Mac Mini vs iMac

[webcity]

I'm thinking about buying a new Mac for Christmas and looking for some advice pleeeease

I used to like the 24 inch iMacs but not sure about the new ones because I think a 21.5" screen might be too small and 27" would definately be too big. That said, the two options I've got in my price range are:

1. 21.5" iMac with 2.5GHz Quad i5, 4GB Ram, 500GB Hard Drive @ £879.60 (with HE discount).

or

2. 2.3GHz Dual i5 Mac Mini, 8GB Ram (3rd Party Upgrade), 500GB Hard Drive and a 24" Apple Cinema Display @ £976 (with HE Discount on the Mini and used display).

Which do you guys think would be a better buy?

It will primarily be used for web development, light photoshop, audio production.

 

[willieva]

The imac will be faster for less money, so it's a better buy.

The imac is 1920x1080. The 24" is 1920x1200. I doubt the difference would be that noticeable. I use a 24" 1920x1200 monitor at home and frankly don't really like it that much sizewise for development. It's not big enough to really have multiple windows open side by side, but there's a lot of wasted space when windows are sized to my biases. A 21" would be fine, or a 27" would be even nice.

For photos the 24" screen is nice, since it's a bit taller so the photos fill out the screen more(depending on the aspect ratio of the photos).

 

[webcity]

The imac will be faster for less money, so it's a better buy.

The imac is 1920x1080. The 24" is 1920x1200. I doubt the difference would be that noticeable. I use a 24" 1920x1200 monitor at home and frankly don't really like it that much sizewise for development. It's not big enough to really have multiple windows open side by side, but there's a lot of wasted space when windows are sized to my biases. A 21" would be fine, or a 27" would be even nice.

For photos the 24" screen is nice, since it's a bit taller so the photos fill out the screen more(depending on the aspect ratio of the photos).

Thanks for your reply.

My main concern with the iMac is getting used to the 21.5" screen. It's also a bit pants that I won't be able to upgrade to an SSD myself (for the fear of getting dust, etc under the glass).

I hadn't thought about the screen resolutions to be honest and I guess that's the more important thing to think about.

My current PC uses a 23" 1920x1080 screen and I quite like it, apart from it being 1080 vs a 1920x1200 screen I used to own. I also use a 15" 1440x900 MBP at work and it would seriously do my head in if I had to do all my work on that.

 

[Dan--]

Don't forget that you can use lots of alternative monitors with a mini. The ACD is good - but not a good value. There are plenty of high quality monitors at much cheaper price points, even with color correct VA or IPS based panels.

Dan

 

[The-Pro]

Don't forget that you can use lots of alternative monitors with a mini. The ACD is good - but not a good value. There are plenty of high quality monitors at much cheaper price points, even with color correct VA or IPS based panels.

Dan

but do those monitors also have isight, microphone, decent internal speakers?
of course you can get a camera w/ microphone and a speaker set, but that is lots more cable clutter etc.
24" ACD in my opinion is an excellent companion for the mini as the mini doesnt have sight, microphone and decent internal speakers.
id recommend a different screen if the machine its connected to were a MB, MBP, MBA, iMac, but for the Mac Mini and Mac Pro its excellent.

 

[adityashah1989]

Is iMac worth a buy right now or is an update around the corner?