out and using my MacBook Pro as my main daily machine, with a nice large UHD monitor to attempt to compensate for the loss of the iMac display.
The Conundrum:
To confirm my thoughts that the MacBook is indeed a much more capable machine, I ran some quick GeekBench tests to see how they stacked up. The results that came back however have left me puzzled…
Full results are below, and obviously in areas such as disk speed the MacBook Pro with NWME rinses the iMac, but in others such as Compute for both Metal and OpenCL the iMac has a very clear lead.
Both Macs are running the same version of MacOS, both were tested in similar conditions such as apps open etc.
So my query now is whether actually I should stick with the iMac, fill it to the brim with RAM, or switch to the MacBook Pro?
As a pretty competent power user these results have certainly left me puzzled, any insight or suggestions would be very welcome!
Thanks in advance!
O
GeekBench 5 and BM Disk Results:
| iMac 2014 5K | MacBook Pro 2019 15,1 | |
| CPU Single | 1069 | 976 |
| CPU Multi | 3776 | 5201 |
| Compute Metal | 29877 | 12055 |
| Compute OpenCL | 27268 | 13132 |
| SSD Write (MB/s) | 400 | 1095 |
| SSD Read (MB/s_) Specs: | 605 | 2501 |
