Upgrade quandry - looking for advice
I'm looking at upgrading my tv/mac system in my new place. I'm getting a large (40"+) LCD tv to watch a lot of DVD's and avi's on via a mac. Currently I have a Dual 2.0 ghz G5 PowerMac. This is a bit too big so I'm looking at a smaller options. I have an Intel iMac in the study where I do most of my work from.
The tv machine is going to be hidden in a closet to the side of the tv with the wires through the wall. so it doesn't particularly matter if I get the imac as I'll only see the one screen. I'm not intending to use it for anything overly processor intensive - tv watching, dvd, iLife suite etc.
Here are my thoughts, I'd appreciate any advice or experiences anyone can share.
1) 1.8 Ghz Mac Mini - boost the ram to 2gb and buy an external HD for the unit
2) 17" 2.0 ghz Core 2 Duo iMac with max ram - graphics card is the plus here - do I need this shift from integrated to a GPU?
3) MacBook with expanded ram = this is basically a mac mini with a screen isn't it?
I figure all of these would retail close to $1300 CDN with corporate discount so it's down to the ability of the machine really.
I entered the Xbench data for my G5 today and compared it with a mac mini and the little guy seemed to do really well against it.
Any advice any one can offer would be great.
thanks
Adge
The tv machine is going to be hidden in a closet to the side of the tv with the wires through the wall. so it doesn't particularly matter if I get the imac as I'll only see the one screen. I'm not intending to use it for anything overly processor intensive - tv watching, dvd, iLife suite etc.
Here are my thoughts, I'd appreciate any advice or experiences anyone can share.
1) 1.8 Ghz Mac Mini - boost the ram to 2gb and buy an external HD for the unit
2) 17" 2.0 ghz Core 2 Duo iMac with max ram - graphics card is the plus here - do I need this shift from integrated to a GPU?
3) MacBook with expanded ram = this is basically a mac mini with a screen isn't it?
I figure all of these would retail close to $1300 CDN with corporate discount so it's down to the ability of the machine really.
I entered the Xbench data for my G5 today and compared it with a mac mini and the little guy seemed to do really well against it.
Any advice any one can offer would be great.
thanks
Adge