Mac Mini or Mac Pro? An odd choice

I'm ready to retire my 8 year old Dell desktop, and I want to get back into the Mac world. I have a nice laptop, so I'm not interested in a Macbook at the moment, and I have a 24" monitor, so I don't really need an iMac (and I can't fit dual monitors on my desk anyway). My choices seem to be between the Mac Mini or the Mac Pro. My needs lean much more toward the Mini (web browsing, quicken, personal photo and video editiing), but I'm worried that the Core 2 Duo and 5400 speed hard drive will have me wanting to buy another Mac in a couple of years. The Mac Pro is too much computer for my needs. If I didn't have the monitor, I'd get one of the 27" Core i processor iMacs which is also more than I need, but I love the display and the future proofing. I don't need tons of speed, but I like it. I wish that Apple had a "middle" desktop with a Core i processor that wasn't an all-in-one, but, of course, they don't.

Writing this out has kind of helped. Perhaps I'll get the Mini and relegate it to HTPC use in a couple of years if I decide that I want something faster. Maybe we'll see a Mini with a Core i processor in the next year or two? Maybe I'll find a way to cram a 27" iMac and my 24" Dell monitor onto my desk. I don't know. I feel silly posting this, but perhaps the forum might have some guidance.

In the same boat three weeks ago....

Hi Gern...I had to pick up my system a piece or two at the time. I bought the 30" Cinema Display before I decided on the CPU. The only difference is that I am completely new to Mac...and I wanted a Mac Pro badly. I was back and forth for weeks between those two "boxes", but what helped make my final decision is that I would go with the Mini to learn Mac OS and get my feet wet and in a year or so I could go for the Cadillac. The last Mac Pro update only added more processors really.

Well, I am completely and totaly impressed by this Mac Mini...IMO it is a fantastic box and with 4 Gigs of RAM, I don't feel like I am missing a thing. I can't quite express my complete exhilaration, but I ain't regrettin' a thing.

Another thing that helped me go with the Mini for now is that the Mac Pro doesn't have USB 3 and I personally feel that it is coming. Also, Light Peak is technology that I feel Apple will be incorporating soon and I if I am going to spend Mac Pro kind of money...I want the latest and greatest. My Mac Pro will be a studio computer and I won't be out much $$ because the Mini will just become the home office computer. This is just my $0.02 worth...hopefully somebody will have the right advise to help you make the decision that is best for you. Take care . . . Dogbreath

First off, I would suggest selling your "laptop" and just getting a MBP. You'll have portability and when you're home you can connect it to your existing monitor and use it with an external keyboard and mouse. The best of both worlds.

If you're just ****-bent on keeping your laptop and monitor, you can't go wrong with an iMac and they even have wall mounts and optional extension arms for the wall mounts in the Apple store. That might be a solution to your desktop space issue.

Just suggestions, but you can always sell your monitor and only have an iMac. The Mac Pro sounds like a waste of $$$ for your needs.

Whatever you get, consider shopping Apple's refurbished section of the online store. Everything is warrantied and in like-new condition. You'll save some money that way for sure and won't feel so bad about getting more machine than you need.

Thank you both for the helpful suggestions. It's good to hear that you find the Mini to be plenty powerful, Dogbreath.

MYmacROX: I thought about selling my Win 7 HP laptop, but at just a year later I could only get 20% of what I paid for it (I think). Selling my monitor and getting an iMac might work for me, though. Also, thanks for the suggestion about refurbs: I'll look into that, too.

Both of you were very helpful.

I'll weigh in as I have both. My iMac was first, and I do like the simplicity and relatively small footprint on my desk. My wife then got the mini, which was perfect for her as she was happy with her monitor and mouse and didn't want to have to change, so the Mini lets her keep them both. It has a very small footprint as well, so her desk is now cleaner than it was. Both are fast machines, much faster than the Dells we had with WinXP. I would say to invest small at first, particularly if you can repurpose the initial machine later. You can then learn what's important to you and get an impression of the speed of the machine in your environment to make a better educated decision on the next buy.

My recommendations will also side for the refurbs. You get a decent discount that can sometimes be better than student discounts, even though it doesn't sound like you are a student. I don't believe the mac mini will upgrade to an *i* processor any time within a years range from today. Not because someone said something about it, but because usually the mac-mini stays within the spec range of the regular macbooks, and those aren't going to be upgraded for what is believed to be 8 months, at which there is very little promise of an i processor in it. I sure do hope I am wrong though! Because that would make me VERY interested in it!

The thing about the refurbs that I will mention is to not skimp on spec quality for price. What I mean by that is if you were going to spend...I don't know...$1,000 on a new model, spend that same money on a refurb model, and you will end up with something A LOT better!

Go with the Mac Pro as it is much, much more upgradeable than the Mini with regards to 3.5" HDD, graphics, memory etc etc.

Regarding the MBP connected to my monitor: the MBP screen is, I believe 16x10 whereas my monitor is 16x9 (1920 x 1080). Would the MacBook pro detect the difference and adjust the output to my display?

Gern Blanston said:

Regarding the MBP connected to my monitor: the MBP screen is, I believe 16x10 whereas my monitor is 16x9 (1920 x 1080). Would the MacBook pro detect the difference and adjust the output to my display?

Click to expand...

The MBP has both resolutions to choose from for an external display (1920 x 1080 and 1920 x 1200).

So yes...the external display would work fine.

- Nick

Gern,

You remind me of my brother. He recently bought a top-of-the-line 27" iMac with a Core i7 processor, 4 GB of RAM, and a 1 TB hard drive. It replaced an aging 17" G4 iMac (the one that looked like a lamp shade), which had definitely begun to show its age. He bought that machine in early 2002 and at the time, it was the cream of the crop for the iMacs. He held onto it as long as he can, and finally caved in and purchased the new model when he grew frustrated enough with the G4's slow performance.

While I'm certainly envious of my brother's purchase, I find it amusing that he chose a computer with that much power. Overall, his computing needs are pretty basic. He wants to be able to surf the web, do email, create the occasional word processing file, and enjoy various media. That's it; nothing fancy, and certainly that would tax any processor made the past three years. This is all stuff that could easily be done on a Mac mini, or even a MacBook. He's doesn't need all of that power to do what he wants. The reason he chose it because he doesn't want to buy another computer for another 8 years. He's so worried about buying something that will go obsolete that he spends as much money as he can to get the machine with the highest specs, hoping he can somehow future-proof himself.

Meanwhile, here I am, the more tech-savvy member of the family, getting by just fine with a late-2009 Mac mini and a late-2007 MacBook. They're nice computers, but certainly no match for a Core i7. Instead of blowing my load all at once, I tend to upgrade every few years and spend a modest price in the process. That helps keep me up-to-date with the latest enhancements in hardware technology and I never find myself stuck with a computer that is slow and unusable because it is so out-of-date.

I do like the suggestion of selling the laptop you have now and getting a MacBook Pro instead. They are fantastic computers and offer the best of both worlds. Besides, if you get a Mac, you're not going to want to use the clunky old PC any longer. Trust me on this.

Good luck with your purchase and let us know what you decide to do.

iMac vs Mini

I was advised, when I asked about getting a desktop Mac, that the Mini had everything miniaturised so I'd be better off with an iMac. As I previously had a 17" monitor the 21.5" is an improvement but, otherwise, was the advice wrong?

jakerich said:

I'll weigh in as I have both. My iMac was first, and I do like the simplicity and relatively small footprint on my desk. My wife then got the mini, which was perfect for her as she was happy with her monitor and mouse and didn't want to have to change, so the Mini lets her keep them both. It has a very small footprint as well, so her desk is now cleaner than it was. Both are fast machines, much faster than the Dells we had with WinXP. I would say to invest small at first, particularly if you can repurpose the initial machine later. You can then learn what's important to you and get an impression of the speed of the machine in your environment to make a better educated decision on the next buy.

Click to expand...

Alwyn said:

I was advised, when I asked about getting a desktop Mac, that the Mini had everything miniaturised so I'd be better off with an iMac. As I previously had a 17" monitor the 21.5" is an improvement but, otherwise, was the advice wrong?

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Do you like the iMac? If so, the advice couldn't have been that bad.

My advice would be an imac and use your current screen as a 2ndary screen for the imac. I know the imac has no real expandability. But you don't need it. My imac almost 5 years old now can still do everything I need it to. And I can only recommend the Mac Pro to professionals cause of the cost + it is overkill to 99% of the population.

the8thark said:

My advice would be an imac and use your current screen as a 2ndary screen for the imac.

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Except that he has no room for a secondary screen.

Yes, although my first iMac crashed after 3 months. I just wonder if it was necessary to spend so much more if the Mini is just as good.

J.Fo said:

Do you like the iMac? If so, the advice couldn't have been that bad.

Click to expand...

Alwyn said:

I was advised, when I asked about getting a desktop Mac, that the Mini had everything miniaturised so I'd be better off with an iMac. As I previously had a 17" monitor the 21.5" is an improvement but, otherwise, was the advice wrong?

Click to expand...

I'm not sure what "miniaturised" has to do with it at all. After all, compared to an equivalent processor of 20 years ago, my iMac is "miniaturised' in that it isn't a mainframe, although it has more processing power than that mainframe! I think the advice was given to move you to an iMac for a sale. My wife's mini runs 24/7 just fine. No problems with miniaturisation.

Oh well at least I've got the big screen and he didn't get the sale anyway as I bought elsewhere.

I was uncertain about whether to get an iMac or Macbook Pro. (I know that isn't the same as Mac Pro, like you're talking about)

But I find that I really like being able to take my computer with me everywhere. If it is around the house, I can be on the couch, kitchen table, or bed. We no longer need a computer desk, or any room on our regular desk. Not being tethered to a desk or something is really liberating. You probably already know this from your PC laptop. But With my MacBook Pro, it is different, since the battery life is so good and the display is so good and the touchpad is so good. I don't miss a desktop computer at all. The only real advantage to them is that they're more upgradable and more powerful for the money.

Now, if you're dead-set on being tethered to a desk and having more power than you'll ever need, there are advantages to that too. If you buy more power than you think you'll ever need now, that is also buying more power to run yet-to-be-developed software. It really is 'future-proofing.' But it is just such an expensive way to do it. All this power costs more now than it will 5 years from now. I think it is better to just buy what you need or a little more, and upgrade when it is really not enough any more. 5 years from now, we'll be laughing that today's Mac Pro was top-of-the-line back in 2010. There will be something simpler, less costly, smaller, and more powerful.

Now, my opinion on the desktop computers is that you should sell the monitor and get the best iMac you can get. High-end monitors hold their value better than PC laptops, so that is a good path to take. Then, you'll have something that is more powerful than the Mini, but less powerful (and expensive) than the Pro.

Still, unless you need that serious horsepower, the MacBook Pro is the way to go. The only way to get more freedom in computing is to also have an iPod Touch, but then you're really giving up some horsepower.

jakerich said:

I'm not sure what "miniaturised" has to do with it at all. After all, compared to an equivalent processor of 20 years ago, my iMac is "miniaturised' in that it isn't a mainframe, although it has more processing power than that mainframe! I think the advice was given to move you to an iMac for a sale. My wife's mini runs 24/7 just fine. No problems with miniaturisation.

Click to expand...

There is no equivalent 20 years ago. The closest would be a big server room, and even that... haha.

DarkestRitual said:

There is no equivalent 20 years ago. The closest would be a big server room, and even that... haha.

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My point exactly. OP was told that miniaturization was a problem. Not true! We're all carrying around more compute power than was dreamed of in the largest mainframes 20 years ago.

And actually, in 1981 a company named Osborne came out with a "portable" computer. So twenty years ago, there was an equivalent, and it was 10 years old!