I'm looking to purchase a new Mac for iOS development work, along with photo editing (lightroom/photoshop & aperture) and some light video editing. The two 2011 Macs I'm considering are:
- 2.5Ghz MacMini with 4GB ram (will probably up that to 8GB)
- 2.7Ghz iMac 21" with 4GB ram (again, will probably up this to 8GB)
The MacMini is cheaper (which is nice), but also has a slower 5400RPM hard drive when compared to the 7200RPM drive in the MacMini. That, and the 21.5" monitor that is part of the iMac are probably the biggest differences that matter to me (though I know the video chip used in the iMac is also more powerful).
This would be my first Mac. I already have a powerful PC that I built earlier in the year (i7 processor, 8GB ram, etc). Don't want to run Hackintosh either.
So, which way would you go here? Is the MacMini powerful enough to do video and photo editing? I know it's fine for development, as there are plenty of people using the older MacMini with no issues. My main question is with the photo editing. Is the 21.5" monitor a nice enough perk of the iMac to make it worth spending an extra $400 there? (BTW, I don't want the 27" monitor, because of eye strain of the small fonts there).
Any thoughts, or good resources to point towards? Thanks much in advance. I'm looking forward to joining the Mac community. Love my iPhone and iPad - no other competing products come close to the polish and functionality of these.
Thanks, Chris
- 2.5Ghz MacMini with 4GB ram (will probably up that to 8GB)
- 2.7Ghz iMac 21" with 4GB ram (again, will probably up this to 8GB)
The MacMini is cheaper (which is nice), but also has a slower 5400RPM hard drive when compared to the 7200RPM drive in the MacMini. That, and the 21.5" monitor that is part of the iMac are probably the biggest differences that matter to me (though I know the video chip used in the iMac is also more powerful).
This would be my first Mac. I already have a powerful PC that I built earlier in the year (i7 processor, 8GB ram, etc). Don't want to run Hackintosh either.
So, which way would you go here? Is the MacMini powerful enough to do video and photo editing? I know it's fine for development, as there are plenty of people using the older MacMini with no issues. My main question is with the photo editing. Is the 21.5" monitor a nice enough perk of the iMac to make it worth spending an extra $400 there? (BTW, I don't want the 27" monitor, because of eye strain of the small fonts there).
Any thoughts, or good resources to point towards? Thanks much in advance. I'm looking forward to joining the Mac community. Love my iPhone and iPad - no other competing products come close to the polish and functionality of these.
Thanks, Chris