Hey folks,

I'm not sure whether to get an iMac or a Mac Mini. I'm going to save over the summer and put the money towards a new Mac, but I'm not sure if I should go for an iMac or the Mini.

For £1,199 I can get a 24" iMac, but for just £849.01 I can get a similarly specced Mac Mini (slightly slower CPU and smaller HDD) and use my own 24" screen, which I know to be decent quality. That's a saving of £349.99.

What do you think? The iMac looks lovely, but I'm not sure it's worth the extra cash?

Have you got other peripherals as well? I don't believe any Apple ones come with the Mini so you should factor those in.

You can upgrade the Mini's HDD with only a moderate degree of difficulty so I wouldn't say that storage capacity was a huge drawback of the Mini. If the CPU in the Mini is still fast enough, I think it's certainly better value. The iMac does look good though so it's a toss-up between looks and value, your choice.

The iMac should be the faster machine. I think in terms of longevity, the iMac's probably a better investment.
I found this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mvFdwBgmU0
Which you might be interested in.
Which ships with the better graphics set?

The other thing with the iMac is that with the better GFX set, you could set up the other 24" display as a second screen... or just keep it for another PC of yours.
You'll also get the keyboard and mouse (I'm not a huge fan of the Apple mouse, so YMMV).

The Mini and the iMac actually ship with the same graphics chip - the 9400M.

If the HDD in the mini is easily upgradable I think for a saving of £350 I could live without the good looks of the iMac. After all, the mini is an attractive little box too.

EDIT: the processor in the iMac is a mere 400MHz faster, which again I'm not sure is worth £350.

On the flip side you'll be able to basically put the mini in your pocket. Provided you have fairly large pockets.

Then you could take it with you, even hook it up to a display if you need to do a presentation at uni/college/whereveryouare and want to look slightly flash, booting up a complete OS.

And an external drive would sort out the storage issue, you can even stack it so it doesn't take up any room Clicky

Though the points for the imac are fair. It's just way cooler to have a mini >.<

I do like the mini, it's a neat little box.
Ah, looking at the store, the next iMac up ships with the better GFX card, but it'll push your budget.
So, in that case, I'm sure the mini with a screen you like will be fine.
I know MrStevenRogers is very pleased with his, he'll probably have more guidance to offer.

i have both an iMac and 3 Mac minis and like both the only downside to the iMac is the glossy screen which takes abit of getting used to if you have used matt screens on your own monitor but if you have a good monitor then the mini is the way to go and can be upgraded (ram, hdd and cpu)

If you have a screen and USB Keyboard/Mouse,then the Mini may be better. My concern with the iMac is if the screen gets borked, then that’s really it for the whole thing.

I also think the MIni is a wonderfully small bit of hardware. I have one - it’s a lovely little box which really doesn’t say "computer". It can be put discreetly in the living room next to the telly where it’s not noticed. It’s behind a couple of small Daleks, so it’s even less obvious.

I've got Apple Keyboards (2 actually, 1 for the Mac, 1 for my PC), haven't bothered with the "might mouse" though, my Logitech does just fine.

The screen issue also worries me, if mine breaks I can always get a new one for £200, a new iMac is not so cheap...

Or you could get a 13" Macbook Pro and a mini displayport to DVI or VGA adaptor and plug your keyboard & mouse into that. Gives you the option to go and pose in Starbucks too! (kidding). It's a 2.26ghz CPU instead of the mini's 2.0ghz and you can use your own screen. That is what I plan to do. (apart from the Starbucks thing...more of a Costa man these days...). Same 9400m GPU, up to 8gb RAM and up to 500gb hard drive.

Lol if I can claw £900 together I may well get the macbook pro. I think I might pop onto the Apple Education store when I'm back at uni. and see what's about.

Bottom spec 13" macbook pro on the HE shop is £772.80. And of course that comes with three year AppleCare thrown in for free.

Jon

Sounds like a good deal, that.

Secondhand early Core architecture single CPU Xeon 2.66 Mac Pro. One that has the stock 1gb and 2600XT can be found quite wisely priced, particularly now as the folks who loaded up their credit cards to buy them are gradually having to come to terms with their debts right now.

For cheaper than the iMac you can get one of these or similar and have enough left for a few upgrades like more ECC ram and a new hard drive AND a nice 24" monitor. The monitor they are now using on the iMac isn't anything like the S-IPS unit from 2006/2007 its a PVA, I think that is also used in certain Hyundai monitors and its wank.

I thought the new 24" were IPS screens.
Unless you're doing colour critical work, it's not going to make much of a difference, tbh.