macmini vs imac

[faber2001]

dear all,

i have a macboo and i want to buy also a mac desktop.

i will go either for i) the mac mini 2Ghz & 2G Ram & a monitor or ii) for the

iMac with the same specs.

what should i prefer and why ? the only thing which seems different to me,

is the HD space and the graphics.

please note that i need the desktop only for internet browsing & internet

radio, email and office/i work applications.

for these tasks, should i go for 1.83Ghz & 1G Ram ?

and one more question: which one is quiter (i don't like fans, they drive me

crazy), the mac mini or the imac ?

thanks a lot,

i'm looking forward for your advice.

 

[gothiquegirrl]

Unless you already have a monitor , mouse, and keyboard.... and if you use them - a webcam.... I'd go with an iMac. IMO, you will end up spending about the same or a little more going with the mini - depending on your configuration.

Ang

 

[jsw]

Same advice as in every other thread on this:

If you want to put it in a small place, like as a media server, get the mini.

If you need to turn monitor off, as opposed to sleeping it, get the mini.

If you really really love the idea of using an old KB, mouse, monitor, and webcam without FW 800 or an extra monitor outlet, get the mini.

Otherwise, the iMac wins every single time. Both are silent.

 

[joytime365]

In fact recently one of my friends is going to buy a imac also, and he had found that the onsale.com is offering aimac sale, and so the amazon.

 

[johny5]

Do you really need the extra computer?
I only ask as I started with a macbook then got a nice 21" monitor for it and that was perfect.
I then wanted more so I bought the imac 2.8ghz extreme and then wondered why i did get that as my macbook with monitor was very similar (I have the 2.2ghz with 4gb ram).

I then just wanted more again! so ive ended up with a big fat mac pro now, but i still have my faithful macbook.

If you can just keep the macbook then buy a monitor, cheapest solution.
If you really want a second mac then I would plumb for the 20"imac (or 24").
I also am a big hater of fans and all imac, mac mini (I have the 1.6ghz) and macbook are pretty much all the same nice and quite.

good luck in your choice!

 

[Cave Man]

In addition to those listed above:

• Mac Mini only has 802.11g vs. n for the iMac
• Mac Mini can take a non-glossy screen.
• iMac conceivably can take 8 gigs of RAM. It's supported in the Santa Rosa docs, but Apple may have done something to it for the Macs. Plus, we need someone to start making 4 gig SO-DIMMs. Mini's stuck at 3.3 gigs max.

 

[Mac Addict]

everyones comments are right on. The mini has a lot of uses, but I would end up using it as a stand alone server or an option to replace a PC (just unplug all the wires and replace the tower with a mini). But starting from scratch I'd go with the iMac.

Yeah the mini has a couple specs below a comparable iMac, but hardly noticable unless you end up doing real heavy taxing applications or heavy multitasking.

 

[johny5]

everyones comments are right on. The mini has a lot of uses, but I would end up using it as a stand alone server

Exactly, I purchased my mini to purely run the house security using securityspy but think its overpowered to just run it for that now