Imac Vs Mac Mini?

markfj

Hi all

looking at replacing my desktop, I was going to buy an Imac, but Ive got a decent enough screen I am happy with already which is only 1 year old, so I was looking at a Mac Pro, but these are out of my budget

Someone suggested a Mac Mini, I am just a little unsure as to what exactly they do

My manin things I use a desktop for are:

Burning discs , listening to Music, Internet, word processing, website building (joomla), downloading and general things like that. Is a mac mini worth looking at for the above so I can keep my screen or best to plug for the Imac?

Thanks all!

Mark

Katexx

Well, a Mac Mini doesn't have a disc reader/writer so you can't burn discs with one unless you get an Apple Superdrive or another external disc reader. Something to keep in mind.

Any reason in particular you want a Mac? Admittedly I am a big fan of my iMac, but depending on how much of an MSE-er you are and how much your budget is, there are much cheaper options that will do all the things you want to do just as well.

markfj

Thanks for that info, will keep that in mind, though I hought that would be the case

To be honest, Ive always had PC's and jst fancy a change, they are no cheap I understand, but its partly a birthday present too, and from all ive heard from Mac owners, they all recommend.

Mr_Toad

markfj wrote: »

Hi all

looking at replacing my desktop, I was going to buy an Imac, but Ive got a decent enough screen I am happy with already which is only 1 year old, so I was looking at a Mac Pro, but these are out of my budget

Someone suggested a Mac Mini, I am just a little unsure as to what exactly they do

My manin things I use a desktop for are:

Burning discs , listening to Music, Internet, word processing, website building (joomla), downloading and general things like that. Is a mac mini worth looking at for the above so I can keep my screen or best to plug for the Imac?

Thanks all!

Mark

I'm a Mac owner, just so you know.

The Mac Mini is an excellent computer it will do everything you want except burn CDs or DVDs.

Ask yourself how many do you burn in a week or month. You can get an external burner, Apple do one for £63 or you can buy a perfectly good alternate for half that.

I use Linux all day at work so when I needed a new laptop I went for a MacBook Pro. I was so pleased with it that six months later I bought a 27"iMac to replace my Linux desktop PC.

I haven't once regretted my decision.

I will never try and argue that a Mac is better than a PC.

I believe that the best computer is the one that suits you at the time and choices are individual and driven by many things, and high up the list must come budget and price. Some people need a PC for gaming so for them a Mac isn't a great choice.

Go and have a play with one and then make a decision.

One last thing. All Macs come with a program called bootcamp that makes it a doddle to install Windows along side OS X and make it Dual boot so you have the best of both worlds.

Notmyrealname

masonn wrote: »

I use Linux all day at work so when I needed a new laptop I went for a MacBook Pro. I was so pleased with it that six months later I bought a 27"iMac to replace my Linux desktop PC.

Are you running Linux or OS X on them?

Mr_Toad

Notmyrealname wrote: »

Are you running Linux or OS X on them?

Both. I'm running native OS X at boot but I also run Oracle Enterprise Linux, Debian, Fedora & Mint as VMs though Oracle VirtualBox. I also run a Windows 7 VM

Oracle Enterprise Linux is where I nicked my armoured penguin avatar from :cool:

I picked the iMac because OS x is really just another flavour of Unix with its roots back in BSD via NeXT etc. and it's all in one construction was a great space saver.

Also as a *nix user I'm familiar with the file system and its layout.

InsideInsurance

Another Mac user here.

If you have a display you are happy with then it is probably reasonable to go with the mini rather than the iMac but to get the full Mac experience you will need a mouse/ track pad and Mac keyboard plus a Thunderbolt to VGA (or which ever your monitor has) convertor etc which all adds on to the price. With the mini you get a dual core i5 processor where as the iMac is a quad core i5. Get more RAM in the iMac etc.

I personally would probably go with the iMac and sell the monitor you have and that would also give you the superdrive that you want for burning discs.

Never buy a ram upgrade with Apple (other than for the MBA), stupidly expensive and Crucial memory is just as good and it is a use upgradable part on everything other than the MacBook Air.

Chimpofdoom

Another Mac user here..

Buy the imac, sell your monitor.. magic pad is essential, i've ditched the magic mouse (it's too small for me) and I keep a trusty laser mouse in my desk for when I do work from home.

As was previously said.. buy memory from crucial!

m5rcc

markfj wrote: »

Hi all

looking at replacing my desktop, I was going to buy an Imac, but Ive got a decent enough screen I am happy with already which is only 1 year old, so I was looking at a Mac Pro, but these are out of my budget

Someone suggested a Mac Mini, I am just a little unsure as to what exactly they do

My manin things I use a desktop for are:

Burning discs , listening to Music, Internet, word processing, website building (joomla), downloading and general things like that. Is a mac mini worth looking at for the above so I can keep my screen or best to plug for the Imac?

Thanks all!

Mark

Then why pay a premium for a Mac? A PC is not only cheaper for higher spec but will do what you need.