# Should I get rid of my Mac Mini and get the iMac?



## Gary King (Jun 11, 2005)

Hello,

I have recently (~ 2 1/2 weeks ago) purchased a Mac Mini + 17" LCD. After using it, I really enjoy the Mac experience (I'm also a high school student and web developer, primarily developing in PHP/MySQL, but also some Ruby on Rails) and I was thinking that I should get rid of my Mini, either by selling, returning (although I don't think CompuSmart allows returns on Apple products) or maybe I could trade with someone, because the Mini is really underpowered. I feel that the iMac is a better fit for me.

I'm running my Mini, right now, next to my WinXP box, which I really don't see much use for it anymore.

I think that I could just use Virtual PC on the iMac if I ever need Windows. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? How are the speeds for VPC w/WinXP on the iMac?

Thanks!


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## greymatter (May 17, 2005)

definitely, i would go for the iMac
cheap, extremely powerful
what more could you ask for?


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## Grunt (Jun 14, 2005)

greymatter said:


> what more could you ask for?


A PowerMac. 

Seriously, though, if you think the mini is underpowered, by all means go for the iMac. I would ask you, though, if you've tried putting more memory into the mini?...I think you'll find find this helps it go faster.


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## Gary King (Jun 11, 2005)

I'm in the serious phase of thinking to make my Mac my primary desktop. Can the Mac Mini handle that kind of a commitment and responsability?  Or will the iMac fare a better chance? 

1 GB in my Mini, interesting proposition. But the Mini doesn't seem to have too much expandability.


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## Trevor... (Feb 21, 2003)

The failure rate on the iMac G5 is unacceptable, I have not however heard first hand of any failures of the Mac Mini.


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## Gary King (Jun 11, 2005)

The iMac G5 has failure rates, eh? Is this only from firsthand experience? The iMac is probably still the best selling Mac right now; at least on Amazon, it is. Mac Mini comes in second. 

I'm sure the iMac won't NOT be a favorite any time soon.


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## MasterBlaster (Jan 12, 2003)

.


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## DBerG (May 24, 2005)

They're on their second revision (B, if not C) and cooling issues are much less frequent.


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## Jordan (Jul 20, 2002)

I'd go for the iMac.
I bought the 20" iMac G5 2Ghz. Couldn't be happier.
I run VPC with XP and Win98se, 98se does run slightly better than XP. I also have an old AMD K6-2 550 and it runs XP and 98 faster than VPC on my iMac.


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## adagio (Aug 23, 2002)

You have a monitor. Get a tower. You'll love yourself in the long run.


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## MBD (Sep 1, 2003)

If what you mean by expandibility is adding a bigger hard drive & ram you are probably okay with the iMac but if you also mean adding PCI cards and doing a lot of hard drive/RAM upgrades, you're better off with a tower (I don't know what your price range is though). If you already have the monitor, a tower would work (as adagio already pointed out).

I have a tower because I like to add to the computer & I'm glad I did because I had lots of room for expansion & filled up my PCI slots with extra firewire & USB 2.0 ports (I only had 1.1 when I got the computer), added 3 drives to the computer & pretty much maxed the RAM.

As for VPC, if you already have an XP box, there's no need in investing in the software, just buy a USB KVM switch to switch between the two. On the rare occasion that I need to use my PC, that's what I do. I have VPC but don't really use it.


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## adagio (Aug 23, 2002)

I suggested the G5 tower purely because they are better equipped to handle the heating issue. Over the long term I feel it will be the most trouble free.

If someone is planning on only keeping their machine for a couple of years I'd say OK to the iMac as long as they have Applecare. If planning on a 3 or 4 year ownership then definitely pony up the extra money upfront.


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## Klaatu (Jun 3, 2003)

Some key facts are needed

1. How much RAM do you have now? You say speed is a problem, but we won't know how big a problem unless we have that info.

2. You say "but the Mini doesn't seem to have too much expandability." What do you mean? What do you want to add on?

3. How much are you willing to spend? Considering you just bought the most inexpensive Mac on the market, I'm assuming you don't have money to burn.

Without all this info, no one can properly advise what is best for you.


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## Lawrence (Mar 11, 2003)

Why don't you get an eMac.

We've had our eMac 1.25 with a gig of ram and the Superdrive for just over a year now,
No problems to report with it and it works well with lots of programs.

I'd recomend the extended warranty though (Just in case)
I got my extended warranty from www.macdirect.ca


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## someone (Jun 14, 2005)

dolawren said:


> Why don't you get an eMac.
> 
> We've had our eMac 1.25 with a gig of ram and the Superdrive for just over a year now,
> No problems to report with it and it works well with lots of programs.
> ...


Unfortunately, CRT screens are just unacceptable. I really hope Apple would produce a headless eMac with a decent harddrive (unlike the Mac mini) or an eMac with a CRT screen (not very likely though)


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## mac_geek (May 14, 2005)

Gary King said:


> Hello,
> 
> I have recently (~ 2 1/2 weeks ago) purchased a Mac Mini + 17" LCD.
> 
> ...


Gary,

You should definately get rid of your Mini. It is now worthless, and disposal fees are ever increasing, so I suggest that you simply mail the hardware to me, and I'll take care of it for you.  

Seriously.. if you're the ex-PC type that likes to get inside your box to tinker around, then I suggest that you go with a tower.. otherwise, the iMac is a fast, capable, beautiful machine.

Go for a new rev.B iMac, not the rev.A machines that may still be out there... the hardware is better, faster, quieter.


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## Strimkind (Mar 31, 2005)

a simpler and cheaper solution is instead of getting an entirely new machine like an iMac where you cannot change the monitor (I've never liked the idea of all in ones of any type) is to instead upgrade the RAM (duh) and purchase an external FW or USB2 HD. Although there are different models of externals, many are 7200rpm and some can be got for cheap. Or you can buy the case and the HD seperately, so you can pick what brand/size you want.


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## dmpP (Jun 1, 2004)

-- my opinion --

the mac mini is a system for people to get introduced to the OS or do basic word processing/web surfing.

You like it yes?
if yes, I would take it back (if you can) and get a more powerful machine...


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## Gary King (Jun 11, 2005)

Strimkind said:


> a simpler and cheaper solution is instead of getting an entirely new machine like an iMac where you cannot change the monitor (I've never liked the idea of all in ones of any type) is to instead upgrade the RAM (duh) and purchase an external FW or USB2 HD. Although there are different models of externals, many are 7200rpm and some can be got for cheap. Or you can buy the case and the HD seperately, so you can pick what brand/size you want.


Yeah, I have been thinking about this for a while.

I'm still a bit undecided, but feel that I might as well become completely converted and get the full imac experience. I need more good, white monitors in my room! You can never have enough


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