[daisybelle]

I'm a newbie guys, i know, i can hear you all groaning... my problem is i can't decide what to buy.

i have a new last year dell pc/24" monitor - great system, which I'll continue to use in my home office, BUT i want to add a MAC. Primarily I want a MAC because everybody is telling me how great they are for graphics and I'm a bells and whistles girl, and this is going to sound nutso, but I just love way everything whirls around the page on a MAC. *sappy grin*

I don't know whether to buy a MAC Mini or a refurbished iMAC -

I want to be able to run Photoshop without it bogging down. I talked to Apple on the phone, they told me that 2G of ram is all that i can put in a mini - but on this board people are talking about adding memory so that it has 3G, so i'm confused.

My other concern is video quality - i'm not a gamer, i just want it to render well on the screen.

i realize i sound like a complete idiot, at least i'm giving you all a laugh this morning -

this is it in a nutshell - i play on the computer, do nothing important, build my silly little webpages, do scrapbooking, but i LIVE on the computer, i'm on it 8-10 hours a day doing nonsense. i just need to know if you think the mini is adequate or should i cough up more money for the refurbed imac.

thanks so much for any help you can give me, have a good day and treat me kindly, i know i'm a ditz... thanks guys...

[bearcatrp]

I would suggest a iMac. At least a 20 inch. Refurb or new. Get the newer model as you can use 4gb memory with it. I have a 1st generation 24 inch iMac and love it. I started video editing with it until I bought a refurb mac pro. The iMac will serve you well. Suggest you also get an external hard drive for backups too. Good luck.

[mduell]

It's Mac, not MAC.

Apply only officially supports 2GB in the Mac mini, but 3GB works.

Running Photoshop on a Mac mini probably isn't going to be a very good experience unless you're dealing with small files and simple edits; it's like running Photoshop on a two and a half year old laptop.

Video quality depends more on your display than anything else these days.

I'd suggest and iMac, but it's hard to say which to go with. The older white ones have better displays for graphics work (particularly on the 20" model), but the newer aluminum ones support an extra gig of RAM (4 instead of 3).

[Andrew Stephens]

I run Photoshop CS3 on my mini with 2GB RAM, no problem. It's a 1.8 C2Solo and it's pretty quick. Unless you are a professional designer who spends all your day in PS I would say that a new mini will be more than up to the task. I'm regularly creating files of around 200/300 GB with multiple layers and there really are no major speed issues.

Yes a MacPro or even a MacBook Pro will out do it but for averager use, not so you'd really notice. The graphics card in the Mini has no effect whatsoever on screen rendering for apps like PS and AI. It's purely gaming etc that it struggles with.

My mini is also far and away the most stable Mac I have ever owned. I have nothing but good words for the Mini.

[moonmonkey]

Originally Posted by mduell 

Running Photoshop on a Mac mini probably isn't going to be a very good experience unless you're dealing with small files and simple edits; it's like running Photoshop on a two and a half year old laptop.

A core 2 Duo is bloody fast and easily powerful enough with 2.0 Gig RAM to pour through pre press work. The video card is not good enough to run the latest games, but who cares.

A mini will be perfect for what you need, you wont be disappointed.

[Veltliner]

I would focus on the display.

A good solution would be a refurbished 24" iMac (the white one, NOT the glossy screen aluminum iMac). Should come at a great price now, but is still fast. Has 3Gb max. RAM (buy the RAM for this machine, and others, at Crucial.com, NOT at Apple). The 24" iMac has a much better display than the 24" computers.

I own this machine, and I run Photoshop CS3 on it. It's really quite fast.

The Mac mini should be OK for its processor, but it's not only the processor that makes a computer fast. There is the front side Bus, and I honestly don't know how fast that is on a mini. The bus on a computer is a bit like the bus in a city: if it's not fast, you'll be waiting.

But the mini comes without a display, without a keyboard, there is no mouse. You have to add this to the price of a mini.

The 24" white iMac is a pretty unbeatable combination - if you haven't already got a GOOD monitor. (Don't try to work in Photoshop with a cheap monitor)

So, if it all comes down that the white 24" iMac is beyond your current budget: I'd rather put more on my credit card than buying a combination that could leave you unhappy.

PS: don't beat yourself up over being new to the Mac. Everybody has been new to a Mac some day (even though I know one person who was born embracing a Mac. They were twins, and were both called "Mac". That led to mix-ups, so they decided to call the human Steve, and give him a computer company called Apple to play with).

[tooki]

The Mac mini's biggest handicap is the hard drive, which is a laptop hard drive instead of a desktop drive. And when you consider that for a Mac mini, you have to buy a display, keyboard and mouse, the cost is suddenly very close to that of an iMac, if you don't already have all the accessories.

[imitchellg5]

I think a refurbished iMac would be better for what you're describing. Like tooki said, the mini's biggest handicap is the HD which really would bog it down in Photoshop and stuff like that.

PS- It's okay to be a noob, especially one who asks intelligent questions such as yours. It's the the "where is TEh START buttOn" ones that are annoying.

PPS- I wonder what Veltliner drinking when he wrote his PS. It's very inspirational.

[Andrew Stephens]

Max out the ram on a mini and the HDD isn't really an issue as unless your files are huge you should be able to hold them in RAM pretty well. The speed difference between the drive in the mini and that in the iMac isn't that great in day to day use in a non professional environment.

It is true however that the cost of a screen and keyboard will push the mini closer to the price of the iMac so if you don't have them then the iMac does look a better deal than it does if you have the accessories already.

[Mastrap]

I used to own a 24" white iMac and loved it. One of the best desktop Macs I've ever used. I only sold it because I needed a MBP for the mobility.

[lenox]

A mini MIGHT cut it but you will be limited by integrated graphics and hard drive. Go with a new (or refurbed) iMac; you'll love it for many years.