Mac mini or iMac? (1 Viewer)

Well, as a HS graduation present, I'm getting a new computer. And also since i'm getting a FREE copy of Final Cut Pro 4 Studio, that I should take the Mac plunge.
I was considering an entry-level PowerMac, but then saw an iMac for the same price, but with better specs.

But then, I'm considering a customised Mac Mini with these specs:

1GB DDR333 SDRAM - 1 DIMM
• 80GB Ultra ATA drive
• 4x SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW)
• Wired Keyboard & Mouse Set - U.S. English
• 56K v.92 Modem
• Mac OS X - U.S. English
• 1.42GHz PowerPC G4

So, what would you guys recommend for Final Cut Pro usage for a guy whose parents is on a budget?

If you can swing the extra couple hundred bucks, I'd definitely spring for the iMac. You'll really appreciate the extra power the G5 provides when crunching video. In addition, the serial ATA hard drives in the iMacs are far faster than drives in the Minis.

iMac. No doubt. As Steve said, the Mac mini runs on a G4 processor, while the iMac runs on a G5. The hard drives on the Mac mini run at 4200 rpm while the iMac drives run at 7200 rpm. Huge difference.

If you can swing it, the iMac hands down.

I'd suggest an eMac over the Mac Mini if the iMac falls out of the race. Fully loaded at 1GB of Memory, 160GB HD and the same G4 processor, the eMac hits the ground at $1124 (superdrive model, natch).

I also recommend the iMac. It's much faster and the latest revision has terrific graphics, Tiger, and the new iLife. You can get by fine with 512RAM if you want to save money.

Well I took the plunge and bought a Mac Mini with a 500gb firewire drive to act as a media server. I hooked it up to my SP 5000 via DVI and Infocus's M1 convertor cable and it was great for about a day and a half, then no dispaly on the projo. I've gone through everything and it seems like it's a sync issue between the mac mini and the projo. I'll have a 33' DVI from Infocus here tomorrow and they feel that this should solve the problem. Interesting, try calling Apple Care and mention the word "projector" and they throw out, "we don't support it, only standard monitors (crt or LCD)". So I brought down my 19" LCD and hooked the DVI imput to the mini and it worked without issue.

Does anyone have any other idea's?

Gary
:frowning:

Does the SP 5000 have some kinda funky resolution? I don't know what kind of video card is in there but nVidia cards need later drivers to work with some of the weirder res's out there.

Update -

I found this: http://www.techforless.com/cgi-bin/t...u6aj&mv_pc=890

A well priced Powermac single CPU G5. I'll upgrade it with a gig of ram, and I have a hard drive that I purchased last december, in my old, old PC, so I'll just put it in the G5, burn all my MP3's and videos to DVD, and reformat it.

FYI: The G5's use a serial ATA bus for the hard drives. Hopefully that's the type of drive you bought for the best performance.

I would hold off until Apple switches over to Intel CPU's.

They're not going to begin switching for about another year. If you need a Mac now, that's not a reason to wait.

As much as I applaud Apple's move to Intel for business and market share reasons, I wouldn't want an Intel inside my Mac... give me a PPC chip anyday! It's not like Intel has caught up with IBM/Motorola in the Performance race.

I'm so glad I'm getting my next Mac in August. Although I'm sad to be leaving the world of fruity colors for Steve's 21st century take on Henry Ford.

No way, it may well be two years before it hits PowerMac and iMac lines as mentioned above. I'm very satisfied with the new Dual 2.3Ghz and 20" display. The Mac you buy today will still work fine for the next 4+ years if you want it to without limitations. If you want the Intel box, you could always sell the current machine then. Anything that runs OS X will still have plenty of value. A mini is a throwaway priced box and will probably still sell for greater than half it's price in two years.

If it means fast, light, low heat PowerBooks then I look forward to the Mactel platform. Apple was smart and brave to do this. PPC is a great chip as I have learned from my iMac but laptops are very important for Apple's long-term strategy.

Go ahead and buy what you need today...unless you can wait until October when new models may come out. The new Intel machines are still distant and then you may have some Version 1 issues as well.

Good point and I should have mentioned it. Apple's decision makes loads of sense, I'm just saying it creeps me out to think of the commercial that will inevitably come out. Picture a nice Mac and that familiar jingle with the words 'Intel Inside' superimposed. Anyone else feel that involuntary shudder? It violates all the known laws of man & nature. Remember the flaming bunny suits?

I would not pay for an upgrade to a Superdrive model, since it is a complete ripoff. You can buy the drives externally for about $150.

That kinda defeats the "all-in-one" purpose of the iMac. A $150 upgrade compared to $200 isn't that much.

Most versions of iDVD won't burn to external drives.

From what I understand, the latest version of iDVD will export a disk image file, which you can then use to burn DVDs on an external drive, but it's still not the single-step process available with internal SuperDrives.

Well...due to money constraints...thats what I got! TO be precise...This: http://www.techforless.com/cgi-bin/t...2YNKZ&mv_pc=63

It's the best deal I've found, especially for a 20 inch iMac. Only thing is the ram is unsatisfactory. My teacher is going to lend me some (he's a Mac head) until I get a gig stick.

I'm expecting it to come sometime this week. I cant wait to see it.