Mac Mini i7 vs iMac i5

Hello,
I need to buy a new Mac and my max budget is $2000.
I'm reading a lot about the new mac mini i7 dual-core processors, which are a lot slower than the late 2012 models and also slower than the iMac i5 quad-core model: http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i7-4578U-vs-Intel-Core-i5-4570
I'm a programmer so I'll be using software like, photoshop, Xcode, VirtualBox, and some other related. I don't play games and I don't edit video, so from what I've read the new Intel Iris Graphics is enough. Am I right?
So I can choose from:
Mac Mini - $1400 (and plug two 24 monitors getting near my $2000 budget)
Intel Core i7 Dual‑Core 3,0 GHz (Turbo Boost till 3,5 GHz)
16 GB SDRAM LPDDR3 at 1600 MHz
1TB Fusion Drive
Intel Iris Graphics
OR
iMac 27" - $2100 (for this price, a little over my budget, I can choose from 16GB RAM or Fusion Drive, both costs $200 more)
Intel Core i5 quad-core 3,2 GHz, Turbo Boost till 3,6 GHz
16 GB de SDRAM DDR3 at 1600 MHz - 2x 8 GB
1Tb Serial ATA 1 TB at 7200 rpm
NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M 1GB GDDR5
I'm more into the Mac Mini, because I can have two 24" monitors (not as good as the iMac monitor of course) and take advantage og both 16GB RAM and Fusion Drive.
In the other hand, iMac has a pretty good monitor and a better CPu (video card is also better but like I said I'm not into games and video editing).
Also iMac will probably see it's new model this year while the Mac Mini was launched recently.
Based on all this info, please help me choose which will fulfill my needs better, fundamenting your choice.
Thanks a lot!

I am an electrical engineer and do a lot of embedded firmware design
and supporting software, mostly in Win8.1 virtual machine with Parallels.
I also do a lot with Photoshop CS6 and some video work.
When confronted with an upgrade decision, I ended up going with the 27" iMac
and was glad I did. Expanded it to the full 32GB and am using an SSD via Thunderbolt,
I already had a Thunderbolt display, so I ended up with a very good workstation setup.
With that 32GB of RAM, I am able to have OS X, a Win8.1 coding/debug virtual machine,
and a Win7 software test platform all running at the same time and no noticable
performance hit.
Also, if developing large firmware/software, SSDs will speed the work up dramatically
as these types of projects are quite file intensive. The last project I was working on,
I could build, download and start debugging an embedded app using Win8.1 on a VM
before my coworkers were half way through building the app on their native Win laptops/desktops
which had standard had drives.
With that said, I still have 2 Minis in service. My 2011 Mini Server (my former workstation) was
repurposed to be my HTPC and my 2010 Mini has been re-assigned as my home iTunes/file server.

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Using a Mac Mini with an iMac (11,1)

Hi,
I am considering buying a Mac Mini to replace an old netbook I use as a development server. The old netbook runs Ubuntu and was a cheap but excellent machine that I utilized to develop customized software. Unfortunately that machine is starting to fall apart and I am considering replacing it with a Mac Mini instead of another cheap netbook. However, the price difference is considerable (about 2x) so I am looking to keep the cost down by only buying the Mac Mini and using my iMac to initially set up the machine on the network. What I want to do is use the iMac’s screen, keyboard and mouse to first connect to the Mini, set up it up to connect to my network and activate the ability to remotely access the Mini. Once I do that, I can use screen sharing to operate the Mini whenever necessary, correct? However, I am unsure if my iMac (model 11,1) can be utilized as a target display for the Mac Mini. If I connect the Mac Mini to my iMac’s DisplayPort, will I be able to do what I want? And what about my keyboard and mouse? Do I have to unpair them from the iMac and pair them with the Mac Mini to be able to control the Mac Mini (only the first time I do this...). Anyone have any experience or thoughts they could share?

That's correct. It's sooooo much simpler to just borrow a keyboard/mouse from a PC or have another set for pairing. It's tricky getting the existing set off the iMac and on to the Mini, first you have to have it on the iMac to enter Target Mode Display, (CMD F2). Now how do you disconnect or unpair it from the iMac? If you turn it off and on, it reconnects to the iMac, If you disconnect it before switching, you can't enter TMD... then the problem of getting it back...
Too many headaches, I just borrowed a usb mouse/keyboard off a PC to config and then returned it.

Hooking a new Mac mini onto my iMac

Hi there kind people!
i'm pretty sure there are several discussions out there considering the possibility to hook a new Mac mini on to iMacs. However mine is pretty specific, so I'd though to give it a go and just spit out!
I'm considering buying a new Mac mini. However I don't like the idea of buying a new monitor, because I've got an 24" iMac standing on my desk. Is it possible to use the iMac as a monitor for the Mac mini and what would it require?
I've got a 24-inch iMac, from the beginning of 2009. It is, of course, running on OS X Lion.
I hope you people can help me out!
Thanks a bunch and have a splendid day!
Greetings,
HarmenSimon

Try Air Display it will allow you to do what you want.

Has anyone set up a mac mini using an iMac

I am trying to set up a mac mini with my iMac. My end goal is to share files between the two and use my iMac 27" screen for the iMac and the mac mini.

AirDrop will let you share files with very little configuration on your part. As long as the two machines are on the same network, you're just about ready.
As for sharing a display, the 27" model used to support Display input via DisplayPort, which used to be a matter of buying a cable and connecting one to the other. I'm not sure if that feature has come over now that they've switched from DisplayPort to Thunderbolt.
You could also use Screen Sharing to view the mini's desktop from the iMac...again, as long as the two computers are on the same network (and you've configured Screen Sharing on the mini) it should work. Good luck!

Real Life Mac Mini Performance vs iMac

Hi Guys,
I'm about to purchase my first Mac Mini, and I have question about Mac Mini's performance. How is base Mac Mini compare against iMac 21.5 (i5 2400s) Base? I understand that iMac uses i5 2400s, desktop CPU, and benchmark number is obivously whole miles ahead of Mac Mini base.
My primary use for Mac would be day to day computing with some Adobe web creative tools like Photoshop, In Design, Dreamweaver for checking web/graphic desinger's work. I plan to study iPhone app development for fun, so some Xcode .
I already have good 24 inch monitor,bluetooth keyboard and magic mouse from my last macbook pro setup. Price difference between iMac and Mac Mini is about $500.
In real life usage, with Memory upgraded 8gig, how much of difference would I notice? Will iMac Base have significantly better performance ($500 difference)?
Another quesiton is if I add SDD, will it void the warranty? I understand that swapping HDD is okay, but I read somewhere saying that adding another HDD would actually void warranty....
Thank you!

I am an electrical engineer and do a lot of embedded firmware design
and supporting software, mostly in Win8.1 virtual machine with Parallels.
I also do a lot with Photoshop CS6 and some video work.
When confronted with an upgrade decision, I ended up going with the 27" iMac
and was glad I did. Expanded it to the full 32GB and am using an SSD via Thunderbolt,
I already had a Thunderbolt display, so I ended up with a very good workstation setup.
With that 32GB of RAM, I am able to have OS X, a Win8.1 coding/debug virtual machine,
and a Win7 software test platform all running at the same time and no noticable
performance hit.
Also, if developing large firmware/software, SSDs will speed the work up dramatically
as these types of projects are quite file intensive. The last project I was working on,
I could build, download and start debugging an embedded app using Win8.1 on a VM
before my coworkers were half way through building the app on their native Win laptops/desktops
which had standard had drives.
With that said, I still have 2 Minis in service. My 2011 Mini Server (my former workstation) was
repurposed to be my HTPC and my 2010 Mini has been re-assigned as my home iTunes/file server.

Mac Mini to G4 iMac Flat Panel display ???

Just scanned some pages back in this forum and couldn't see this as a topic-so I'll ask.
I was wondering, if I had a 17" Flat Panel imac (even the 800Ghz version, or the 1Ghz or the !.25Ghz - or event the 20" [yummmmy] ) could I drive the mac mini via the iMacG4's highly versatile flat panel display ???
[ideally I'd love to be able to re-engineer the Flat Panel's guts with smaller but faster CPU etc - and as machine innards get smaller maybe this will be possible - because the screen tilt and swivel is so versatile; eh!)]
gregg

Hmm - why did myinnermostthoughts sudenly become a hyperlink - or is it a hyperjump into the final frontier of cyber-computing???
Anyway, but I had hoped to just plug a keyboard into 2005 'Twiggy" , use a VGA adaptor/er between the two machines, and use the 1.42 Ghz speed of the 'Twiggy' to display stuff (CS2 etc) on the Flat Panel's display (oxymoronic word usage here - I suppose). The Flat Panels do have an vga port - so why cant the cable go from the mac mini to the VGA port of the iMac ??? Are you saying ti's almost impossible - or are you refering to re-engineering???
Gregg

Connect Mac Mini 2011 to iMac 2010 via MiniDisplay Port?

Thought I read somewhere that a Mac mini could be connected to a 27" iMac for display purposes. I have the 27" iMac from 2010 and it has the minidisplay port. I'm considering getting the new Mac Mini. Can the two be connected so that the iMac display also functions as a display for the Mac mini?
Thanks

See Target Display Mode And Thunderbolt.

Connect Mac Mini 2011 to iMac 2011 via Thunderbolt

Is it possible to connect the new Mac mini 2011 to the new iMac 2011 via Thunderbolt to use the Display Target Mode of the iMac ?

See Target Display Mode And Thunderbolt.

Mac Mini to new iMac via FireWire (9-pin to 6-pin cable necessary?)

I can't seem to find a straight answer on this.
Am I correct in assuming that the only FireWire cable that can be used to connect a Mac Mini to a new iMac is a 9-pin to 6-pin cable such as http://store.apple.com/us/product/TP320LL/A?mco=MzE2OTkyOA ?
6-pin cables won't fit in the new iMac? I don't have the iMac yet so I can't check.
Thanks,

Or you can just get an adapter and use your existing FireWire 400 cable.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/FIR1369AD/
Or you can use a standard Ethernet cable and use +Fire Sharing+. Both your Macs would have gigabit Ethernet ports, so as long as the cable is Cat-5e or better, it would be pretty fast.

Mac mini (intel) vs iMac G5 1.8 GHz

Hi all,
I'm thinking of changing my Apple Computer from a 20" iMac G5 1.8 GHz 1.2 GB RAM to a Mac mini Core Duo 1.66 GHz with 2 GB of RAM with a Apple 23" Cinema Display.
Does someone know if that is a "downgrade" in performance?
Thanks for your answers.
Stefan
20" iMac G5 1.8 Ghz Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Looking at your list *I think* you should be, for the most part, better off. You list a large amount of Apple applications what are all Universal binaries. Windows will work under Boot Camp or Parallels. Microsoft Office 2004, from all reports, works extremely well even though it's not Universal. The rest being utilities don't really matter much.
The only stand out is Photoshop Elements. This will probably go down in performance although it depends on how much you're looking at using it will make this more or less important.
One thing you will definitely go back in is graphics performance although, from you list I don't think it's going to matter much, if at all.

2012 mac mini i7 or imac i5 for video editing with final cut pro 7 ?

Hello,
I am totally new to mac world.
I read some posts but not clear to me if better a mac mini 2012 i7 2,3Ghz and video card Intel HD Graphics 4000 or an imac 2012 i5 2,7GHz and NVIDIA GeForce
GT 640M with 512MB of GDDR5 memory.
The software is final cut studio 3 from final cut pro 7.
So better more performance in the l cpu or in the videocard?
Thank you
Gianni

If the Mac Mini has not had its hardware changed since the release of Mountain Lion, July 25, 2012, Final Cut Pro 7 is reported as not working in some situations under Mountain Lion. If it has been hardware changed by Apple on or after July 25, 2012, you won't be able to run Lion, and may not be able to run all Final Cut Pro 7's features. The two entries for Final Cut Pro 7:
http://roaringapps.com/app:4449
and
http://roaringapps.com/app:4909
Appear to conclude it launches, but there must be something that doesn't work. There are some issues both with Lion and Mountain Lion with Final Cut Studio 3:
http://roaringapps.com/app:1384
My advice, check the Final Cut forums to see what people have experienced with both. And make sure to follow specs exactly.

How does Mac Mini compare to iMac?

My iMac needs to be replaced. Do users like the Mac mini as well as other Mac computers? Is it as troublefree? Easy to use?

I don't have an iMac, so take everything I say with a gain of salt...
However, I do have a mac mini. Obviously, the iMac will be faster, have a nice LCD, whereas the mac mini is going to be slower because it uses an out of date G4 CPU. Also, the hard drive is (I believe) slower, and it's a lot harder from what i've heard to upgrade ram. that's not to say it can't be done, I've voided my mac mini's warranty 2 times now, the first time upgrading the ram, the 2nd time in a daunting hard drive upgrade.
If you don't plan on upgrading the computer anytime soon though, there's nothing wrong with it. I use mine for some video editing and photoshopping, but mostly it's just left on 24/7 as a file server and every now and then used for AIM and word.
When you get it, and take it out of the box, you need to plug in a power cable, mouse, keyboard, (probably buy a USB hub) speakers if you have any, and a monitor.
All in all, it's a full working macintosh computer, minus some nice extras (such as more than 2 USB ports), but it works just like any othe mac, uses finder like the iMac, and quite honestly, if you have a spare LCD, I think it's a better buy if you are only going to be doing word processing/email on it.
Once you start upgrading the DVD/CD+RW to a dvdrw, and boosting the ram to get most speed and such, I would forget about getting it though, since it's innatley slower than the iMac (but CPU, GPU, RAM, and HDD wise), and you'd be better off spending the money on the iMac.
In short, if you only use your mac for email and office documents, it's the best bang for your buck ever. If you need your mac for other stuff (such as video editing) you might be better off going with an iMac. There is, however, nothing wrong with the mini at all that stops it from being a fully functional mac.
P.S. I'd wait until after the next macworld expo thing in january to buy, as they are rumored to be releasing new products, which would drop the prices of the current lineup.

Mac Mini and the iMac

Just purchased the iMac. Have a Mac Mini, would like to use the mini as a network hard drive. Can someone tell me how to make the mini a network hard drive......
Thanks
[email protected]

Just turn on Personal File Sharing under System Preferences -> Settings.

A few questions before I buy a new iMac/Mac mini and sign up for Creative Cloud.

Hello Everyone,
I am looking to purchase a new Apple computer and sign up for Creative Cloud within the next week and I have a few questions that should be answered before I proceed.
My wife and I own a business and we will be using the CS6 apps to create brochures, Constant Contact mailings, product package inserts, edit product photography for print and web use, and short HD how-to videos. We are not graphics professionals or power users and wont be doing anything too complicated.
Any help and answers will be greatly appreciated.
I will start with the hardware questions first:
I am trying to decide between the iMac and the Mac mini.
The iMac is a 2.7Ghz Quad-core Intel core i5 and comes with 4GB of memory that is expandable to 16GB, which I will do for sure. It comes with a Radeon HD 6770M graphics card with 512MB of GDDR5 memory(not upgradable), and a 1TB HDD that runs at 7200RPM. This unit meets the specs required.
The 2.5Ghz Mac Mini comes with 4GB of memory that is expandable to 8GB, I will also do this. It has a Radeon HD 6630M graphics card with 256MB of GDDR5 memory(not upgradable), and a 500GB HDD that runs at 5400RPM. This unit meets all the spec(I think) except for the speed of the HDD.
Question: Will the mini run the software without too much of an issue considering the speed of the HDD?
Question: Will the iMac run the software significantly better to justify the price difference?
I already have 1 mini(purchased 4 months ago, with the same specs listed above) and will be purchasing a second computer for my wifes desk. If the mini will run CS6 fine, that is great and we can save a few bucks. If my mini will not run CS6 well, I will get the iMac for her desk as she will be doing the bulk of the work in that regard anyway.
Now a couple of software questions.
After reading hundreds of reviews and forum posts over the last few days I have seen many people having this or that issue. It seems to me that most of the issues are because of upgrades from Lion to Mountian Lion after installing CS6 first or trying to open CS3,4,5 files in CS6.
If you want to know what issues have me concerned take a look at just this one forum:
http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2012/07/adobe-cs-apps-mountain-lion-no-known-issues.html
Similar issues are discussed in the Apple forums as well as many other places around the web.
I am not a computer professional but I know enough to maintain my systems and keep them running smoothly.
We do not have any Adobe software installed on my mini and will not be opening any files from previous versions of Adobe product in the new CS6 software. These will be a clean installs on pristine systems running fully updated Mountian Lion OS's on both machines and creating new files from scratch.
Question: Should I be expecting any issues like the ones I have read in the forums and blogs or are these just the normal things that happen when upgrading to new software with multiple hardware configurations?
My feeling is that we will not be having too much of a problem due to the clean installs and no files from previous versions.
Next up, the Creative Cloud(CC) FAQ states that you can install on 2 machines but can't open stuff at the same time.
Question: Does this mean we can't be using any CS6 apps at the same time or just not using the same app at the same time?
Example: PS and PS on both machines at same time = No, PS on one and Dreamweaver on the other at the same time=Yes?
The CC FAQ page says Adobe will add Lightroom 4 later in 2012 while the main CC page lists it as available now.
Question: Which is true?
My mini is registered to me, with my name, iTunes account, Apple ID etc.
Question: Do I need to do the initial set-up of the new machine with all my information to ensure the CS6 suite works on both machines? Do the computers need to be registered(as far as Apple configuration is concerned) to same person for them to work on one CC account or can I install CS6 on any 2 machines regardless of how they were initially set-up?
This may seem like a silly question but I want to avoid any problems before they happen.
Well, those are all of my questions at the moment. To anyone who made it this far in my looooong post, Thank You so much for your time. I appreciate your expertise and knowledge and hope that you can help me make this decision.
Cheers,
Alex Bogdan

Alex,
I'll try and answer your questions as best I can.
Qn 1 Which Mac.
Ans:- As I understand it both units will run Adobe CS6.
          Which one really depends on what you wand from CS6. If you are looking for high end demand and performance, then I would go for the IMac
          Your Specs for the Imac are right. However if you buy your IMac straight from Apple there are even higher specs.
          You can get:-
                              3.4 GHz i7 processor rather than the i5
                               2GB video card as opposed to a 1Gb video card.
                               Of course such a model will cost you more.
          In the end it is needs compared with money to spend. That is only a decision you cam make.
Q2:- Will the higher cost for the Imac justify copst.
Ans:- Again it depends on what demands you intend to make on the hardware and software.
          But I note you have a business and if that businees expects to high demand and high speedy performance then I suspect the Imac would be more able to provide your needs.
          Again only you will know the answer to that.
Q3:- Questions about CS6 reliability
Ans:- I have been with Adobe for way over 10 years.
         Speaking, only for myself, it is the most reliable software on the market.
          It is true that if you look down this form, like any other and I am thinking about the Apple discussions forum, you will find numerous instances of problems.
          Again this is only my opinion, but although all these problems are real for the individuals:-
          First it is not clear why they have the problem e.g. what have they done or not done.
          Second, they are in the minority of the total users using the hardware / software.
          The only problem I am aware of with CS6 is Acrobat X. I understand it has been sorted Adobe, however it cost me so much work I have removed it from my system and reverted to Acrobat 9
          So what I am saying is that there are only two comapnies I rely 100% on: They are Adobe and Apple.
         So if you are happy with my opinion I would not worry about Adobe CS6
Qn 4:- CS6 0n 2 machines.
Ans:- Yes you will not be able to run the same program similtaneosly.
           I believe, if it is important that you do run the same program together, that you can acquire a further licience from Adobe to do that.
           You would need to contact Adobe about that.
Qn 5:- Lightroom 4
Ans:- Lightroom is now available as part of Creative Cloud.
Qn 6:- Set up for individual machines
Ans:- I do not believe you do. Once you have set up your Creative Cloud account you go to the apps site and download the apps for each machine.
          Each machine downloads the apps and your machine and the apps are registered by Adobe.
         Here is something that you may want to know:-
          Because I was so unhappy loosing all the Acrobat data with Acrobat X I ended up deleting Acrobat X
          However as far as Creative Cloud is concered Acrobat X is still on my machine.
          It is not a problem for me because I am happy with Acrobat 9, it fullfils my needs and has not crashed and lost me all my bookmarks.
          However here is the point:-
          Adobe, when there was a problem with Acrobat X requested that no-one deletes the application.
         Though I do not know for certain I believe registration of the apps you have with Creative Cloud are registered with Creative Cloud in their database. Therefore were you to delete an app, it will still be registered with Creative Cloud and you will not be able to download a further copy even though the app is no longer on your    machine.
          Therefore it maybe not a good idea to delete an app when you no longer have a use for it. If you want it back I suspect you will have to contact Adobe Support
Personal Comment:-
          It is true many unfortunately have had all sorts of problems, including me with Acrobat X.
          That said, Creative Cloud in my view has been a major advance in how Adobe delivers software. I have no regrets with signing up to Creative Cloud and I expect to remain with it.
Hope all of that goes some way to answering your questions.

Target Display Mode iMac 27 mid 2011 with Mac Mini 2011 bootcamp

Hello,
I can't seem to use Target Display Mode with Bootcamp.
My configuration:
Imac 27" mid 2011 with osx 10.8.4
Mac Mini Server 2011 with osx 10.8.4, bootcamp 5 and Windows7
Both are connected via Apple genuine Thunderbolt cable (2m).
When I boot the Mac Mini into OSX then Target Display Mode works perfectly and I can see the osx installed on the Mac Mini on the iMac display.
However, when I reboot the Mac Mini into Bootcamp (windows7 x64) I can't put the iMac in Targt Display Mode and get to see Windows 7 on my iMac screen.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3924#8
The following article says that this should work, however once I reboot osx on the Mac Mini the iMac leaves Target Display Mode immediatly and will not return to Target Display Mode.
Any advice? I contacted Apple Support and a Sr. Enginner said it should be supported and he's checking with a higher tier.
Thanks

Yes, it does.
(110549)

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