Value of Mac mini?

I recently looked at the mac mini at the Apple Store and was wondering what the value of it was. If you buy the mid-range one plus the 24" monitor it is the same price as the low end 27" iMac.

I've read reviews about the mac mini and some people say it is the mac with the most value. But i don't get it.

UndefinedAJ said:

I recently looked at the mac mini at the Apple Store and was wondering what the value of it was. If you buy the mid-range one plus the 24" monitor it is the same price as the low end 27" iMac.

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The marketing philosophy behind the Mac-mini is that you already have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse...and thus the cost to upgrade to a newer/better Mac (or switch from a Windows computer) is minimized.

If you have to purchase these items in addition to the Mac-mini...then the total package price doesn't make financial sense as you pointed out.

I would also mention that if the 24" monitor you are referring to is the Apple 24" monitor...these things although nice, are very expensive..and you could purchase another 24" monitor much cheaper somewhere else.

Hope this helps,

- Nick

As @pigoo3 suggested, the Mini makes great sense when you have everything else. I added a Mini to my collection of computers at home a few months back and since I had everything else, I only need to buy the Mini and the KVM to share my current components..

This allows me to enter the Mac world at a fairly cheap price of $450..since I already have a Linux machine that I also use, if it wasn't the Mini it was going to be the Mac Pro and the price difference is just exponential..

I'm not quite ready yet to completely switch over to the Mac yet having spent the money on my other machine..but if I can sell that..I might consider the iMac..

Regards

pigoo3 said:

I would also mention that if the 24" monitor you are referring to is the Apple 24" monitor...these things although nice, are very expensive..and you could purchase another 24" monitor much cheaper somewhere else.

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Yeah, make that much cheaper! You can probably find a new one with a sale price of about $200 at a brick & mortar store.

I would buy the 27" Imac if I did'nt already have a kick *** monitor, the monitor I have is rated as good as if not better than the cinema montior in a bunch of reviews. so, the mini is a great option for me.

the G4 Mac Mini 1.42ghz was my first mac, very great and reliable computer, and for $599 you cant get a more compact great running machine. And you have the option of getting an older 20" cinema display (LCD, Silver case) or a new LED cinema display. either way your at about $1400 when all said and done. But it takes up less space then an iMac, and if you have multiple macs, you can share that cinema display.