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Mac Mini 2014 or iMac 21inch

I

imhoff

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 12, 2014
3
0
Hi,
I am in the midst of setting up a iTunes Server for homesharing to each of the apple TVs in my house. Currently it is running off the wife's macbook air, and she wants her laptop back ASAP.

I was tossing up between either

A. Mac Mini 2014 (new)
2.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
16GB memory
256GB SSD
Dell UltraSharp 24 Monitor – U2415

B. iMac 21.5 inch (new)
2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i5
16GB memory
256GB SSD

There is really only a couple of hundred dollars between the 2, so money isn't really the deciding factor for me.

I just need something to sit in the office, running 24/7, but usable when it comes to times i need to remotely log into work and do those wonderful out of hours tasks. Also the usual dealings with fluffy stuff like web browsing etc and being bale to maintain my 100GB+ photo library and 4TB itunes library. I have a thunderbolt raid box for the storing of these libraries, so really just something which can process them at a timely rate

Would the iMac draw alot more power than the mini, or is it a mute point?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
I admit I have no love for the 2014 Mac Mini for all the right reasons and never liked iMacs for the type of things I do. However, the 21" iMac might be a better deal all around with the quad core, screen and such for two reasons - quad core might handle other things you may want to do far better than a dual core and the second reason is that you can always later shift it over to being a regular computer if something else comes along that you prefer as an iTunes server. The 2014 Mini's has no real advantage over the iMac other than size (which is not a real plus given you want to add a monitor to it).
 
phrehdd said:
The 2014 Mini's has no real advantage over the iMac other than size (which is not a real plus given you want to add a monitor to it).
Click to expand...
Yep. Apple's pricing is seriously skewed in favour of the iMac, particularly when you factor in the 'free' keyboard and mouse. Unless you're looking for headlessness then the iMac is the way to go.

Power consumption: iMac 38W idle, 91W max. mini 6W idle, 85W max.

32W per hour difference, or 768W per day. In the UK a kW is around £0.18, so the additional idling cost to me would be £0.14 a day, or just under a pound a week, or roughly US$80 a year. Which I guess *is* significant over the course of a few years...

...can't find figures for the iMac in sleep mode, though, which I guess will be its most frequent state!

EDIT: the 2011 21.5" iMac at 115V is 35W 'idle - display off', 86W 'idle - display on', 1.3W in sleep, and 0.36W when off. Apparently.
 
Last edited:
I'd get the macmini. It is really noiseless and it ha a very low power consumption.
You simply turn of the display and you turn it on when you need it.
Obviously it doesn't have the same appealing design of the iMac... :cool:
 
As i was recently stolen my iMac (bought in Sept 2014 :confused: ), i just ordered the new mac mini and the Dell U2415

the screen should arrive tomorrow or Monday


and the Mac Mini next week

many criticized this new machine, but to me, it is still a wonderful mac for its price and one doesn't need a million cores to do whatever we do on a daily basis with a mac

i mean, i don't play with it, i don't edit movies, and i only edit my photos once every quarter when i get back from weekends

most of time, all tasks only require 1 core

and 16 Gb of ram + the SSD is a blazing fast combination


i've been using photoshop CS6 on a MBA with 8 Gb of memory for the past 18 months, it didn't kill me



will post feedbacks once everything is delivered :)

----------
pietrov said:
I'd get the macmini. It is really noiseless and it ha a very low power consumption.
You simply turn of the display and you turn it on when you need it.
Obviously it doesn't have the same appealing design of the iMac... :cool:
Click to expand...

well, i kind of didn't like the large stripe at the bottom of my imac anyway and i love matte screens better

it's very personal

but i agree, the iMac has a fantastic design, it's a piece of art

but looking at the Dell screen, it's very nice and a Mac Mini is a very appealing little machine to sit on the desk too
 
It just seems like one of those decisions which seem massive now, but trivial in 2 months time. I guess whichever way I go, it will do what i need it to. I've been flipping back and forth so much, I think i've just got to pull the trigger one way or the other.

EDIT: PS Thanks for your help guys & gals. It is always helpful to get responses on purchasing advice.
 
Last edited:
I would go the Mini route. Since there is no physical off switch for the iMac screen, it will pop on, from time to time. Mine does...
The Mini, will use a lot less power in the long run.

My Mini uses around 10-15 watt. operating as a file server, downloading and streaming. Of course it's higher when its transcoding, but for the server purpose stuff its around there. My iMac uses around 5-6 times as much at the same processes. Granted, my iMac is WAY more powerful than my Mini, but that's why it's my main working rig, and the mini is my server.
 
I would choose the imac , they are great even the cheapest model although you should get extra ram .
 
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