Posted on 05/26/2008 12:33:32 PM PDT by martin_fierro
OK you FR MacHeads.
Having had good experiences with a used eMac, I'm considering replacing my 5 year-old main desktop PC with a Mac.
Cost is a factor, so Im trying to decide between a maxxed-out Mac Mini (can use my existing LCD screen, mouse and keyboard) or an iMac (longer useful life)
Here are the PC desktop's specs.
|
CURRENTLY HAVE |
MAC EQUVALENT OR BETTER? |
CPU |
AMD Athlon 2600+, 2.13 GHz |
? |
RAM |
1 GB DDR266 SDRAM 184-pin DIMMs |
? |
HDD |
120GB ATA/133 |
? |
VIDEO |
ATI All-In-Wonder 9000 PRO 64 MB DDR AGP with TV display |
? |
OS |
XP Home Edition |
OS X 10.5 |
Heres what I use this desktop for:
Based on the above needs, which Mac configuration would you recommend?
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
I just bought a refurbished MacBook Pro....I almost had to sell my wife to do it but found some extra cash.
I would absolutely shell out the extra bread for a 24” screen iMac over the 20”..the screen is no less than stunning.
El Gato seems to be the best choice for Mac TV cards.
Under any circumstances, get a capture card that supports HDTV.
To Martin_fierro’s question, I would really recommend an iMac rather than a Mini as an only computer. The iMac’s memory can be easily upgraded by anyone with some aptitude. A Mini needs the putty knife treatment for any upgrade.
The iMac also includes a desktop hard drive, which is larger and faster — something that really helps with video capture.
If you go with the Mini, you will have to get an external drive for storage, a memory upgrade and either buy the $799 version or get an external DVD burner.
One other thought. Buy a Macbook and use your current keyboard and mouse for desktop use. The midrange Macbook is only $100 more than an iMac and it gives you the convienience of a notebook.
Go with the iMac.
I agree with Stravinskyrules. Get the 24 in. screen. I have had a 20 in. for years and last December bought a 24 in. and gave the 20 in. to my daughter to replace her old iMac CRT. Then I got another 24 in. which I’ve hooked up to a 20 in. display. The extra real estate is worth it. If you can afford it max out on the RAM too.
I think for your uses, I’d probably go with the iMac. It has a faster processor, which will help with video rendering for DVDs, and it can take up to 4GB of RAM (2 is standard), where the Mini maxes out at 2.
If you decide to run Windows in Parallels or VMWare Fusion, you’re going to want all the RAM you can throw at it.
The iMac allows you to keep your existing LCD display as a second monitor — and if you’ve never played around with two monitors, I recommend it. You can keep the main monitor as 100% work space, and use the second for stuff like palettes, updating news headlines, and e-mail and IM. I used to keep the weather radar widget up when there were storms coming.
I had a two-monitor setup for many years, and three for a while. It’s the one thing I miss with my Mini.
And even your monitor. If it's VGA you'll have to get an adapter.
+
The big drawback to the Mac mini is that it uses a 5200 rpm laptop hard drive, and it doesn’t have Firewire 800 so you can’t just get an external drive to make up for that (Firewire 400 max). It’s basically a laptop without a screen, keyboard and track pad.
Don’t get one unless you’re willing to take that speed hit as opposed to what you’d get in a regular desktop model.
If you like doing a lot of TV capturing and encoding, I would recommend a refurbished mac pro. One of the 2.66GHz ones can be had for $1999. With quad xeon processors you can compress video really fast. Plus, it has four bays for hard drives and you can upgrade the ram to 32GB.
As far as tv capture is concerned... maybe one of the Elgato devices (like the EyeTV 250 Plus?). I have a little usb HDTV capture stick. It works great, unfortunately mine is windows only. I dual boot my mac pro and so only capture (for now) on the windows side. I'm planning on buying a mac one soon.
The one warning I would have is that for 1080p playback you will probably need at least a 2.2 or 2.4GHz core 2 duo. Some of the less speedy mac minis won't cut it. I'm not sure if you are anticipating handling videos of that resolution, but I notice that you tend to keep computers for a while so it might be a good idea to future proof.
Actually, the used route might not be too bad. I've seen used mac pro 3.0GHz advertised locally for ~$1600 with lots of ram. You could probably get one from Fall 2006 that still has a good bit of time left on applecare pretty cheap. Thanks,
I have one of the original Mac Pros and love it. The mini is quite nice as well, just not nearly as fast. paridel
Can you get by with a built-in Intel graphics chip? Is being limited to 2 gigs of ram ok? Then get a Mini. If not, get an iMac.
Can an iMac or Mac Mini either support cable TV in? There may also be issues with external displays, especially with the iMac. Maybe that's something you don't really need, but most everything I do at home is TV/video related, and why I mostly use PC's. I think Apple now includes the Apple TV application with Leopard, but most of the content has to come from the network.
According to this on Apple’s site, you have to remove the panel off the bottom of the display to plug in the VGA cable. This will only display what is on the iMac screen, “extending” the desktop isn’t available.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58467
Get Apple's new Time Capsule device for automatic backups in conjunction with Leopard's Time Machine software. It also serves as a network gateway and an 802.11b/g/n wireless access point.
The AppleCare 3-year extended warranty is also recommended.
Apple TV is a separate system from Macs, although they share a lot of technology. One key advantage of Apple TV is the ability to download and watch 720p-encoded HDTV movies from iTunes. Windows PCs and Macs are restricted to SD content from iTunes.
On Macs, an application called Front Row provides some similar functionality to Apple TV.
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