All - I am in the market for my first Mac and need advice. I will be digitizing some VHS tapes, editing them, and then rendering them to DVDs. Guy at Apple store suggsted i get handbrake and then use imovie to begin with. Everything else I do is standard stuff other than I usually have lots of browser sessions, some word docs, etc open. I also expect to install either VMFusion or parallels for some carryover MSFT programs that will not run on Mac.
I am looking at a new Mac mini 2.3 i7 with a fusion drive. With my company discount, it comes to $1,004 excluding the cost of a new 23 or 24 inch monitor and a DVD read/write drive although I know it's cheap. I do not own a track pad either. I do little if any gaming. My office cannot accommodate the 27 inch screen so please do not suggest that as an alternative.
Alternatively, for $1229, I can buy the following:
Refurbished iMac 21.5-inch 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
Eligible for OS X Mountain Lion Up-to-Date Program
Originally released May 2011
21.5-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display
4GB memory
1TB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
AMD Radeon HD 6770M graphics with 512MB memory
Built-in FaceTime HD camera
In both cases, I will upgrade the RAM to either 10 or 16 gb. Cost wise, it looks like they are very close, with the iMac possibly being cheaper.
If it helps any, I believe Apple just Implemented their holiday purchase policy so I have until the first week of January to try out whatever I buy.
I am looking at a new Mac mini 2.3 i7 with a fusion drive. With my company discount, it comes to $1,004 excluding the cost of a new 23 or 24 inch monitor and a DVD read/write drive although I know it's cheap. I do not own a track pad either. I do little if any gaming. My office cannot accommodate the 27 inch screen so please do not suggest that as an alternative.
Alternatively, for $1229, I can buy the following:
Refurbished iMac 21.5-inch 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
Eligible for OS X Mountain Lion Up-to-Date Program
Originally released May 2011
21.5-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display
4GB memory
1TB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
AMD Radeon HD 6770M graphics with 512MB memory
Built-in FaceTime HD camera
In both cases, I will upgrade the RAM to either 10 or 16 gb. Cost wise, it looks like they are very close, with the iMac possibly being cheaper.
If it helps any, I believe Apple just Implemented their holiday purchase policy so I have until the first week of January to try out whatever I buy.