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Should You Buy a Desktop Mac or a MacBook?
Apr 30, 2024
Article on Cult of Mac: https://www.cultofmac.com/850547/imac-or-macbook/ More Apple news: http://www.cultofmac.com Should your next #Mac be an #iMac or #MacBook? Over 90% of Macs sold are laptops, and it’s easy to see why — MacBooks are light while offering best-in-class performance and battery life. But there are some compelling reasons to stick to the iMac, Mac mini or Mac Studio as well. You save money and you have a more reliable machine. Produced by Extra Ordinary for Cult of Mac Music composed by Will Davenport, arranged by D. Griffin Jones Follow us! Twitter: https://twitter.com/cultofmac Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cultofmac Instagram: https://instagram.com/cultofmac/
View Video Transcript
0:00
Should your next Mac be an iMac or a MacBook
0:03
Over 90% of Macs sold today are laptops, and it's easy to see why
0:07
They're thin and light, while still offering best-in-class performance and battery life
0:12
But there's some compelling reasons to get a desktop Mac as well. You can save some money
0:16
and you'll have a more reliable machine. So let's talk over the pros and cons
0:20
over getting an iMac, Mac Mini, and Mac Studio versus a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro
0:26
First, the most obvious reason to get a MacBook is it's easier to take with you
0:33
Unplug it and stick it in your bag, a 10-second process, and you're good to go
0:38
And in a pinch, you can just take it out, sit it on your lap, no matter where you are
0:42
and you can get some work done. An iMac, being a thin, lightweight, all-in-one computer
0:47
is pretty easy to carry around as far as desktop computers go
0:51
but it still doesn't have an internal battery, and it still won't fit inside your backpack
0:56
A Mac Mini, being as small as it is, is easy to carry from here to there
1:00
provided both here and there have a desktop display, keyboard, and mouse
1:06
ready to plug into. Really, nothing can compare to the portability of a MacBook Air
1:11
Number two, most desktop Macs are considerably cheaper than their MacBook equivalents
1:17
The one thing that everybody knows about Apple products is that they can be pretty expensive
1:22
I would argue that the quality, power, and reliability of the computer you get justifies the price
1:28
but no amount of justification is gonna make it worth it if you only have a little bit of money to spend
1:34
Buying a desktop Mac can save you a considerable amount of money if you compare it to an identically specced MacBook
1:40
At the base level, the Mac Mini saves you $500 compared to the MacBook Air
1:45
At the pro level, the Mac Mini saves you $700 compared to the equivalent MacBook Pro
1:50
And at the max level, you save a whopping $1,000 getting a Mac Studio instead of a MacBook Pro
1:57
And all of those are assuming the smaller screen sizes. Add an extra $200 if you're cross-shopping
2:03
with the 15-inch MacBook Air or $300 for the 16-inch MacBook Pro
2:08
Granted, the price differences are there for a reason. The Mac Mini and Mac Studio don't come
2:13
with the display, keyword, and mouse that you'll need. On the other hand
2:17
if you're doing your daily work on a MacBook, you probably already have a desktop display
2:22
keyboard, and mouse that you dock it to anyways. So if you don't have as much money to spend
2:27
and you already have such a setup, you can save a lot of money
2:31
getting a Mac Mini or Mac Studio instead of a MacBook. Or you can use the price difference
2:36
to get a more powerful Mac. Instead of getting the base 14-inch MacBook Pro
2:40
you can instead get a Mac Mini with a more powerful pro-level chip
2:45
double the memory, double the storage, all for $100 less. Another thing to note is that the iMac
2:51
which comes with a built-in display and with a keyboard and mouse in the box
2:55
actually costs the same as the equivalent MacBook Air. But while you give up on portability
3:01
you're upgrading from a 13-inch display to a desktop-class 24-inch display. Number three, if you're the sort of person
3:08
who keeps a computer until yours literally stops functioning, you're more likely to get more years
3:13
out of a desktop Mac than a laptop. Laptops take more physical abuse
3:18
and they have more unique, tiny, special parts that are more likely to break over time
3:23
Now, assuming you don't have a habit of dropping your laptop, the battery is the most likely reason it will fail
3:30
And let me put it to you this way. If you're this far into watching this video
3:34
and you're still genuinely not sure if you should get a laptop or a desktop
3:38
you're probably not the sort of person who uses your laptop as a laptop very often
3:44
You probably go on the occasional weekend trip or work trip just often enough to make you unsure
3:51
That kind of lifestyle, leaving your laptop plugged in 364 days out of the year
3:57
is devastating to the lithium-ion battery inside. My MacBook Pro, for example
4:02
held up perfectly during college, but as soon as I graduated and I started leaving it on my desk all the time
4:09
the battery life plummeted, and now the computer is completely non-functional. The battery is starting to swell
4:16
It's honestly a fire hazard. I probably wouldn't be allowed to take it on a plane
4:20
even if I wanted to. But on the other hand, number four
4:23
the conventional wisdom that laptops are second-rate computers compared to desktops just isn't true anymore
4:30
It used to be when Apple put Intel chips inside the Mac that when you compared a very similarly specced iMac
4:37
to a MacBook Air on paper, the iMac would still always outperform it
4:43
That's because Intel packaged their chips that weren't manufactured as well, the ones that wouldn't run as fast or as hot
4:49
they packaged and sold those as laptop chips. Now that the more energy-efficient Apple Silicon
4:55
powers the Mac lineup, the rules have reversed. Apple puts their best-manufactured chips
5:01
inside MacBooks first for their superior power efficiency. They put the underperforming chips in the desktop lineup
5:08
where they can feed it more power for the same performance. That means that it doesn't matter
5:14
whether you buy laptop or desktop. An M3 Pro is an M3 Pro, no matter what form factor you buy
5:22
But on the other hand, number five, that rule only holds true where they sell the same chip
5:27
desktop and laptop. The most powerful, the highest tier of performance you can buy is only available on the desktop
5:37
The MacBook Pro can be configured up to the Max chip, but the Max Studio gets the even higher tier Ultra chip
5:44
which is effectively two Max chips interposed together. That means you get double the processing power
5:50
double the graphics, and double the memory. It isn't exactly Apple style to sell a MacBook
5:55
with half-day battery life. And while Apple Silicon chips do run pretty cool
6:01
and are pretty energy-efficient, they're not magic. The MacBook Pro is simply too thin as it exists today
6:08
to contain such power. The real magic of Apple Silicon is that no matter what Mac you buy
6:14
you're going to get a great computer. So those are some of the pros and cons
6:19
desktop versus laptop. Remember to like and subscribe. I'm D. Griffin Jones with Cult of Mac
#Computer Hardware
#Consumer Electronics
#Desktop Computers
#Laptops & Notebooks