mac mini or imac?

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Couple questions if you can give some advice to a soon to be new mac owner.

I have never owned a mac so please excuse my inexperience of knowledge but thats why there r forums right?



I use Photoshop and I edit my own short movies.



I know that the apple machines can run apps alot faster and smoother with less cpu power behind them than a windows machine. I want to buy a mac mini for all the things I do since I have a cinema display and the hookups already... but looking at the specs I need to know if the mac mini is comparable to the imac. saving 800 bucks would be great for me. so here is the specs to the 2 machines I want... (specs that are in question)



mini

fsb 667 cpu 2g 2g ram

imac

fsb800 cpu 2.4g 4g ram (up to)





these are the 3 most important things that will hamper performace in the pc side of things but how will it effect the mac if I did go with a mini? will I be happy and be able to edit and work in the programs I need to for work?



I know the graphics chip is alot lower in the mini but I dont plan on using this machine to game on.



Thanks for the advice to anyone who can give it.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    sequitursequitur Posts: 1,910member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anthem View Post


    Couple questions if you can give some advice to a soon to be new mac owner.

    I have never owned a mac so please excuse my inexperience of knowledge but thats why



    I use Photoshop and I edit my own short movies.



    I know that the apple machines can run apps alot faster and smoother with less cpu power behind them than a windows machine. I want to buy a mac mini for all the things I do since I have a cinema display and the hookups already... but looking at the specs I need to know if the mac mini is comparable to the imac. saving 800 bucks would be great for me. so here is the specs to the 2 machines I want... (specs that are in question)



    mini

    fsb 667 cpu 2g 2g ram

    imac

    fsb800 cpu 2.4g 4g ram (up to)





    these are the 3 most important things that will hamper performace in the pc side of things but how will it effect the mac if I did go with a mini? will I be happy and be able to edit and work in the programs I need to for work?



    I know the graphics chip is alot lower in the mini but I dont plan on using this machine to game on.



    Thanks for the advice to anyone who can give it.



    How does the Mini compare with what you have been using? If it has better specs than your current computer, it will do better. IMHO, it's all a matter of price and aesthetic taste - more of what you want than what you need. Now you'll hear from other AI members about their opinions. The beauty of this forum is that everyone has his or her own opinion. Seeing a problem/solution from different aspects is a lot better than one narrow view. By the way, welcome aboard.



    Check out what I posted in answer to another new member:

    http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?t=80385
  • Reply 2 of 12
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anthem View Post


    how will it effect the mac if I did go with a mini? will I be happy and be able to edit and work in the programs I need to for work?



    The Mini also has a 5400 rpm drive vs a 7200 rpm in the iMac, which is quite important for Photoshop work. It has less drive space too.



    I still think the Mini is a better machine design but simply because I like headless computers and I'm not keen on the glossy screen or the fact the display is sealed in.



    The Mini is terrible to open and upgrade though - buy it with 2GB Ram if you can so you don't have to do it yourself.



    Neither machine is ideal but I feel safer owning a Mini as I know that if my display breaks or I want a new one, I don't have to get another computer. You can of course use the cinema display with the iMac but they won't match.



    If Apple had thought a little harder and designed the iMac like the metal cinema displays, it would have increased their sales because people like matching screens and the cinema displays would be the only ones that looked the same.



    The Mini runs all sorts of high end software pretty well including the CS suite and movie software. It won't run apps like Motion though. Overall it's very capable but it could have been much more if it was a bit bigger with just a dedicated GPU, 7200 rpm 3.5" drive and maybe even the same CPUs as the iMac.
  • Reply 3 of 12
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marvin View Post


    The Mini also has a 5400 rpm drive vs a 7200 rpm in the iMac, which is quite important for Photoshop work. It has less drive space too.



    that can be solved though with firewire external hhd though correct?
  • Reply 4 of 12
    backtomacbacktomac Posts: 4,579member
    ^^^



    Yes you can add an external HDD. There are some made especially for the mini.



    I would wait for Apple to correct the random freezing issue on the iMac and would get it. But that assumes that you're ok with an integrated display. If not then the mini.
  • Reply 5 of 12
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anthem View Post


    that can be solved though with firewire external hhd though correct?



    You can put your Photoshop cache on the external but your virtual memory etc is still going to the internal. You do get 7200 rpm 2.5" drives but the Mini is a very tightly packed machine and it may get a bit hot. Plus it's not BTO so you'd have to get it done 3rd party or try and do it yourself, which I wouldn't recommend.



    You can of course boot from an external too and that seems to sort a lot of speed problems but it's difficult to work like that regularly.



    It's by no means a deal killer, I'd still recommend the Mini over the iMac any day - you'd only lose maybe 10% performance with the slower drive. It's just disappointing that Apple don't put in the effort to make the machine better.
  • Reply 6 of 12
    backtomacbacktomac Posts: 4,579member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marvin View Post


    It's by no means a deal killer, I'd still recommend the Mini over the iMac any day - you'd only lose maybe 10% performance with the slower drive. It's just disappointing that Apple don't put in the effort to make the machine better.



    The iMac also offers faster cpu speeds and a dedicated graphics card. I think those advantages offset the disadvantage of an integrated display but YMMV.
  • Reply 7 of 12
    ok so overall its my choice of course but the mac mini should do just fine for me then in all the areas I need it to do.



    also with all these mac rumors going around as of late is this not a good time to buy a apple product? im so eager to jump into the OS
  • Reply 8 of 12
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anthem View Post


    also with all these mac rumors going around as of late is this not a good time to buy a apple product? im so eager to jump into the OS



    Rumors suggest the Macbook is going to be updated and AI believes the Mini is going to be discontinued at some point, sooner rather than later. If the Macbook somehow drops in price and still has Santa Rosa, it may be a better deal than the Mini and will hold its value better.



    They should perform about the same. It will have a glossy screen too though. The Macbook update could be any day now so I'd wait and see what that brings. It would really suck if they dropped in Santa Rosa in the Mini and you got the old one.



    It would suck even more if they discontinued the Mini before you were able to get one though.
  • Reply 9 of 12
    backtomacbacktomac Posts: 4,579member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marvin View Post


    Rumors suggest the Macbook is going to be updated and AI believes the Mini is going to be discontinued at some point, sooner rather than later. If the Macbook somehow drops in price and still has Santa Rosa, it may be a better deal than the Mini and will hold its value better.



    They should perform about the same. It will have a glossy screen too though. The Macbook update could be any day now so I'd wait and see what that brings. It would really suck if they dropped in Santa Rosa in the Mini and you got the old one.



    It would suck even more if they discontinued the Mini before you were able to get one though.



    That's a good point Marvin. He already has a display so he could plug that in and go with it. If they update the Macbook with SR then that would probably be better than the current mini.
  • Reply 10 of 12
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anthem View Post


    Couple questions if you can give some advice to a soon to be new mac owner.

    I have never owned a mac so please excuse my inexperience of knowledge but thats why there r forums right?



    I use Photoshop and I edit my own short movies.



    I know that the apple machines can run apps alot faster and smoother with less cpu power behind them than a windows machine. I want to buy a mac mini for all the things I do since I have a cinema display and the hookups already... but looking at the specs I need to know if the mac mini is comparable to the imac. saving 800 bucks would be great for me.



    If you can wait until MacWorld, usually the first full week in January, do so because Apple might add another tower model to its lineup, which many people have called the "xMac" or "headless iMac". There will be many people that will say "No, no, no!", and they might be right, but as the saying goes, "Timing is everything", and it just might be time for another model. The timing I am talking about is the release of Leopard and increasing Mac sales.



    If you need a Mac now, then get one now, and saving money is always great, but if an xMac is released it might be worth the wait and cost.
  • Reply 11 of 12
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anthem View Post


    ... and I edit my own short movies.



    hmm.... higher-end graphics in the iMac will make a noticeable difference in stuff like FCE with the real-time rendering of effects and such.
  • Reply 12 of 12
    Well I am now posting from my new mac mini... I can say that I am 100% happy so far. I love it. I will be upgrading to 3 gigs of ram in a couple weeks and that should help with the load of the heavier programs. thanks all for the help and im so excited now.
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