This may be a trash talking and profane thread. But I got the point and I agree.
Macbook Pro/Air become the only Macintosh gains all momentum today, along with iOS devices. And I never like Macbook that much, well at least not as my main computer. Not even with retina display.
Still I own an MBA, but it's far away from being used as primary machine.
Desktop still should be around for some time. Yes, iMac still use mobility GPU up to now, but it's still a better GPU compare to what you could ever find on MBP/MBA.
Until something can really compete with desktop, Macbook will always be my secondary computer.
So I despise people saying iMac is just a giant Macbook.
- Do you get 4 RAM slots on Macbook? Yes MBP can get 16GB of RAM today, big deal! iMac can do up to 32GB then (and self-upgradeable too). What's the point?
- Do you get 6770M GPU on entry level $1000 MB Pro or even Air?
- Do you get desktop chip with your iMac? Yeah Geekbench may show mobile CPU gets similar result as desktop one, but does it has stamina? Doing job in the long run without being overheated?
- Do you get cheap 1TB 7200rpm HDD on Macbook?
- Okay .. people saying HDD is so 2008, well iMac can have BOTH HDD and SSD at the same time. Can Macbook do that?
Let alone MacPro, Macbook is still far away to compete with iMac. Size does matter and being bigger always means something. Maybe in 2 3 years Macbook will perform equally as desktop today. But by then desktop will have something else. It's always a chasing game and notebook always one or two steps behind.
I'm agree, but in reality, it may not stand up. I am thinking more and more, to buy a Retina 15" - the base one - and get an OK 24" IPS style monitor, for instance the Dell that can cost $340 on discount. Forget 27" of Apple quality - may as well wait for the iMac. But for graphics and photo colour, I could use the Retina. And for everything else, use the other monitor. The Dell even rotates into giant A4 mode (something some third party mac monitors used to do back the early late 80s early '90s Motorola days).
I'll reply point by point:
[*]Do you get 4 RAM slots on Macbook? Yes MBP can get 16GB of RAM today, big deal! iMac can do up to 32GB then (and self-upgradeable too). What's the point?
You don't need >16MP. And, you don't. You only need over 8GB for heavy - really heavy - video encoding, or multi-file graphical work. And even then, the speed differential from 8 to 16 is less than 10%. And if you need RAM to keep 30 apps open - the SSD will virtualize faster than any HDD based iMac. No problem either ..
[*]Do you get 6770M GPU on entry level $1000 MB Pro or even Air?
The comparison with iMacs is with the 15" machines - so forget less than 15.4" comparisons.
[*]Do you get desktop chip with your iMac? Yeah Geekbench may show mobile CPU gets similar result as desktop one, but does it has stamina? Doing job in the long run without being overheated?
Actually its disturbing that notebooks are now as fast. So ... perhaps the power saving has resulted in no differentials in speed? The iMac that was on the new price list for Australia, that was correct all across the board except for the iMac not being released, showed a bottom level iMac, that was slower than the entry Retina powerbook. And you save electricity with a powerbook.
[*]Do you get cheap 1TB 7200rpm HDD on Macbook?
Ever tried taking today's iMac's apart? Sorry - the solution is connecting an external disk.
[*]Okay .. people saying HDD is so 2008, well iMac can have BOTH HDD and SSD at the same time. Can Macbook do that?
Firstly, what a rip-off is the dual SSD / HDD option. Secondly - answer: Of course - Retina ships standard with SSD. So connect as many drives as you like. And they'll be dirt cheap, because they are USB-3. Recently - post Thailand floods - it was cheaper to buy a USB-3 drive and case, than to buy the internal drive alone. USB-3 drives are cheap. And you can back up stuff that way too ... which you need to think about with an iMac.
