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New iMac or new Mac Mini + Thunderbolt Display?

M

MonteiroVi

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 27, 2012
19
0
São Paulo, Brazil
Hey guys! Christimas is there and I'm very temptated to ask santa for a new computer. My question is: should I get the new iMac 27in or the new Mac Mini plus a Thunderbolt/Cinema Display? Both would be bought with best config avaliable, like top processor with highest clocking and as much RAM as I can put inside of them! So, what do you guys think? Oh! And should I get an Magic Trackpad too? (I'm probably buying a tablet, so I think it replaces it, right?)
Thanks for reading!
 
The mechanical HDD in a mini is a 2.5" on, in the 27" iMac you get a 3.5" HDD, which is faster than the 2.5". Plus, you can get a 3TB drive in the iMac as opposed to the 1TB in the mini.

The iMac has better cooling than the mini.

The iMac comes with keyboard and mouse by default.

The mini would be an additional device standing beside/behind the display.

You might want to do an actual price comparison, but I'd go for the iMac over a mini + TB display any day.

Oh, and get it with the basic amount of RAM and buy the RAM upgrade elsewhere. Apple charges way, way too much for the RAM upgrades.
About the HDD: If the 27" iMac can be opened (which we don't know yet), I'd consider getting the base HDD, too, and upgrade it myself.

EDIT: I wouldn't say a tablet replaces the Magic Trackpad. Whether you need it is still another story. I'm happy without it.
 
Is it? Anyway, I'm not good at hardware and buying from other manufacturers would'n be that good, since I'm brazillian and there are HUGE taxes for tech... Also, I'm buying the iMac from the internet and delivering here, so it does not get as expensive as in my country... Making a poor converison that a dollar values 2.5x a real(brazillian currency), the iMac in the US costs around R$5000,00 while in Brazil we'll have the same for R$10000,00... And I'll need a tablet for drawing, painting and playing with 3D... I'm going serious about learning how to sculpt in 3D... I just love it! And I'm already learning to programm, so those are the reasons for the upgrade.
 
So, I've been reading about customization here and looks like the best thing to do would be to order and basic 27" (wich is the size I want), replace its HDD for an SSD and expanding its RAM myself? Also, what about the graphics board? Do I leave de default or it needs improvement? 'Cuz I'm buying it for gaming too... Heavy gaming, probably via bootcamp... What do you say?
 
MonteiroVi said:
So, I've been reading about customization here and looks like the best thing to do would be to order and basic 27" (wich is the size I want), replace its HDD for an SSD and expanding its RAM myself? Also, what about the graphics board? Do I leave de default or it needs improvement? 'Cuz I'm buying it for gaming too... Heavy gaming, probably via bootcamp... What do you say?
Click to expand...

If you want to game, get the best graphics card offered. You can't upgrade it yourself.
About the other stuff: As I said, do the RAM upgrade yourself. But we don't know yet whether it will be possible to open the case. And even if it is and you screw it up in the process, it'll be out of warranty.
 
flatfoot said:
If you want to game, get the best graphics card offered. You can't upgrade it yourself.
About the other stuff: As I said, do the RAM upgrade yourself. But we don't know yet whether it will be possible to open the case. And even if it is and you screw it up in the process, it'll be out of warranty.
Click to expand...

Ok... I can't upgrade the graphics card because of the motherboard, right? Anyway, I've been watching some videos on youtube about how to do these upgrades and it don't look thaaaaaaaaaaaat difficult. And my dad's friend knows a lot about hardware and PC construction, so he can probably help me (he have 2 iMacs and 1 MacPro - all three very old, like 2006 or so, but still he have experience). I wish Apple didn't charge us so much, so than we could ask them to do the job, even tough is fun to mess with hardware (I have completely dismounted my old Nokia 5230, but its touch lcd stopped working lol). Anyway, is not fun to mess with a 2000 dollar iMac.
 
Go with the iMac. The thunderbolt display is old technology in my book. It is absolutely not worth the purchase to have old USB 2 ports and higher glossy levels compared to the new iMac. In addition, the Mac Mini uses an integrated GPU in ALL of the models, making any highly-intensive GPU tasks staggering. If you are a gamer you should definitely go with the iMac to assure greater performance all around.
 
Thank you, guys! Your answers have all been helpful. I think I'll go with a iMac with some good RAM and other good specs, maybe I'll get the high clocked 27" with some extra RAM, and if someday I feel I need to improve speed, I'll replace the HDD for a SSD and put in some more RAM.
 
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