07 iMac vs. baseline 13 mini

Lil Chillbil · Feb 4, 2013

Hey guys, I was thinking about buying myself a mac mini for valentines day (sad I know

) to replace my imac core 2 duo which I edit 1080p youtube videos on. I was wondering if you guys think it would be that much of a speed boost

heres the specs of the imac that I want to compare to the baseline no uprades mac mini

2.16 Ghz Core 2 duo
4 Gigs 667mhz ddr2 ram
160 gig SSD
128mb vram

So do you guys think this would be worth my money to upgrade or should I just wait till the base mac minis get quad cores?

Omnius · Feb 4, 2013

What software do you edit with?

Paulywauly · Feb 4, 2013

I had the same mac as you two macs ago (without the ssd) and now own the new base mini.

Don't get me wrong, it's the slowest Mac desktop out there, but you would be pleasantly surprised at the speed boost over your current iMac. They handle full HD content much better too.

jchase2057 · Feb 4, 2013

Get the mini and swap the ssd.

Lil Chillbil · Feb 4, 2013

I use imovie 11 and Final Cut pro 7 to edit my videos and would like to be able to use final cut pro x but my imac doesn't have the vram to run it. Its my understanding that the mac mini uses the ddr3 ram for vram and that it can have up to a gig of vram?

Mike Valmike · Feb 4, 2013

Lil Chillbil said:
Hey guys, I was thinking about buying myself a mac mini for valentines day (sad I know ) to replace my imac core 2 duo which I edit 1080p youtube videos on. I was wondering if you guys think it would be that much of a speed boost

heres the specs of the imac that I want to compare to the baseline no uprades mac mini

2.16 Ghz Core 2 duo
4 Gigs 667mhz ddr2 ram
160 gig SSD
128mb vram

So do you guys think this would be worth my money to upgrade or should I just wait till the base mac minis get quad cores?

The base one may not impress you that much, but the second level Mini (i7 quad) is such a huge improvement over even last year's i7 server quad that it's really no contest. I would max out the second-level 2012 Mini if I were buying fresh in your position.

Lil Chillbil · Feb 4, 2013

Mike Valmike said:
The base one may not impress you that much, but the second level Mini (i7 quad) is such a huge improvement over even last year's i7 server quad that it's really no contest. I would max out the second-level 2012 Mini if I were buying fresh in your position.

I think at this point i'll just run my core 2 duo till it dies then hopefully the baseline mini then will have 6 gigs of ram and a quad core processor

living on hope

blanka · Feb 5, 2013

The new entry Mini is more than twice as fast. You will experience a whole new level of computing power. The quad even evaporates the iMac. And with the mini you enter the best TCO computer in the world. No other computer has such a low year-to-year cost. If you like the 2014 Mini better when it comes, just swap the current one and only loose 100-150$.

Mike in Kansas · Feb 5, 2013

blanka said:
The quad even evaporates the iMac.

You mean the 2012 iMacs? I think that's stretching it.... they are comparable on CPU-based tests (i.e. Geekbench), but anywhere there is a graphics need, the new iMac's kill it. Don't get me wrong - when my 2008 iMac finally dies I will go with a Mini; however, I know that I am giving up capability in both the graphics department and in total RAM as well.

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07 iMac vs. baseline 13 mini

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