Thinking of buying a second Computer, iMac, Mac Mini, or Server?

[iMackPro]

i need a desktop with some pretty good giddy up, i have the mac in my sig and MANNNN this thing is a beast, unfortunately i still live with my parents and they want to buy a mac to use too. they have been practicing with mine while i dont use it for a few months now (this one and the older one in my sig) my dad is computer illiterate (literally hes about retarded when it comes to computers) and even he can navigate his way through a mac! Which i find pretty neat. Anyways my mom does a lot of Photo and movie work.

Now, the for sure want a desktop, and my mom uses my old 13" uMB (spring/summer 2008)

Which one should they buy?
iMac (27 inch quad core)
Mac mini?
or Mac Pro?

also since she already owns the uMB should they maybe just get a mac pro server?

Can someone please tell me the difference between a comoputer and a server? i swear they are the same thing!!! ive looked around on google and read up quite a bit but the words just arent making sense!!!


To sum up what im saying without reading all of the following...

Will someone please dumb down for me what a server is and what it does?
And then pick out which computer they should buy if they use heavy photo and video work?! THANK YOU SO MUCH!

 

[iMackPro]

no one can really dumb down for me the point of a MP Server?

 

[Jolly Giant]

pick out which computer they should buy if they use heavy photo and video work?!

IMHO, a server is overkill for the intended use.

i believe a 21.5" iMac i5 would suffice (max out RAM, maybe - but don't use the bto option from Apple, get RAM from OWC or Crucial and install it yourself).

if budget allows, might want to opt for the 27" - nice to have that extra screen real estate

 

[cambookpro]

Wait for the new SB iMacs so you can get them. They'll be a lot quicker. Also get at least 8GB RAM as if they use Photoshop it's quite RAM hungry. A 27" screen wouldn't hurt if your budget allows. Mac Pro is overkill.

 

[ssmed]

A server at home

Having a server in a home environment is overkill for most people. Think of it as a machine that isn't used very much directly, but is used by lots of other people with computers in the house.

Tasks the server could be provide include VPN access to your home network, firewall functions, print server, multiple time machine back-ups, music server etc.

You need to have a few computers in the house to make this worthwhile and anything more that the mini mac version would be a waste. Usually the biggest problem is having enough reliable storage and that might equally well be provided by a RAID NAS. Even for quite a lot of 'server functions' you just need Vanilla OSX (although the cost of server software on the Mac Mini is small).