New Mini or Referb 27" iMac????

[Newfiebill]

Am I missing something here?

I can either pay 1,150.00 for a 2011 Mini with DCore i7, 750 HDD, Superdrive, with no keyboard, monitor or mouse/trackpad, and a 256 GPU, or

I can spend 1,450.00 and get a referb 2011 iMac 27" Qcore i5 1TB HDD 512 GPU HD Camera, Speakers, Mouse/trackpad, keyboard. plus the 27" monitor to boot....

I think my Mac Mini Days just ended with this pricing.

 

[gkarris]

And when it comes to upgrading, you don't need to buy another machine with a built in monitor...

 

[fa8362]

You're missing an understanding of your needs. If you need the Mini, no iMac will do. If you need an iMac, no Mini will do.

 

[eoren1]

I was going to post the same question/dilemma. I'm looking at the $799 Mini vs the 1400 iMac 27 refurb. My use is predominately photography and I already have a good monitor (that would be a secondary display with the iMac).
I was going back and forth on this with a friend and came up with the following:

+ Mini
Cheaper
Looks like can do aftermarket SSD upgrade which should offer best bang/buck upgrade (until TB accessories come out)
Becomes HTPC in 1-2 years when ivy bridge iMac comes out with USB3 and some other peripherals that I really want

-Mini
Wonder if the dual i5 is fast enough for my purposes (lightroom/photoshop)

+iMac
More powerful
Larger display (than what I have now)

-iMac
No SSD aftermarket
No upgrading next year to ivy bridge/usb3
More expensive by $700

 

[err404]

At it's core, the Mac Mini is an entry level machine. The iMac is a mid-high level machine. There is no sense trying to compare the cost effectiveness of a maxed out BTO to a refurb.

Unfortunately Apple does not make a midrange headless machine.

 

[zedsdead]

I was going to post the same question/dilemma. I'm looking at the $799 Mini vs the 1400 iMac 27 refurb. My use is predominately photography and I already have a good monitor (that would be a secondary display with the iMac).
I was going back and forth on this with a friend and came up with the following:

+ Mini
Cheaper
Looks like can do aftermarket SSD upgrade which should offer best bang/buck upgrade (until TB accessories come out)
Becomes HTPC in 1-2 years when ivy bridge iMac comes out with USB3 and some other peripherals that I really want

-Mini
Wonder if the dual i5 is fast enough for my purposes (lightroom/photoshop)

+iMac
More powerful
Larger display (than what I have now)

-iMac
No SSD aftermarket
No upgrading next year to ivy bridge/usb3
More expensive by $700

It seems that the Mini will benefit you the most in the long run. If you can definitely upgrade the next time the iMac sees an update, then I would stick to that plan. You will have a more than capable machine for now, and then a really powerful one next year plus an HTPC.

 

[EasyRider]

I was going to post the same question/dilemma.
Becomes HTPC in 1-2 years when ivy bridge iMac comes out with USB3 and

Great point! But please consider you could sell the potential iMac in 1-2 years and pick up a used mini. And also the potential loss in "productivity" by going mini over imac for 1-2 years (larger screen, faster processor)

The mini is a great computer, just wished it offered a better value.

 

[xheathen]

I really wish people would stop saying "Mini + all this crap" compared to "iMac".

Those that are in the market for a mini won't be buying a super drive, or most likely not upgrade to the 750gb drive. So it's not $1150 versus $1400. It's more like $799 + $40 for an external DVD drive. Then down the road $200 for an aftermarket SSD.