Buying advice: MacBook laptop or Mac desktop Choosing between an Apple laptop and desktop computer

15.07.2015

Should I buy an Apple laptop (MacBook Air, MacBook Pro or MacBook) or an iMac, Mac mini or Mac Pro desktop computer What are the pros and cons of Apple's laptops and desktops We answer your questions below!

If you are trying to decide whether to buy a Mac desktop or a MacBook laptop (also known as a Mac notebook) you've come to the right place.

In many ways most Macs are broadly similar when it comes to price and specs, each category of Mac often offers a range of specs similar to another Mac category, but in other ways Mac desktops and MacBook laptops can be very different. For example, Apple's Mac desktops usually ramp up to higher-spec models when compared to Mac notebooks, so if it's the most powerful Mac you need a desktop is probably going to suit you best. However, many of the Mac desktops still use older hard disks rather than the flash storage that the laptops use - which can slow them down in typical operation. Plus desktop computers chain you to a desk; while Apple's MacBook laptops let you roam free.

In this feature we look at Apple's Mac desktop and MacBook laptop range of computers, and help you work out which option is right for you.

Wondering which 13in MacBook is best for you Read: MacBook Air vs MacBook Pro comparison review, 13in Apple laptops compared

Mac laptop or desktop: Apple's desktop computer range

Apple currently makes three different models of desktop computer:

iMac. The most famous Mac is the all-in-one iMac with its built in display (either 21.5-inch or 27-inch). At the top of the line up are two 27-inch iMacs with 5K Retina displays. Read more about the iMac here. Mac mini. The diminutive Mac mini needs a separate screen, keyboard and mouse but has a wide range of connections including HDMI making it perfect as a Home Entertainment device plugged into your TV. It's also Apple's cheapest Mac starting at £399. Read more about Mac mini here.Mac Pro. Finally there is the Mac Pro, which offers incredible speed in a cylindrical design. There are two models available: a 3.7GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon powerhouse and a 3.5GHz 6-Core behemoth. Both feature dual AMD FirePro graphics cards and lots of build to order options. Read more about Mac Pro here

Prices start at £399 for the Mac mini (although you'll need to factor in the cost of a screen if you haven't got one) and £899 for the iMac (the iMac 5K Retina Display starts at £1,599). The Mac Pro starts at £2,499.

Mac laptop or desktop: Apple's MacBook range

Apple's laptop/notebook range is more popular than its desktop range (Apple sells more laptops than desktops). Apple has four different Mac notebook models to choose from:

MacBook Air. The MacBook Air is Apple's cheapest laptop and most popular model, with its super-light and super-small design (either 11-inch or 13-inch screen). It's no slouch though and the latest model offers a tremendous amount of battery life (up to 12 hours according to Apple).MacBook Pro. The MacBook Pro is the closest Apple has to a more traditional laptop. Only one version is available (with a 13-inch screen). It has a 500GB 5400-rpm hard drive instead of the newer flash storage system found on the other MacBooks. The MacBook Pro is also the only Mac still being sold with a built-in optical SuperDrive (CD/DVD writer). Although you can purchase an external Apple DVD Superdrive to go with other Macs. This Mac has not been updated by Apple since 2012, we're kind of surprised people still buy it, at £899 it's not even the cheapest option. (See: Is it worth buying an Apple USB SuperDrive)MacBook Pro with Retina Display. The super-high resolution display on the Retina MacBook Pro looks amazing. The MacBook Pro models are available with 13-inch and 15-inch screens. Read more about the MacBook Pro Retina here.Retina MacBook. At the beginning of 2015 Apple introduced the new Retina MacBook, an even thinner and lighter MacBook than the MacBook Air - but with a higher price. It comes in gold, silver and space grey, just like the iPhone.

Prices start at £749 for a MacBook Air, £899 for a MacBook Pro and £999 for a MacBook Pro with Retina Display. The Retina MacBook starts at £1,049.

Mac laptop or desktop: The main difference

Comparing a desktop to a laptop throws up some pretty straightforward differences. The first being that a desktop is clearly designed to sit on a desk, while the laptop is designed to be carried around with you, or, as the name suggests, used on your lap (we think the reason why in the US laptops tend to be referred to as Notebooks is because companies are worried about being sued by people with burned laps - do be aware that having your laptop in your lap may not be the best place for it).

The Mac Pro and Mac mini will also need an external monitor, and while the iMac has an integrated display you still need a separate keyboard and mouse (or Magic Trackpad). Laptops, in contrast, have the keyboard, trackpad and monitor contained within a package small enough to carry around.

It may sound like we're stating the obvious, but it's worth noting because it means that there are extra expenses to be factored in when purchasing a desktop that you might overlook when comparing prices with Apple's laptop range.

Mac laptop or desktop: WiFi and Interenet

All Macs feature Wi-Fi (known as AirPort), but the portable nature of a laptop doesn't doesn't just mean that you can take the computer to a local coffee shop, a MacBook can be moved into meeting rooms for presentations, and if you're at home you can move from the desk to the couch and carry on using your computer.

It's worth noting here that some Apple laptops don't have an ethernet port, so you can only connect them to the internet, or your network, wirelessly. It's worth making sure you won't be putting the IT guy at work out too much if you can only access the network over WiFi. Luckily you can buy adapters that make it possible to plug in to the local network if WiFi isn't an option.

Mac desktop or laptop: Display

Apple prides itself on its Retina displays, first introduced on the iPhone the pixels on a Retina display are said to be packed so tightly together that you cannot actually see them with the naked eye - hence Retina.

Among the MacBook ranges two models offer Retina displays. The new 12in MacBook and the Retina MacBook Pro, available in 13 and 15in versions.

Currently two of the 27in iMac models offer Retina displays for extra pixels, but there are rumours that the 21.5in iMacs will get Retina displays soon: Read more about the 2015 Retina iMac release date here.

As for screen sizes there are laptop screens to suit every one: the screen on the MacBook Air starts at 11-inch, then there's the 12in Retina MacBook and 13in MacBook Air and Retina MacBook Pro, and there's also a 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro (there was previously a 17-inch model, but this was discontinued by Apple despite being popular with photographers and videographers).

With regard to the iMac, the screen size ranges from 21.5-inch to 27-inch.

Don't underestimate screen size as a factor in productivity: this Apple study shows that large monitors provide productivity gains of between 50-65 per cent.

However, you don't have to settle for the display that comes with your Mac - all Apple Macs can be plugged into a separate display - so if you have a gigantic 30in display that you want to use go ahead and be super productive!

Mac laptop or desktop: Processor speeds and performance

In each category of Mac there are entry level models that tend to share similar specs. For example, the £399 Mac mini and £899 iMac currently sports a 1.4GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor at the entry level.

The entry level MacBook Air used to offer the same 1.4GHz processor but it was updated earlier this year to a newer 1.6GHz processor and saw a slight speed bump thanks to that. The MacBook Air also benefits from a SSD, or Flash drive, which is faster than the standard hard drive in the two other Mac desktops.

There's not a big difference between the specs of the 11in and 13in MacBook Pro models, the only real difference there is the storage and screen size.

If you are considering the difference between the 13in MacBook Pro Retina and 3in MacBook Air the differences are slightly more pronounced, but the price isn't hugely different. The entry-level 13in MacBook Pro with Retina display costs £999 while the 13in MacBook Air with the same amount of storage costs £849. the Retina model not only has a better screen it also has a better processor.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display starts with a 2.7GHz dual-core CPU, which is comparable to the 2.7GHz 21.5in iMac, which costs £50 more. The laptop does offer flash storage as standard though, which will make it faster. And this iMac doesn't have a Retina display (although it does have a bigger display).

It's also comparable to the 2.6GHz Mac mini which costs just £569 - as you can see, you don't necessarily have to pay more to get a higher specced machine.

The 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display has a more powerful 2.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, it costs £1,599. That's the same price as the 3.3GHz iMac with Retina 5K Display.

Then there's the Mac Pro starts with an even more powerful 3.7GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon E5, that costs £2,499, which isn't a lot more than the top of the range 3.5GHz iMac at £1,849.

Although, as you can see, there are areas of crossover between the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac and Mac mini, it's clear that you get a lot more processor bang for your buck on the desktop range. This isn't just a number on a spec sheet: the faster speed will make a lot of difference if you're using Photoshop and 3D imaging software, or video editing. It also extends the lifespan of the machine, ensuring it'll be able to run newer software for longer. However, the desktop machines can be let down by the slower hard drives, if you can opt for the build to order fusion drives in them (fusion drives combine a flash and hard drive for the best of both worlds) we recommend you do.

Mac laptop or desktop: Graphic performance

Alongside the Intel processor in each Apple Mac sits a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). This is often referred to as a "graphics card" although they are not always separate cards these days. The GPU is primarily used to manage visual effects and a good GPU enables games, and other graphic intensive programs to run more effectively.

At the entry level: the Mac mini and iMac all feature the older Intel HD Graphics 5000 card introduced with Haswell in 2013. The MacBook Air has the newer HD Graphics 6000. The MacBook Pro with Retina Display has a newer, and faster, Intel Iris Graphics 6100 card. All these graphics cards are integrated graphics cards, which means that they run on the same die as the main CPU and share the RAM with the rest of the computer.

The 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display and second-cheapest 21.5-inch iMac (£1,049) both feature Intel Iris Pro GPUs. The Intel Iris Pro is the same system as Intel Iris but with 128MB of dedicated RAM that acts as a buffer to improve performance.

There's nothing wrong with the Intel HD or Iris integrated systems (they run most modern games) but if you are a keen gamer, or work in a visual effects field then you might want to consider a step up. The Intel Iris Pro offers a marked upgrade in performance, but if you work in professional 3D, video editing or are a keen gamer then consider getting a Mac with a discrete graphics system.

Apple also offers some discrete graphics cards in its Macs - either from NVIDIA or AMD. You'll find these in the top of the range MacBook Pro, the top of the range iMac, and the Mac Pro. If you see NVIDIA or AMD on your Mac it's going to offer better performance. the NVIDIA cards come with their own separate RAM alongside higher GPU specifications.

The non-retina 27-inch 3.2GHz iMac (£1,449) comes with the NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M with 1G. The 3.3Ghz retina model offers the AMD Radeon R9 M290, while the 3.5GHz version boosts that to AMD Radeon R9 M290.

The top-of-the-line 15-inch: 2.5GHz MacBook Pro with Retina Display (£1,999) comes with an AMD Radeon R9 M370X.

These all offer vastly improved graphics performance over Macs with Intel HD 5000, Intel Iris or Intel Iris Pro graphics.

The Mac Pro comes with two graphics cards: Dual AMD FirePro D300 with 2GB GDDR5 VRAM on each card (4GB in total) on the quad-core model and 3GB GDDR5 VRAM each (6GB in total) on the 6-core unit. These are impressive numbers, and that sort of power is needed if you want to edit the new 4K video.

Mac laptop or desktop: Storage

On the surface it appears that you get more storage for your money with a Desktop. Apple's Mac mini and iMac computers start with 500GB and higher range models have 1TB across the board and they can be upgraded to 3TB.

The MacBooks and Mac Pro, on the other hand, come with smaller but faster PCIe-based flash storage.

The MacBook Air comes with 128GB on the cheaper 11-inch and 13-inch models, and goes up to 256GB on the more expensive models. Taking the 256GB storage to 512GB is an additional £240).

The MacBook Pro with Retina display also comes with 128GB, 256BG or 512GB of flash as standard. The non-retina model has a 500GB Serial ATA hard drive as standard.

It seems odd that the cheaper Mac mini and MacBook Pro (non Retina) both come with larger hard drives than most of the more expensive Macs. This is because the MacBook Air. MacBook Pro with Retina Display, and now Mac Pro all come with Flash storage built into the logic board. This is much faster (between 5-10 times faster) than a traditional Serial ATA hard drive. So although you get less storage you get much faster performance. You can always buy a separate hard disk and plug it in - or get a network attached storage device and back up over the network.

You can upgrade to an SSD (Solid State Drive) hard drive on the iMac and Mac mini, although this costs £160 to upgrade for a smaller sized (but much faster performing) 256GB SSD. The Mac mini and iMac both offer the Fusion Drive as a £160 upgrade. The Fusion Drive blends SSD technology with a traditional Serial ATA space to offer a 1TB drive with higher performance. It's an upgrade we highly recommend. There's a speed versus space issue here but it depends on your function. If you're going to be editing a lot of video then the larger internal hard drive will make a lot of difference.

Another option is the Fusion Drive, which gives you a flash drive as well as a hard drive, so you get the best of both worlds. It tends to be a £200 upgrade and we'd say its well worth it if you really think you need the extra storage space.

Mac laptop or desktop: Upgradability

Apple computers are notoriously difficult to upgrade, and the latest range offers even more restricted computing than ever. The MacBook Air and MacBook Pro with Retina Display both have soldered RAM and hard drives: they are basically non-upgradable, what you buy is what you'll use forevermore. The MacBook Pro without Retina Display still enables you to upgrade the RAM (up to 16GB) and swap out the hard drive. The iMac 21.5-inch is technically upgradable but so hard to strip down that it might as well not be, but the iMac 27-inch allows you reasonable access to the RAM and hard drive.

The Mac mini used to be easy to upgrade, although the version introduced in 2014 isn't as upgradable as the past models had been. However, it is possible to swap out the hard drive if necessary, although you can no longer easily upgrade the RAM. So be sure to buy the memory you need with this model.

The new Mac Pro is an interesting unit in that it replaces the one Mac with superb upgradability options with a radically new design. You can upgrade the RAM fairly easily, but you can no longer install PCI-Express cards into the Mac Pro and the SSD. However the SSD isn't soldered to the board as in a MacBook Air, instead it sits on a card above the GPU. Tantalisingly you may be able to upgrade the graphics card down the line, although the CPU will be forever fixed.

See: Can I upgrade the new Mac Pro

Upgradability is a mixed bag. On the one hand there are size, weight and performance advantages to having everything soldered inside the machine. But you can easily extend the life of a Mac by updating the RAM and hard drive as prices fall. Again the Mac mini and iMac 27-inch offer longevity.

Conclusion: Should you buy a Mac desktop or laptop

It may sound trite but in the most case it really does come down to 'how portable do you want your computer to be' If you need a machine to carry around with you then the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro offer this feature.

But if you don't need portability, you really get much more from a Mac desktop than just a bigger screen. The faster innards, and upgradability options (at least on models other than the 21.5-inch iMac and new Mac mini) will allow you to buy a machine with more potential lifespan. And don't underestimate the productivity gains of working on a large 27-inch display (especially one as beautiful as the new iMac with Retina 5K display).

The only thing that lets the average desktop down is the slower hard drive, so we recommend you upgrade to flash storage, or a Fusion Drive when you purchase it.

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(www.macworld.co.uk)

Lou Hattersley

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