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crikklekay

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 2, 2013
2
0
Hello!

My husband and I are both mac users, and our poor laptops are finally starting to bite the dust after 5 years. Since we can't afford two new laptops, we were thinking about purchasing one desktop to use between the two of us. We were looking at the Mac Mini, but we aren't sure if it would last as long as purchasing a Mac Pro since it has a better processor and can easily be upgraded. So I'm looking for some help on which we should go with based on what we use it for:

-Basic web browsing
-Basic word processing
-Watching movies & listening to music
-I'm a graphic designer, so I frequently use Adobe Creative Suite
-My husband is a gamer, so it needs to play games such as StarCraft 2, Skyrim, Diablo 3, Minecraft etc.
-Multitasking. We're both horrible for working in several programs at once


For the above, which would be better: The Mac Mini or the Mac Pro? I'm afraid the Mac Mini might not be beefy enough, but I think the Mac Pro would be buying more than we need. What do you guys think?
 

Spink10

Suspended
Nov 3, 2011
4,261
1,020
Oklahoma
Mac Pro is a beast - not the greatest value currently (Apple has not given it real attention for a couple years). I would not buy it currently.

Mac Mini - Video Card isnt going to be future proof for your husband - would work now ok right now - but in 1-2 years there may be a newer game that struggles.

iMac? have you considered this?
 

crikklekay

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 2, 2013
2
0
We're stuck in a small space, so it would have to be able to use our current TV as the monitor which could work as I hook up my laptop currently time to time. It would be such a waste to lose the retina display though! But unless macs can now pick up the local news, we'd have to hook it into the TV as we have no other space for it.

I thought the iMacs had integrated vid cards too? Or is it just a better one?
 

Paulywauly

macrumors 6502a
Sep 26, 2009
766
0
Durham, UK
The Mac Pro is easily expandable but according to the Buyers Guide hasn't been updated in 427 days (Thats like the Big Bang in technology lol) £2040 is a lot of money for something so old.

As great as the Mini is, the GPU may not have the grunt you need.

If you don't mind spending "base model mac pro" sort of money you could have a top of the range 27 inch iMac with a Fusion Drive and a GeForce GTX 680MX? It's not as upgradable, but much better value
 
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