Mac Mini or iMac

[aditghai]

Hi
I have been a long time windows user and finally decided to make the switch.
I am in kind of a dilemma about what machine to buy.
I dont have a Monitor, keyboard or mouse, so i would have to buy one seprately.

If i buy a mini, a samsung 20 inch monitor, a apple keyboard and a mouse, it will cost me somewhere around $1100(after student discounts etc).

On the other hand, if i buy an iMac it will cost me $1149.

What do you guys recommend?

 

[airjuggernaut]

I would suggest waiting till Macworld...there have been rumors that the Mac Mini might be updated.

 

[brop52]

Hi
I have been a long time windows user and finally decided to make the switch.
I am in kind of a dilemma about what machine to buy.
I dont have a Monitor, keyboard or mouse, so i would have to buy one seprately.

If i buy a mini, a samsung 20 inch monitor, a apple keyboard and a mouse, it will cost me somewhere around $1100(after student discounts etc).

On the other hand, if i buy an iMac it will cost me $1149.

What do you guys recommend?

iMac is far better than a mini. If you compare those two value/price I think you answered your own question.

 

[zap2]

iMac


I didn't have the screen, and I bought an Apple one and a Mac Mini. Their nice, and it gives me more choose in the future...I can get a laptop, and use it as a desktop replacement, or a new Mac Mini more often...but the iMac is a better value for now.

 

[Cave Man]

For most people, the iMac would be the route to go. But if you intended purposes required a non-glossy screen and/or S-IPS display (the 20" iMac is glossy TN panel), then the Mini would be the route to go (max RAM and buy external FW drive with 500 gigs or more). Of course, you can also buy a second display for the iMac for the S-IPS/non-glossy panel.

 

[Paulius]

It all depends on what you're going to use your computer for. The Mac mini has essentially two fundamental weak points:

1. The graphics card
If you're planning to do gaming, forget the Mac mini. The iMac is able to play most of today's latest games with reasonable settings while the Mac mini can't play most of today's titles. The graphical interface is smoother on the iMac because of it's superior graphics processing power. OS X is very dependant on the graphics card, which provides the smooth interface with these neat effects and features.

2. The hard disk drive
This one bothers me a little. Apple decided to use a laptop hard disk drive on the Mac mini to keep it small. The problem with laptop hard drives are that they're slow, don't have much capacity and are more expensive than desktop drives. The iMac uses a normal desktop hard drive, so things such as bootup and loading times are faster on the iMac than the Mac mini. Now, you could, of course get an external hard drive for your Mac mini to upgrade it's capacity.

In conclusion, if you have the money, I'd highly suggest going for the iMac. Other than that, the Mini is a good starter machine if you plan to replace it in a year or so.

 

[kajitox]

If you have the money, I would go for the iMac. I think in the long run you'd be much more satisfied with your purchase.

 

[termina3]

iMac. Fewer wires.

 

[o-mores]

Mac Mini is some how portable. You can take it with you and use it with a projector, LCD TV... And if every $ counts, you can use regular USB keyboard and mouse with Mac Mini.

But an iMac it's more powerful and trust me... you'll love it!