1. You could install it for her. It's wizard-based and unless you want to wipe the disk, no harder than installing an application. Or if you're unavailable, she could get a student to do it. Helping their professor? Good students live for that sort of thing.
2. With respect, what were the pros and cons weighed, what did you consider?
The cheapest 24" LCD on Newegg will set her back by $220. The cheapest speakers with at least 4 eggs will cost $10. The cheapest microphone $2. The cheapest optical mouse $4. The cheapest keyboard $5, $20 if she wants a keyboard with a Mac power button on it. Let's call $12 the middle ground on the keyboard, forget quality and forget shipping for ease, that's $248 that needs to be spent after the computer.
With purchase of an iMac, you can get a $229 rebate on an iPod. You can't do that with the mini.
With an education discount:
a. 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 1GB of RAM 120GB HDD Mac mini $549
b. 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2GB of RAM 320GB HDD Mac mini $749
c. 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 4GB of RAM 640GB HDD 24" iMac $1,399
Now adjust for extras that need to be bought after to have a working machine:
a. 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 1GB of RAM 120GB HDD Mac mini $797
b. 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2GB of RAM 320GB HDD Mac mini $997
c. 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 4GB of RAM 640GB HDD 24" iMac $1,399
Now your friend sells the $229 iPod on Craigslist for let's say $190. The buyer is happy, they just saved $39 and tax. Your friend of course would have to pay for the iPod at the start out of pocket and wouldn't recover tax, but would recover the $229 offered as a rebate with purchase of an iMac.
I don't know what your local sales tax is, but for me it's just under 10%. So for ease, let's say yours is 10% and so your friend had to pay ~$23 in tax on the iPod. Still, your friend walks away with $167 made.
Now adjust the price of the iMac accordingly:
a. 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (3MB cache) 1GB of RAM 120GB HDD Mac mini $797
b. 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (3MB cache) 2GB of RAM 320GB HDD Mac mini $997
c. 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (6MB cache) 4GB of RAM 640GB HDD 24" iMac $1,232
I see $235 between that higher end Mac mini and low end 24" iMac, plus tax of course, but still...
That $235 buys a much better processor, twice the RAM, twice the hard disk space and an iSight. Tell me that isn't worth $235! It also makes sure that not just the computer, but the integrated screen, integrated speakers, keyboard and mouse are part of the regular one year with Applecare and can all be extended to three. Should that cheap LCD fail on the mini, may your friend have fun with Acer's service.
It is also worthy of note that the Mac mini's RAM can be expanded to 4GB while the iMac can later be expanded to 8GB, and it isn't all that difficult to do either.
Here's another way to look at things, your friend may limit herself to the web, to word processing and email now, but what about tomorrow? Purchasing a computer is all about tomorrow. As high definition hard disk based camcorders drop in price like crazy and the resolution of every digital point and shoot skyrockets, space and processing power will become more and more important, even to the most average professor.
Put another way, why would your friend care one bit about having Snow Leopard if power wasn't a consideration? Isn't Leopard enough now?
Let us not forget that the printer promotion ends on the 20th (http://www.apple.com/promo/). Of course it tends to disappear only for awhile, still, if I were your friend I'd buy now. After all, forget the Mac mini v. iMac stuff above for a minute, what's the better deal? $100 off a printer or $10 off an OS? And don't say your friend doesn't need a printer, who couldn't use a good wifi printer?
One final note: no matter what she gets, be sure your friend buys Applecare and does so with an education discount! It's $119 for an iMac and $99 for a Mac mini with the discount, $169 and $149 respectively, without.
You, evidently, put a lot of thought and effort into this post, and I appreciate that. As for my installing SL for her and getting further involved than just advice, I want to avoid that. I have helped fellow professors in the past when they and I were using PC's. That became a huge burden because word got around and I was inundated with requests for help. Since I switched to Macs about 6 years ago, those help requests have dwindled (mainly because I'm not as experienced with Macs as I was with PCs). But, it seems that the Mac users are more tech savvy or they belong to forums like AI for help. I don't want to have the same situation that I had before. Advice is one thing, hands on is another.
I will send your advice to her by email; she can decide if she does want to get the iMac instead of the Mini. As for me, I still prefer the Mini even though you have made some good arguments to the contrary. You know the old saying, "If everyone liked the same color, there would be only one color of paint."
I had two monitors and the other peripherals that you mentioned when I made my choice to buy a Mini. I never looked back. I believe that my friend also has a monitor and those other peripherals.
Thanks again for your efforts on my friend's part. I'm sure she'll appreciate that, too.
Comments
1. You could install it for her. It's wizard-based and unless you want to wipe the disk, no harder than installing an application. Or if you're unavailable, she could get a student to do it. Helping their professor? Good students live for that sort of thing.
2. With respect, what were the pros and cons weighed, what did you consider?
The cheapest 24" LCD on Newegg will set her back by $220. The cheapest speakers with at least 4 eggs will cost $10. The cheapest microphone $2. The cheapest optical mouse $4. The cheapest keyboard $5, $20 if she wants a keyboard with a Mac power button on it. Let's call $12 the middle ground on the keyboard, forget quality and forget shipping for ease, that's $248 that needs to be spent after the computer.
With purchase of an iMac, you can get a $229 rebate on an iPod. You can't do that with the mini.
With an education discount:
a. 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 1GB of RAM 120GB HDD Mac mini $549
b. 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2GB of RAM 320GB HDD Mac mini $749
c. 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 4GB of RAM 640GB HDD 24" iMac $1,399
Now adjust for extras that need to be bought after to have a working machine:
a. 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 1GB of RAM 120GB HDD Mac mini $797
b. 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2GB of RAM 320GB HDD Mac mini $997
c. 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 4GB of RAM 640GB HDD 24" iMac $1,399
Now your friend sells the $229 iPod on Craigslist for let's say $190. The buyer is happy, they just saved $39 and tax. Your friend of course would have to pay for the iPod at the start out of pocket and wouldn't recover tax, but would recover the $229 offered as a rebate with purchase of an iMac.
I don't know what your local sales tax is, but for me it's just under 10%. So for ease, let's say yours is 10% and so your friend had to pay ~$23 in tax on the iPod. Still, your friend walks away with $167 made.
Now adjust the price of the iMac accordingly:
a. 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (3MB cache) 1GB of RAM 120GB HDD Mac mini $797
b. 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (3MB cache) 2GB of RAM 320GB HDD Mac mini $997
c. 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (6MB cache) 4GB of RAM 640GB HDD 24" iMac $1,232
I see $235 between that higher end Mac mini and low end 24" iMac, plus tax of course, but still...
That $235 buys a much better processor, twice the RAM, twice the hard disk space and an iSight. Tell me that isn't worth $235! It also makes sure that not just the computer, but the integrated screen, integrated speakers, keyboard and mouse are part of the regular one year with Applecare and can all be extended to three. Should that cheap LCD fail on the mini, may your friend have fun with Acer's service.
It is also worthy of note that the Mac mini's RAM can be expanded to 4GB while the iMac can later be expanded to 8GB, and it isn't all that difficult to do either.
Here's another way to look at things, your friend may limit herself to the web, to word processing and email now, but what about tomorrow? Purchasing a computer is all about tomorrow. As high definition hard disk based camcorders drop in price like crazy and the resolution of every digital point and shoot skyrockets, space and processing power will become more and more important, even to the most average professor.
Put another way, why would your friend care one bit about having Snow Leopard if power wasn't a consideration? Isn't Leopard enough now?
Let us not forget that the printer promotion ends on the 20th (http://www.apple.com/promo/). Of course it tends to disappear only for awhile, still, if I were your friend I'd buy now. After all, forget the Mac mini v. iMac stuff above for a minute, what's the better deal? $100 off a printer or $10 off an OS? And don't say your friend doesn't need a printer, who couldn't use a good wifi printer?
One final note: no matter what she gets, be sure your friend buys Applecare and does so with an education discount! It's $119 for an iMac and $99 for a Mac mini with the discount, $169 and $149 respectively, without.
You, evidently, put a lot of thought and effort into this post, and I appreciate that. As for my installing SL for her and getting further involved than just advice, I want to avoid that. I have helped fellow professors in the past when they and I were using PC's. That became a huge burden because word got around and I was inundated with requests for help. Since I switched to Macs about 6 years ago, those help requests have dwindled (mainly because I'm not as experienced with Macs as I was with PCs). But, it seems that the Mac users are more tech savvy or they belong to forums like AI for help. I don't want to have the same situation that I had before. Advice is one thing, hands on is another.
I will send your advice to her by email; she can decide if she does want to get the iMac instead of the Mini. As for me, I still prefer the Mini even though you have made some good arguments to the contrary. You know the old saying, "If everyone liked the same color, there would be only one color of paint."
I had two monitors and the other peripherals that you mentioned when I made my choice to buy a Mini. I never looked back. I believe that my friend also has a monitor and those other peripherals.
Thanks again for your efforts on my friend's part. I'm sure she'll appreciate that, too.
Put another way, why would your friend care one bit about having Snow Leopard if power wasn't a consideration? Isn't Leopard enough now?.
She said that she read that SL resolves some problems that Leopard has.
BTW, this is the Mini that she wanted:
Regular price for Mini:
\t?\t2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo $599
\t?\t4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB $150
\t?\t120GB Serial ATA Drive
\t?\tSuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
\t?\tUser's Guide (English)
\t?\tiWork '09 preinstalled $49
\t?\tAdapter FireWire 4to6 pin $29
?\tAppleCare Protection Plan for Mac mini \t$149
\t\tSub total = $976.00
\t\tSales tax = $ 68.32\t
\t\tTotal = $1044.32
What my friend decided on (and may have pre-ordered): She got the info by phone from Apple.
Notice that she will not have to install RAM, SL, & iWork and is willing to pay extra for that.
Education Price for Mini \t
\t?\t2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo $549 (-50)
\t?\t4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB $135 (-15)
\t?\t120GB Serial ATA Drive
\t?\tSuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
\t?\tUser's Guide (English)
\t?\tiWork '09 preinstalled $41 (-8)
\t?\tAppleCare Protection Plan for Mac mini \t$99 (-50)
\t?\tAdapter FireWire 4to6 pin $29
(Don't know why the FW adapter, but maybe to transfer data from old PC to new Mac??????) Apple probably suggested it????
\t\tSub total = $853.00
\t?\tSales tax = $ 59.71
\t?\tTotal $912.71
\t\t
\t\t$1044.32 - $912.71 = $131.61 savings