I have a 6 yr. old G4 450 PowerMac that I need to replace before summer. I have a 19" LaCie Electron Blue monitor and I have a 120 GB 7200 RPM Western Digital SE with a 8MB Buffer as my data drive that I can either put in a Firewire/USB case or a NewerTech MiniStack drive case, plus Airport Extreme and Express running my network. I had considered for quite some time the idea of getting a G5 iMac or now the Intel iMac, but 20" because of the screen I have now. And I realize the new iMac supports dual screens, but that is a significant amount of desk space, even with my corner 'L' desk.
With the release of the new Intel Mac Mini I am tempted to go that direction, Core Duo of course because I have been wanting a superdrive for a long time, and maxing out the RAM to not only compensate for the graphics dependancy, but also to give me the most at my disposal. I do work in photoshop from time to time and can occasionally get involved with 150+MB files though that is somewhat rare. Mostly I will be using the machine for websurfing, mail, ichat, iPhoto and all the other iLife apps, as well as hopefully more and more video. I use iMovie a lot and hope to more and more with a superdrive and also expect to make the transition to Final Cut Express though I don't think I will be using the HD features in either of those for some time since I don't plan on getting an HD camcorder anytime soon.
I can see how the iMac with 2 screens is nice, especially for video playback with FCE, but not needed for iMovie. My main concern is whether the Mini can handle all of that, or if I really need an iMac now. I would prefer to go the Mini route for the short term because of $$, as well as the fact that it would be a nice stop-gap machine between my old G4 and either an iMac in 2007 (once it goes to a Merom or Conroe processor) or even a new tower (Mac Pro or whatever it is called), at which time the Mini will be a nice media machine to hook up to my TV. I understand that there is a lot of concern and disappointment over the integrated graphics and I would prefer dedicated myself, but I don't plan any gaming. Any thoughts on how it will deal with editing and playback of video in iMovie and FCE, either SD or HD.
Or if ultimately I should drop the $1699 this year for the iMac?
With the release of the new Intel Mac Mini I am tempted to go that direction, Core Duo of course because I have been wanting a superdrive for a long time, and maxing out the RAM to not only compensate for the graphics dependancy, but also to give me the most at my disposal. I do work in photoshop from time to time and can occasionally get involved with 150+MB files though that is somewhat rare. Mostly I will be using the machine for websurfing, mail, ichat, iPhoto and all the other iLife apps, as well as hopefully more and more video. I use iMovie a lot and hope to more and more with a superdrive and also expect to make the transition to Final Cut Express though I don't think I will be using the HD features in either of those for some time since I don't plan on getting an HD camcorder anytime soon.
I can see how the iMac with 2 screens is nice, especially for video playback with FCE, but not needed for iMovie. My main concern is whether the Mini can handle all of that, or if I really need an iMac now. I would prefer to go the Mini route for the short term because of $$, as well as the fact that it would be a nice stop-gap machine between my old G4 and either an iMac in 2007 (once it goes to a Merom or Conroe processor) or even a new tower (Mac Pro or whatever it is called), at which time the Mini will be a nice media machine to hook up to my TV. I understand that there is a lot of concern and disappointment over the integrated graphics and I would prefer dedicated myself, but I don't plan any gaming. Any thoughts on how it will deal with editing and playback of video in iMovie and FCE, either SD or HD.
Or if ultimately I should drop the $1699 this year for the iMac?
