iMac vs. Mac Mini

C

Captain Kirk

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 22, 2002
Messages
288
So as I look to upgrading my 2010 Mini in the next few months, I was playing with the 27" iMacs at the Apple Store the other day. Very, very nice. I feel like the fully loaded 27" has the capability of just crushing the fully loaded 2013 Mini. So thus comes my difficult decision.

On my desk, I have a KVM and a nice sound system tied to a Linux box, a Windows machine (for gaming), and my Mac Mini. The Mac Mini is the "primary" desktop. As it's just got the old 5400rpm hard drive, it's running slow and badly wants for an upgrade. I like the idea of an iMac, but my current desktop doesn't really support two monitors.

So I ask you, shall I:
  • Wait for the Mac Pro?
  • Stick with the 2013 Mac Mini (it's good enough).
  • Go with the decked out iMac and rebuild my desk.

I don't do anything GPU intensive, so I think the Pro may be overkill. But I also enjoy running a lot of VMs, so maybe the iMac with the additional 16 GBs of RAM trumps the Mini. I just hate how Target Display Mode on the iMac only works with frickin' Thunderbolt :(.
 
is the iMac really that much more powerful?
the processor is a 3.2 (turboboost to 3.6) or a 3.4 (to 3.8) i7

the mac mini offers a 2.5 (to 3.1) i5 or a 2.6 (to 3.6) i7

the iMac has a 700 series mobile GPU but that doesn't seem relevant since you don't seem to be gaming on it.


either would handle VMs more than adequately (and in fact your current dinosaur c2d is working albeit showing its age. the i5/i7 w/ DDR3 are going to trounce your old rig regardless).

I'd opt for the Mac Mini if I was in your situation.
 
What's your budget?

I've bought nehalem mac pros (2009) model for about 600$ starting, you can easily upgrade to dual socket, or the latest westmere CPUS (which I've done).

The only downside vs a new machine is, you have no warranty...
 
mope54 said:
is the iMac really that much more powerful?
the processor is a 3.2 (turboboost to 3.6) or a 3.4 (to 3.8) i7

the mac mini offers a 2.5 (to 3.1) i5 or a 2.6 (to 3.6) i7

the iMac has a 700 series mobile GPU but that doesn't seem relevant since you don't seem to be gaming on it.


either would handle VMs more than adequately (and in fact your current dinosaur c2d is working albeit showing its age. the i5/i7 w/ DDR3 are going to trounce your old rig regardless).

I'd opt for the Mac Mini if I was in your situation.
Click to expand...

The iMac uses desktop processors and your options are a quad core i5s or a quad core hyper-threaded i7. The mac mini base is a dual core hyper-threaded mobile processor, with quad core options with the higherend model, they're also still Ivy Bridge variants and the iMac has Haswell. The mini is due for an update, maybe we'll hear something with the release of the new Mac Pro?
 
Jayllo said:
What's your budget?

I've bought nehalem mac pros (2009) model for about 600$ starting, you can easily upgrade to dual socket, or the latest westmere CPUS (which I've done).

The only downside vs a new machine is, you have no warranty...
Click to expand...
doesn't sound like he has one (a budget, that is) based on asking if he should wait for a new mac pro.

an recent classic mac pro is an excellent suggest.
I haven't seen them for as low as $600 bucks though

what do you mean you can easily upgrade to dual socket from single socket?
can you elaborate on that? I've been looking around for a mac pro myself.

ND40oz said:
The iMac uses desktop processors and your options are a quad core i5s or a quad core hyper-threaded i7. The mac mini base is a dual core hyper-threaded mobile processor, with quad core options with the higherend model, they're also still Ivy Bridge variants and the iMac has Haswell. The mini is due for an update, maybe we'll hear something with the release of the new Mac Pro?
Click to expand...
it seems pretty clear from his post that he's intending to buy the best options available. if he's willing to wait for a mac pro then it seems reasonable to think he'd wait for a mac mini haswell.
so we can compare the worst of the mac mini to the worst or best of the iMac but that's not going to be an accurate reflection of what he's considering doing, imo.
 
I have a Mac Mini, and I love the idea of it. I get to choose (and change) my display of choice any time I want. I can share a monitor between the Mini, my Lenovo T410 Laptop, and my main workstation easily (which I do), and I can set the thing up on a shelf somewhere and just forget about it.

Not to mention I can connect it to a 2560 X 1440 display and not be stuck with that dreadful 1080P resolution on a big screen.
 
mope54 said:
it seems pretty clear from his post that he's intending to buy the best options available. if he's willing to wait for a mac pro then it seems reasonable to think he'd wait for a mac mini haswell.
so we can compare the worst of the mac mini to the worst or best of the iMac but that's not going to be an accurate reflection of what he's considering doing, imo.
Click to expand...

It seems pretty clear from his post that he's not entirely clear on what his options are. There's no such thing as a 2013 Mac Mini which he considered "sticking with". I was just pointing out the differences between the currently available iMac and Mac Mini. :)
 
ND40oz said:
It seems pretty clear from his post that he's not entirely clear on what his options are. There's no such thing as a 2013 Mac Mini which he considered "sticking with". I was just pointing out the differences between the currently available iMac and Mac Mini. :)
Click to expand...
Late 2012 Mini was what I meant to say ;)

I see my budget at a max of $3,500. I see the advantages of the iMac being that it can sport an additional 16 GBs of RAM and it having the slightly faster Haswell processors. Of course, at that budget, why not look at the quad core Pro? The larger Flash drive and additional RAM are probably what would push me out of range. Honestly, I just want a faster primary desktop. Under load, my current Mini suffers. It's pushing up against its 8 GB RAM limit and its little 5400rpm drive thrashing drives me nuts. (Yeah, I could probably swap it for an SSD, but then I'm still bumping up against 8 GBs.)

I hope that clarifies things a bit more?

EDIT- I don't see myself buying until at least mid-to-late December. I can probably wait until mid-January, but probably not much past that.
 
the mac mini can be upgraded to 16gb
the haswell processors won't be much faster, if at all, but rather more energy efficient with a better on-board GPU (both important factors for a mac mini but not deal-breakers compared to what you currently use).
 
I just thought of something. Couldn't I use my primary monitor as a main screen, keeping the KVM concept, and have the iMac's display become secondary?
 
U have a huge budget. Why not sell every computer and additional monitors and keep a single monitor, use all the money to buy the most expensive Mac pro you can afford?
With the mac pro you will get a computer capable of internet+gaming+work...
 
AndreRio said:
U have a huge budget. Why not sell every computer and additional monitors and keep a single monitor, use all the money to buy the most expensive Mac pro you can afford?
With the mac pro you will get a computer capable of internet+gaming+work...
Click to expand...
Because to go Windows (to game) would require me to reboot and kill my persistent VMs. Plus, I'm not sure how well the Pro would handle games. Could it beat the 690 GTX I have? Probably...
 
I think you would get about 50% the power of a 690. It probably behave like a 7970 or 680 that's not that bad.
And can't you vms on a Mac pro? I think u can???
 
AndreRio said:
I think you would get about 50% the power of a 690. It probably behave like a 7970 or 680 that's not that bad.
And can't you vms on a Mac pro? I think u can???
Click to expand...
Persistent VMs. They're not going to survive a reboot into another OS ;)
 
Captain Kirk said:
Persistent VMs. They're not going to survive a reboot into another OS ;)
Click to expand...

How many VMs and what are their specs? Always install ESXi on your existing mini and bump the ram to 16 GB and use that for the ones you need persistent.
 
Couldn't you run Parallels to be able to switch between the two OS's (while keeping the Windows VM's running)?
 
I think you guys are missing the fact that modern gaming in a Windows VM would be unpleasant.

I feel like the 2012 Mini is probably world's faster than my current 2010 Mini. I may just punt and buy it. Since my timeframe will go into January, I'm going to wait until the last possible minute. With any luck, the Haswell Mini will make an appearance. I'm not sure if it'll totally crush the 2012, though.
 
Captain Kirk said:
I think you guys are missing the fact that modern gaming in a Windows VM would be unpleasant.

I feel like the 2012 Mini is probably world's faster than my current 2010 Mini. I may just punt and buy it. Since my timeframe will go into January, I'm going to wait until the last possible minute. With any luck, the Haswell Mini will make an appearance. I'm not sure if it'll totally crush the 2012, though.
Click to expand...

Who's saying you need to game in a VM? Run your VM guests on the old mini and game on whatever new hardware you buy.
 
haswell won't crush the 2012. if you notice any difference at all it will be negligible.
the pro won't game well
 
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