I've had bad luck with the imac so I deiced to return it all together. I still would like a mac, so I started looking at the mac mini. For the price of a mac mini with upgrades, it comes close to the price of an imac and still doesn't have as much power and storage. How did you guys justify buying a mac mini over an imac? I really want a mac, but just can't see myself spending that much money on a machine that doesn't seem that powerful.
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help me decide
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Mac Mini is for people who already have the peripherals. If you don't have a monitor, KB and mouse, then give the iMac another try.
What kind of problems are you having with the iMac exactly? As someone said, if you already own peripherals it makes the Mac Mini attractive. A lot of people, including myself, don't like the idea of having a monitor tied to the machine itself.
I have had the older iMacs and they have been and still are great for me. But, I started having a vision problem. Went to the Apple store and the business guy suggested the mini with a large monitor.
Bought the mini and used an old monitor. Then in June HP came out with a matte 30" monitor-the ZR30w. I love it. Makes my mini a true delight. They also have smaller and cheaper monitors. Personally I use then Cmd and + keys to blow pages up. Or with the new KB and mouse, I use the hold down control and zoom with the mouse.
Bottom line, agree with another comment about owning peripherals.
I just remembered another thread/analysis months ago where a guy mentioned about the resale of mini vs. imacs. The mini won out.
So what did you not like about the iMac?
Bought the mini and used an old monitor. Then in June HP came out with a matte 30" monitor-the ZR30w. I love it. Makes my mini a true delight. They also have smaller and cheaper monitors. Personally I use then Cmd and + keys to blow pages up. Or with the new KB and mouse, I use the hold down control and zoom with the mouse.
Bottom line, agree with another comment about owning peripherals.
I just remembered another thread/analysis months ago where a guy mentioned about the resale of mini vs. imacs. The mini won out.
So what did you not like about the iMac?
the 1st imac i received had the dog whistle when adjusting the brightness and it also had a yellow tint on the lower right corner of the screen.
the 2nd imac also had the yellow tint but was also vibrating on my desk which was annoying when my hands were on the keyboard and mouse.
i just don't want to spend money to buy a mac mini and have it be outdated quickly and not be able to perform how i need it to perform.
i edit photos in photoshop and i plan to do some light video editing with final cut. i'm not a professional so i don't use either programs daily, just whenever i am working on a project.
i currently have a toshiba laptop with 1.66ghz intel core and 2 gb of ram. it is very slow now-a-days so anything is an upgrade to this machine.
the 2nd imac also had the yellow tint but was also vibrating on my desk which was annoying when my hands were on the keyboard and mouse.
i just don't want to spend money to buy a mac mini and have it be outdated quickly and not be able to perform how i need it to perform.
i edit photos in photoshop and i plan to do some light video editing with final cut. i'm not a professional so i don't use either programs daily, just whenever i am working on a project.
i currently have a toshiba laptop with 1.66ghz intel core and 2 gb of ram. it is very slow now-a-days so anything is an upgrade to this machine.
That's what I love too. The smallest computer and a large monitor. I may get Dell's U3011 when it comes out (1600 dpi vertical may be enough of an upgrade to my current 1200 dpi vertical that I don't mind not being able to rotate the monitor 90 degrees. When I rotate now, I usually don't fully expand the window to 1920 dpi vertical because it's a little too long top-to-bottom.
4GB RAM would be an improvement to your current or any future computer. There are i3/5/7 processors out there now, but I don't know if they are appreciably faster than Core 2 Duo. Try a mini with non-Apple SSD and RAM upgrades (which does drive the price up) and it should hold you over a few years until you'd be looking to upgrade whatever you bought today.
Think the true value of this machine is for situations where smaller and invisible is better. For example I use the Mini as a Home theatre PC/NAS in my living room, feeding a 92" projector. In such a case, the mini is by far the best machine out there, being tiny and virtually silent. I stick it on my stereo bench and fit's nicely and quietly there.
If you want a traditional desktop, then sure the Mini will lose out to the iMac. So it depends on what you actually want out of a computer obviously - it's just a tool and each situation will call for a different tool.
And only 3.5x the price, at a minimum. If I pay 3.5x more for a computer, it better run circles around the cheaper priced one...
Mac mini consumes less than 10 watts of power at idle (1/10 the power of a 100 watt incadesent light bulb) and about 1.5 watts when in the sleep mode. Rest is a given...
Being into photography, I thought the imac was the best workstation choice for me and my budget. Well, I went through seven in the past year, mostly for display issues (yellow screens, dead pixels, etc). My solution, a mac mini and a 30" Cinema display.
The mini is fast enough for my needs, and will be much cheaper to upgrade. The non-glossy 30" Cinema display is gorgeous and a delight to use. I really wish I would have just went this route months ago.
The mini is fast enough for my needs, and will be much cheaper to upgrade. The non-glossy 30" Cinema display is gorgeous and a delight to use. I really wish I would have just went this route months ago.
What's your point? High-End iMac: $2200.
The display is worth $1100 alone (Well, or $900 with savings)
The CPU costs $290.
RAM: $83
Hard drive: $88
You need a mainboard: $120
The iMacs power supply is 80+ Gold: $110
Graphics: $125
Keyboard and mouse: $120.
An Operating System: $100
You need some sort of case, don't you? $15, and not even nearly comperable to the beauty of the iMac.
What does the same machine running Windows cost? Right, $1951, or without the savings on the display, $2151. And it doesn't run Mac OS X.
Any further questions regarding the value of an iMac?
The display is worth $1100 alone (Well, or $900 with savings)
The CPU costs $290.
RAM: $83
Hard drive: $88
You need a mainboard: $120
The iMacs power supply is 80+ Gold: $110
Graphics: $125
Keyboard and mouse: $120.
An Operating System: $100
You need some sort of case, don't you? $15, and not even nearly comperable to the beauty of the iMac.
What does the same machine running Windows cost? Right, $1951, or without the savings on the display, $2151. And it doesn't run Mac OS X.
Any further questions regarding the value of an iMac?
@Giuly: The high end iMac's GPU is actually a Mobility Radeon 5850 not the desktop 5750.
iMac, the Macbook Pro you've always wanted.
iMac, the Macbook Pro you've always wanted.
Well, take a desktop-version HD 4850 then - $98.@Giuly: The high end iMac's GPU is actually a Mobility Radeon 5850 not the desktop 5750.
iMac, the Macbook Pro you've always wanted.
Even if you take a $50 graphics card, the result is the same: The new iMac is not heavily overpriced.
I understand your frustration to a point. I myself have had my bad run with not 1 not 2 but 3 iMacs. I will tell you this though, Apple will do everything in their power to make sure your satisfied. My first iMac was repaired by one of those *Johnny on the spot* guys. I cancelled all my appointments for the day he was supposed to show up and he was a no show. Then he comes the next day 3 hours later than he was supposed to . He fixes it, but changes the logic board with a slower one. I documented everything, as well as took numerous pictures while he was working on it. This guy was even on the phone calling people, because he really did not know how to change it out.
I notified Apple of what was going on and they sent me a brand new one the next day (Incident 1). I still have that iMac that they sent me as a side workhorse.
2nd Incident, Purchased an iMac and not even 2 days later it was only showing that 1 core was showing. This iMac did not have any software installed on it or even set up to my personal liking. I called Apple and a dispute went back and forth with them telling me that there is no way possible, unless I was a dev. and I disabled a core. I again had to tell them that I had just received it 2 days prior, until finally getting a new iMac shipped out. Well from this 2nd incident comes incident #3 roughly 6 months after the 2nd incident. The iMac would boot up with a roaring fan blazing the whole time as if it were a window pc with one of those wizzer fans installed. Sluggish and un responsive. I called Apple and they sent me out a new one.
Now all is well thus far and has been for over a year.
I would give the iMac another try my friend. Just remember , everything will not be perfect 100% of the time but will be fail proof 99.9 % of the time
With all the horror stories on the iMacs, glad I decided to get a mini to replace my sold 2008 Mac pro. Can't believe apples problems with these. My 2006 24 inch iMac is still going strong. Wanted the 27 inch i7 but guess I will save up for another pro. Wish apple would have 2 drives and the cd drive with an i5 processor in the minis. Would make an awesome mini.
Agree with you on what could make ours awesome.
However, in the meantime I've got my client with 2 SSD drives internal, SD external, but no i5. I do have 8GB RAM though and to me it feels like a 911 now.