Which Mac to buy?

Well, really you need to be asking yourself whether your new Mac should be portable or not. Obviously the MBA has worse performance across the board than the iMac - but if you want a computer you can carry around, then sure, get it.

The MBA and iMac are incomparable. I would suggest going to an Apple Store and trying them both.

 

Just buy the cheapest: a Mini. If you don't like it in the end, sell it with minimal loss. You can try Mac with it for a year at roughly 50-100$. No other mac gives you a that cheap entry.

 

Since you don't plan to use it for any intensive tasks, there's only one thing to consider then.

Do you want to get a portable machine or not? Do you plan to go out often and be able to use your computer anywhere? Do you enjoy or need using your machine outside? Or you only want to enjoy it when home?

If it's for home, go with iMac .. it gives you bigger and better (IPS) screen, decent storage, quite better CPU and GPU. It's good enough for your needs. Even better if you can look for discount or some sort. You know it's a 2011 machine, so getting $100 or $200 discount might be a good idea.

If you want to get mobile, no contest, MBA is your best bet. Just don't hope to do anything intensive though. Likewise, you buy and pay a notebook for its portability, in compromise of performance.

 

I would recommend buying a refurbished 13" MBP. It's cheaper than the base model MBA and you get a more powerful machine. You also get the superdrive, larger HDD capacity, and more expandability. It only weighs an extra pound, and it will be a better fit for your needs and wants. You also won't have to rely on TB adapters or using another computer's ODD to load programs or apps onto the MBA. The one I am talking about is this one:

$929.00
Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.4GHz Dual-core Intel i5
Eligible for OS X Mountain Lion Up-to-Date Program

Originally released October 2011
13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen display, 1280-by-800 resolution
4GB (2 x 2GB) of 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM
500GB Serial ATA @ 5400 rpm
8x double-layer SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Intel HD Graphics 3000 with 384MB of DDR3 SDRAM

Or you could get this one for $1,129:

Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.8GHz Dual-core Intel i7
Eligible for OS X Mountain Lion Up-to-Date Program

Originally released October 2011
13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen display, 1280-by-800 resolution
4GB (2 x 2GB) of 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM
750GB Serial ATA @ 5400 rpm
8x double-layer SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Intel HD Graphics 3000 with 384MB of DDR3 SDRAM

Both of these are priced better than either the MBA or the iMac. So you get portability, power, and you now have a computer that you can make your very own.

 

I made the mistake of deciding to buy a MacBook over a Mini years ago when I bought my first Mac simply because the MacBook hardware update came before the Mini. It was back when they released the first unibody MacBooks with NVidia GPUs and I was in a hurry to have a Mac and bought what was availble first with the updated hardware. It's never smart to make a decision based on simply not wanting to wait for what you really need as opposed to what's available now even if it's impractical for you purposes.

Now I have an iPad and *never* use the MacBook as a portable--it might as well be a mini, and it would have cost me half what I paid for the MacBook and would be just as powerful.