Mini or iMac for me?

[Lee Wi]

Hi,

So whilst the question is almost always answered with "go for the iMac" hear me out a little.

I have a MacBook Pro and a Windows desktop. My plan is to take the Windows desktop out of play and replace it with a new Mac.

The spec of the Windows Machine is:

Intel i7 4790
16GB Ram
256GB SSD
Some Nvidia graphics card

Now it's very over powered for what I need. I mean I have 130GB free on the SSD, probably lucky if I push 2 cores of the i7 ever and Ram usage is certainly never higher than 8GB.

So whilst I the desktop is significantly overpowered for my needs it is however very quick and snappy, ensuring the replacement is as snappy is important, I certainly don't want a 5400 rpm HDD for example.

My initial thought was just to go with the 27" iMac, I5, SSD and so on. However something that I believe I would miss a lot is my two monitors, two 21.5" Benq's, they are crap in comparison to a 5k screen however the best possible monitor is less important than the system being reasonably quick.

I really like the compact Mini to be honest, I was wondering whether if I pimped out the Mini, i7 Dual Core, 16GB Ram, 256GB SSD, would it be quite responsive, even close to the desktop?

For completeness I use it for:

Web Browsing
Spotify
Netflix
Coding in PHP uisng Laravel and MySQL

I still play World of Warcraft, I know it works reasonably on the Mini, it would be fine for my casual play on low settings.

I am struggling with it, one big iMac or a Mini and retain my two screens...

 

[harryb2448]

G'day and welcome to the forums.

I would be suggesting go for a 27" iMac and if you find the 256GB storage okay, a 256 or 512 PCI-E Flash Storage, much faster than an SSD and an upgraded gfx card, say the 2GB the M395 or even M395X with 4GB memory if you are a gamer. Minis, IMHO have always been a 'cheap' way to attract buyers to the economy end of sales. Would the Mini be responsive v the iMac? That is the big question. Look at it this way.

The current Mini has an i7 3GHz CPU and GeekBench Test Labs give it a performance level of 6,753. The current iMac with an i53.3GHz CPU gives a return using the same tests of 12,708, just about double.

Now having said all that, if you plump for the iMac do not be too hasty. Popular rumour is a new model will be released next month some time and it is normal for Apple to leave prices unchanged to boost early sales.,

 

[pigoo3]

I have a MacBook Pro...

I don't know what the specs are of your MacBook Pro...but assuming that it's a capable computer...why get a 2nd Apple computer? Why not use your MacBook Pro for both you portable & at home needs.

If you wanted to "Jazz" things up a bit at home. Get yourself a nice external monitor, and an exteranal input device & keyboard

I really like the compact Mini to be honest, I was wondering whether if I pimped out the Mini, i7 Dual Core, 16GB Ram, 256GB SSD, would it be quite responsive, even close to the desktop?

I think you'll find that after you "pimp-out" a Mac-Mini like you describe ($1399)...you're better off getting an iMac of some sort. $1399 is quite a bit for a Mac-Mini!

But as I mentioned above. If you use the MacBook Pro you own already...and add some external equipment. You could end up with all you need for $200 or less.

- Nick

 

[Lee Wi]

Thanks both,

On the laptop I use it jointly with my wife, I suspect she wants it all to herself, she is quite selfish that way

I guess it is best to wait and see what announcements come in March. I am not even sure Apple have any love left for the Mini and will continue it.

If something special jumps out on the refurb store on the iMac that I can't say no to between now and the next announcement I will go for it.

 

[harryb2448]

You are a brave man putting that into text. Hour wife may read it! I believe you are correct about the Mini. 2014 saw the last upgrade.

 

[pigoo3]

On the laptop I use it jointly with my wife, I suspect she wants it all to herself, she is quite selfish that way

Yes...that's an additional detail not mentioned in post #1 that requires additional consideration.

If this is the case...might you be better off getting a portable computer for your needs (at home & away from home)? Then the current MacBook Pro becomes your wife's 100% computer...and the new computer becomes yours 100% of the time.

That's the way my wife & I do it.

- Nick

 

[Lee Wi]

Yes...that's an additional detail not mentioned in post #1 that requires additional consideration.

If this is the case...might you be better off getting a portable computer for your needs (at home & away from home)? Then the current MacBook Pro becomes your wife's 100% computer...and the new computer becomes yours 100% of the time.

That's the way my wife & I do it.

- Nick

Well when I first got the MacBook Pro I was intending to use it as my everywhere machine. And it did work until my wife muscled in. I got a Henge dock and it worked really well with my existing two monitors. But when you look at the current setup, 2 USB-C either side it's not as attractive. Although it did do the job, dock at home, put in the bag heading to work.

I suppose I could look at another Pro but I feel like I am going backwards in some respects just to get all the ports I want. The key here is that the Henge was a vertical dock and took up little space which was fantastic.

I just saw a 27" on the UK refurb store, I5 with 512GB SSD for £2,239. I can't help thinking that I would be golden with that for many years even if new units are announced soon.

 

[pigoo3]

I suppose I could look at another Pro but I feel like I am going backwards in some respects just to get all the ports I want. The key here is that the Henge was a vertical dock and took up little space which was fantastic.

The big question is...How much portability do you need? A Mac-Mini although portable...is not "portable/mobile" like a MacBook Pro is. If you REALLY need a mobile computer (and your wife has sorta claimed the current MacBook Pro for herself)...and there's no budget for a 2nd MacBook Pro AND a desktop Mac...then you kind of got to go with a MacBook Pro/MacBook Air/etc...regardless of the "ugliness factor".

Also. Upgrading a Mac-Mini as mentioned above isn't really the "best bang for your dollar/pound". 27" iMac's (in my opinion) are the way to go if you have the budget & room for one. Awesome display quality & awesome screen real estate. But a 27" iMac is certianly not a substitute for the mobility of a MacBook Pro.

- Nick

 

[Lee Wi]

The big question is...How much portability do you need? A Mac-Mini although portable...is not "portable/mobile" like a MacBook Pro is. If you REALLY need a mobile computer (and your wife has sorta claimed the current MacBook Pro for herself)...and there's no budget for a 2nd MacBook Pro AND a desktop Mac...then you kind of got to go with a MacBook Pro/MacBook Air/etc...regardless of the "ugliness factor".

Also. Upgrading a Mac-Mini as mentioned above isn't really the "best bang for your dollar/pound". 27" iMac's (in my opinion) are the way to go if you have the budget & room for one. Awesome display quality & awesome screen real estate. But a 27" iMac is certianly not a substitute for the mobility of a MacBook Pro.

- Nick

Well! I just spoke to my wife and it was a fair fight, she said I was not getting the laptop back and I just left the room, so that is that.

In reality I have my surface pro 4, it gives me all the mobility I need and the out of home needs are weighted more heavily in favour of Windows from a work perspective.

So it's decided then, I am going to go with the 27" inch iMac.

 

[pigoo3]

Well! I just spoke to my wife and it was a fair fight, she said I was not getting the laptop back and I just left the room, so that is that.

Doesn't sound like a "fair-fight" to me. Sounds a bit one-sided. But that's married life!

In reality I have my surface pro 4, it gives me all the mobility I need and the out of home needs are weighted more heavily in favour of Windows from a work perspective.

Yes...definitely sounds like your mobility needs are good to go.

So it's decided then, I am going to go with the 27" inch iMac.

Great choice! I know it's probably a larger purchase than you initially budgeted for. But it's an awesome computer. And it's nice that the RAM on 27" iMac's is still user upgradeable. Which gives you come flexibility.

- Nick

 

[Lee Wi]

OK, so just a bit of an update here, could be useful for some other readers.

Long story short, my wife was telling everyone the MacBook Pro was hers now. Her friend said that her husband tried using a mac, lasted two days and went back to Windows. She said it was sitting in it's box ever since.

So, I jumped right in, which one? Is he selling it? He never thought about it but if I wanted it he would happily sell! £500 he asked for just to get rid of it, I said that was very low and it was worth more but he insisted as it was me that was all he wanted. So what was it?

Mac Mini - i7 - 8GB Ram - 256GB SSD.

The perfect opportunity for me to try the very device I was leaning towards early on to keep my two monitors. So I bought it, also came with the wired keyboard (yay, num pad!) and a magic mouse 2. Felt guilty, I told him how much it could sell for but he was not interested, so at least I was honest with him that if it did not work out I was putting it on Ebay for far higher than £500. It is only 7 months since he bought it.

So anyway, it's all hooked up and I have replicated everything I had on the Windows PC to the Mini. The result so far, after 24 hours?

Outstanding, I am glad I did not buy the 27" iMac.

I wanted to know if the Mini would be snappy, it certainly is, thanks mostly to the SSD. I don't feel it's in anyway slower than my PC. Handles everything absolutely fine. To be honest it's not even that I got the bargain it was. I am really happy that my two monitors are still useful and I have gotten rid of Windows on my main machine.

I opened a real lot of applications, running Netflix, World of Warcraft, Docker running and many others. CPU peaked at 47% and the ram never went over 6 GB total utilisation (not including cache of course). The reality is of course that I will never have all of this running at once so not real world use for me.

So there you go, individual use case of course, however don't underestimate that little device. Bet the whole Mini line gets canned now that I have found it!

 

[ferrarr]

Excellent, you got a great deal. I have an i5 model with 8gb and I put a 500gb SSD into it and use the original 1tb HDD as my Time Machine backup.

 

[Lee Wi]

Excellent, you got a great deal. I have an i5 model with 8gb and I put a 500gb SSD into it and use the original 1tb HDD as my Time Machine backup.

Nice, what do use the Mini for?

 

[pigoo3]

Mac Mini - i7 - 8GB Ram - 256GB SSD.

Which exact Mac-Mini model is this? i7 Mac-Mini's go as far back as 2011. In theory this could be a 6 year-old computer...or the latest model.

- Nick

 

[Lee Wi]

Which exact Mac-Mini model is this? i7 Mac-Mini's go as far back as 2011. In theory this could be a 6 year-old computer...or the latest model.

- Nick

It is the 2014 model, purchased from Apple online in July last year.

 

[ferrarr]

Mostly online & video watching. Some photo editing and graphics creation. I recently purchased Affinity Design and am trying to learn it. Will be getting Affinity Photo when $$ permits.

 

[pigoo3]

It is the 2014 model, purchased from Apple online in July last year.

Excellent...you did get a terrific buy! I checked the Apple UK Store...and brand new...that would go for about £1129.

A BIG Congrats!

- Nick