[wallinbl]

My PC is slowly dying and I'd rather not get another one. I've been looking at Macs for the last week or so. The problem is that it seems there isn't a Mac for me. The Mini would be more appealing if the HD weren't so small (I have an 80GB drive now, and it's basically full). Also, I see varied reports regarding the ease with which the RAM can be upgraded. I like the specs better on the iMac, but the 17" has a resolution that's too low. The 20" is more than I want to pay. Really, it seems like the Mini would suit me better except for the HD size (and I'm assuming speed, since it's a laptop drive). I spent about an hour in an Apple Store today playing with the 17" and the 20" trying to get a feel for how different the two screen sizes are. The 900 pixel height on the 17" is just too small for me - there are too many times you need to scroll on a website or some other program.

If I buy a Mini (so I can use my monitor), is there a way that I can use an external USB HD and have it be the location that iTunes and iPhoto keep my music, TV shows and pictures? I don't really want to manually fuss with file locations beyond telling the program once. If I do that and then take the drive somewhere (like my parents' house), will the apps crash or wipe out any references to what was on the drive in the index files? Meaning, I'd like to store my large files on an external drive, but I don't want anything bad to happen if that drive happens to be disconnected when the app gets run (although i'd avoid buying any music or shows or syncing the iPod while the drive wasn't there).

If I want to use iMovie for video editing (personal video - kids and whatnot; hours upon hours of video), is there anything about the Mini (video card, etc) that would cause me problems with this? I don't play games on the computer, so that's not really much of an issue.

I guess I'm trying to figure out how to buy a Mac in the absence of the mythical xMac. I don't want to buy another PC, but I also don't want to feel like I bought the wrong Mac after I've been using it for a bit.

[kretara]

If you can't spring for a 20" iMac (don't ignore the refurb iMac's on Apples site -- scroll to the bottom of the Apple store and click on "Looking for a great deal?" on the right ) then I would go with the Mini.

I could afford the 20" iMac, but I refuse to buy an iMac because I despise the all in one (AIO) form factor and I already have a nice monitor. The iMac is a nice machine and it might be everything that you need.
I bought an Intel Mini. I am moving from a PowerMac MDD (with 1.6TB of internal/external storage) so I had to buy some extra stuff but the Mini is working OK for me.

Upgrading the RAM in your Mini is NOT easy, no matter what anyone here tells you. I have upgraded RAM, HD and optical drive on PPC and Intel Mini's and it is not the easiest thing in the world. It can be done, but you have to be very careful.

Storage: You can buy an external firewire hard drive for cheap. I have multiple firewire hard drives connected to my Mini. I would avoid USB(2) external Hard Drives. They, IMHO, are slower than firewire 400 hard drives since USB 2 is only fast in bursts while firewire can handle sustained high data transfer rates.
I have a MiniStack that I bought from OWC. I bought the empty model for $79 and added in a 250GB hard drive that I had laying around. I also purchased a 4 bay external firewire enclosure to house most of my other drives. The Mini is doing just fine with all the extra storage.

I also do some iMovie stuff (just videos of the family) and the Mini can handle this just fine.

The biggest drawback to the Mini is that it cannot run more than one monitor.

[Rodster]

It sounds like you would be happier with a Mini. External drives are available, currently 500 gb. I'll post a link to one in particular that would like great with a Mini. There are others just Google Mini external hard drives and you have a lot more choices.

LaCie - mini Hard Drive & Hub - USB 2.0 & FireWire 400

[wallinbl]

Can I make iTunes and iPhoto and whatnot use those drives by default? Isn't there like a 'Pictures' or 'Photos' special folder in the Open/Save dialogs and in Finder? Is there a way to make those point to the other drive? I know this sounds ridiculous, but it will make life easier for my wife that way.

[JKT]

You can make iTunes and iPhoto use a Library placed anywhere, including on external drives. if you erroneously try to eject the drive while either app is running, you won't be able to because it will be "in use". If you eject the drive and use either app when it isn't present, I think they revert back to their default Library locations.

Note, just in case you are still considering one, if you did opt for the iMac your current monitor is still useful as the iMacs support monitor spanning. Therefore, you could have a dual monitor set-up.

[MichiganRich]

I am SO hopeful that they make the next mini a lot more robust. I don't need a Xeon workstation-class machine, and I don't want to give up my more verstaile display, but the mini seems not... quite... enough.

The only iMac I like is the 24", but it seems ridiculous to have a 24" display that you can't ever do anything else with.

Probably have to break down and overspend on a tower. There is a definite hole in the Apple line since they took the MacPro so far up in price and power.

[Veltliner]

The iMac is a wonderful computer, and you should consider it.

I also never thought of buying one, also thought about getting a mini, and I am glad I didn't. The iMac is so much more computer, it is just great to work with, and the display is great. Also: you get a real video card, not some video chipset, integrated on the motherboard.

And then, when I finally had it, it was even better. This machine is not only a good computer, it is so well designed, that you like it as an object (some peopel actually thing its alive) like a piece of design.

I guess the mini is much better now than it was a year and a few months ago, when I was shopping for a computer.

But I guess the iMac is still much faster, can take more RAM, has a much better video card, has iSight...
Give yourself time, until you really know what you want. I did that, too, and I bought the right thing.

[P]

The downside with widescreen monitors is that many interfaces use horizontal toolbars that take up a lot of space - space that is fine that they use on a regular screen, but annoying on a widescreen setup. When possible, I turn those toolbars on the side and make them vertical along the left and right edge of the screen. The Dock is an excellent example of that. I'm very happy with my 17" widescreen iMac as a result, but of course: YMMV.

As has already been said: if you already have a bigger screen, you can connect it and use both - make the integrated display a palette and toolbar repository, for instance, and make your older display the main one.

[shinykaro]

I don't know whether this is true for iMovie but I'd consider maxing out hard drive capacity on your mini because video editing requires large blocs of contiguous space during the process.

It sounds like a Mini would do you just fine, especially because you've already got a better monitor.

[wallinbl]

Just bought a 20" 2.0GHz CD (not C2D) with 1.5GB RAM and 250GB HD for $999. Not a great deal, but not bad.