Mac Mini or iMac good for graphic apps?

I currently have an older G4, dual processor, 450 MHz, 768mb RAM running Tiger. I'm a graphic designer working mainly with Quark, Freehand, Photoshop. I'm not a heavy Photoshop user. I'm trying to decide if I should upgrade to a G5 tower, or if the new iMacs or Mac Mini would work for me. I've heard that the Mac Mini could be a step backwards for my type of use. Any informed opinions would greatly help. Obviously speed is not my number one concern, but I wouldn't want to be slower! I do have an external CD/DVD burner and I need to keep my external ZIP drive.
Thanks,
Kristi

The Mac Mini may not be good for your use (Intel Macs in gerneral) do not have a native version of Photoshop (PPC only app so it would run under PPC emulation), so unless you have 1+GB RAM it would run slow, not as slow as on your current machine though so you might not notice the way some others might. The Mac Mini (even the core solo 1.5Ghz) will be much faster than your current machine, any modern Mac would be.I would go for an iMac since it, IMO, is going to be a better buy, since it doesn't cost that much more, and is a top of the line consumer machine. If you don't do much Photoshoping the G5 Power Mac is overkill, IMO. You may even want to look at refurb G5 iMacs if you want to save a little money.

Similar Messages

Are the Imacs good for Graphic Design/Illustration work?

I work as a digital illustrator so I spend all day at a monitor. I'm thinking of replacing my powerbook and am leaning towards a 20" Imac.
Does anyone else here use their Imac for professional graphic design or illustration work? How does it measure up?
I've seen many posts about poor screen quality. Should I steer clear of the Imac, or are the screens adequate for design work? At the moment I use a 17" Apple studio display (the old stripey framed kind) which is fine for my needs. How does the Imac screen compare to this?
Is it easy to connect an external monitor (I'd use my Apple Studio Display as a 2nd screen) and can you set them up so they create a giant screen area - i.e. not just 'mirrored'? I already have a VGA to DVI adaptor so presumably this is all I'd need to hook up my 2nd screen?
Is the 24" Imac screen quality much better than the 20"?
Sorry, so many questions! Any advice or opinions much appreciated - Many thanks.

To answer your first question yes they are great for digital illustration. However this will depend on how color accurate your work requires. The only downside I have found with the 20" iMacs is narrow viewing angles. This will be nothing new to you since you have the older 17" studio display. The 24" iMacs are all around absolutely stunning and have much better viewing angles however I have seen a lot of them(including mine) that have some degree of uneven back lighting. If you live anywhere near an Apple store or reseller I would recommend that you go into the store and actually use both of the machines for some period of time and see for yourself how you like it. Bring some of your illustrations from home on a flash drive to see how they look. Otherwise IMO these machines are superb. I love my 24" and it runs CS3 Apps amazingly fast.
If your 17" studio display has the ADC(Apple Digital Connector) then you will have to purchase the power supply adapter to make it work. If you are unsure if it qualifies or not just look and see if your display has it's own power plug. If not then you will need this adapter for $99. IMO it's not worth it as you could put the $100 bucks toward a new display.
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=7E4 EB91E&nplm=M8661LL/B
George

Which mac mini should i go for: the one with AMD graphic card or Intel. I meanly going to use it for hometheater and HD movies.

which mac mini should i go for: the one with AMD graphic card or Intel. I meanly going to use this for hometheater and HD movies.

Intel HD 3000 graphics card can easily handle HD movies up to 1080p. But if you are looking at higher resolutions possibly 4k or 8k that are being released this summer in new TV's, I would go with the AMD card. The AMD card would be good for video and picture applications and also games. But if this is strictly to power your 1080p home theater setup then the choice is obviously the Intel HD 3000.

If I get a 3D monitor for my mac mini, will it turn the graphic to 3D?

Can any one help me that what If I get a 3D monitor for my mac mini, will it turn the graphic to 3D?
or I need a 3d Processor for my mac mini?

Not sure what you mean, but I truly think it requires far more than just a 3-D Monitor.

Mac Mini v iMac as Media Centre

Quick question (sorry - being a pest today)
I already have a powerbook G4 (which I'll upgrade in a year or so) but I was all set to buy a mac mini for use as a media centre with Front Row to play my DVDs, movie files, iTunes stuff etc.
However, I'm just seeing that the iMacs are not that much more expensive plus they are higher spec.
Is there any particular reason why I should pick the mac mini over the imac as a media centre (other than that it is cheaper)?
I'm just thinking that it would be handy having the imac display on for running the main stuff in front row etc, then when I want to watch a video, I just play it on the second display attached to the iMac (ie my 32" LCD TV). I would leave th iMac running 24/7, never sleeping, with just the display sleeping, and set up EyeTV on the iMac etc.....
Any comments?
David

Hello again! I have an Intel iMac set-up as my "media center" now. One thing to keep in mind about the iMac is the fact that it has a built-in screen. Front Row will only display on the "main" display (the display that contains the Dock and menu bar) if you have two screens. If you want your Front Row to display on the TV, it will have be the "main" display or it will have to "mirror" the main display. For me, with the HDTV and the computer only five feet apart, it's a little annoying to see the same thing displayed on both screens at the same time (with mirroring turned on) and the audio coming out from behind the TV (where the stereo is centered). I don't really want the Dock and menubar to appear on the TV and not the iMac's screen when I'm actually using the iMac as a computer and switching the two around got a bit frustrating for me.
Both the DVD Player application and the EyeTV software can display the video on a separate screen, but Front Row has no preferences to change, so you can't tell it to display on the other screen. So, depending on your physical arrangement of the two screens, this may or may not be an issue for you.
The Mac mini would only be able to have the TV as the display. As long as you're not looking to browse the Web and do e-mail on the Mac mini, an HDTV should make a very good display for your media. Mac OS X 10.4 allows you to turn on VNC sharing so you could download some free software to remote control your Mac mini from the PowerBook when you needed to do something that the Apple remote can't control. But, you will need a keyboard and mouse to set it up the very first time.
So, if you're only looking for a media center and not a complete desktop computer, the Mac mini is a good option. The iMac should be able to handle the job well, but depending on your physical situation, you may or may not encounter some slightly annoying configurations. Since Front Row will be included for all compatible Macs when Mac OS X 10.5 ships, we might hope there'll be an update for Front Row that will allow you to select which screen Front Row displays on. But, that remains to be seen.
-Doug

How reliable is the Mac Mini or iMac (2009) models?

Greetings to you all. I have a question directed at anyone who owns the 2009 Mac Mini or has recently bought a Mac Mini either last year 2009 or this year, 2010. My Acer Aspire L-100 finally died on 29th Dec 2009 as a result of USB failure caused by a windows auto update. Fed up with Microsoft, I am thinking about switching over to Mac and thought the Mac Mini or iMac would be a good start. I am however troubled by the numerous complaints I am reading on the Apple website posts regarding the 2009 model Mac Mini loosing sound after a month or two of use and some posts claim that the sound on their Mac Mini is distorted, crackling and some had broken systems out of the box. How many of you have had similar sound issues with the Mac Mini? Also, is it better to get the iMac 21.5 inch instead? Has anyone had hardware issues with the Mac Mini and or the 21.5 inch iMac in less than 2-6 months of use? If so please let me know so that I can make up my mind, whether to purchase Mac computer platform or just build my own customized machine. What I need to know is, how reliable or durable is the mac mini computer, especially the 2009 model and how does the mac mini, especially with its small size, handle temperatures? Does the mac mini overheat? Please help. All information will be highly appreciated.

Remember, Apple offers a 1 year hardware warranty and 90 days free software support, both of which can be extended to three years from date of computer's purchase. This means if you appear to have what is a technical issue with your machine off the bat, Apple will cover the lemon issue, if it is obvious it is not an issue you the user could have caused. Mind you, if issues appear much later during the ownership, it gets harder to justify that it is a manufacturer issue. As long as you don't upgrade the internal hardware, the hardware test CD that comes with the machine will be able to tell if there is a manufacturer issue with the machine. All bets are off, if you change the RAM, or hard drive beyond the specs of the machine. Apple publishes the specs of the machine on http://support.apple.com/
Your machine shouldn't overheat unless you excede the published specs.
The advantage of the Mac is that malware and viruses are practically a nonissue, and everything you usually could desire is already built-in to the machine. So while you could build your own machine, you can't really get the integrated hardware and software as you do with the Mac.
Yes, the 27" iMac has been hit hard with issues, more around the display than anything else. I for one, if were forced to get an iMac, would get the 21.5".
I've not seen any specific Mac Mini issues really come to the fore.
If sound is lost on a Mac Mini, it usually is due to the fact that minijack connectors themselves are fragile to begin with, and endusers tend to jiggle them a lot in the connector, causing the connectivity to get lost. If you are careful to follow these directions about cables*:
http://www.macmaps.com/frayguide.html
You should avoid most of those issues. Thankfully there are 5 USB ports on Mac Minis, and USB audio is frequently better than the built-in audio, except when adding your own 5.1 speaker system with mini-Toslink connector speakers.
Don't forget the number of posters to this board, don't even amount to 1 tenth of a percent of all purchasers of iMacs, Mac Minis, or MacBooks any one quarter. Thus the remark you said was "rude" is not. It is factual. You are basing your information on what amounts to less odds of happening than a space program disaster with NASA. Mostly people who have problems are posting, and those who don't rarely do post.
I recently had a hard drive die after the three year warranty was spent, but hard drives I've seen die on Acers and Dells on the first day of ownership too, so that's nothing new. Backing up your data is the best way to deal with data loss*:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.

Is it possible to add a second monitor via mac mini with iMac

Hi
is it possible to add a second monitor via mac mini with iMac
or is there another solution?
all i want to know is if i can run a second monitor or link a mac mini for more speed like i heard you can with the G5 Towers.

The iMac will allow you to connect a second monitor but that monitor will show the same thing as the iMac's built-in screen.
You can network a Mac mini and iMac via Ethernet or Firewire.
Software load sharing like Xgrid can allow you to share work between the Macs.

Benchmarks of mac mini and imac

hello
i'm looking for buy imac or mac mini !
its hard for me to chose one of them ,
i wana know how much cpu performances are differend between 800$ mac mini and 1300$ imac .
is there any benchmarkes to clear it for me ?
thanks in advance

You can find tons of benchmarks at http://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks.

File sharing between Mac Mini and iMac "breaks" after reboot of either device, and won't restore. Why? Running Maverick 10.9.1 on both. File sharing is setup on both. Help.

I'm a new user - recent convert from longtime Windows to Apple. Thought having desktops and computing aligned with phones and tablets would help. Not so far.
I have a MacMini running Mavericks 10.9.1, and an iMac running Mavericks 10.9.1. File Sharing is set up on both. If either device is rebooted for any reason, file sharing from the Mac Mini to the iMac "breaks" and will not easily restart. Various things eventually brings the connection back - usually having to do with checking and unchecking File Sharing, the AFP button, and/or the SMB button on the iMac - but never the same procedure twice in a row. File Sharing from the iMac to the Mac Mini is never disrupted - always comes back up without a problem. Screen Sharing also works between both without fail, and comes up after reboot of either. No problem there. Only difficulty is from Mac Mini to the iMac.
Why? Any ideas?

Should also clarify - usually takes multiple hours of checking/unchecking file sharing settings in order to restore the share between Mac Mini and iMac. NEVER happens automatically.
This is disruptive because I've got the Mac Mini pointing to several file locations on the iMac for various things - photos, music, etc. - and they all hang up unless the share is restored. Real bummer.

Hooking mac mini to iMac

Can I use my Mac mini as a disk for my iMac? If so, how would I go about it?

Hello FilmCCSL,
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
For more information on this, take a look at:
Transfer files between two computers using target disk mode
http://support.apple.com/kb/ph3838
Best of luck,
Mario

The macbook air is good for creating apps?

Please answer me if the mac air is good for creating apps?

Yes, of course.
The 13" would give you more desktop space to work with.

Thinking about using Mac Mini's as desktops for 20 employee business. Pro's Vs. Con's

Thinking about using Mac Mini's as desktops for 20 employee business. Pro's Vs. Con's

Your best bet would be to buy a single 2012 MacMini Server model that you can use to manage the balance of the other machines. Either that or upgrade one of the MM's to OS X Yosemite Server . You can find information about the Server edition at:
https://www.apple.com/osx/server/
However I would STRONGLY recommend visiting your local Apple Store and ask to speak to their business specialist, they are trained to manage customer needs such as yours.
The major advantage of using Macs over any PC is the stability of OS X itself and the overall quality of support that you will never get with HP.

HT204388 how do I switch between my mac mini and iMac using iMac screen?

how do I switch between my mac mini and i mac using i mac screen? I thought it was using F2 but that does not seem to work.

To switch between your Mac mini and iMac, you just have to turn on or off Target Display mode. To do it, press Command and F2 keys in your iMac, not only F2

Getting error "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer." on mac mini and imac but it works on old macbook pro

Please help! My hard drives work on all other computers except new imac and macmini.

Both the mac mini and imac do not have cd drives. The trouble is why should I repair the external HDs when they work fine on other computers? I'm running OS X 10.8.4. I feel like its an OS X problem but I cant say. I will try the suggestion but I absolutely cannot reformat these drives right now becuae it would be way too time consuming to recover all the files on them

Connect mac mini to imac

Hi,
I was wondering if I can connect an old mac mini to an imac so I can use the mac mini as an aditional hard drive to store all my music and pictures.
If so, how do I do it?
Thanks in advance.
Oscar

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
If the Mac mini and iMac have got FireWire or Thunderbolt (probably, FireWire 800), just buy a FireWire cable and start the Mac mini holding the T key while your Mac is starting. Doing this, your Mac mini's hard drive will show up as an external drive in the iMac, so you can store data in it. You may want to format the hard drive first.
This isn't the best way. If you aren't going to use the Mac mini, you can take the hard disk out of it, buy an enclosure, install the hard drive in it and connect it to your iMac. Then, format the hard drive > http://pondini.org/OSX/DU1.html Finally, open Finder and you will see the hard drive in the Finder sidebar, under "Devices"

Mac Mini or iMac good for graphic apps?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for