Trade iMac for MBP?

[blasto2236]

Someone recently offered to trade me their 15" Late 2011 MBP for my comparably spec'd Late 2011 iMac. His is actually BTO and has a slightly larger hard drive and an i7 processor as opposed to my i5.

Both are still under warranty for a few months (purchased prior to their respective 2012 refreshes), so could be repaired if any issues are found.


Should I go for it? I've been thinking that I would like a bit more portability from my machine, although admittedly I don't know how often it would leave my desk.

 

[xShane]

Someone recently offered to trade me their 15" Late 2011 MBP for my comparably spec'd Late 2011 iMac. His is actually BTO and has a slightly larger hard drive and an i7 processor as opposed to my i5.

Both are still under warranty for a few months (purchased prior to their respective 2012 refreshes), so could be repaired if any issues are found.


Should I go for it? I've been thinking that I would like a bit more portability from my machine, although admittedly I don't know how often it would leave my desk.

Post both the specs of your iMac and their MBP (all/exact specs, please).

Also, try this:

Throughout your typical day for a week or so, make note/count of how many times you actually *need* portability.

In general, iMacs are more powerful and offer higher performance than MBPs. I'd only recommend switching if you truly need portability.

 

[Orlandoech]

The iMac has a more powerful dGPU, but the i7 will be faster than the i5 even if its not a desktop CPU.

You lose; screen real estate/size

You gain; portability


Whats more important to you?

 

[blasto2236]

iMac
Core i5 2.5GHz
500GB HDD
ADM Radeon 6750 w 512MB of GDDR 5 memory
4GB RAM

MBP
Core i7 2.2GHz
750GB HDD
ADM Radeon 6750 w 512MB of GDDR 5 memory
4GB RAM

So basically it's clocked a little slower but pushing to a much smaller screen, and all the other specs are exactly the same save for the MBP having a larger hard drive. I'm thinking on spec alone it would be worth the trade, the portability will just be an added value.

 

[alphaod]

The MacBook Pro is faster even with lower base clock. The turbo is to the same clock and your iMac doesn't have hyper threading whereas the MacBook Pro does.

HDD can be upgraded and so can RAM, so it won't be much difference there.

If you want an external monitor, a 24" monitor is very affordable these days so I wouldn't miss that.

 

[blasto2236]

Well since the 15"/17" did not come with an i5 I'm assuming you have a 13".

Now is the iMac a 21.5" or 27" iMac?

I am not the one with the MBP. I have the iMac. It's 21.5, baseline model from Late 2011.