Fl3mez,
I've got an Air, it's my wandering around being social while I pretend to work machine - I'm lucky, I get paid to make stuff up for a living, so can work pretty much anywhere, but I'm trying to cut back on the insane amount of hours I spend in the local cafes, we're talking 6-7 hours a day, that's a lot of cash if you figure on spending even only 3 bucks an hour 'rent' for the seat so you don't feel bad... it's probably up around 500 bucks a month on coffee and cinnamon buns simply so I'm not in the study at home... - but I find myself in this weird situation where, as a small business I pay 50% tax on my profits here in Sweden, end of tax year rolling up, and a new machine is one of the few things I can run through the books as a legitimate expense as a writer of books and games.
So... the obvious answer of a Thunderbolt Display or the similar LG 34UM95-P (which offers a nutty 34") as a 'solo' purchase doesn't actually eat up enough of the profit from 2014, meaning I'd literally be giving the tax man half of what I don't spend... or put it another way the brains of the system (mini) would essentially be free as that same amount of money (50% of the total spend budget) would go to the tax man otherwise.
The other reason I don't just buy the monitor to replace my rather blurry Samsung SyncMaster P2770 is physical 'real estate' on my desk. I like to spread out and use papers to take notes and shuffle stuff around in plotting and design rather than trying to do that stage directly on the screen as there's something more organic about ideas and pens...
So really it's a cost analysis thing, bang for buck. Better overall machine in the iMac, less screen for multiple documents (synopsis, research notes and actual writing file) vs slightly lower spec machine with that added screen real estate simultaneously clearing up my actual desk.
I'm sure, in sad reality the very bottom line mini would actually handle everything I really use the computer for with no real difficulty, but I'm thinking the tricked out memory and ssd sort of 'future proof' the machine for a while.
I've been reading up on the various monitors - the asus 29" widescreen is 2560x1080, but it's a weird height at about 15 cm shorter than the lg or imac. The lg is 3440 x 1440 (which it looks like the new mini can handle, but being such a monster with 4 split screen I'm thinking the extra ram is a must), and will 'feel' like having the duel monitor/laptop display without taking up the same desk space...
I love the look of the imac, but cost wise it's half the memory and a much slower drive in the 1024 sata (which will spin, too... something that will distract me if it's not silent like the other options).. can you see why I keep talking myself round in circles? I was convinced 3 days ago the imac was the option.
