13" tb MBP vs iMac?

[Opa]

I'm debating between a couple of setups.

1 - Late 2016 13" tb MBP / 3.3Ghz / 16 gb RAM with 2 external 27" displays (LG 5k + Apple 2.5k) with a 2tb Sandisk SSD for storage. I'd be purchasing the 5k display for this.

2 - Wait for new iMac later this spring. So top end 27" 5k iMac + already owned Apple 2.5k external.

The iMac would certainly be somewhat faster in general (Mac Benchmarks - Geekbench Browser). However, I've often seen real world performance differ considerably — both ways; even greater difference than tests indicate and much less or no difference than tests indicate.

So, can anyone give me an idea how LR, Capture1, and Affinity Photo might perform. Major diff so worth the wait and money or minor diff.

The former has the advantage of my current photos/edits always being on the external SSD and easy to take along wherever I am.

Thanks

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Unless you need portability, I'd go with the iMac. It's beautiful and powerful. The 13" doesn't really have the horsepower to run Lightroom well on 5K displays IMHO (it's ok with its own screen), so if you need portability, I'd go with the 15" that has a separate GPU.

Lightroom on any 5K display is slower than on a smaller screen, and I'd expect the same to the true of the other apps. There's simply a lot more pixels to calculate.

 

[Opa]

Thanks Victoria. That was kind of my thought but wanted to make sure.