Opinion: Mac Mini vs iMac?

[Lazarus18]

So in the nearish future I hope to upgrade from my iBook G4 to a desktop. My dad just got a 2.4GHz iMac, and it was very impressive. I'm trying to decide between that, or a Mac mini. I liked the new keyboard but also love mine, and my 19" LCD monitor is perfectly acceptable.

The issue is in the guts of the things. I'm wondering how much difference the video makes. I believe the mini has shared RAM and an inferior chipset. Also the max RAM is 1/2 that of the iMac, but either would be superior to what I have now. Lastly is the difference in CPU significant? The iMac uses the new C2D chips with a higher FSB I think, and would be faster than the 2GHz C2D in a mini, or the 2.16 or 2.33GHz if you upgraded an older mini.

I think once you start upgrading a mini too much you're butting up against the cost of an iMac, so better just to get the iMac and have two monitors. The real question then is how does a stock mini compare to the iMac for normal daily use plus fairly frequent home video editing. No one right answer here, but interested in opinions.

[Satcomer]

Well this older BareFeats speed test comparison may help.

[ScottW]

It's a clear winner... iMac.

Seriously. I moved from a Mini to an iMac (2.8) and the difference is night and day. Plus you can add a second monitor to the iMac and not the Mini.

[Giaguara]

What kind of use do you normally have with your Mac? You mentioned video edting .. that itself probably would be way nicer on the iMac. Screen size, video, max RAM (so for future needs too) and bigger hard drive.
I'm getting spoiled with nice hardware recently, but if money with those two isn't an issue, I'd say you'll enjoy iMac a lot more. That with your actual display .. yay. Think of it as well as something you will be using for at least next 2-3 years, so the cost differences can be seen as per year.

If you have any store around where you could try both with the default configuration, test them and see which one appeals more.

[Qion]

Video editing would be much better on an iMac. Besides that, both the 20" and 24" screens are gems... can't go wrong with an extra monitor! If I were in the market for a new Mac, the extra cost of the iMac would be totally justified. As I've said before, the baseline 20" iMac right now is a steal.

[icemanjc]

iMac, the Mac Mini is nothing compared to the new imacs or the old ones.

[eric2006]

Originally Posted by Lazarus18

fairly frequent home video editing.

You want an iMac. The Mac Mini uses notebook drives - small, and slow. Sure, you could hook up a nice, big firewire drive, but you only have one FW port, so your firewire camcorder is stuck with no place to plug into. You'll only have enough space on the Mac Mini for about 4 MiniDV tapes - less if you have an iPhoto library, iTunes library, apps, etc. Memory, the dedicated graphics, two firewire ports, and a 3.5" HDD make the iMac much more suited for video editing.

Of course, you could use the mini if you don't edit much, but the iMac is a better deal if you can afford it. You don't need to worry about buying a new display, you get adequate amounts of RAM and HDD space, and increased performance. (and you can still hook up your old display)

If the iMac is on the edge of your budget, take a look at the refurbished iMacs. There's a surplus of the white models, and you can save up to 30% - brining the price within $150 of the high-end mini.

[White-Knight]

OK, i am not hearing much support for Mac Mini. iMacs are ok, but i'm afraid Mac Mini is still a better model! iMac are just a novelty with the screen being the casing for the computer... Mac Mini can fit into more places!!

iMac are said to be faster but only as far as CD and DVD burning goes and yes iMac has built-in WebCam and Microphone, but Mac Mini have much more impressive features and have recently had a 24% increase in speed!!

10 Mac minis are trusted by professional studios here in the UK to run Logic, Reason, and Pro-Tools so they work perfectly fine with music editing. We also have a Mac Pro to also support our studios.

In Video editing, we use two iMacs for film editing, and marvelous though it is for having the novelty of components built into the back of the screen, you are stuck with that screen you cannot change it to suit your needs, and the height is ill adjustable.

Having had a Mac Mini since January 2007, i have not only had 0 problems minus one or two OS troubles, i had absolutely NO hardware faults with it what so ever and it has restored my faith in computers. MY girlfriend had a new iMac for two weeks and there has already been a mechanical failure with the hard disk, similar to that of one of the two iMacs used for video editing. My Mac Mini has also got strong powerful AirPort Wireless connection, as well as Bluetooth and an I-R receiver for Apple Remote.

I'm so sorry everyone, but Mac Mini is the number one!!