You can run Sonar on Mac hardware just fine, but definitely do it through Bootcsmp and avoid Parallels for this purpose.

Bang for buck you'll get more power and flexibility/upgrade ability if you with a PC Tower.

If your options are for a stock laptop then choose what you're comfortable with. I've had horrible experience with PC vendors here, but great experience with MacBooks. I'm talking about standard off-the-shelf laptops here. Perhaps the same might be said for stock PC desktops/ towers.

FWIW I have a self-built PC tower as my main studio computer. But I use a MacBook for my roaming recordings.

I've done both. Bootcamp gives way better performance, but you may run into driver issues with the hardware. It's still a performance hit even under Bootcamp. Parallels is okay for some things but a DAW or video work is going to suffer dramatically. I couldn't get reliable performance out of it so I abandoned the idea.
 
PCs are cheap, even laptops. I'd go with a PC for your use as it's less headache. I do wish I had SONAR on my Macbook Pro so I could have a mobile rig to work on SONAR projects with but I can do sketches in something like Reaper and then just port over the audio when it's "time". :-) Besides, staying fluent in more than one DAW pays dividends in troubleshooting technique. :-)
 

Thanks for all the input. I'm not interested in another tower, nor learning a new DAW! I don't mind buying a new computer every few years, I've never upgraded an existing machine with a new processor or ram and I won't in the future. It really is about neatness and if it means paying more for less power that is ok. If I knew a UK audio PC specialist who would build an all in one that would be great. If not, I have learned that iMac plus boot camp is the way to go.

Boot Camp would be probably your best option here. Yes.

...just a note?

I was running SPlat on a 2.6G i5 quad much of the last year... It works but with very little horsepower. I ran into its limits with only a couple of tracks and or trying to do a single input-monitored (amp sim) installed.

So consider how little power in an i5 (even the quad)...

I'd push for something with at least a 3G i7.....
And at least 8G RAM

If I was you and really was set on getting an iMac, I would spend the money to spec it out pretty good like Keni mentioned above. I would get an I7 processor, 16 GB ram and 1TB SSD. If you video edit you might as well get the better graphics cards also. This is going to cost you. They are good machines and OS X is great. But since upgrading them really isn't an option, you may find yourself unsatisfied if it's underpowered for what you want to do. Spend the money now to get longer use out of it. They get expensive.
 
I completely replaced my Windows desktop 2 1/2 years ago with rMBP late 2013 and it's been the best computer I've ever had and I don't miss the Windows desktop at all. But it cost me. The SDD are extremely fast and improve the performance tremendously. I used the crap out of the laptop and it has exceeded my expectations. I use it for both audio and video editing. 
 
If I wanted a gaming machine though I would not go with MAC. Windows is much better.
 
Also, I probably would not invest in a MAC if your not excited about OS X and the Apple eco system. If you plan on running Windows I would just save the money and get something else. If you really want a MAC you may be better off taking the time and learn logic. It's really not that difficult to learn. There's some video sources you can purchase access to for a couple months and just watch the videos. Like https://www.macprovideo.com.

Marshall
Thanks for all the input. I'm not interested in another tower, nor learning a new DAW! I don't mind buying a new computer every few years, I've never upgraded an existing machine with a new processor or ram and I won't in the future. It really is about neatness and if it means paying more for less power that is ok. If I knew a UK audio PC specialist who would build an all in one that would be great. If not, I have learned that iMac plus boot camp is the way to go.

Great Bill.  I am sure you will be very happy with it -  windows ticks along very nicely under Bootcamp:) I ran Sonar on both an imac and macbook pro for many years. 
 
FWIW,  here is a link to the UK HP all in one models.  Not sure how the Apple pricing works out over there,  but in Australia I was able to buy a HP i7 with a touch screen for much less than the i5 iMac. That said I no longer had any interest in running OSX, which you may. 
 
http://store.hp.com/UKSto...=DTP&fc_form_aio=1
 

tenfoot
I was referring to the HP All in one that I referenced in the earlier post Jim, and am really only talking about end user service issues like replacing a hdd or upgrading ram.  I haven't serviced any Macs for a couple of years now,  but they were always a nightmare to work on. 

FWIW, We recently bought a new Mac...
(Have many Mac clients running networked custom VE Pro "slave" PCs)
I wanted the fastest possible machine...
Ironically, that's currently the late 2015 iMac with Skylake 6700k.  Faster than the highest end Mac Pro.
Couldn't get the exact configuration I wanted from Apple, so I upgraded the machine.
Pulling the whole screen assembly off (and re-attaching) is something you've got one-shot to get right.
It'll get the blood-pressure pumping... even folks who are extremely tech-savvy.   
 
Even to swap out the 2TB Fusion HD for a real SSD, you have to remove the entire display assembly.
The only "upgrade" that's user-friendly is swapping RAM.
If you want to swap out the CPU, the whole machine has to come apart.

WDI
If I was you and really was set on getting an iMac, I would spend the money to spec it out pretty good like Keni mentioned above. I would get an I7 processor, 16 GB ram and 1TB SSD. If you video edit you might as well get the better graphics cards also. This is going to cost you. They are good machines and OS X is great. But since upgrading them really isn't an option, you may find yourself unsatisfied if it's underpowered for what you want to do. Spend the money now to get longer use out of it. They get expensive.

At this moment, the fastest Mac you can buy is the late 2015 iMac with a Skylake i7 6700k (4.5GHz).
The top end Mac Pro has an older generation Xeon CPU (3.9GHz).
 
You can upgrade the CPU and boot drive.

• It's a major pain
• It'll void your warranty

 

Jim Roseberry
 
Pulling the whole screen assembly off (and re-attaching) is something you've got one-shot to get right.
It'll get the blood-pressure pumping... even folks who are extremely tech-savvy.   
 

Breaking out in a sweat just thinking about it!  Glad it went well for you.  I really don't miss having to deal with Apple products. They certainly seem to go out of their way to protect their service dollar.