A Mac Mini vs. iMac Price and technical specs comparison

[joshandstacy]

I created this for my grandfather but I thought others would find it helpful. It's fairly detailed. It compares the cost of buying a mac mini and all the accessories (keyboard, mouse, monitor etc) with buying an iMac and the technical spec differences as well.

The monitor price is a bit higher because I was looking at monitors with HDMI input with built in speakers in order to try to do an apples-to-apples comparison for display features (although there is no isight camera of course)

http://publicbyte.com/images/macminiimaccomparison.pdf

 

[philipma1957]

nice graph but since it is for your grandfather. (older eyes ) you don't make an attempt to judge would my grand dad prefer a 46 to 50 inch tv as his screen.


Once you add that as a factor iMac fails. Mini wins

I am 55 I have had double cataract surgery > I sold my 27 inch imac and went to a 46 inch 1080p sony as my go to screen. I use it with a mini and 2 pcs. I also use a mac mini with a 32 inch 1080 p tv. My eyes have great vision middle distance and out. So sitting far from a big screen works.

Retina and any small screen is a no go for me.

the 27 inch imac print is too small unless I change it to 1080p. so why have it. as much as I like apple products over the years they just don't work for me . oh well

 

[Mojo1]

I created this for my grandfather but I thought others would find it helpful. It's fairly detailed. It compares the cost of buying a mac mini and all the accessories (keyboard, mouse, monitor etc) with buying an iMac and the technical spec differences as well.

The monitor price is a bit higher because I was looking at monitors with HDMI input with built in speakers in order to try to do an apples-to-apples comparison for display features (although there is no isight camera of course)

http://publicbyte.com/images/macminiimaccomparison.pdf

A correction: All four Mac models can accept up to 16GB RAM.

The iMac deal killer: a "glassy" display that cannot be adjusted except for a small amount of tilt, which is only useful for reducing the excessive glare from overhead lighting. And there may not be enough movement to mitigate the problem...

Ergonomically, the G4 iMac was the best Mac ever. The flat-panel iMacs are the worst.

 

[APlotdevice]

Yeah, the big advantage to the mini is that you can pick your own display.

 

[gnasher729]

I created this for my grandfather but I thought others would find it helpful. It's fairly detailed. It compares the cost of buying a mac mini and all the accessories (keyboard, mouse, monitor etc) with buying an iMac and the technical spec differences as well.

The monitor price is a bit higher because I was looking at monitors with HDMI input with built in speakers in order to try to do an apples-to-apples comparison for display features (although there is no isight camera of course)

http://publicbyte.com/images/macminiimaccomparison.pdf

Just saying: You would get a Mac Mini to save money, so you have the choice to pay much less for a less good keyboard, mouse, and DVD player. In the UK, I can get all three easily together for £30 to £40 (obviously not from Apple).

 

[henchman]

Better yet, a used Mac mini sever quad core, that already has 8 gigs for around $800.

 

[fa8362]

Most people who buy the Mini already have a keyboard, mouse and monitor. Many have multiple keyboards, mice and monitors.

 

[duncyboy]

I love my iMac but my next Mac will be a Mini.

With the Mini you can take the entry-level model and upgrade the RAM and add a second hard-drive. Either an SSD or just a bigger drive.

Although technically you can upgrade an iMac too, if you walk through the respective steps on iFixit or similar it's much more straightforward on a Mini. Plus there are BenQ 27" monitors (not outstanding but quite good) for around £180. I priced up a Mini, that monitor, a RAM upgrade and a 128GB SSD for £815 give or take a bit. iMac's start at £999 in the UK and that's with a 21" screen. Plus you can do the RAM and SSD upgrades any time you want, giving a starting price for computer and screen of £660.