Which is best configuration please?

[stupot100]

I recently converted to Mac with a macbookpro. Now my wife is jealous and is looking to upgrade her desktop.

She needs it for the usual net/emails but also needs to be able to do some graphic design - her current pc (which is only 2 years old) is clogging up despite numerous defrags, reg cleans etc, making working with photoshop traumatic.

Budget is ideally around the £1000 but would splash out a bit more if SSD is really going to speed the system.

Narrowed it down to these 4 systems

MAC MINI 2.3 dual i5 8gb 750gb 7200rpm £889
MAC MINI 2.5 dual i5 8gb 750gb 7200rpm £979
MAC MINI 2.5 dual i5 8gb 256gb SSD £1339
IMAC 2.5 quad i5 8gb 500gb 7200rpm £1159

Getting an Imac quad with an SSD is out of budget. clearly the bottom 2 are the best bet. I guess my question is... is an IMAC quad with standard HD a better option than a MAC MINI dual core with SSD?

I'm a first time poster, but would really appreciate your advice!

Cheers.

 

[MattyO]

MAC MINI 2.5 dual i5 4gb

I would have thought the higher end mac mini would be more than enough of a machine for your wife if it was just surfing the web, email and some graphic design work. I could be mistaken though.

I just ordered the i5 4gb and will use it for some photo editing in Lightroom and will also use it for surfing the web, school, movies etc ...

depends on how intensive a graphic design program your wife uses I guess.

 

[stupot100]

I would have thought the higher end mac mini would be more than enough of a machine for your wife if it was just surfing the web, email and some graphic design work. I could be mistaken though.

I just ordered the i5 4gb and will use it for some photo editing in Lightroom and will also use it for surfing the web, school, movies etc ...

depends on how intensive a graphic design program your wife uses I guess.

Thanks for the reply. Not sure if the SSD is essential or not. She's using Photoshop and AI, and Adobe Premiere for a little video editing. (not too high res with the video stuff)

 

[Mak47]

The quad mini is an impressive little machine. I just picked mine up and it screams.

If she's using Photoshop, she'll be more reliant on the CPU than the GPU--thus the quad is the ideal machine. The dual HDD's are also faster than those in the lower priced models.

There really isn't that much of a performance difference between the 2.3 & 2.5 i5's. The GPU upgrade is nice with the 2.5, but if her video work is low res, and she uses Photoshop, it won't be a noticeable difference for her.

If you decide to skip the quad core, then you really get the most with the base model. The cost to upgrade the RAM yourself to 8GB is the same (you're still buying 8GB, regardless of whether you start with 2 or 4). You can also opt for the 750GB 7200rpm HDD in the base model as well.

If you want a long term machine, it's worth the money for the quad core. You double your storage, get a significantly faster processor, get the server tools and unlimited licenses (should you ever need them), and you can more easily swap out a hard drive if you ever want to because the connectors are already inside your machine.

 

[stupot100]

The quad mini is an impressive little machine. I just picked mine up and it screams.

If she's using Photoshop, she'll be more reliant on the CPU than the GPU--thus the quad is the ideal machine. The dual HDD's are also faster than those in the lower priced models.

There really isn't that much of a performance difference between the 2.3 & 2.5 i5's. The GPU upgrade is nice with the 2.5, but if her video work is low res, and she uses Photoshop, it won't be a noticeable difference for her.

If you decide to skip the quad core, then you really get the most with the base model. The cost to upgrade the RAM yourself to 8GB is the same (you're still buying 8GB, regardless of whether you start with 2 or 4). You can also opt for the 750GB 7200rpm HDD in the base model as well.

If you want a long term machine, it's worth the money for the quad core. You double your storage, get a significantly faster processor, get the server tools and unlimited licenses (should you ever need them), and you can more easily swap out a hard drive if you ever want to because the connectors are already inside your machine.

Thanks for the advice...that's the Mini with Server...didn't consider that one - i agree the quad would probably be the best option long term. I'll upgrade it to 8GB myself as MAC's RAM prices are insane!!!