Two days left to change my iMac

[Drask]

Hello there,

Got my iMac 12 days ago, while I'm loving it, I'm still not sure I made the right choice, so here is it: I bought it for iPhone/iPad development, I'm studying software engineer (starting), so here's what I got:
-iPad 2
-Dell XPS8300 intel core i7, 10GB ram, Ati Raedon 6770 GPU with a 24" display.
-Laptop Sony vaio 15" intel core i5, 4GB ram, intel graphics 3000.
-And now an iMac 27" low end (i5, 12gb ram etc),

I use my laptop just for coding at school(so portability is not an issue), nothing else, I was thinking it might be a wise choice to return the iMac and get a macbook pro instead, and plug it into my 24" display, and sell the sony laptop (because having 4 devices is more than I need) I don't mind the money I'd get from the laptop.

My only concern is giving up the 27" display.

Any of you ever code in an iMac vs a Macbook pro? Everyone else, what do you think?

 

[talmy]

Buyer's remorse?

My 27" iMac is 2+ years old. I also have a new 15" MBP, which I need for portability.

I do programming on the iMac. Also photography and about 3 hours of video a week. I teach some Electrical Engineering courses part time and use the iMac for course development, management, and grading. It gets a major workout. I've got a 20" 1600x1200 display attached to get even more screen area. You can't have too much screen. I'll typically have 15-20 applications running at the same time.

The new MBP is about as fast as the iMac, but the screen is certainly smaller. Also the ergonomics of a desktop system are superior, which is important if you spend many hours a day at the keyboard/display.

If I could only have one system it would have to be the MBP, but only because I need portability for classes and travel. I just moved up from a 13" Aluminum MB to get more display area and get quad core (I was maxing the 13" C2D processor doing screen capturing while running CAD programs on Windows under Parallels). HOWEVER, when I'm at home I always use the iMac. It's much more comfortable.

 

[David085]

I do keep the iMac

 

[Drask]

Buyer's remorse?

Nope, it's about having 2 desktops, a laptop and an iPad. I thought it might be a good idea to get rid of the vaio, return the iMac and get the macbook pro instead. I'm not sure about how comfortable programming in Xcode at a macbook pro is (I jave no problem in java or c++ in laptop but I don't use user interfaces yet).

 

[Spink10]

return it - you can always re-purchase. However, in two days you cannot return.

 

[Drask]

return it - you can always re-purchase. However, in two days you cannot return.

 

[Spink10]

what does that mean exactly?

 

[/V\acpower]

In my opinion : Get rid of the 24' display and the graphic card, sell them, use the money to get one with a Displayport out, so that you can use the iMac as a screen when you play on your Dell Desktop.

You save space and make a lot more sense as a setup.

But the "sell the laptop and get a MacBook" is also a very good solution because if there is an area where Apple excel is laptops.

EDIT : Actually you are supposed to have a Display port output in your AMD Radeon 6770 GPU. So basically sell the screen and get this : http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10246&cs_id=1024606&p_id=6006&seq=1&format=2

 

[Drask]

what does that mean exactly?

Sorry, I didn't understand you post at all.

 

[Glen Quagmire]

Sorry, I didn't understand you post at all.

"return it" = take it back to the Apple Store or wherever you bought it from.
"you can always re-purchase" = if you change your mind later and realize you made a mistake, you can always buy another one.
"However, in two days you cannot return." = there is a 14 day return window, and you have two of those days remaining.

Not so difficult.