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Imac or Mac Mini

R

rangers12

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 10, 2009
61
9
Debating getting a new Imac 24 in or a Mac Mini and buying an inexpensive TN 24 inch monitor. I mostly use it for Garageband and some limited video editing, got a new flip hd camera.

Curious if the additional performance is needed for basic movie editing and garageband. Only other performance related stuff is ripping movies- which takes forever on my current imac g5.

Love to hear people's thoughts- obviously would get the imac if cost were no option, but thinking of using the price difference on music gear.

Would love everyone's .02 on the potential imac refresh as well.

Thanks.
 
The MacMini would be fine for your needs, it is also a very good media center. The iMac on the other hand is much faster, comes in an all in one factor and is cleaner on your desk. I would go with the iMac if i was in your shoes but if you want to the get an external monitor (or have one already) the MacMini is a good option as well.

I have used both and love both, but the iMac just is that much better.
 
In my opinion the mini is only really worth it if you have all the peripherals. If you have to buy a display for your mini, I would say that the iMac is better value for money.
 
ditzy said:
In my opinion the mini is only really worth it if you have all the peripherals. If you have to buy a display for your mini, I would say that the iMac is better value for money.
Click to expand...

Same here. I have an older Mac Mini (last rev before they went to the Intels I think) and it's getting long in the tooth. I'm sure the ability to put more than 1GB of RAM in the newer ones helps a lot, but I'm really looking forward to that iMac with just a powercord and nothing else.
 
this isn't really much of a discussion

the iMac out performs the Mac mini in every sense.

if you need to use garageband and do some 'light editing', you could save but if you plan on buying a 24" monitor you probably won't be saving much.

go with the iMac and get as much as you can afford. they won't be outdated as quickly, and will perform much, much better.
 
Go for the iMac. The Mac Mini is only really worth it if you already have all the peripherals you need, but as you are buying a new screen, it will bring up the cost to not that much less than an iMac, which is obviously way more powerful.

And what are you doing about keyboard and mouse? what computer have you got at the moment? If you want to still use your old one you will have to get a new keyboard & mouse, I know its not much but it still brings the price up.
 
Thanks

Thanks for all the feedback- I am 95% going with the 24in imac- I think the performance difference and especially the imac panel make it worth the price difference. I have debated waiting for a possible refresh but I am not sure both the aggravation and the potential boost of an I7 is not really worth it for what i want.

again, thanks for all the opinions
 
Tough decision. It depends on which imac you are going with. The low-end 24" is very close in performance to the regular mac-mini with cheap upgrades. That imac is essentially the mac mini with a screen attached. All you get extra is a desktop hard drive and 0.66 Ghz faster processor.

Buy the bottom end mac mini say $599
add memory and hard drive $200
$799 total plus tax if you pay retail.

imac with .66 Ghz faster processor and desktop hard drive $1499

Is $700 more worth the screen and speed bump. Typically on this forum the answer is a resounding yes. I think the decision is harder. Many will tell you that the imac is so much faster but it depends on which model. The iMac is not that much faster than the mini.
 
ditzy said:
In my opinion the mini is only really worth it if you have all the peripherals. If you have to buy a display for your mini, I would say that the iMac is better value for money.
Click to expand...

This is a very good point.

rangers12:

If you already have a keyboard, mouse and a monitor then get the mini, otherwise just get the iMac, i find it faster and it wont cost you that much more.
 
follow-up

Anyone have any experience with refurbed machines from Apple? They occasionally get some good Imac deals so I was wondering whether it might be worth considering....

also, to that point, I have seen some 2.8 ghz imacs with a dedicated graphics card- anyone know how those compare performance wise with the new base imac with the integrated nvidia graphics?
 
If you can get it the 2.8Ghz iMac is a better computer, Both in processor and graphics.
 
I had the same dilemma a couple months ago.
I went with the iMac 24. I wanted faster, more memory ...
Also I like the full keyboard, not the small one. At the Apple store they threw the bigger keyboard in for $0.01.

Just my $0.02
 
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