iMac vs Mac Mini graphics and how it would affect me?

[kbutler84]

Trying to decide between a 2012 iMac or Mac Mini. The two systems I'm looking at would be:

2012 27" iMac (refurb)
i7 3.4ghz
8gb RAM (upgrade myself)
1tb fusion
2gb gtx 680mx

or

2012 Mac Mini + refurb TB Display
i7 2.3ghz
4gb RAM (upgrade myself)
256 SSD
Intel 4000 HD Graphics

My primary uses would be photo editing (lightroom and photoshop), some handbrake transcoding, and general web surfing. I do not play games. Is it worth the price difference to go with the iMac? Will the better graphics card really make any difference with my uses?

 

[maflynn]

While you're not playing games your listed usage includes apps that will benefit from the GPU. I'd say you get more computer for your buck with the iMac that you will directly benefit from.

 

[thekev]

While you're not playing games your listed usage includes apps that will benefit from the GPU. I'd say you get more computer for your buck with the iMac that you will directly benefit from.

I disagree sir. Lightroom doesn't seem to have added anything opencl based. Photoshop can run fine on integrated. The next mini should support the latest opencl right out of the box too. Handbrake is 100% cpu based. I don't think it will matter.

 

[maflynn]

based on this https://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/HardwareAcceleration handbrake can use the GPU, so the user can select software decoding (CPU) or hardware decoding (GPU)

The current versions of PS do use the GPU as well.