Yet, another iMac vs. MBP dilemma.

[Pinback]

Evening fellers,

Allow me to state where I come from and where I want to go with my Mac setup:

I recently sold both my old 17" 2.0GHz iC2D iMac and Late 08 uMBP 2.4GHz. The reason being: First, both computers had the same resolution, it just made less sense to have this setup. Second, I actually never used my MBP as a portable. I would usually just have it sitting next to the iMac on the stand, and the iMac, albeit being inferior spec-wise got way more usage than the MBP. If anything I used it to play CoD4/5 half of the time. This casual gaming made me really get into Windows gaming to be honest.

I'm about to start my senior year of high school which means I'm going to college next year. I'm not leaving without a laptop, but right now, I want to enjoy my setup and I want to play games, the 9600GT 256Mb was fairly nice but I wonder if the 512Mb would give me just the extra oomph I'm looking for on CoD. My budget is $2050 so I'm looking at these 3 refurbished Macs:

-iMac 3.06GHz
which has an amazing display, 1TB HDD, and I'm guessing a good graphics card (is it any better than the 9600GT?)
-
New uMBP 2.66GHz with 256Mb vRAM This one's got the new display and the larger battery life, I'm not sure if I would really benefit from that.
-
Prev. uMBP 2.66GHz with 512Mb vRAM This is my cheapest choice but it probably the better choice. I'm sacrificing a longer battery life for a better graphics card (if it even makes a difference) but I can use the extra money towards some 24" display.

Sorry, I know this is a lot to take in but I really don't know what I want to do. I mean, I like the idea of a huge, pretty much top of the line iMac, but is it worth it paying the apple premium for a desktop that expensive? And when I go to college, I don't know if I'll be able to afford another $1.5k for a laptop and I would want to take the iMac.

Help?

 

[Hellhammer]

How about 13" MBP + custom Windows gaming rig? You get far better machine with ~1000$ than any Mac. I don't see reason buying Mac and using windows on it for half of its time. Just my opinion...

 

[Pinback]

Well, yeah, I've been considering that sort of setup for a while now, but I currently do not live in the US, once I get to college over there I'll be able to take advantage of sites like newegg and whatnot to build a gaming rig. I noticed your iMac has a GT 130, how do games run on that?

 

[axer940]

Go with the laptop!

I like the above posters suggestion that you go with a macbook and custom windows gaming rig, which you could get fairly cheap. Imo, you need a laptop for college. Taking notes in class, using it to write papers in the library when your roommate throws a big party the night before the due date (you could always use the schools computer but, blehhhh), for when you have to give powerpoint or keynote presentations in class (you will likely have to do this at some point in your college career). Trust me, you will want a laptop in college. If you only want one machine I'd go with one of the macbook pros. Don't be to worried about battery life since you should have plenty of power to get you through a class or presentation but most times you will have access to power anyway! As long as you have a macbook pro, I think you can get away with a less expensive desktop pc for gaming purposes. As an aside, please don't get a bunch of credit cards in college and get both an imac and a mcbpro...Credit cards can get you in a lot of trouble Good luck in school!