Apple Refurbished 2011 Mac Mini vs Used 2006 24" Aluminum iMac?

[Shwacker]

The Mac is $519 off of the Apple store refurbished and the 2006 Aluminum iMac is $500 off of Craigslist. I'll include the specs of the two below. I currently have a pc laptop for backup but really just need a strong home computer. I'm in high school and do a lot of web surfing/researching for school. I like to use iMovie for video projects and I listen to music a lot. I also have a GoPro camera I use for sports and many occasions. In other words, I do video editing a lot. Anyways, I have around a $600 budget and could go over but the lower the better obviously. I already have a monitor, so that would not need to be included in the Mac Mini's budget. (I could go with a dual monitor set-up with the iMac though ). I would need to buy a wireless keyboard and mouse with Mac Mini ($69 bucks each) but it already comes with a connector for the monitor. The iMac already comes with a wireless keyboard and a wireless mouse but I would need to buy a connector ($30) for the second monitor.

$530- iMac
$657- Mac Mini (with Apple's One Year Limited Warranty)

Mac Mini's Specs:

Refurbished Mac mini 2.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5

Originally released July 2011

2GB memory

500GB hard drive

Thunderbolt port with support for up to 2560-by-1600 resolution
HDMI port with support for up to 1920-by-1200 resolution
Intel HD Graphics 3000

What's in
the Box

Refurbished Mac mini
HDMI to DVI Adapter
Power cord
Printed and electronic documentation

iMac's Specs:

Late 2006 Model iMac 24" Aluminum. 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 duo. 4 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM. Graphics ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro 256 MB. OS lion 10.7.4. Has word,excel,PowerPoint. Microsoft outlook and Garageband. Wireless keyboard and mouse.

Pros and cons for each would be appreciated but any answer would help since this will be my first Apple computer. Thanks in advance!

 

[brentmore]

My vote's for the mini. The Core i5 advantage over the C2D alone would be worth the difference to me. Since you already have a monitor, it's a non issue but I'd definitely upgrade the RAM. It's also nice to have the warranty for the year.

 

[Shwacker]

I went ahead and already ordered the mini. Thanks for all the help and in the future I will definitely get a RAM upgrade when I get the money. Where would you suggest I go to buy RAM? Newegg? And should I get 4,6, or 8?

 

[btbrossard]

I went ahead and already ordered the mini. Thanks for all the help and in the future I will definitely get a RAM upgrade when I get the money. Where would you suggest I go to buy RAM? Newegg? And should I get 4,6, or 8?

I've always bought Crucial ram, but there are plenty of reputable RAM sellers out there.

At crucial, the 8 gb kit (2x4b sticks) is about $50 right now. The 4 gb kit (2x2 gb sticks is about $30. For the $20 price difference, I would just get the 8 gb kit.

I would avoid buying ram at a physical store. The price premium is pretty crazy at most places.