Thank you everyone for responding to my earlier posting about what new Mac to purchase and for all the ideas and advice you gave me!
I must select, and purchase, a new Mac within the next 3 weeks and being on a limited budget I'm deciding between the iMac and Mac Mini. The Mini appeals to me because of it's price, portability and the fact that I can (hopefully!) use it with my 2009 (or 10) flat screen Samsung 17" VGA 4:3 monitor that has pretty good image quality...but I'm concerned about whether the Mini can really be used to create quality graphics.
I'm not a professional designer on a full-time basis but I do use Photoshop, Illustrator, Painter, Quark, and even some 3D apps like Poser to create stuff for my clients and would like to do so even more in the future. I'm also hoping to teach myself web design and start doing sites for clients and developing web (visual) content, which conceivably might include videos that I compile, edit and stream myself. They will probably include sound and I know nothing about the audio capabilities of the Mac Mini, if there are any (though I of course realize that speakers have to be connected to it) so this is another factor to be considered.
I appreciate, as someone wrote in response to my other posting, that graphics cards - and what they can do - may be overestimated...but how does the graphics capacity and capabilities of the Mini compare to those of the iMac. And what about Retina Display - is it really necessary? And does it help or hinder the creating, designing and evaluation of visuals and graphics on the iMac?
I would really appreciate feedback on this from those more knowledgable than myself and thank you so much for your assistance!
I must select, and purchase, a new Mac within the next 3 weeks and being on a limited budget I'm deciding between the iMac and Mac Mini. The Mini appeals to me because of it's price, portability and the fact that I can (hopefully!) use it with my 2009 (or 10) flat screen Samsung 17" VGA 4:3 monitor that has pretty good image quality...but I'm concerned about whether the Mini can really be used to create quality graphics.
I'm not a professional designer on a full-time basis but I do use Photoshop, Illustrator, Painter, Quark, and even some 3D apps like Poser to create stuff for my clients and would like to do so even more in the future. I'm also hoping to teach myself web design and start doing sites for clients and developing web (visual) content, which conceivably might include videos that I compile, edit and stream myself. They will probably include sound and I know nothing about the audio capabilities of the Mac Mini, if there are any (though I of course realize that speakers have to be connected to it) so this is another factor to be considered.
I appreciate, as someone wrote in response to my other posting, that graphics cards - and what they can do - may be overestimated...but how does the graphics capacity and capabilities of the Mini compare to those of the iMac. And what about Retina Display - is it really necessary? And does it help or hinder the creating, designing and evaluation of visuals and graphics on the iMac?
I would really appreciate feedback on this from those more knowledgable than myself and thank you so much for your assistance!