To Mac or not To Mac

Can you hold out another month or so? The iMac still may refresh this summer, possibly with the release of Mountain Lion. If so do that. If not, the new MBP does appear to be quite the beast.

 

-Both CPU and memory are crucial components of the computer.
-Ivy bridge uses less power than sandy bridge.
-Photos looks really special on the Retina display, this is something you should see for yourself - is an apple store nearby?

If the machine will hold out you might want to wait for the iMac refresh, if not i'm sure the retina MBP will suite very well.

Note: CPU speeds are in GHz, not MHz

 

You have decided to turn to a mac, my inference from that is that you currently own a pc that is about to die? If so you would need to add the cost of purchasing mac software to the cost of a brand new mac. Why not stick and buy a high end pc. You can get a shiny high spec machine for a fraction of the cost and it would actually incorporate proper components rather than the mobile rubbish apple use (unless you buy a overpriced mac pro). eBay is rather good, if you are from the uk scan computers are well known for their quality, in the us I think cyber power systems are rather good too.

Anyway good luck with whatever you decide.

 

If video editing and iPhoto are priorities for you I wouldn't think you would want a 27 inch screen to work from rather than a small MacBook. Just my opinion. I do a lot of of lectures from PowerPoint and I find it much easier to work in a 27 inch screen then my smaller MacBook.

 

If you need mobility, then the MBP is your only choice. Integrated graphics from Intel doesn't really matter here since both options will have much more powerful discrete GPUs.

If you don't require the mobility of a laptop, I'd go w/t the 27" iMac. The larger screen will be invaluable IMO.

 

The top i7 MBP has actually a slightly faster CPU than the i7 iMac. Also, the SSD on the RMBP is MUCH faster. The only thing faster in the iMac is the GPU. Check out these benchmarks, for example:

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-3820QM+@+2.70GHz

The MBP has the i7-3820QM CPU, the iMac the i7-2600

 

Easy choice, go with the desktop. The bigger screen is more important than the higher rez. They're both fast enough to do the job, max out the RAM though. Do it yourself with the iMac and save a bundle.