Wait another month and see how you feel when the new models are released with twice as many CPU cores for the same price.
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iMac or Mini?
- Thread starter mstruve
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Wait another month and see how you feel when the new models are released with twice as many CPU cores for the same price.
Who cares. I surf the web, Youtube, do email and play around with some pictures. My PC died and I needed a new computer today, not next month.
No. Don't repeat my mistake.
My needs are the same as yours but I did not realize it in 2009.
Went ahead and bought an iMac. Realise that the display is on when it was server as a media player and doing downloading. I knew I made the wrong choice and bought a mac mini 2.53ghz then.
2010 - bought a 2010 Mac mini
2011 - bought a 2011 Mac mini
Never look back since.
For 2011 Mac mini, all you need is a little upgrade on your RAM (if you are getting a basic 2gb Mac mini).
If it is to be left running 24x7 and you are just using it for browsing/email, personally I do not see a need for SSD (you don't boot up/shutdown/open up app). For me, I just leave all my email, Safari, iTunes, Plex up and running all the time. And for that, I have 8gb RAM.
My needs are the same as yours but I did not realize it in 2009.
Went ahead and bought an iMac. Realise that the display is on when it was server as a media player and doing downloading. I knew I made the wrong choice and bought a mac mini 2.53ghz then.
2010 - bought a 2010 Mac mini
2011 - bought a 2011 Mac mini
Never look back since.
For 2011 Mac mini, all you need is a little upgrade on your RAM (if you are getting a basic 2gb Mac mini).
If it is to be left running 24x7 and you are just using it for browsing/email, personally I do not see a need for SSD (you don't boot up/shutdown/open up app). For me, I just leave all my email, Safari, iTunes, Plex up and running all the time. And for that, I have 8gb RAM.
You. You'll care when you realize you blew $250 (old hardware value difference) on nothing.
Did you read? He needs a new computer today.
If we follow your line of thinking, he will regret buying a 2012 mini when the 2014 comes out.
Buy what you need (if you NEED it) today.
There is always new hardware coming out, and new hardware often has BUGS until it has had them shaken out over a period of months (e.g.: sandy bridge SATA controller, ipad3 screen, pentium FDIV bug, LION, etc).
If you buy at the right now,you keep Apple's most recent products for longer. Plus it's not like an upgrade stops the older Mac from using applications that are on the machine under the old OS. Eith
The upside of being close to a refresh is that the current-gen models are already at a nice discount in the refurb store. I just picked up a refurb 2011 Mini Server for $849. I'd have a hard time being convinced to buy a new one this close to a refresh.
@Whargoul The dual core Sandy Bridge CPUs are more than enough for this kind of work.
The Next update may will bring the Quad core Ivy Bridge, but performance per clock will just raise 3-5%. Show me where the OP would use the two extra cores...
The Next update may will bring the Quad core Ivy Bridge, but performance per clock will just raise 3-5%. Show me where the OP would use the two extra cores...
I would recomend the Mini over the small iMac. Mainly because you can upgrade SSD with ease. This is by far the biggest improvement you can make to any machine. I would also pay the extra and get the mid level mini. Probably not really needed for what your going to use it for, but the extra RAM (2 GB) and better graphics card make it a cost effective upgrade.
You can put whatever monitor you want and upgrade indipendently when ever you require. This will also create a longer lifespan for the computer and iMac screens are not that good.
I would opt for an Apple keyboard. But stay away from the Magic Mouse. It's hideous and continually does things you don't intend. The Apple mouse has always been bad. It's the one area Apple over engineer. Remember the round mouse. What a fail.
All in, I think you will find OSX a happy alternative to the Microsoft problems of today.
I use a magic trackpad and it is great. I also have a magic mouse which I love. You just stroke it gently to scroll. Maybe you have big hands. I'm female and I find it extremely easy to control, though I prefer my trackpad. I use the mouse on scroll bars only these days.
I have a late 2009 Mac Mini with 4GB of RAM. It runs forever, never crashes, never has to be rebooted. My husband has a current 2011 Mac Mini for one of his computers at work and he says it crashes several times a day.
I have a late 2009 Mac Mini with 4GB of RAM. It runs forever, never crashes, never has to be rebooted. My husband has a current 2011 Mac Mini for one of his computers at work and he says it crashes several times a day.
If a Mac crashes without obvious hardware problems, blame the software. My MacBook Pro 2009 crashed several times once, but I found the software bug and now everything is fine. It never crashed before or after this unfortunate bug, so no reason to blame the new Mini.
I've had 2 mac mini's now. The first one was a 2009 model and then I upgraded to a 2011 server model with the i7 2.0GHz quad-core. I then took one of the hard drives out and installed a 240 GB OWC SSD SATA III and upped the RAM to 8GB. I have never been happier with a setup. Yeah, you could say the cost was close to the iMac, but I already have keyboard, mouse and fantastic high end IPS display. This Mini will be good to go for few years, so in the end the money will have been worth it. I am using the removed 500gb drive in a little external case to take with me on the go with my notebook.
I do a good bit of photo, video editing, not to mention have been ripping my library of purchased movies. This quad-core using Handbrake which takes advantage of the extra cores is freaking amazingly fast.
I've had buddies with iMac's that lost the display shortly after the warranty ran out. Basically they are pretty useless at that point and I am never going that route. They could have purchased Apple Care to extend their warranty period, but didn't.
It's all a matter of choice. In regards to waiting for the next best thing. To me that is just foolish. The OP clearly said he needed something now. So, what was he suppose to do. Just go without a computer till Apple decides to do a refresh. Some people! JEEZ! I am sure the next refresh will feature more quad-core processors, but they will only be slightest faster than what I already have and not enough for me to be worried about. I sort of feel like by buying the model I did I have in a way sort of refresh proofed myself for a couple of years anyway. hehehe.
I do a good bit of photo, video editing, not to mention have been ripping my library of purchased movies. This quad-core using Handbrake which takes advantage of the extra cores is freaking amazingly fast.
I've had buddies with iMac's that lost the display shortly after the warranty ran out. Basically they are pretty useless at that point and I am never going that route. They could have purchased Apple Care to extend their warranty period, but didn't.
It's all a matter of choice. In regards to waiting for the next best thing. To me that is just foolish. The OP clearly said he needed something now. So, what was he suppose to do. Just go without a computer till Apple decides to do a refresh. Some people! JEEZ! I am sure the next refresh will feature more quad-core processors, but they will only be slightest faster than what I already have and not enough for me to be worried about. I sort of feel like by buying the model I did I have in a way sort of refresh proofed myself for a couple of years anyway. hehehe.
If someone wants to play games, can the current Mac Mini GPU do the job? My 2009 cannot. I don't want another Mac Pro, which was my previous computer as it is overkill. The graphics card is on the motherboard, so I cannot upgrade my Mini. I will not ever buy a PC, even just for gaming. I have Boot Camp now and I have to say that it never gets used. Waste of space.
The big question is: Which games? It can play Blizzard games like Starcraft 2 or Diablo 3, which are amongst the best Mac-ports and don't need too much power in the first play, just fine. But you won't be able to play for example Metro 2033 or Crysis in adequate speed (although the latter is said to work on minimum settings, I wouldn't bet on it). Bottom line: Older, not too graphic intense games work just fine, but forget to play every new game - especially in the time to come.
Well its been another month. Six weeks actually? Where is the new and improved Mini you promised?
Yep, I waited another month and nothing came out, so I ordered a base model and 8GB RAM yesterday, should arrive today.
I hadn't checked this thread for a while but am pleased with my choice having now read the responses.
I will see how I get on with it for a while before thinking of upgrading things like keyboard, trackpad, SSD, monitor etc, but I like the fact that I'll have a decent spec, compact, almost noiseless machine which I can leave running and make peripheral, incremental upgrades to, and it cost me less than half the price of an iMac.
Thanks for all the replies.
I hadn't checked this thread for a while but am pleased with my choice having now read the responses.
I will see how I get on with it for a while before thinking of upgrading things like keyboard, trackpad, SSD, monitor etc, but I like the fact that I'll have a decent spec, compact, almost noiseless machine which I can leave running and make peripheral, incremental upgrades to, and it cost me less than half the price of an iMac.
Thanks for all the replies.
