mini or imac direction input needed

elocs · Jul 14, 2005

I had been looking at a top of the line with everything iMac, but it will be expensive and certainly more than I need now. I have begun to consider getting a top of the line mini and using my current display and keyboard and mouse. Roundabout numbers would be $2500 for the iMac and $1000 for the mini. My thinking was then to eventually move up to a better Apple monitor and down the line get a power Mac. My needs are pretty basic and the mini seems to be a good bridge towards a power Mac in the future. If I get the tripped out iMac it will pretty much be what it is and cannot be improved.
Is this line of thought logical, or should I just go for the iMac?

jenz · Jul 15, 2005

IMO go with the imac

D3v1L80Y · Jul 15, 2005

elocs said:
I had been looking at a top of the line with everything iMac, but it will be expensive and certainly more than I need now.... My thinking was then to eventually move up to a better Apple monitor and down the line get a power Mac. My needs are pretty basic .....

Judging by those statements, you are better off with the mini.
Cost seems to be a factor, so you would be saving $1000 by getting the Mini.
By your own admission, the iMac is much more than you would need, so again the Mini is the better choice.
If you are planning on getting a PowerMac later on, then by all means get the Mini now and get used to the Mac OS with that.
The iMac is a great system, but doesn't seem to be what you need. The Mini is a great system as well and is the smarter option cost-wise.
It also seems to be the more logical choice, based on your post.

elocs · Jul 15, 2005

elocs said:
I had been looking at a top of the line with everything iMac, but it will be expensive and certainly more than I need now. I have begun to consider getting a top of the line mini and using my current display and keyboard and mouse. Roundabout numbers would be $2500 for the iMac and $1000 for the mini. My thinking was then to eventually move up to a better Apple monitor and down the line get a power Mac. My needs are pretty basic and the mini seems to be a good bridge towards a power Mac in the future. If I get the tripped out iMac it will pretty much be what it is and cannot be improved.
Is this line of thought logical, or should I just go for the iMac?

I decided to go with the mini and ordered one today from my local authorized Apple store. The guy I talked with there said that my logic made perfect sense. The mini more than meets my needs now and in the near future and I will use it by sharing my pc's monitor. My goal in the future is to move up to at least a 30" Apple monitor and then to a powerMac, hopefully by the time the dust settles on the Intel situation. I use my computer to basically surf the net, pay bills, download photos and make cards. However great the iMac is it would be way overkill for more than double the price of the maxed out mini I ordered. For a first time Mac user price is a consideration and I don't want to put myself into a bind for much more of a computer than I need for the forseeable future. I now have room to grow towards and the mini will become my #2 Mac to a powerMac in the future. The iMac is great, but maxed out it can never be more than it is. The maxed out mini is about half the price of the 4 year old pc I am now using and it is a big step up.

elocs · Jul 15, 2005

D3v1L80Y said:
Judging by those statements, you are better off with the mini.
Cost seems to be a factor, so you would be saving $1000 by getting the Mini.
By your own admission, the iMac is much more than you would need, so again the Mini is the better choice.
If you are planning on getting a PowerMac later on, then by all means get the Mini now and get used to the Mac OS with that.
The iMac is a great system, but doesn't seem to be what you need. The Mini is a great system as well and is the smarter option cost-wise.
It also seems to be the more logical choice, based on your post.

I read your post just after I posted my last one. I had been looking towards the iMac for the past month and it is just in the past week that my thinking began to change. Like I said, the Mac guy (the store is The Mac Guys) agreed in spite of the fact that I would be spending half the amount I would have with the iMac. I guess it was more important to him that I be happy with my setup than it would be for him to make a bigger sale. It will take a week or so to get the mini. When I was at a computer store in Chicago on the weekend of the 4th they had a limit of 1 mini per customer since demand was so great.

sarahsboy18 · Jul 15, 2005

I think you made the wise choice.... for your needs the iMac would have definitely been overkill at first.... and not enough in the long run.

Congrats on the new purchase!

elocs · Jul 15, 2005

sarahsboy18 said:
I think you made the wise choice.... for your needs the iMac would have definitely been overkill at first.... and not enough in the long run.

Congrats on the new purchase!

To tell the truth, as beautiful as the iMac is, I feel very good about my decision. I got a new credit card that offered 5 months at 0%, but the iMac would have put a strain on me financially, while the mini will be just right in price and function. I say financial strain because I do not believe in carrying a balance on my credit cards. I use them for my benefit and not to pay interest to the credit card companies--that is why they call me a "deadbeat" :black:

italiano · Jul 16, 2005

I am totally in LOVE with my new Imac - have a few Macs but this baby ROX!

elocs · Jul 16, 2005

italiano said:
I am totally in LOVE with my new Imac - have a few Macs but this baby ROX!

I am sure it does and I was looking at the iMac that you have. But when I was brutally realistic about what I use a computer for at this time, very simple tasks and web surfing, the iMac is way too much computer at too big of a price. Now if money were no object, then that is what I would get, but if things pan out the way I hope I may bypass the iMac altogether.

Tel · Jul 16, 2005

elocs said:
I decided to go with the mini and ordered one today from my local authorized Apple store. The guy I talked with there said that my logic made perfect sense. The mini more than meets my needs now and in the near future and I will use it by sharing my pc's monitor. My goal in the future is to move up to at least a 30" Apple monitor and then to a powerMac, hopefully by the time the dust settles on the Intel situation. I use my computer to basically surf the net, pay bills, download photos and make cards. However great the iMac is it would be way overkill for more than double the price of the maxed out mini I ordered. For a first time Mac user price is a consideration and I don't want to put myself into a bind for much more of a computer than I need for the forseeable future. I now have room to grow towards and the mini will become my #2 Mac to a powerMac in the future. The iMac is great, but maxed out it can never be more than it is. The maxed out mini is about half the price of the 4 year old pc I am now using and it is a big step up.

If I understand this right, you wish to upgrade to a 30" monitor and then get a Powermac to top it off? If so bare in mind that the 30" will not work with a Mini. I'm in a similar position, this is what I'm doing:

My first Mac was an iBook G4, I got this because I didn't have an external display etc so it was more logical for me to get an iBook to start. I generally use this for basic stuff and college.
When I go to uni, I'm going to get an iMac (20" if I can) and a 20" or 23" Apple cinema display and use the screen span hack so I can do some decent image editing for my studies.
When I finally start work and need the power of the Powermac, I'll get one of those and another screen (23" or 30" if I can afford it) so I'll be able to work on a Powermac with two huge displays.

elocs · Jul 16, 2005

Tel said:
If I understand this right, you wish to upgrade to a 30" monitor and then get a Powermac to top it off? If so bare in mind that the 30" will not work with a Mini. I'm in a similar position, this is what I'm doing:

My first Mac was an iBook G4, I got this because I didn't have an external display etc so it was more logical for me to get an iBook to start. I generally use this for basic stuff and college.
When I go to uni, I'm going to get an iMac (20" if I can) and a 20" or 23" Apple cinema display and use the screen span hack so I can do some decent image editing for my studies.
When I finally start work and need the power of the Powermac, I'll get one of those and another screen (23" or 30" if I can afford it) so I'll be able to work on a Powermac with two huge displays.

You are absolutely correct and what I meant to write was that I would get a "20" screen. I knew that the 30" would not work with the mini and I have read some bad reviews of the 23" on Amazon.
So ultimately I would end up with a screen the same size as the iMac I was looking at.

UncSki1218 · Jul 16, 2005

No...the mini is not worth it...u still need a moniter and mouse and keyboard. The best imac is pretty good. But if you want to work up to a power mac you're spending to much at first. You might want to look at the emac

D3v1L80Y · Jul 17, 2005

UncSki1218 said:
No...the mini is not worth it...u still need a moniter and mouse and keyboard....

well, in his case it is worth it...

elocs said:
I have begun to consider getting a top of the line mini and using my current display and keyboard and mouse.

:black:

elocs · Jul 17, 2005

D3v1L80Y said:
well, in his case it is worth it...

:black:

Congratulations! You win a gold star for reading the complete post. Yes, I do already have a monitor, keyboard and mouse so it will cost me nothing extra. Ah, if money were no object, what might I have? Alas, but reality sets in and money is an object and one for me whose supply does not match my desires, so I make do.

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