Should I get an iMac or a Mac Mini?

My iMac just completely broke down after having multiple issues with it and now I'm looking at getting a new Mac. I love the iMac, but I'm not gonna deny that it's pretty expensive. If I get one, I'll just go all the way and get the 27''. Otherwise, I was thinking about getting the Mac Mini and just getting a seperate monitor. I don't do any gaming or anything like that. I use my Mac for internet, movies, editing pictures, and that's pretty much it. My reasoning for getting the Mini is that because it's so cheap, I won't feel so bad about upgrading in a few years. With the iMac, it'll be hard to justify to my wife why I want to spend another $1,000+ in a few years. What do you think?

Top Mac Mini: $799
Apple mouse + keyboard: $118 ( not included with the mini )
Apple MacBook Air SuperDrive $79.00 ( No DVD/CD drive included with the mini)
24" LCD around $170
Mini display port to DVI adapter to connect LCD $34.00
Basic webcam around $40.00
Total for Mac Mini: $1240
Total for iMac 21": $1199 Including; keyboard, mouse, monitor, superdrive,webcam.
The iMac as a quad core i5 versus a dual core i5 in the Mini.
So in the end, the price is almost the same, but with the Mini you can replace the LCD for under $200 if it is dead in a few years.
Changing the LCD in a iMac will cost at least $500.00
You can also reuse the LCD bought with a Mac Mini with a other computer later on.
It's up to you!

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Look HERE to find the appropriate airport card - you can use an Airport Extreme card.
And here to buy one.

Should I buy an iMac or a Mac mini?

HI everyone! Can't decide which one to purchase! I quite like the idea of the portability of the Mac mini and would probably use it alot with my tv for entertainment, but was looking to get the new mid range model for additional space, better specs etc. But the price would be edging near iMac territor, plus I'd probably also need a new monitor for the Mac mini. Just wondering how people have found there experiences with the Mac mini, would they recommend it or just recommend on iMac instead? Especially since the price differenice not bring too different including the external monitor Just to note, Ive heard about the lack of being able to modify the new Mac minis, this isent a problem for me as I'm not big into tech and wouldnt even know where to start on doing something like that! thanks in advane for your advice!

I’m a recent iMac-to-mini convert. I’ve had two iMacs since 2006. Both served me well, but I use my computer mostly for editing text, and when the ultrawide monitors came out, I realised that having two documents or windows open side by side would be very handy for me. So I bought one, used it with my iMac until the new minis arrived, and then bought the mid-range i5 with a 256 GB SSD and 16 GB of RAM (needed for running Windows in a virtual machine). A big improvement from my old (2009) iMac. If you don’t need higher-range graphics or four cores, a mini will be fine. You can pick and choose the size and quality of monitor that best suits your needs and budget. The upgradeability of the new minis isn’t great, but then neither is it for the iMacs. I liked my iMacs, but I will never buy another.

Should I buy a MBP or a mac mini?

Should I buy a MBP or a mac mini?
I have had it in my head for the past two years I would buy a MBP the summer before my junior year of college, but now that it's here I'm not really sure anymore. I have been a commuting college student (by choice) for the past two years and it is finally time for me to move onto campus, and I was wondering should I get a MBP or a mac mini for my dorm. I'm not really worried about portabilty because I never take my laptop I have now or my iPad to class, and I don't think that will change much with me switching colleges. The reason I'm leaning toward a mac mini is because I have my own display, keyboard and wireless mouse just collecting dust in my closet. Someone help me out please because I am so stuck, I probably won't make a decision til after I see what is announced @ WWDC.

Macmini is cheaper, and college students need money. You need to buy the top-of-the-line macmini to get the better CPUs, but you did not mention gaming so that should not be an issue.
If it is a computer that moves rarely, macmini will work well for you. Just remember that macmini does not have an optical drive, so you need to buy an external DVD-drive if you use DVDs or CDs.

Should I Get an iMac, Macbook Pro, or iPad (3rd Generation))

I'm getting a new "computer" this summer, and I was wondering: Which Apple Device is right for me: iPad 3, iMac, or Macbook Pro? I realize WWDC is this summer (a day after I was planning on getting a Macbook Pro, June 10, which is my birthday) and Apple will be releasing/ unveiling their new products there. I realized that the iMac is more bang for your buck, but people are starting to lean towards portable devices, such as laptops over desktops, and tablets over laptops (mostly). I had planned to get a Macbook Pro (when the 2012 models come out) as of Sunday, April 22. But, as I realized that the prices for each are so different, considering their value, I realized this:
iMac:
"Land" - Locked
More Power for money (student discount)
Will last me longer (at least 2.5 years)
Macbook Pro:
Portable
Costs less (as of student discount)
iPad 3:
Even More Portable
Costs even Less.
Considering these, which do think I should get by the following:
Me:
Go upstate every once a month or so.
Going on vacation in the summer w/ family.
Do light gaming (Sims 3, Civ 5, Spore; not much)
Plan on bragging about being the only one in family w/ Mac (bring to relatives' houses to prove a point to my cousin that he's not the one w/ the coolest computer)
Lots of Word Processing (can use pages on iPad)
w/ iPad, I'll have more money to use on accessories (Step dad giving me $500 towards computer, I'll have $350 by June 10)
Mostly do web browsing.
Want to use in school (high school)
If I get an iPad, I can afford to upgrade it every year, but not the Macs
Will be reading lots of books next year (will be taking AP English)
Lots of notes next year (Doing Government in Social Studies next year)
Will use iTunes U if needed
Need something to fit in backpack if using in school.
Not sure if teacher will allow laptops/ tablets.
Mostly do my computing at home
So what do you think? Should I get an iMac, Macbook Pro, or an iPad 3? Thanks! Best answer gets 5 ***** for the long reading!

Wow, using computers in school. I remember when I went, teachers flipped out if you had as much as a cell phone
A couple things I would like to point out:
1.) WWDC /=/ product releases. While it is likely, no one knows for a fact what will happen at WWDC other than usual events. I would expect it, but don't jump the gun and say "a new Mac will be launched at WWDC", because they have been released before WWDC.
2.) The iPad is in a different tier than Mac, IMO. I believe iPads should be supplements to PC's, since if troubleshooting need occur, you must still have a PC to restore. (Mac is PC). So say if you suddenly go into Recovery mode, you will be stuck until you find a PC to restore to. One downfall of iOS devices, so for that reason, I will not recommend the iPad alone.
If you plan to do most of your computing at home, I would get the iMac. I am a college student, and plan on replacing my Macbook Pro (selling it) with an iMac if I can afford it. I agree with you on the "bang for your buck", but even then, iMac is still pricey. With $850, you're still shy $300 of the $1149 price w/education discount. If you want to upgrade your processor (which I would), that's even more $. Plus, software if you need it.
What exactly are you going to do with a Mac that you cannot do with a Windows PC (outside of just using the Mac OS)? The playing field is leveling out quite a bit. But, if you plan on developing of any sort, get a Mac.

Should i get a antivirus for my mac pro

should i get a antivirus for my mac pro?

1. This comment applies to malicious software ("malware") that's installed unwittingly by the victim of a network attack. It does not apply to software, such as keystroke loggers, that may be installed deliberately by an intruder who has hands-on access to the victim's computer. That threat is in a different category, and there's no easy way to defend against it. If you have reason to suspect that you're the target of such an attack, you need expert help.
2. All versions of OS X since 10.6.7 have been able to detect known Mac malware in downloaded files, and to block insecure web plugins. This feature is transparent to the user, but internally Apple calls it "XProtect." The malware recognition database is automatically checked for updates once a day; however, you shouldn't rely on it, because the attackers are always at least a day ahead of the defenders.
The following caveats apply to XProtect:
It can be bypassed by some third-party networking software, such as BitTorrent clients and Java applets (see below.)
It only applies to software downloaded from the network. Software installed from a CD or other media is not checked.
3. Starting with OS X 10.7.5, there has been another layer of built-in malware protection, designated "Gatekeeper" by Apple. By default, applications and Installer packages downloaded from the network will only run if they're digitally signed by a developer with a certificate issued by Apple. Software certified in this way hasn't actually been tested by Apple (unless it comes from the Mac App Store), but you can be reasonably sure that it hasn't been modified by anyone other than the developer. His identity is known to Apple, so he could be held legally responsible if he distributed malware. For most practical purposes, applications recognized by Gatekeeper as signed can be considered safe.
Gatekeeper doesn't depend on a database of known malware. It has, however, the same limitations as XProtect, and in addition the following:
It can easily be disabled or overridden by the user.
A malware attacker could get control of a code-signing certificate under false pretenses, or could find some other way to evade Apple's controls.
For more information about Gatekeeper, see this Apple Support article.
4. Beyond XProtect and Gatekeeper, there’s no benefit, in most cases, from any other automated protection against malware. The first and best line of defense is always your own intelligence. All known malware circulating on the Internet that affects a fully-updated installation of OS X 10.6 or later takes the form of so-called "trojan horses," which can only have an effect if the victim is duped into running them. The threat therefore amounts to a battle of wits between you and the malware attacker. If you're smarter than he thinks you are, you'll win.
That means, in practice, that you never use software that comes from an untrustworthy source. How do you know whether a source is trustworthy?
Any website that prompts you to install a “codec,” “plug-in,” "player," "extractor," or “certificate” that comes from that same site, or an unknown one, is untrustworthy.
A web operator who tells you that you have a “virus,” or that anything else is wrong with your computer, or that you have won a prize in a contest you never entered, is trying to commit a crime with you as the victim. (Some reputable websites did legitimately warn visitors who were infected with the "DNSChanger" malware. That exception to this rule no longer applies.)
Pirated copies or "cracks" of commercial software, no matter where they come from, are unsafe.
Software of any kind downloaded from a BitTorrent or from a Usenet binary newsgroup is unsafe.
Software with a corporate brand, such as Adobe Flash Player, must be downloaded directly from the developer’s website. If it comes from any other source, it's unsafe.
5. Java on the Web (not to be confused with JavaScript, to which it's not related, despite the similarity of the names) is a weak point in the security of any system. Java is, among other things, a platform for running complex applications in a web page, on the client. That was never a good idea, and Java's developers have had a lot of trouble implementing it without also creating a portal for malware to enter. Past Java exploits are the closest thing there has ever been to a Windows-style "virus" affecting OS X. Merely loading a page with malicious Java content could be harmful. Fortunately, Java on the Web is mostly extinct. Only a few outmoded sites still use it. Try to hasten the process of extinction by avoiding those sites, if you have a choice.
Java is not included in OS X 10.7 and later. Discrete Java installers are distributed by Apple and by Oracle (the developer of Java.) Don't use either one unless you need it. Most people don't. If Java is installed, disable it — not JavaScript — in your browsers. In Safari, this is done by unchecking the box marked Enable Java in the Security tab of the preferences dialog.
Regardless of version, experience has shown that Java on the Web can't be trusted. If you must use a Java applet for a specific task, enable Java only when needed for the task and disable it immediately when done. Close all other browser windows and tabs, and don't visit any other sites while Java is active. Never enable Java on a public web page that carries third-party advertising. Use it only on well-known, password-protected, secure websites without ads. In Safari 6 or later, you'll see a lock icon in the address bar with the abbreviation "https" when visiting a secure site.
Follow these guidelines, and you’ll be practically as safe from malware as you can be.
6. Never install any commercial "anti-virus" or "Internet security" products for the Mac, as they all do more harm than good, if they do any good at all. If you need to be able to detect Windows malware in your files, use the free software ClamXav — nothing else.
Why shouldn't you use commercial "anti-virus" products?
Their design is predicated on the nonexistent threat that malware may be injected at any time, anywhere in the file system. Malware is downloaded from the network; it doesn't materialize from nowhere.
In order to meet that nonexistent threat, the software modifies or duplicates low-level functions of the operating system, which is a waste of resources and a common cause of instability, bugs, and poor performance.
By modifying the operating system, the software itself may create weaknesses that could be exploited by malware attackers.
7. ClamXav doesn't have these drawbacks. That doesn't mean it's entirely safe. It may report email messages that have "phishing" links in the body, or Windows malware in attachments, as infected files, and offer to delete or move them. Doing so will corrupt the Mail database. The messages should be deleted from within the Mail application.
ClamXav is not needed, and should not be relied upon, for protection against OS X malware. It's useful only for detecting Windows malware. Windows malware can't harm you directly (unless, of course, you use Windows.) Just don't pass it on to anyone else.
A Windows malware attachment in email is usually easy to recognize. The file name will often be targeted at people who aren't very bright; for example:
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥!!!!!!!H0TBABEZ4U!!!!!!!.AVI♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.exe
ClamXav may be able to tell you which particular virus or trojan it is, but do you care? In practice, there's seldom a reason to use ClamXav unless a network administrator requires you to run an anti-virus application.
8. The greatest harm done by anti-virus software, in my opinion, is in its effect on human behavior. It does little or nothing to protect people from emerging threats, but they get a false sense of security from it, and then they may behave in ways that expose them to higher risk. Nothing can lessen the need for safe computing practices.
9. It seems to be a common belief that the built-in Application Firewall acts as a barrier to infection, or prevents malware from functioning. It does neither. It blocks inbound connections to certain network services you're running, such as file sharing. It's disabled by default and you should leave it that way if you're behind a router on a private home or office network. Activate it only when you're on an untrusted network, for instance a public Wi-Fi hotspot, where you don't want to provide services. Disable any services you don't use in the Sharing preference pane. All are disabled by default.

What is the biggest bottleneck on this machine - CPU, GPU, RAM (now at 8GB), or the HD, and would I be better getting a current 27" iMac, a 2012 Mac Mini, or SSDs for my current Mini?

I currently have a 2011 Mac Mini Server. When using FCP X, what is the biggest bottleneck on this machine - CPU, GPU, RAM (now at 8GB), or the HD, and would I be better getting a current 27" iMac, a 2012 Mac Mini, or SSDs for my current Mini?
Thanks people,
TZ

Hi Tom,
I just wanted to ask you about what you said about the color correction. To be quite honest I'm not sure what the best workflow is, and I haven't gotten my feet wet in multi-cam editing. Basically my work-flow has been.
1) Import from the camera as optimized media - I found that adding color-correction at the import stage cause a severe hang with my tape-based Canon unit.
2) Color-correct the imported files before loading any files into a project
3) Drag files onto the timeline
4) Click on the color-correction box
5) Start editing - Usually I have one camera zoomed a little tighter on the singer, one on the whole band, and my iPad or iPhone camera at different angles so I start cutting things according to who is the focus of the moment, add a Ken Burns effect every here and there, Titles, an occassional transition effect.
6) Add music effects after the looks are taken care of
7) Export
Are you recommending clicking on the color-correction box after everything is done?
Thanks - TZ

How can I move my itunes movies from my iMac to my mac mini which is serving as a media server attached to HDTV?

I want to move my itunes movies from my iMac to my Mac Mini, which is hooked up to my HDTV, so that I can save space on the iMac and use the direct source Mac Mini to view the iTunes movies that I purchase and download. Can anyone give me ideas on how to do that?

iTunes does not have provision for automatically storing one kind of media on a separate drive, so you have some basic decisions to make first. Do you want these movies to still appear in your iTunes library, or are you content with browsing filenames on a drive in Finder when you want to look for one? The second's the easiest thing because then you don't have to have an external drive permanently turned on and attached to your computer (wired or wireless). To do that you literelly only need to drag your movies folder to an archive drive and delete movies from iTunes. To watch them again you can add it back to iTunes while holding down the option key so the movie is used from its location on the external drive.
There's ways to move the movies to an external drive while keeping them in iTunes but the external drive iwll always have to be turned on and connected to the computer or you will see a bunch of broken link exclamation marks.
Realize what you are talking about is not "backup". Backup (which you should do) is putting a second or more copy of items on external drives for the day when your internal drive fails and everything on it is lost, inclduing all your home photos and perhaps things that have been pulled from the iTunes Store and can no longer be re-downloaded.

I am trying to get Zen-Cart on my mac mini server lion 10.6

I am trying to get Zen-Cart on my mac mini server lion 10.6 and am stuck getting mysql installed.
Bassiclly what I am trying to do is have a cart for my site I host locally I used iWeb to creat the site and it has no cart plug in I am aware of which makes it useless for ecommerce. Other than that it is nice to use maybe im missing somethin? So I am looking for solutions to get Zen Cart installed (easilly) to include mysql since OSX does not have it. Some questions
Is there a good free packaged installer for mysql and or zencart?
is there a better OS cart solution for OS X ?
Can iWeb be updated by me to host an e cart, or is there a plug in I can get?
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Hello,
Is this Win 7 32 bit version?
If so & you don't want to upgrade to the 64 bit version...
There is Parallels...
http://www.parallels.com/
VmWare Fusion...
http://www.vmware.com/mac
VirtualBox...
http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

Can i connect my iMac to a mac mini (wirelessly) and control the mac mini display on my TV?

Can i connect my iMac to a mac mini (wirelessly) and control the mac mini display on my TV?

Look up "screen sharing" in help
You can control your mini (which I am assuming you are hooking to your TV) complete from your iMac.
After you set up screen sharing, you can go to the finder, under the "go" menu choose "Connect to server" and then browse. Choose your mac mini's name, and look for the "Screen Sharing" button.
Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, and then click Sharing.
Select the Screen Sharing checkbox.
To specify who can share your screen, select one of the following:
All users:
Select this if you want to allow any user with a user account on your computer to share your screen.
Only these users:
Select this if you want to restrict screen sharing to specific users.Click Add at the bottom of the Users list and select a user from Users & Groups (accounts you have set up in Users & Groups preferences), Network Users (users on your network), or your Address Book. Or click New Person and enter a name and password to create a sharing account. Then select that user from the list, and then click Select.
Click Computer Settings and set the following options:
Anyone may request permission to control screen:
Select this to allow anyone on your network to request to share your screen.
VNC viewers may control screen with password:
Select this and enter a password that VNC viewer applications can enter in order to control your screen.It’s recommended that you not set a password if you only share this computer’s screen using the built-in screen sharing viewer in Mac OS X.

Just bought Windows XP laptop and can't get it to see my mac mini

I bought a netbook for easy cheap web surfing, windows xp.
However, really want it to be able to read Itunes and Photos from my mac mini.
I just can't get it to see the mac mini at all.
I have set up Itunes and photos folders for sharing, and on the sharing page
set up for windows access.
I have seen various forums where it says log in as windows user in the accounts setting, however my accounts setting does not have this option when you open it.
I am at a loss.
Does anyone know the way to sort this?
Many thanks

Hi- can you please clarify:
1. Is your netbook and your mac mini connected to the same network? How are you connected to the network? WiFi or LAN? Are you using a router?

I've lost my old firefox, how do i get it back? My MAC mini is OS 10.5

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Should I get a black or white ipad mini?

Should I get a black or white ipad mini I will be using it daily?

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find a store that has them both and see which one you like the best. 'good or bad' is all cosmetic.

Instal imac from Another mac mini

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whit 1394

Please also note that this forum is for questions about Apple Remote Desktop, Apple's software for managing networked Mac systems. If you are not asking about Apple Remote Desktop, I'd suggest you ask for assistance in the iMac or Mac OS X forums.
Regards.

Should I get an iMac or a Mac Mini?

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