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Franz80

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 16, 2016
5
0
Hi my name is Francesco and I am Italian. I apologize for the lack of knowledge of your language. I discovered this forum. I want to congratulate you the tips that you give to users. I have to buy a mac, but I am undecided whether to buy an iMac or Mac mini. I always used windows pc, but now I want to enter the Apple world. I own an iphone 6 plus and are very satisfied. Use the mac would be home alone, I do not do video editing, but I work a lot with office programs, internet, and watch media files. I thought of an iMac with Retina display with 16 GB of RAM and a SSD 512. Or I would agree to a mac mini for the use that I do? I would not spend so much, but I would like the computer lasts for many years.
You can help me to the choice of suitable configuration? I thank you all

Francis
 

Clincero

macrumors newbie
Jun 11, 2011
18
3
The iMac configuration you mention sounds good. The Mac mini is not an ideal option right now because there are no good display options for retina.
 

Franz80

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 16, 2016
5
0
Which of these Imac?


iMac 21,5" con display Retina 4K
Intel Core i5 quad-core a 3,1GHz (Turbo Boost fino a 3,6GHz)
16GB di LPDDR3 a 1867MHz
Unità flash da 512GB
Intel Iris Pro Graphics 6200
Magic Mouse 2
Magic Keyboard (italiano) e manuale utente (italiano)


Tot.2540 €


iMac 27" con display Retina 5K
Intel Core i5 quad-core a 3,2GHz (Turbo Boost fino a 3,6GHz)
16GB di SDRAM DDR3 a 1867MHz (2 x 8GB)
Unità flash da 512GB
AMD Radeon R9 M380 con 2GB di memoria video
Magic Mouse 2
Magic Keyboard (italiano) e manuale utente (italiano)
Kit di accessori

Tot. 2825 €
 

AlexGraphicD

Suspended
Oct 26, 2015
368
309
New York
If you can afford buy the 27". It has bigger screen, better specs and it is more upgradable. Although for your uses you won't need anything more advanced than that. But let other more experienced members give you their advice on this.
 

roadkill401

macrumors 6502a
Jan 11, 2015
519
210
The larger screen is very nice to have, but it does require quite a bit more desktop space. Paying the extra for the 16gb of ram is not worth it if you are getting the 27" imac as you can upgrade the memory yourself.

The 512 flash drive is in my opinion, a worthwhile upgrade as it does give you probably enough drive space for a good time to come. if you need more, then it is easy to plug in an external USB drive. The 2gb fusion drive is also an option, and it will work almost as fast as the SSD, but if you are not going to be storing loads of files, then you are giving up a bit of speed and gaining some noise for little gain. I would also worry about heat as hard drives are more susceptible to overheating the iMac than an SSD is.

I would also suggest that you look to get the mid tier iMac with the R9 M390 video card as you will be far more happy and will give you more long term power if graphics becomes required.
 

MacGizmo

macrumors 68040
Apr 27, 2003
3,207
2,509
Arizona
I would get the 21.5 inch instead of the 27 inch. Use the money you save to upgrade it to the Core i7 processor and the 256 or 512GB Flash Storage drive.

While the 27" iMac would be nice (I absolutely love mine), you simply don't need the power/size for what you want to do with it. The Mac Mini is a joke, I wouldn't consider it for anything—not even a media storage drive. It's been ignored for too long, and its specs are a joke.
 

Franz80

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 16, 2016
5
0
I thank you all. I am a teacher and I use word software, excel, power point, internet browsing. I visualize movies and I listen to music. I just do this. I prefer to utilize IMac for many years. I have to face a big expense to buy, then I have this preference.
 

dogslobber

macrumors 601
Oct 19, 2014
4,670
7,809
Apple Campus, Cupertino CA
Hi my name is Francesco and I am Italian. I apologize for the lack of knowledge of your language. I discovered this forum. I want to congratulate you the tips that you give to users. I have to buy a mac, but I am undecided whether to buy an iMac or Mac mini. I always used windows pc, but now I want to enter the Apple world. I own an iphone 6 plus and are very satisfied. Use the mac would be home alone, I do not do video editing, but I work a lot with office programs, internet, and watch media files. I thought of an iMac with Retina display with 16 GB of RAM and a SSD 512. Or I would agree to a mac mini for the use that I do? I would not spend so much, but I would like the computer lasts for many years.
You can help me to the choice of suitable configuration? I thank you all

Francis

You might wanna pick up a used Mac mini off eBay.it as they're crazy priced over there for new systems.
 

Franz80

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 16, 2016
5
0
The problem of the mac mini is the processor. We would like to quad core. I should buy the monitor. I think there is no big difference between Imac 16 gb ram, 512 and ssd mac mini with the same components.
 

MH01

Suspended
Feb 11, 2008
12,107
9,297
I'd be choosing the iMac. The new Mac mini is gimped with the processor. I'd even recommend a refurbished iMac , some good deals to be found
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,682
43,740
Even though its only a dual core processor, I think the Mini can be a viable alternative, provided the OP has his own monitor. If he doesn't, then the cost of the mini starts climbing and I think you may get too many other bells and whistles with the iMac which makes it worthwhile.

tldr; Already own a monitor - buy the Mini. If not, buy the iMac.
 
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tubeexperience

macrumors 68040
Feb 17, 2016
3,192
3,897
The problem of the mac mini is the processor. We would like to quad core. I should buy the monitor. I think there is no big difference between Imac 16 gb ram, 512 and ssd mac mini with the same components.
You might want to considered getting a used Mac Mini Late 2012.

It's available with quad-core Intel Core i7 and upgradable memory. Of cause the HDD/SSD is also upgradable.
 
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