buy iMac mini or the lowest end 27" iMac

[spoon72]

currently using 27" mid 2011 imac, repaired the graphic card recently but it seem like it wont last long, thinking of getting a imac mini highest spec not upgrade the cpu (waiting for new 2016 mini if that ever come out)or should i buy the lowest end 27" imac?
not going to use it for any important work but mainly for minor photo editing and watching streaming movie online.
i worry of the repair cost of the desktop imac base on my current imac screen/graphic card issues(changed the lcd once with the replacement program).
the repair cost for the imac mini is cheap ?

 

[Micky Do]

You'll have a problem finding and iMac Mini, because there is no such thing……...!

The Mac Mini could well suit your needs. Off the shop shelf, the top end model comes with 8 GM RAM and Fusion Drive. Custom built, a lower order model specced with Fusion Drive or a SSD, and maybe 16 GB RAM would probably be a better fit. Check out this page on the Apple website:

http://www.apple.com/sg/shop/buy-mac/mac-mini

My own base model 2009 Mac Mini, with an extra 4 GB of RAM performs adequately for my work and similar uses to what you describe.

The big thing about the Mac Mini is that you get to choose peripherals to suit your desires and budget.

Late last year I got a new monitor, to replace the one I got with my first Mac Mini in 2005. I am still using the speakers I got back then. I use the wired Apple keyboard I have had for years because I like it, though not everybody does. Just about any keyboard will work. I also like the latest Apple Magic Mouse, but not enough to pay for one. The basic wired Logitec M100 works fine for me.

 

[Totally]

Confused. What is an iMac mini? You reference this and posted in the mac mini forum... presumably you mean mac mini?

That being said, there is no way in hell I would pay full retail for Apple's 2014 mac mini. It's 2 years old. And the technology inside it is probably 3 years old knowing apple. They have really been neglecting their desktops and until a major upgrade at this point, I wouldn't even consider it.

iMac i think was upgraded in the last year? Maybe? Not sure.

Apple has really neglected the desktop world, unless you really really need a mac, I might suggest looking at a PC.

 

[JimmyPainter]

Confused. What is an iMac mini? You reference this and posted in the mac mini forum... presumably you mean mac mini?

That being said, there is no way in hell I would pay full retail for Apple's 2014 mac mini. It's 2 years old. And the technology inside it is probably 3 years old knowing apple. They have really been neglecting their desktops and until a major upgrade at this point, I wouldn't even consider it.

iMac i think was upgraded in the last year? Maybe? Not sure.

Apple has really neglected the desktop world, unless you really really need a mac, I might suggest looking at a PC.

Man,

I am so disappointed with Apple right now and the state of the Macs but even more disappointed at how many PC fanatics are on this forum and how they try to push everyone to windows. The Guy asked opinion on Mini or iMac. I would wait just a tad longer as if you want the Mini otherwise if it is a "Have to Have" right now... iMac is more current with Technology. With so many things I could say Bad about Apple and the Disposable non upgradable machines left to wither on the vine .... I still can't go back to Windows. I have it at work and it's Better than it has ever been with Windows 10. At the end of the Day it's still not my Mac. I have an older Macbook Air and a Suped up Mac Pro 3,1 with a 7970 inside. Air is so freekin light and portable but my Love is Rocking out with my 30" and screaming 2008 Mac Pro. The GREAT news is PC or Mac there are so many fantastic choices out there it's hard to go wrong. I am really hoping for a newer Mini and nMpro in June.

 

[spoon72]

Guys you should know the "iMAC mini " is a typo error mistake from me ... The reason for me to look into the mini while I'm using the iMAC currently is because of the repair cost for iMAC is huge base on my experience ,can the mini last 5 to 6 yrs without giving any problem ?
Do they repair mini or one to one replacement ?

 

[Fishrrman]

The Minis seem to have the best "record of reliability" amongst the Mac lineup (perhaps along with the Mac Pro models). They just keep running.

I can't say whether the Mini can last 6 years, because I haven't owned mine that long yet. But the "late-2012" Mini I bought in January 2013 is still running fine 3+ years later. I've had to open it only once, to replace one 2gb DIMM for an 8gb DIMM -- giving me a total of 10gb of RAM.

Having said that, be aware that a new Mini (with some very nice improvements) is expected, but almost certainly won't arrive until late October this year or even later.

If you can't wait that long, and "need something now", get the "top-end" Mini (which comes with 8gb of RAM, better graphics and a 1tb fusion drive). If you think you'll need more RAM, get the 16gb version, because you can't upgrade memory once you own it.

 

[jpietrzak8]

I can't say whether the Mini can last 6 years, because I haven't owned mine that long yet.

Oh, well, I can -- this post is being typed up on a 2010 Mini right now, and I've got a 2007 Mini sitting beside my TV running 24/7 as a HTPC / file server. Apple stopped supporting the 2007 Mini years ago, but it is still running fine for me, even if I can't run the latest software on it...

 

[Micky Do]

Guys you should know the "iMAC mini " is a typo error mistake from me ... The reason for me to look into the mini while I'm using the iMAC currently is because of the repair cost for iMAC is huge base on my experience ,can the mini last 5 to 6 yrs without giving any problem ?
Do they repair mini or one to one replacement ?

This poll suggests that Mac Minis last a while.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ou-had-and-used-your-oldest-mac-mini.1909082/

I'm using an early 2009 Mac Mini right now; the base model that came with 1 GB RAM. I upgraded it to Mountain Lion about 4 years ago; had an extra 4 GB RAM installed then too, and it got a general clean out. Last year it has another clean out, but no other work done. It still has the original 120 GB HDD drive, and I have an external HDD to archive data I don't want to store on the internal one.

My first Mac Mini, the 2005 original lasted 4 years before the HDD drive and the power supply failed. I decided then that getting a new one would be more cost effective than repair.

Power supply failure is not all that common. I would put it down to the mains supply to my apartment at the time, which would have given the power supply a hard time. At the end of the line, often there was not enough grunt to kick the fluorescent tubes into life in my apartment. Power cuts and surges were (and still are) frequent. A big one that knocked out power to half of Southern Thailand blew up the UPS I had. Since then the mains supply to the neighbourhood has been upgraded and I have installed an earth system.

I now have better UPS with Auto Voltage Regulation (AVR), and all has been sweet for the seven years I have had the Mac Mini I am using now. Hopefully it will be good for another couple or three years.

 

[Totally]

Man,

I am so disappointed with Apple right now and the state of the Macs but even more disappointed at how many PC fanatics are on this forum and how they try to push everyone to windows. The Guy asked opinion on Mini or iMac. I would wait just a tad longer as if you want the Mini otherwise if it is a "Have to Have" right now... iMac is more current with Technology. With so many things I could say Bad about Apple and the Disposable non upgradable machines left to wither on the vine .... I still can't go back to Windows. I have it at work and it's Better than it has ever been with Windows 10. At the end of the Day it's still not my Mac. I have an older Macbook Air and a Suped up Mac Pro 3,1 with a 7970 inside. Air is so freekin light and portable but my Love is Rocking out with my 30" and screaming 2008 Mac Pro. The GREAT news is PC or Mac there are so many fantastic choices out there it's hard to go wrong. I am really hoping for a newer Mini and nMpro in June.

Well I can't tell if you are trying to discredit me and call me a pc fanatic or not, but it's late so I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt that you are not.

I just don't think it makes sense really to buy any apple desktop now. You won't be getting state of the art technology and you will pay a premium for that not state of the art hardware. I really think that apple needs to rethink itself as a company and really think about it's plans for the desktop line, but this is not right.

If I were to buy a desktop today, I would buy/build my own PC. And I suspect a lot of people who used to be like myself who only wanted an apple desktop might agree with me given the neglect they have given their desktops.

 

[Micky Do]

I just don't think it makes sense really to buy any apple desktop now. You won't be getting state of the art technology and you will pay a premium for that not state of the art hardware. I really think that apple needs to rethink itself as a company and really think about it's plans for the desktop line, but this is not right.

If I were to buy a desktop today, I would buy/build my own PC. And I suspect a lot of people who used to be like myself who only wanted an apple desktop might agree with me given the neglect they have given their desktops.

Fine if mucking around with computers and having state of the art tech is your thing. But not so good for folks who just want to use OS X to do stuff.

 

[robotica]

If you can last until the end of the year with your current iMac then fingers crossed you should have a good selection to choose from.

 

[spoon72]

If you can last until the end of the year with your current iMac then fingers crossed you should have a good selection to choose from.

I have added two fans behind to cool the iMac hopefully it will prevent any board from burning or damage again.

 

[robotica]

Looks like a good job there. Shame you had to resort to that though.

 

[spoon72]

Looks like a good job there. Shame you had to resort to that though.

After installed the fans the ave temp is now around 40++ degree Celsius before that can goes up 60 degree Celsius .

 

[spoon72]

"Sad"day for me again , think my graphic card gave up again since the replacement on Jan 2016. Decided not to spent another 600USD, now start my waiting time for the new mini and dell monitor (maybe U2717D) . Will not go into iMAC as I felt it is much more safe with the display and computer a separate entity.

 

[spoon72]

To prevent lag which option would you choose for the mini ? Upgrade 16gb ram or fusion drive for as mentioned previously basically for photo editing and streaming online video and HD video ?

 

[jpietrzak8]

To prevent lag which option would you choose for the mini ? Upgrade 16gb ram or fusion drive for as mentioned previously basically for photo editing and streaming online video and HD video ?

Again, standard boilerplate warning for the Mini (and most of the rest of Apple's current PC lineup): the RAM can't be upgraded on these machines, so if you ever do want 16 GB of RAM, you have to buy it right at the start.

To avoid lag:

1) For streaming online video, you really don't need to worry about RAM or about the drive you're using. Almost any device (even cellphones!) can stream video perfectly, as long as you've got a decent broadband connection and a GPU which can decode the codec being used by the video. The Mini's GPU is starting to get a little old, but it can still handle most popular codecs in use today.

2) For photo editing: This gets a little more interesting. I'm not sure what software you're using, but some programs like Photoshop can consume a great deal of RAM. This doesn't necessarily mean that you'd need 16 GB to run it, but you might be able to make good use of that much memory.

Also, if you have a lot of photos, and you want to browse them quickly, that's the kind of situation where an SSD can really shine. So a fusion drive (or just a straight-up SSD) would be useful there.

So it'd be a little complicated to choose between the two. I guess the one item here I would add, is that you can easily add on an external drive if you really have to, but you can never add external RAM, so I guess I'd lean towards the latter...

 

[tubeexperience]

"Sad"day for me again , think my graphic card gave up again since the replacement on Jan 2016. Decided not to spent another 600USD, now start my waiting time for the new mini and dell monitor (maybe U2717D) . Will not go into iMAC as I felt it is much more safe with the display and computer a separate entity.

What the h###!

You are suppose to get it repaired for free under the video card replacement program.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203787

 

[spoon72]

What the h###!

You are suppose to get it repaired for free under the video card replacement program.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203787

I have it done long ago so , is one time replacement program right ? I have placed it under the program but after few yrs it broken down again so I have it done from non Apple Centre and it broken down after 5months and that shop warranty cover only 30 days.

 

[Mr. McMac]

My 2011 Mac Mini runs 24/7. Never had any issue with it. Although I do shut it every few months to clean the cooling fan

 

[tubeexperience]

I have it done long ago so , is one time replacement program right ? I have placed it under the program but after few yrs it broken down again so I have it done from non Apple Centre and it broken down after 5months and that shop warranty cover only 30 days.

You can bring it in and have it repaired under that program again.

This is literally the same problem also plaque the 2011 MacBook Pro.

 

[spoon72]

You can bring it in and have it repaired under that program again.

This is literally the same problem also plaque the 2011 MacBook Pro.

Just called it don't work that way , they said that program is for a certain period and also during that program I have changed before so that card suppose to be a good working card .

 

[tubeexperience]

Just called it don't work that way , they said that program is for a certain period and also during that program I have changed before so that card suppose to be a good working card .

Apple has what's called "Video System Test (VST)".

If your iMac fails that test, you get a new video card. It doesn't matter if you brought it in before.

 

[spoon72]

my imac is working now after one guy pointed me to search for "reflow the imac graphic card IC chip " , i heated up the chip with blow touch and re-apply the heat sink compound.

 

[spoon72]

I have removed the optic drive out to create more space for cooling, look like I have more time to wait for the new mini...