Mac mini or Imac g5?

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crcr2003

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hi! Guys, i m newbie on mac, i would like to buy a mac desktop, but i cant decide, my budget is $1700. so i wonder what is best to buy..

1. a mac mini 1.42 Ghz / 80 Gb ($670, the best mini) with a 20-inch Display Cinema Monitor ($750), and to buy an external 250 Gb hard drive ($130)
or to buy
2. an Imac 2 Ghz, 250 Gb, 20 inch widescreen LCD ($1700 the best imac)

what would you do? the problem is that i hear most of my friends saying that Imac arent that good compared to most Macs, and the LCD monitor quality isnt that fancy versus the Display Cinema, but i also think if the the 1.42 GH mac mini is very slow compared to the 2 GHz Imac?

Which is better to buy? the mac mini or the imac? are the mini good?

i would appreaciate ur advices based on your experience with mac desktop. i just bought a G4 1.67 GH Powerbook and i m very glad with it, but i also need a desktop, thats why i need to decide...
 
i know it sounds "unpatriotic", but the Dell 20" widescreen is only $524.25 right now. That opens up another $225. I have a Dell 1901FP, and it really is a nice display. Has a 4 port USB 2.0 hub built in, too, although no Firewire.

http://tinyurl.com/bdu84

I've read of high failure rates on the iMac G5 line, here and elsewhere (as high as 50% for one company).
http://www.macintouch.com/imacg5part12.html
You can go back to previous postings with the link at the top of the page.

I also saw one review which compared the mini and the new top of the line eMac and found the eMac faster.
 
Go with the iMac, its far better value for the money. Its better video-card will support Quartz Extreme in both 2D and 3D, its faster Serial-ATA hard drive interface will make a big difference to performance. The LCD is bright and clear, though it doesn't match the cinema displays, it is far better than the cheap crappy ones you'll get from some suppliers *cough...cough...Dell* -- and most importantly the 64-bit G5 processor will absolutely TROUNCE the Mac Mini in any test you care to run them through.

The iMac also uses Hypertransport, can address more RAM, is easier to upgrade and service, has more expansion ports, and is a hell of a lot more convenient in its design and form factor.

And yes, the eMac is faster than the Mini in a lot of tests. Allthough they have the same specs for the system board, the Mini uses a slow laptop hard drive, while the eMac doesn't, and this makes a huge difference.
 
Definitely the Mac mini and a decent display. 20" wide sounds good. The nice thing about the mini is that next year, you can buy a new Mac mini for a small amount of money and keep all your extras (display, harddrives, keyboard etc.), whereas when the iMac gets old, you'll have to try and sell the whole machine. Since the display will be "good" much longer than the computer itself, I don't think the iMac 20" is a good solution. It's a nice computer, granted, and I'd love to get one as a present, but I wouldn't actually buy one.
 
Go for a cheaper Mini. Monitors are cheap as chips on Ebay, don't buy a new one. Bought a 23" Apple beast for 40 GBP, + 4 Port Hub, very capable monitor. Any USB keyboard and mouse will do just fine, although I would try and find a keyboard with the extra USB port on it so as not to use two USB slots on the Mini.

Unless your processing VIDEO, AUDIO, Protein Secondary stucture, FFT etc, etc, the extra GHz in the iMac isn't really worth it. I'm holding off till next year till the Apple/Intel machines get bedded in and then spend the bigger bucks OR Pounds in my case.

It would seem that with the combination of the demise of the G5 and their current higher prices over a G4, make a G5 iMac a bit of a negative buy.
 
What are your other criterias other than using it as a desktop ?

How about looking into the low end iMac G5 ($1'299), do you really need the superdrive and a 20" screen ? Savings could go into "intel" mini later.

I'm using the 1st generation low end (1,6ghz 17") the first rev brought a lot more for the money and so far it's the best dektop computer I've ever used/own.

let us know which one you choosed :)
 
thanks...

yeah i was thinking a mini with great accessories can be a good deal. because basically i m a newbie, i dont need a huge processor. and second, i like this idea idea, i mean to buy a mini with a great Display Cinema monitor than a imac G5 processor that is just a bit faster but with a monitor that isnt that good. but are really the mini good? i mean how mini are they? the name mini scares me.... : ( it sounds to me like everythings in mini is under-developed to save costs.

and guys please help me with this!!!! u guys are talking to save money to buy an Intel Mac next year, but how long should i wait? i m honest i waited one year to buy my G4 powerbook because everyone was saying wait, wait soon u ll be able to buy a G5 powerbook. and see still we dont have a G5 powerbook. i know it is a different problem (cooling system i read), but really, when will u think i can begin to buy a fantastic G5 Intel processor????

thanks guys!!
 
The mini's configuration now with the 512 MB of RAM is a good deal. However, consider that it is a low end computer, not unlike a Celeron system on the PC side. Of course, the Mac mini isn't a stripped down processor like the Celeron, meaning the G4 is a full fledged G4, similar if not better to the ones included in the last Power Mac G4 systems. The only place you might experience bottlenecks is with the graphics chipset. Although it is a Radeon 9200 chipset, it only has 32 MB of memory. If you plan on gaming, this is not for you. But if yo plan on doing some multimedia and Internet, then this machine is definitely a cut above what you would get with a Celeron system.

That being said, the iMac G5 is not only 64-bit as opposed to the 32-bit G4 processor on the mini (which at this point in time doesn't mean much other than speed since all apps are still 32-bit right now), it's a whole lot because it has more memory, a newer generation CPU, faster graphics with more memory, and a faster system bus among many other things. You will be able to do a LOT more with multimedia than the Mac mini. This is why it's more expensive. As the addage goes, "you get what you pay for." In other words, don't expect the mini to function like a low end iMac G5. The low end iMac G5 will trounce the high end Mac mini because of the above mentioned criteria.

Bottom line. Power users are best served with the iMac G5. Normal everyday users and casual multimedia users and light gamers will benefit from the Mac mini. Though the mini isn't as powerful as the iMac G5, it's DEFINITELY powerful than anything priced comparably on the PC side.
 
As for waiting for the Intel change, I am currently considering buying a Mac mini or a PowerBook. Remember that the PowerPC architecture is quite mature andestablished so you KNOW it will work right. The first gen Intel Macs might have some issues once they come out for all we know, and might not get the optimizations to make it desirable for OS X until maybe the second generation of Intel Macs. Remember that the same thing happened when Apple switched from the 68000 series of CPUs to PowerPC. Early PowerPC systems weren't all that great until the second and third generation (this was still before the G3 came out...I'm talking about PPC 601, 603, and 604 CPUs).

As for the "G5" moniker, I don't think Apple would be using that term with the Intel chips. That's used to refer to the PowerPC 970 which is a derivative of the POWER4 CPU from IBM.
 
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