Mac mini (home) server?

[iDave]

I'm looking to downgrade from a Mac Pro to a Mac mini. I have a 30" display and the only real reason I got the Pro originally was to drive the display. I have ordered a mini-DP to Dual-link DVI adapter and will do some testing to be sure it will drive my display properly. (The reviews of that particular adapter are awful.)

By selling the Mac Pro, I can upgrade other hardware in the process and have money left over.

My small home network consists of a desktop Mac (the outgoing Pro), a HTPC Mac mini, and a MacBook. Is there any reason to believe I'd be better off replacing the Pro with the Mac mini server edition, vs. the regular 2.53GHz mini? It would be nice to have the full TB of internal storage but I can't see any advantage to Mac OS X Server in my case. Seems the server is geared toward business. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Matthew Yohe]

I'm looking to downgrade from a Mac Pro to a Mac mini. I have a 30" display and the only real reason I got the Pro originally was to drive the display. I have ordered a mini-DP to Dual-link DVI adapter and will do some testing to be sure it will drive my display properly. (The reviews of that particular adapter are awful.)

By selling the Mac Pro, I can upgrade other hardware in the process and have money left over.

My small home network consists of a desktop Mac (the outgoing Pro), a HTPC Mac mini, and a MacBook. Is there any reason to believe I'd be better off replacing the Pro with the Mac mini server edition, vs. the regular 2.53GHz mini? It would be nice to have the full TB of internal storage but I can't see any advantage to Mac OS X Server in my case. Seems the server is geared toward business. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Yeah, the server is also loaded with OS X Snow Leopard Server. You do not want to run your desktop machine on that. It can be done, but honestly, you don't want to do that.

 

[iDave]

So it sounds like the Mac mini server is intended to be a dedicated server only, and not used for everyday tasks. Thanks.

 

[psingh01]

Just get a regular Mac Mini. It's cheaper and very few people need to run OSX Server. You'll know if you need to. A lot of regular users seem to be confusing the mini server with media home servers around in the windows world. This isn't for that. You can use it as such, but you're overpaying cause you don't need the $500 server OS that you are paying for.