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Mac Mini for Graphic Design?

LumberJackNAU

LumberJackNAU

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 27, 2010
33
0
Hey all, First post here, although I have lurked (unregistered.) I am thinking about getting an apple computer, and have never owned anything apple. Would a standard Mac Mini work for my needs? I am a graphic designer and tired of pc's as they constantly crash... Any ideas, or should I save for an iMac?
 
LumberJackNAU said:
Hey all, First post here, although I have lurked (unregistered.) I am thinking about getting an apple computer, and have never owned anything apple. Would a standard Mac Mini work for my needs? I am a graphic designer and tired of pc's as they constantly crash... Any ideas, or should I save for an iMac?
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The displays on the iMacs are beautiful and would be perfect for graphic design. I would push you toward an iMac.
 
Id suggest an iMac as well.

Replaced all of the towers in my studio a couple of years ago. (see my sig) Never been happier.

I run the entire Adobe Creative Suite + Quark 8 on a 2.4 AL iMac w/4 gigs ram and it handles it all without even breaking a sweat. And I'm talking multi hundred meg Photoshop files and 100+ page Quark files with gigs of links. Not some crappy little 72 dpi web graphics and a few 3 panel brochures.
 
Get the current base-configuration Mac mini; go and buy 4GB of RAM and install it yourself.

Upgrade the HDD and stuff if you want.

Buy a Dell U2410; you'll have a 24" monitor that's very good coupled with a decent Mac mini.\

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The iMac does have a nice display, but unless you get the more expensive models with a dedicated GPU, the Mac mini will be just as good.
 
alphaod said:
Get the current base-configuration Mac mini; go and buy 4GB of RAM and install it yourself.

Upgrade the HDD and stuff if you want.

Buy a Dell U2410; you'll have a 24" monitor that's very good coupled with a decent Mac mini.\

-------

The iMac does have a nice display, but unless you get the more expensive models with a dedicated GPU, the Mac mini will be just as good.
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I wouldn't agree with this. If you did this, you would get a machine with much less power, with a slightly larger (LCD not LED) monitor for a difference of 40 bucks.

Get the iMac :)
 
Matthew Yohe said:
I wouldn't agree with this. If you did this, you would get a machine with much less power, with a slightly larger (LCD not LED) monitor for a difference of 40 bucks.

Get the iMac :)
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That would be ". . . (CCFL not LED backlit) monitor . . . . "

Both monitors are LCD.

But I agree with your conclusion. Even though I've had one mini in my possession, and have access to another one, I fail to see their attractions, beyond size and noise level. Price/performance wise, they're a bust, IMO.
 
If you go that route, do what I did. Get the base Mini, upgrade the ram, and pop in an SSD. Also get a 1080p+ monitor. The Mini will shine and is a quite capable machine. For around 1000$ you can have all that. It'll save you money.
 
Actually the mac mini is a better fit for things like my Cintiq 21UX. As it likes being the primary monitor. I could do Painter, Illustrator with no issues or slow downs. Even photoshop 3 (at the time) worked just fine.

I upgraded my Mac Mini on that station to 4GB, and put a 500GB 7200RPM, and then later a 128GB SSD in it. It was plenty fast enough.

Now my graphics tablet it hooked up to a Mac Pro, but the Mini did fine.
 
Matthew Yohe said:
I wouldn't agree with this. If you did this, you would get a machine with much less power, with a slightly larger (LCD not LED) monitor for a difference of 40 bucks.

Get the iMac :)
Click to expand...

Right, but my approach also allows for flexibility; if the OP decided in the future to buy a notebook or a Mac Pro, then the display would not need to be tossed with the rest of the computer.
 
What sort of graphic design do you do? If it's mostly static and for digital distribution, you should be fine with the Mini. For motion graphics or print design, you may find the extra power and memory capacity of the iMac will make it more comfortable to work on.
 
Do not get an iMac. Their glossy mirror displays really suck when working on layouts or photos with dark colors. This is coming from someone who used a 24" alu iMac for almost 3 years. If it wasn't for my 21" matte Eizo next to it, I would have sold it long ago. I certainly will never buy one of Apples glass monitor computers ever again.

Get a Mini and a propper screen and you have a way better graphic design setup than any current iMac. Unless you are working on large 1 gb+ psds for billboards etc. the Minis performance will be fine.
 
As a graphic designer, I'm going to assume you already have a decent monitor. In which case a Mac Mini would match nicely, but might not be satisfactorily speedy enough.
That said, a G$ Mini was my first Mac and I happily ran CS on it. Only because budget dictated I had no other option. ;)

If you don't have a monitor at all already... iMac, because speccing a decent new display to complement a Mac Mini is silly talk.

If you want better performance than a Mac Mini but you don't want to deal with iMac's integrated screen (lord knows I have no room for such a machine in my workspace anyway) start thinking MacBook Pro + external.
 
jnc said:
As a graphic designer, I'm going to assume you already have a decent monitor. In which case a Mac Mini would match nicely, but might not be satisfactorily speedy enough.
That said, a G$ Mini was my first Mac and I happily ran CS on it. Only because budget dictated I had no other option. ;)

If you don't have a monitor at all already... iMac, because speccing a decent new display to complement a Mac Mini is silly talk.

If you want better performance than a Mac Mini but you don't want to deal with iMac's integrated screen (lord knows I have no room for such a machine in my workspace anyway) start thinking MacBook Pro + external.
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Keep in mind he is a 13 year old "Graphic Designer" so he may not have all the equipment in the world.
 
Ill show you some of my works if you want, I use Illustrator cs4 and Inkscape also have an Wacom Bamboo tablet. Back on topic though, I got the ok to get it, now I only need 200 dollars... haha :apple:
 
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