For a $2600 budget is the new M3 iMac or MacBook better spec’d / more powerful

[sch983]

Hi guys I have about 2600 to spend and can’t decide on whether to get the iMac or MacBook. Which one has the overall better specs at that price? Granted one is a more mobile machine but it probably won’t leave the house and they’d ultimately sit on the same desk. I’d use it for general usage stuff/skype calls/occasional gaming.

What’s the overall better build?

 

[Bigwaff]

I'm not going to do your analysis for you but I will say purchase as much memory and storage as you can afford... which really comes down to your computing activities whether you prioritize memory or storage upgrades. You will find opinions on this forum which are religious regarding "no less than 16GB memory". Yet, for basic computing tasks, the base 8GB memory is more than adequate. Remember, you can always attach external storage, however, lugging external storage around w/ your laptop is a pain.

In summary, consider your computing needs, not simply specs, when selecting a configuration.

 

[Student of Life]

Hi guys I have about 2600 to spend and can’t decide on whether to get the iMac or MacBook. Which one has the overall better specs at that price? Granted one is a more mobile machine but it probably won’t leave the house and they’d ultimately sit on the same desk. I’d use it for general usage stuff/skype calls/occasional gaming.

What’s the overall better build?

It all depends on your needs. Ideally if you ok with a desktop, you have more options to consider. Lets say you go with the iMac, ideally you would get the most ram and you can use an external drive for the hard drive and your set.

Another option to consider would be an ASD ( when on sale it like last week it was going for 1300 or less) that gives you 1300 to spend on a Mac mini or studio. Also you can get the Samsung 5k monitor for 1000+ and a Mac mini/studio. That way you have a bigger screen etc since you would be mainly stationary. If you are looking at a stationary machine you have way more options and possibilities to consider.

 

[Makisupa Policeman]

Personally I’d go with a well spec’d 14” MBP M3 Pro. You could get the 11 core CPU / 14 core GPU model with 36GB RAM and 1TB SSD for exactly $2599 without tax. That’s more RAM than what’s available in the top spec’d iMac and the M3 Pro chip is significantly more powerful than the base M3.

That’s me though—I’ve moved towards my use case favoring portability above other considerations but yours may be different.