iMac Core 2 Duo vs MacBook Air i7

Question

iMac Core 2 Duo vs MacBook Air i7

hi all,

Q: performace-wise, which is "better"?

iMac:

2.66ghz Core 2 Duo

New MacBook Air:

1.8ghz Core i7

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some background:

a few months ago (march 2011) i purchased an 11" MBA (1.4ghz Core 2 Duo, 128GB HD (currently with 80GB free), 4GB RAM) and i love it.

ever since the mba came along, i've been using my iMac (2.66ghz Core 2 Duo, 320GB HD (currently with 120GB free), 4GB RAM) a LOT less - if at all.

and with the release of the new i7 macbook airs.. i'm playing with the idea of selling the imac and my current mba.. and replacing both with a new beefed up mba.

from a (simplified) tech spec comparison i'm looking at this:

iMac:

2.66ghz Core 2 Duo

320GB HD (currently with 120GB free)

4GB RAM

Current MacBook Air:

1.4ghz Core 2 Duo

128GB HD (currently with 80GB free)

4GB RAM

New MacBook Air:

1.8ghz Core i7

256GB HD

4GB RAM

obviously an air-only set up has it's downfalls.. namely: inability to play/burn cds and dvds (unless i buy a superdrive) and a few other monitor/peripheral issues - but obviously these can be resolved with additional purchases... if necessary.

can you see any other pros/cons here?

but i guess the main question for me is - what's the difference between a Core i7 MBA and a Core 2 Duo iMac with an extra 0.86ghz?

Cheers,

Pete

MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.6.8), 11", 1.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

Posted on Jul 22, 2011 8:58 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Jul 22, 2011 9:06 PM in response to Peter Wright4

What do you plan on doing on the MBA. Think about graphic cards. The MBA do not have a separate graphics card so all graphics are running off of the processor which means it eats up processor power which ultimatly translates to not being able to do anything graphic intensive.(PhotoShop, most high end games, video editing, etc)

I dont know what grahics card your iMac has but right now its probably best to keep you iMac and current MBA for now.

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Answer 2

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,494 points

Jul 22, 2011 9:07 PM in response to Peter Wright4

Pete,

A computer isn't about specs it's about how you intend the use it. I can see you spent a lot of time formulating your post however you never mentioned how you want to use the computer. Therefore we have no data about how to answer your question.

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Answer 3

Jul 22, 2011 9:35 PM in response to rkaufmann87

oops! my bad.

first off.. i don't use any of my macs for gaming.

a lot of my general day-to-day use is the standard web browsing, email checking, iwork, etc, etc

however, my more "heavy-duty" activities would include:

mixing/editing songs and drum programming using GarageBand (for drum programming/simulation i use a plug in called "EzDrummer")

basic image editing/manipulation with a program called "Seashore". basically a majorly simplified version of Photoshop. i quite like it, and it gets the job done to the point i need it done. however if the work i'm currently using seashore for increases to a point where i need something more.. i may end up needing to use Photoshop.

it might also be worth mentioning i do a lot of browser-based web design/editing with cms and ecommerce platforms like lightcms and bigcommerce.. but doubt you could really consider this to be "heavy duty" in terms of processing power, etc?

there's a possibility i may need to start using iMovie for a new job i'm about to go into. but that would be for editing 5min videos.. not 3 hour epics..

i also use iChat and Skype every now and again. and am required to remotely log in to various places using Remote Desktop and the like... but again.. not sure how "heavy duty" these tasks are. just figured i'd throw all possibilities out there

🙂

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Answer 4

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,494 points

Jul 22, 2011 10:24 PM in response to Peter Wright4

Well I'm not seeing any compelling reason to buy a new machine. You didn't make any mention of running into bottle necks or difficulties with your existing machine so if I may I'm guessing you're just excited about the new machines. It's really a trap, I get excited about new models coming out too but at the end of the day my needs simply don't justify buying something simply because it's new. If you find your current MBA isn't up to the task any longer then by all mean start looking for replacements however until then just enjoy what you have.

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