potential switcher here.

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
First and foremost, hello. I'm new here and I look forward to learning a lot about this lovely OS. I've been a Linux user for many years and a windows user for work and games. Since I hardly play PC games I've decided to switch over to OSX. I've used OSX in the past and I was very impressed by the powerful yet simple elegance of the overall experience and I've convinced my sister and parents to buy minis since I was sick of fixing their PC problems; good news is they don't need me nearly as much any more for tech support.



My question is in relationship to the hardware. The mini seems a little underpowered for my needs and the power macs seem to be more then I need. I think the iMac is almost perfect for my needs but I'd rather not have the all in one screen business.



Would you recommend the refurbished powermacs? They seem to fit into my budget and am I being ignorant and underestimating the mini? Should I look at the mac books for a desktop replacement? Any expertise and advice would be greatly appreciated.



Thanks.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 9
    midwintermidwinter Posts: 10,060member
    Could you tell us what you need a computer to do? What applications do you use? What kinds of tasks do you perform? That'll help us help you.
  • Reply 2 of 9
    a little programming and web development but mostly it will be used for digital photography as well as a little audio and video production. I've also heard to wait until the universal binary of photoshop CS3 is available because CS2 is not optimal in Rosetta.
  • Reply 3 of 9
    midwintermidwinter Posts: 10,060member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by egorgry


    a little programming and web development but mostly it will be used for digital photography as well as a little audio and video production. I've also heard to wait until the universal binary of photoshop CS3 is available because CS2 is not optimal in Rosetta.



    Assuming all of this is amateur-level, the mini would probably be fine for you, then.
  • Reply 4 of 9
    yes this will be all amateur level as I'm a unix geek by trade I just want to be able to run photoshop for all it's worth I went to college for photography so I've been educated with photoshop. So the mini is a good choice then? I found the powerpc minis a little slow for certain tasks but I've heard great things about the core duo chips. Any rumors of a core2 coming to the mini in say, january?
  • Reply 5 of 9
    midwintermidwinter Posts: 10,060member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by egorgry


    yes this will be all amateur level as I'm a unix geek by trade I just want to be able to run photoshop for all it's worth I went to college for photography so I've been educated with photoshop. So the mini is a good choice then? I found the powerpc minis a little slow for certain tasks but I've heard great things about the core duo chips. Any rumors of a core2 coming to the mini in say, january?



    I'll put it this way: I have a G4/1ghz (it's an old ppc G4/533 that I've upgraded). It serves me fine for some light multitrack recording and general computery stuff,



    My wife just got a new Intel iMac. This thing runs CIRCLES around my G4. CIRCLES. Ripping a DVD to mpeg-4, for instance, is about 4x faster (for a full-length DVD...about 45-60 minutes; on my G4? 4 hours).



    Get the Mini. And hey, if you don't like it, sell it or turn it into a media center.
  • Reply 6 of 9
    haha. impressive. Thanks for the advice, and for the price of the mini I guess I can't really go wrong. Like you said it would serve as a good media center. I can't wait to start playing.
  • Reply 7 of 9
    midwintermidwinter Posts: 10,060member
    Well, we'll still be here to see the unboxing pictures and then help you get all the right apps for it. Enjoy the Mac.
  • Reply 8 of 9
    snoopysnoopy Posts: 1,901member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by egorgry




    . . . I just want to be able to run photoshop for all it's worth I went to college for photography so I've been educated with photoshop. . .




    I'll play the devil's advocate here. I agree the new Intel Macs are great, but if Photoshop is important to you, I'd seriously question a Mac Mini. An alternative to consider is a G5 PowerMac, with SATA hard drives and more RAM than a Mini can give you. It also allows you to buy Photoshop now and run it native on the PPC processor in the G5. Then too, the G5 will not cost you too much more than a new Mini, though I haven't priced them on eBay lately.



    I don't break down needs by amateur vs. professional. Amateur work can be just as demanding as professional. We do music and use Logic and run 24-bit audio for recording and instrument synthesis. It's all amateur but I wouldn't get a Mac Mini to do this work. Amateur just means we don't get paid.



  • Reply 9 of 9
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by snoopy


    I'll play the devil's advocate here. I agree the new Intel Macs are great, but if Photoshop is important to you, I'd seriously question a Mac Mini. An alternative to consider is a G5 PowerMac, with SATA hard drives and more RAM than a Mini can give you. It also allows you to buy Photoshop now and run it native on the PPC processor in the G5. Then too, the G5 will not cost you too much more than a new Mini, though I haven't priced them on eBay lately.



    I don't break down needs by amateur vs. professional. Amateur work can be just as demanding as professional. We do music and use Logic and run 24-bit audio for recording and instrument synthesis. It's all amateur but I wouldn't get a Mac Mini to do this work. Amateur just means we don't get paid.







    I use Photoshop often and I have the Mac Pro and Photoshop is not too slow under Rosetta. And making making a purchasing decision now has nothing to do with CS3. When CS3 comes out, your intel Mac will be able to run it whether you buy it now or then. If you want something in between, go for the iMac.
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