Mac Mini or IMac for server...

Hey guys!!

I am new to both the Mac computers and this forum, and I just want to say that my experience with my powermac G5 over this couple of weeks has been great.

I have used PCs for years and now that I am just beggining my career of graphic designer/web designer I decided to give the Mac a shot, and sure as **** I am not disapointed.

I decided to lend my old Win box to my little bro to play games and use for school work, and now I find myself thinking about setting up an Apache server for tests and other stuff. The Mini and the IMac are my two choices especially because of the price, lol I don't think it appropiate for me to get an Xserve (wish I could afford one) just to play around with PHP and MySQL.

Anyways, what do you guys think? should I get me a Mac mini with a Gig of Ram, a cheap display and mouse/keyboard set for my new server or maybe the cheapest IMac with a Gig of RAM?

I would apreciate any comments you guys can give me.


clintz

Probably the Mini.... You wouldn't buy a 17" LCD screen for a web server... so why would you pay the extra to get it with the iMac. Plus the Mini will take up less space. The only concern might be the slower hard disk. But if you are just using it locally for Apache stuff I don't think that will be too much of an issue. Neither of them would really be expandable so that isn't going to have an effect on which you choose.

Truth be told I would probably look for an older used G4 Powermac. You would probably get a lower Mhz for the same cost. But you could put more RAM and bigger/faster hard drives in there if you needed to down the road.

For what you are going to be doing, I would say Mini due to low cost and you will have a brand new system, Small Size so it will not be in the way and it's powerfull enough for what you are going to do.

Thanks guys.

I was just thinking, after calculating the price for the mini, with the upgrade on RAM and the wireless stuff (airport, bluetooth), the keyboard/mouse and monitor the price is only a few hundred under the least expensive IMac with the 1Gig RAM upgrade. Maybe the better HD and the G5 processor are well worth the extra bucks for the IMac?

I like the idea of getting the new Macs instead of used because I will be using a lot of PHP and MySQL, this can make the CPU work a sweat and the faster processors would be a bonus.

Do anyone know of any eMacs used as servers? are they maybe a little more cost effective compared to the Minis and the IMacs?

clintz