mac mini?

[nikeballa09]

do you guys think that the mac mini is worth the price, at least the top of the line one with the superdrive. im looking into a new desktop, ill mainly use it for internet use, word processing, and photo work. also how soon can i expect another revision to the mac mini, and what kind of upgrades can i expect. also can the mini run a crt monitor until i can afford a nice lcd? in debating on the mini or a pc with amd athlon 64, 1 gig ram, 200 gig hd, xp media center for $599.

thank you very much.

 

[macbaseball]

Once is enough.

As for the original question, it will work with a CRT, but may need an adapter. I believe the refurbished iMac would be a better buy for you, as they are currently $749 or $799. With that you would get a G5 processor, and the LCD that you want.

 

[wdlove]

I you can afford the price, I would go with one of the brand new iMac G5. Especially since they were just updated on the 12th. Some really cool new stuff added. If price is a problem, then I would recommend a refurb.

 

[hookahco]

i second that.. a mac mini isnt very expandable. well, neither is an iMac, but its more flexible than a mini

 

[za9ra22]

The mini will drive a CRT monitor without problems - it comes with a DVI/VGA adapter as standard.

The $699 model (the superdrive one) is NOT worth it. Superdrives are a common source of complaint about poor burn speeds and limited -r/+r options, so unless you are in desperate need of an all-in one box, the $599 model with an external FW DVD burner would be a betetr option for about the same overall cost.

As to value - the mini is well worth the price and it would be a mistake to draw performance conclusions from the size of the machine. This is a Mac built to a price (which typically isn't the way Apple do things) but it's still a full blown Mac. Indeed, it's not so long ago that this sort of specification was about as good as Macs could be got, and while it's easy to think that it's rather dated, there's not a lot of real advance in software that would render a Mac mini in any way limited.

No one knows for sure when the next revision will be due, but there are updated models currently shipping to some buyers at least - faster processors and higher VRAM seem to be common. These aren't announced by Apple, so there's no way to know for sure that you'd get one of these models if you ordered now. Supposition is that Apple are clearing old inventory before they announce the updated models - but that doesn't seem entirely likely since there would have been no reason to start shipping updated models if original specced ones were still in the distribution chain. A week or two waiting might help figure out what's going on!

 

[g^3]

i would also look into imac G5's listed on the refurbished section of the apple website. they have some wicked good deals on the previous models. the imacs are also much easier to upgrade down the line.

 

[jiv3turkey748]

yes the mini is worth it and yes it will work with your crt
they all ready kind of updated the mac mini, but for some reason their website doesnt say that it has been updated
go to this thread to see what im talking about