upgrade from hackintosh to Mini

Right now, I have a hackintosh, but I am looking to upgrade to a mini. Among the reasons are lack of sound and no flash support.

Hackintosh:
3.2 Ghz Q8200 Quad core 2MB Cache CPU
Nvidia 9800 GTX
4GB RAM



I'm split between the 2.7 dual core and 2.0 quad. Everybody says the quad core is faster. I don't see how. Having 8 cores at 2.0 vs 4 cores at 2.7 would look obvious, but i'm thinking if I'm driving 2 monitors, that the integrated gfx is going to drink a good bit of CPU+RAM from the system, whereas the 2.7 has a dedicated GPU. 8GB is going to be a must.

I have a triple monitor system, where 2 are driven from the box, and a third is off a USB DisplayLink box.

I do a varied array of things. When i took that screenshot, I was making a 35-shot panoramic shot that wound up being 85,000 pixels wide. I don't have CS yet, so I was just using GIMP. I'm a photographer (mainly motorsports but I do everything), CAD drawer (granted Pro-Engineer doesn't have an OSX version, started college as a mech.engineering student), graphic artist, web master (my day job), Computer Science/programmer (what I'm getting my degree in), ect. I don't game too much, and I don't even know what games can be played on OSX. I'm just looking for an all-around better system that will be future proof, take updates, and just work.

normally, I would agree. But until they release a VESA-mount imac....

All 3 of my displays are on a VESA wall mount. I don't have the budget for a Mac Pro, so I think the Mini is my only choice?

Pro-E runs fine on my PC laptop @ dual core 2.0, and I don't think they have an OSX version (although if they do, I'll get it happily). I don't plan on switching to solidworks for awhile.

We use the old Mini's at work, and we have no problem with CS 5 on the 2.0 dual cores. My boss usually has all kinda of indesign files open at once, and he only occasionally gets frustrated.

japtor said:

...like this? http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD179ZM/A?mco=MTY3ODQ5OTY

Click to expand...

Thanks, I feel dumb now.....

That said, I think the basic 21.5 2.5 quad imac would be pretty much perfect.

Just gotta figure out what to do with My hackintosh tower then. The iMac would replace my center screen, So I'd have my 22" screen left out with the tower. Hmm.... This could get dangerous (says the guy that has 4 poweredge servers, 4 laptops, a pair of 19" LCD's, a 22" LCD, a 19" CRT, a Hackintosh Tower, and a HTPC all in the same room, and now adding an iMac)

but question: that page says it's for 24 and 27" imacs. Does it work with the 21.5's as well? Or did I miss the page with the 24's?

Google says the 21.5 is not VESA. Thus the private sector. http://imacmount.com/imac-vesa-adapter.html looks pretty good and almost exactly what I'd be looking for.

I could just outright spring for the 27", but my VESA triple doesn't span far enough for the 2 side screens to clear a 27" span . At full seperation, it's exactly 21.5" between monitors.