second hand mac pro or new mac mini

Hi, I am fairly new to the forums but not to the mac. I currently have a macbook air late 2010 13 model as I travel alot. I then have a cinema display at home for when im at my desk. Recently I have been able to work from home much more and miss having a dedicated desktop machine. My question is would i be better of going for a used 2x duel core mac pro, or a new mac mini??

I use iworks (for work) ilife (managing photoes and vids), xcode and code runner (trying to learn!!!), logic express (as a hoby).

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!!

Considering how expensive a good used Mac Pro would be, and for what you intend to use it for, a new Mini should suit your needs just fine.

Go with a Mac Pro. Easily upgraded memory, graphics, hard and optical drives to suit you working from home. Sorry to disagree Charlie but minis, even the morris type, have never impressed me!

But, its a waste of money buying a Mac Pro, if all your gonna do is run Word on it.

As much as I wish I had one, I would go with what chscag says.

In my eyes, the market of the Mac Pro is generally:

- enthusiasts
- creative media proffessionals
- Intensive applications (Auto CAD, video encoding rendering, and so on)
- Server use.

Wow Robbie!

Working from home running and managing, and no doubt editing, photos and videos, X Code, Code Runner and Logic Express ain't word.

Have to say - I've never seen the point of a Mac Mini..

What are they actually for ?
Unconvinced windows-folk who don't want to make the Big Leap - towards sanity ?

The drives aren't supposed to be very reilable from reviews I've read on Amazon...

harryb2448 said:

Wow Robbie!

Working from home running and managing, and no doubt editing, photos and videos, X Code, Code Runner and Logic Express ain't word.

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haha

It's just that the price difference is so significant yet there is no real need for the OP to have a Mac Pro.

The most taxing thing on there is Logic Express, and even then, that's only a hobby - and unless you take your hobby very seriously, theres no real need for an amazing Xeon processor, with the brilliant upgradeability.

If the OP had said "I want to do gaming, Video Editing & Rendering, etc." I would say go Mac Pro.

But iLife, iWork, Xcode and Logic Express, aren't really the kind of programs you really need that kinda horsepower in a computer.

I do all that and more on my macbook, and it handles it just fine.

Plus you save a boatload of Desk space and cash.

Hate to disagree mate

pedropete: The drives are the same as the drives in the Macbooks, and Macbook Pros. theres nothing wrong with them.

pedropete said:

Have to say - I've never seen the point of a Mac Mini..

What are they actually for ?
Unconvinced windows-folk who don't want to make the Big Leap - towards sanity ?

Click to expand...

That's because you may not have been using Mac's long enough to know what the original Marketing concept was for the Mac-Mini.

Before the Mac-mini was first introduced back in January 2005...the least expensive Macintosh computer was the $999 G4 iBook. The idea was:

- a less expensive upgrade path for current Macintosh users
- an inexpensive way for Windows users to switch to Apple
- and one of the biggest ideas was...a way for folks to use their existing mouse, keyboard, and display...thus lowering the total cost of getting a new computer.

So for just $499...a person could upgrade to a new and more powerful computer (a Mac-Mini)...and use their existing mouse, keyboard, and display. Plus there's also the extremely small "footprint" of the Mac-mini...thus taking up very little desktop space.

- Nick

$499 Nick? Not down here typical rip off outside USA. And our dollar is still worth 9% more than the greenback!


Mac mini - Buy Mac mini desktop computers - Apple Store (Australia)

Robbie are you folk in the same boat in the UK?

harryb2448 said:

Robbie are you folk in the same boat in the UK?

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Almost mate, but we can get the stock Mini for £612. not as bad, but not great either

harryb2448 said:

$499 Nick? Not down here typical rip off outside USA. And our dollar is still worth 9% more than the greenback!

Click to expand...

My earlier post was a Mac-Mini "history lesson". $499 was the US price of the original 1.25ghz G4 Mac-Mini released back in 2005. Of course international prices I'm sure varied.

The main point of that earlier post was to explain the original concept(s) behind the Mac-mini.

- Nick

robduckyworth said:

Almost mate, but we can get the stock Mini for £612. not as bad, but not great either

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Amazon currently do it for 540 GBP plus 5.61 postage / shipping...

Even cheaper than Apple's Educational Store, which offers alleged discounts for those in education - at 572 GBP !