Lets suppose one is a professional/hobbyist/dabbling software developer who 'needs' to run the latest version of XCode within a few months of a new OS release, and that one's 2011 or older iMac 'needs' to be replaced.
Suppose one is considering upgrading to a 2018 Mac Mini rather than continuing to make do until the 2019 iMacs arrive (if this person was willing to purchase a 2017 iMac at current prices we can assume they would already have done so once the Mojave system requirements were known.)
What Monitor/Speakers/Microphone/Webcam would you recommend for this person?
We can suppose that our old iMac owner has a mouse/keyboard to reuse. However since they spend a lot of time reading text (code) they are concerned about reported text quality on non-retina displays in Mojave and thus are looking for a 4K monitor small enough for retina-like resolution scaling. Graphics are not an issue either because our software developer either doesn't need GPU acceleration for coding or because they would want an eGPU anyway for gaming/VR.
Does this person need to worry about color gamet if they don't expect to perform photo/video editing?
Will a generic 24-27" Dell/LG/etc 4K monitor be closer in quality to a 4K/5K iMac than a 1080p ISP monitor?
Should a monitor with built in speakers be prioritized or do separate display/speakers work just as well?
My quick-search accessory list is:
Monitor: $330 Dell Ultra 4K HD
Speakers: $25 Logitech Z213
Webcam/Mike: $20 Logitech C170
For comparison purposes:
$999 i3 4(4) mini w/ 256GB SSD + accessories = $1375 vs $1499 4K 3.0GHz 4(4) w/ 256GB SSD
$1099 i5 6(6) mini w/ 256GB SSD + accessories = $1475 vs $1799 4K 3.6GHz 4(8) w/ 256GB SSD
(further RAM/SSD upgrades cost the same for both options)
Assuming I haven't forgotten anything and aren't going too cheap on the accessories the mini is probably not worth it if 4(4) quad cores are good enough, but the mini becomes an intriguing possibility if one is comparing against an i7 iMac.
Suppose one is considering upgrading to a 2018 Mac Mini rather than continuing to make do until the 2019 iMacs arrive (if this person was willing to purchase a 2017 iMac at current prices we can assume they would already have done so once the Mojave system requirements were known.)
What Monitor/Speakers/Microphone/Webcam would you recommend for this person?
We can suppose that our old iMac owner has a mouse/keyboard to reuse. However since they spend a lot of time reading text (code) they are concerned about reported text quality on non-retina displays in Mojave and thus are looking for a 4K monitor small enough for retina-like resolution scaling. Graphics are not an issue either because our software developer either doesn't need GPU acceleration for coding or because they would want an eGPU anyway for gaming/VR.
Does this person need to worry about color gamet if they don't expect to perform photo/video editing?
Will a generic 24-27" Dell/LG/etc 4K monitor be closer in quality to a 4K/5K iMac than a 1080p ISP monitor?
Should a monitor with built in speakers be prioritized or do separate display/speakers work just as well?
My quick-search accessory list is:
Monitor: $330 Dell Ultra 4K HD
Speakers: $25 Logitech Z213
Webcam/Mike: $20 Logitech C170
For comparison purposes:
$999 i3 4(4) mini w/ 256GB SSD + accessories = $1375 vs $1499 4K 3.0GHz 4(4) w/ 256GB SSD
$1099 i5 6(6) mini w/ 256GB SSD + accessories = $1475 vs $1799 4K 3.6GHz 4(8) w/ 256GB SSD
(further RAM/SSD upgrades cost the same for both options)
Assuming I haven't forgotten anything and aren't going too cheap on the accessories the mini is probably not worth it if 4(4) quad cores are good enough, but the mini becomes an intriguing possibility if one is comparing against an i7 iMac.