I am considering adding a Mac to my mix to get a better feel for OS X. In another thread I mentioned getting my 24" iMac recently and finding it surprisingly fun to use. Thing is, my main rig is a Win 7 PC on a 30" Dell monitor with a pair of B&W speakers and Integra receiver so I strongly prefer to use this over the iMac (It's also faster). To counter this, I'd kind of like to buy a Mac to use with a DVI KVM so I can just switch to the Mac with my current setup as my usage of the Mac would be considerably higher this way than it currently is.
The thing is, I'm not sure which would be the best choice for me. My current Windows PC does everything I need (Gaming, productivity, web browsing, etc.). I don't really use too much stuff like video editing or the like. I have Photoshop CS3 on here but I use it sparsely as the battery on my DSLR is about shot and I'm too lazy to go buy a new one. So I can't see the Mac replacing my desktop PC ever, I play games far too much to ever get rid of it and the value proposition there is very high (Just upgrade video card, not the whole PC). Honestly, I'm not even sure I have a need for the Mac other than curiosity. I'm never unhappy with my computer, it doesn't crash and with a 256 GB SSD and 16 GB of ram I basically never get slowdowns or crashes - so my choice to try out OS X is in no way based on dissatisfaction with Microsoft in any way.
In ways this makes the Mac Mini seem like the go to choice. But it is a bit weak on the processing power side, though other than being a tech guy who wants the fastest stuff out there (even if he doesn't need it) I'm not sure that it wouldn't be just fine for me anyway. I see the older Mac Pros sometimes for prices that don't seem outrageous and what I like there is the upgradability which is like a PC - much less scary risk of failure of hardware there. Plus the processing power is even better than my PC (Again not sure I even need it though). A bonus for the Mac Pros - I just think they look cool, but not really super important since you don't stare at the computer and it'll be stuffed under my desk anyway.
So the MBP is the last consideration. It has the power without the outrageous price of the Mac Pro (New ones expensive, used ones not always affordable so I'd definitely have to wait on finding a Mac Pro for a fair price used). I liked this option originally as if I ever needed to have a portable PC I could just unhook it from my KVM and go. But unlike apparently a lot of people, I don't go places a lot and I certainly don't use portable devices that much. Rarely if I'm out do I even use my Galaxy SII (Haven't even cared about upgrading as this old thing does what I need just fine). Tried out a retina iPad Mini and a Galaxy Note 2014 10.1 - didn't care for either platform in tablet form (Windows seems like my go to in the tablet form factor now). So with this, I'm not sure how much buying a MBP to use mostly plugged into a KVM is needed. It has the oomph to do what I need no doubt, and is probably more reasonable and easier to find than a good priced Mac Pro (and smaller) but I have concerns about reliability due to thinness (Not major, but it's there - saw a guy just list a 15" MBP and had the optical drive replaced because it failed and it was a 2011 model...my 2011 T420 still rocks on with no issues). I sort of excluded the 13" MBP since it seems marginally more powerful than the Mini and for my uses would probably not warrant the extra cost.
I'm considering used on all these options btw, if I were buying a new Mini I'd wait on the refresh. There's currently a 2011 Mini listed near me for $400 which IMO seems a bit much for one that old. I'd just assume pay $200 extra and have a newer faster one - but wouldn't due to incoming update. As far as portability, the Mini could make do if I needed a portable PC in a sense since I could bring a small monitor with me and keyboard/mouse. It's certainly nothing I'd plan to do with enough regularity to be a concern (Talking I take a trip, stay in a hotel for awhile - bring the Mini kind of deal).
So considering my typical daily uses, which makes the most sense? I want this Mac to be as fast as or faster than my Win 7 PC which Geekbench 3's at roughly 9200 on 32-bit multicore. This is kind of why the Mac Mini seems a bit inadequate, but again - not sure. Advice?
EDIT: Just thought of this, so here's a really typical way I use my Windows rig. I have 7 tabs open in Chrome, I run about 12 extensions, I have a video playing in another tab, and I'm opening new tabs sometimes. Currently my memory usage is at 6.88 GB. I expect to need to beef the memory up greatly on whatever I use. As long as it can handle having this much stuff open and running. Not sure what differences OS X will present with the memory load of all that - I hate that Chrome is such a memory hog but I prefer it over FF and of course IE and other alternatives.
The thing is, I'm not sure which would be the best choice for me. My current Windows PC does everything I need (Gaming, productivity, web browsing, etc.). I don't really use too much stuff like video editing or the like. I have Photoshop CS3 on here but I use it sparsely as the battery on my DSLR is about shot and I'm too lazy to go buy a new one. So I can't see the Mac replacing my desktop PC ever, I play games far too much to ever get rid of it and the value proposition there is very high (Just upgrade video card, not the whole PC). Honestly, I'm not even sure I have a need for the Mac other than curiosity. I'm never unhappy with my computer, it doesn't crash and with a 256 GB SSD and 16 GB of ram I basically never get slowdowns or crashes - so my choice to try out OS X is in no way based on dissatisfaction with Microsoft in any way.
In ways this makes the Mac Mini seem like the go to choice. But it is a bit weak on the processing power side, though other than being a tech guy who wants the fastest stuff out there (even if he doesn't need it) I'm not sure that it wouldn't be just fine for me anyway. I see the older Mac Pros sometimes for prices that don't seem outrageous and what I like there is the upgradability which is like a PC - much less scary risk of failure of hardware there. Plus the processing power is even better than my PC (Again not sure I even need it though). A bonus for the Mac Pros - I just think they look cool, but not really super important since you don't stare at the computer and it'll be stuffed under my desk anyway.
So the MBP is the last consideration. It has the power without the outrageous price of the Mac Pro (New ones expensive, used ones not always affordable so I'd definitely have to wait on finding a Mac Pro for a fair price used). I liked this option originally as if I ever needed to have a portable PC I could just unhook it from my KVM and go. But unlike apparently a lot of people, I don't go places a lot and I certainly don't use portable devices that much. Rarely if I'm out do I even use my Galaxy SII (Haven't even cared about upgrading as this old thing does what I need just fine). Tried out a retina iPad Mini and a Galaxy Note 2014 10.1 - didn't care for either platform in tablet form (Windows seems like my go to in the tablet form factor now). So with this, I'm not sure how much buying a MBP to use mostly plugged into a KVM is needed. It has the oomph to do what I need no doubt, and is probably more reasonable and easier to find than a good priced Mac Pro (and smaller) but I have concerns about reliability due to thinness (Not major, but it's there - saw a guy just list a 15" MBP and had the optical drive replaced because it failed and it was a 2011 model...my 2011 T420 still rocks on with no issues). I sort of excluded the 13" MBP since it seems marginally more powerful than the Mini and for my uses would probably not warrant the extra cost.
I'm considering used on all these options btw, if I were buying a new Mini I'd wait on the refresh. There's currently a 2011 Mini listed near me for $400 which IMO seems a bit much for one that old. I'd just assume pay $200 extra and have a newer faster one - but wouldn't due to incoming update. As far as portability, the Mini could make do if I needed a portable PC in a sense since I could bring a small monitor with me and keyboard/mouse. It's certainly nothing I'd plan to do with enough regularity to be a concern (Talking I take a trip, stay in a hotel for awhile - bring the Mini kind of deal).
So considering my typical daily uses, which makes the most sense? I want this Mac to be as fast as or faster than my Win 7 PC which Geekbench 3's at roughly 9200 on 32-bit multicore. This is kind of why the Mac Mini seems a bit inadequate, but again - not sure. Advice?
EDIT: Just thought of this, so here's a really typical way I use my Windows rig. I have 7 tabs open in Chrome, I run about 12 extensions, I have a video playing in another tab, and I'm opening new tabs sometimes. Currently my memory usage is at 6.88 GB. I expect to need to beef the memory up greatly on whatever I use. As long as it can handle having this much stuff open and running. Not sure what differences OS X will present with the memory load of all that - I hate that Chrome is such a memory hog but I prefer it over FF and of course IE and other alternatives.
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