iMac or Macbook Pro

[jana]

Hey, Im thinking of getting a brand new Macbook Pro or iMac, I've decided that the final decisive factor of the two would be the graphics card.

The MacBook Pro would have to be the base model;

 

* 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

* 2GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x1GB

* 120GB Serial ATA drive (5400rpm)

* MacBook Pro 15-inch Glossy Widescreen Display

* SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)

* Backlit Keyboard (English) & Mac OS (English)

NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 128MB SDRAM

For £1194.00

 

Or the iMac

# 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 2x1GB

# 320GB Serial ATA Drive

# SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)

# Apple Mighty Mouse

# Keyboard (English) + Mac OS X (English)

# 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

# ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory

# 20-inch glossy widescreen LCD

# AirPort Extreme

# Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR

for £976.43

 

It would be nice to have portability but it isnt neccessary, nor is a large screen

 

The iMac has a Ati HD2600 Pro with 256mb and the Macbook Pro has Nvidia 8600m GT graphics with 128mb - from what ive heard the ATI card is somewhat slower than the NVidia. I am leaning to the Macbook Pro however I cant get the second model.

 

Please help as im planning to order today

[Headrush69]

Current benchmarks suggest the 8600m GT is faster, but since the RadeOn is hardware optimized for some DX10 level features, it might be hard to tell for sure since no games are optimized to use it yet and the drivers are also fairly new.

 

If portability isn't needed I would get the iMac.

Cheaper and although you say a large screen isn't necessary, once you have one you won't want a small one again.

Plus you get a faster, bigger hard drive.

 

What is your main use for this computer?

[jana]

For example Vista -i beleive requires 64mb graphics card, if i buy a macbook pro(128mb card) today is it possible that i may not be able to play games released in about 2 years, whereas the iMac (256mb card) meets that requirement.

[R2k.]

well if you want laptop for gaming , look for Alienware .

i`m hardcore iMac hater,so i would rather buy an Macbook.

 

 

 

~R

[iRed]

macbook pro

[jana]

bump

 

I didnt buy yesterday so im still open to suggestions!

[EFI]

If you want a desktop level machine, get the iMac (even though it's built form mobile components), if you want a laptop which you can carry around everywhere, get the Macbook Pro. Currently, the Macbook Pro's 8600M GT beats the iMac's 2600 HD in every single benchmark. Moreover, the amount of VRAM is important if you want to play games with high textures, or high res textures in the future. Also, Unreal Engine 3, which in my opinion is the best game engine so far visually and otherwise and is excellently optimized for scalability....dosen't like ATI cards at the moment. Check out the benchmarks of MOHA or BioShock on ATI vs nVidia cards, and you'll see that ATI cards perform worse on the Unreal Engine 3.

 

Personally, I would suggest the Macbook Pro, but I could be biased becuase I own one....but the benchmarks are not biased, and clearly explain that the MBP's GPU is indeed faster. Moreover, another thing to consider is that you will rarely be able to play at the iMacs native HD resolution with the HD 2600 with all the settings maxed out, which is a bit sad. Hower if you were to get the 15" MBP, then playing at the native resolution with all if not most sliders turned up is not a problem at all...due to it going only up to 1440 x 900.

 

Just to show the power of the 8600M GT, here is a scenaro. I can attach my 23" Apple Cinema Display HD to my Macbook Pro's DVI port, and play Unreal Tournament 2004 with all settings maxed out in 1920 x 1200 glory with 2X AA, and 16X AF, and still play at a comfortable 40fps. That's how powerful the laptop GPU in the MBP is. If I were to play UT2004 on my Macbook Pro's screen itself at forced 1440 x 900...I could have 2X AA, 16X AF, and play at a whopping 80fps....and this is with UT not even being optimized for the 8 series cards.

 

Again like I said though...the VRAM is a bit important in future games, which will definately use high-res textures.

[Headrush69]

Just to show the power of the 8600M GT, here is a scenaro. I can attach my 23" Apple Cinema Display HD to my Macbook Pro's DVI port, and play Unreal Tournament 2004 with all settings maxed out in 1920 x 1200 glory with 2X AA, and 16X AF, and still play at a comfortable 40fps. That's how powerful the laptop GPU in the MBP is.

But is that an online Onslaught map?

 

We still haven't heard what the OP's main use for the machine is and $600 difference between the iMac and MBP matters to some.

 

The MBP is compelling if you can afford it.

Anyone worried that on the next laptop refresh Apple changes to the AMD/ATI based video?