Hey, I'm Jerry and this is my 27” iMac that is the computer I keep
going back to over the last year. This is the 16” MacBook Pro with M1 Max and
is the new kid on the block that brings a new design, flashy new processor,
and a Pro Motion display. In this video I want to look at these 2 computers side by side and
try to figure out if the 16” MacBook Pro can finally replace my 27” iMac for my desktop use.
When I say desktop use There is a lot that goes into that decision for me so
let's just start by looking at the design and features.
Design I think it’s safe
to say that both of these can be considered All in One devices, right?
Right out of the box both of these machines come with everything you need to get
up and running and there is nothing you have to add if you don't want to…...There is a display,
keyboard, mouse, camera, speakers, and microphone. All the things you need to compute computer stuff…
The iMac comes in a very large package with big black bezels all around the
display which sits above a big ol’ chin, which all sits on an aluminum
base. All the ports are around back and this whole thing weighs about 20 pounds.
The MacBook Pro 16” is a classic clamshell design which has grown up a bit from previous models.
We get thinner bezels all around the display which includes a notch, a black on black keyboard, big
touch pad and ports on both sides. All in a fairly portable package weighing less than 5 pounds.
Screen The 27” iMac has a beautiful 27”
5k display which renders at 2560x1440 with true 2x retina giving you an absolutely beautiful sharp
picture. You get 500nits of max brightness,1200:1 contrast, p3 wide color and truetone.
The 16” MacBook Pro, although smaller than 27”, does boast more features
like a 1600nit max brightness for HDR, 2500 local dimming zones because of the mini-LEDs,
1,000,000:1 contrast, and variable 120hz pro motion display along with p3 colors and truetone.
Both of these computers have what I would call the best overall or most well rounded displays
for their class. Meaning that in any one category they may not be the best you can get
overall they are better than most when it comes to brightness, color accuracy, and added features.
The 16” MacBook Pro display obviously wins out in features and performance but
it is small when used on a desk setup. The 27” iMac feels like the right size for me. You can
totally add a 27” display to the MacBook Pro and there are a ton of 4k options out there like this
dell and it can scale to the same resolution as the iMac but it's not as sharp, not as bright,
and not as consistent as the iMac display. There is a 5k LG option but by today's standard it looks
pretty bad and it just does not have the same consistency in quality compared to Apple displays.
Speakers For a full multimedia experience,
speakers are an important piece and both of these computers received upgraded speaker systems.
The 27” iMac gained the t2 chip which allows for enhanced bass response which is really good
on a wood desk and the 16” was given a 6 speaker system with force cancelling woofers on each side.
In my opinion the iMac is much louder and bassier compared to the macbook but the
macbook has more clarity in the highs. Take a listen and let me know what you think…..
Ports
Looking at ports, Apple definitely upped their macbook port game this time
with thunderbolt ports, a headphone jack, sd card slot and HDMI out. Oh,
and of course the dedicated charging port with Magsafe…..
The 27” iMac gets ethernet, 2 thunderbolt ports, 4 usb-a ports, an sd slot and a headphone jack.
I think that the iMac wins out here because
I do like to have ethernet at my desk and I do still use some usb-a devices.
And if neither of these has all the ports you want when you are saddled to your desk
you can always get a thunderbolt dock to add all the ports you need.
Keyboard/mouse When it comes
to the standard keyboard and mouse accessories,
the Macbook has the built in massive trackpad and a redesigned magic keyboard, sans touch-bar.
The iMac can be bought with either the magic mouse or magic trackpad along with a magic keyboard.
For desk use I actually like to use both a mouse and trackpad. I like the mouse
for precision editing and flying around the interface but I like the trackpad
for gestures like pinch-to-zoom and 3-finger swiping between screens.
The new keyboard on the MacBook Pro has the recently updated buttons
including spotlight, dictation, and do not disturb which I love almost
as much as I love having touch ID built in. Tough ID on the MacBook is so fast
and I don't know why I should talk about it, you already know how it works.
One thing I don't like about using the Macbook keyboard at a desk for long periods of time
is stress on my arms, shoulders, and forearms because of how far up it is
with the massive trackpad in front. This is just a me problem but I like to have my
keyboard as close to the front of the desk as possible and I find that more comfortable. I
can do that with the external magic keyboard that comes with the iMac but unless I buy a
new one I am stuck with the old key layout including a cd eject key that does nothing!
Camera/mics Now, can you believe this pandemic has
gone on for almost 2 years now? Well, we finally have an updated 1080p cameras in the new 16”
MacBook Pro and the 2020 iMac and they both have these brand new “studio quality microphones for
all the zoom, skype, teams, webex, google meet, or hangouts, duo or gchat, or whatever internet
calling service google has today. Compared to a couple of years ago both of these devices have
seen big improvements so let me know below which one you think has a better picture or audio.
Performance When it comes
to CPU performance, on paper, the M1 Max is going to win pretty much all the benchmarks.
There is no other way to say it. The 24-core GPU performance of the M1 Max also comes
out a little ahead on graphics performance and the 32-core gpu gets about a 50% jump.
Then there are chip specific things that the M1 Max can do better
because it is built in like video encoding which can shave
minutes off of my Final Cut exports. But, the Intel chips can do certain things faster too,
like thunderbolt ssd drive speed as you can see in this test of 4 drives I did a while back.
Despite these differences in numbers, they really are not that far apart in my daily use
and neither of these computers feel slow. I mean does 150mph really feel a lot slower than 120mph?
When comparing the 27” iMac to last year's M1 MacBook Pro there were plenty of times
where the iMac felt faster, and indeed was in multicore and graphics tasks.
But so far with the M1 Max I have not felt any hesitation compared to the iMac. Both computers
seem to have final cut issues lately but I think that is a final cut issue and not hardware.
Benefits With specs, and performance
out of the way each of these machines do have advantages over the other. For example, with
the 27” imac you are still able to run full x86 windows in bootcamp if that is something you need.
And if you have the 5500xt graphics or even the 5700xt you can do some real windows gaming if
that is your thing. The iMac also has the ability for you to expand the ram as needed easily with
the back door access…….and you can stick up to 128gb of memory in there. And, because the iMac
is a desktop computer there is little else you need for a more ergonomic desktop mac setup.
The M1 Max MacBook Pro on the other hand, has the ability to run iOS apps if you want
to because it is running on Apple Silicon. In my use I have found very few ios apps that I
need for my mac but let me know below if there are some good ones to check out. The
MacBook is also a laptop, so you get the option of portability and you can take your desk anywhere.
Price When it comes to pricing the 16” M1 Max MacBook
Pro starts at $3,099 for the M1 Max with its 10-core processor, 24-Core GPU, 32Gb of unified
memory, and 512GB of storage. The 27” iMac on the other hand, will start out at $2,299 for the i7
version with its 8-core hyper-threaded CPU, Radeon Pro 5500XT, 8GB of memory and 512GB of storage.
Now that's a pretty big difference between 2300 dollars and 3100 dollars but of course
you are going to say that there is 32GB of memory in the M1 Max and only 8GB in the iMac…..Sure,
but if you spec of the iMac to 32GB of memory to match the M1 Max,
then the iMac comes out to 2900 dollars so only a $200 difference. ….But like I said before,
you can expand the memory in the 27” imac at any time with third party memory so you don't
need to spend $600 on Apple memory when you can spend about $130 on some OWC memory, instead.
So even when matching the memory you can still save hundreds of dollars on a 27” iMac over the
16” M1 Max macbook Pro. Not only that, but if you keep an eye on the apple refurb store
you can save even more money for essentially a brand new machine.
I have bought off the refurb store a lot and i highly recommend that.
So overall, when it comes to desktop mac use, the 27” iMac still wins my heart.
I just love the big 5k display, the cleanliness of an all in one setup,
and the performance is still more than acceptable for most people for most things. Sure, I could use
the 16” MacBook pro with an external display, keyboard and mouse, but then I am most likely
stuck with a main display that is sub-par….. but I would have the latest and greatest, and I
do love touch ID….well crap...you know what? I still don't know what I will do. They are both
fantastic machines in their own ways and I love them both…….so I guess I still can't decide.
But what do you guys think? Are you more of an iMac desk setup person or do you prefer the
options a laptop offers? Let me know below. Hit the thumbs up button if this helped you at all,
even though it didn't help me. Hit subscribe for more random thoughts and i'll see you next time.