Now that eighty percent of Apple's five Mac product lines have been souped up with Intel Sandy Bridge processors and Thunderbolt I/O ports, desk-bound consumers may find themselves in a bit of a quandary as to which one to buy. Does it still make sense to buy an iMac with such a fully featured Mac mini now available? Read on to find out.
Since its introduction in 1998, the iMac has remained the "go to" all-in-one desktop computer for most Mac users. After all, one price gets you a large, bright display that also happens to house the computer and many peripherals, complete with a wireless keyboard and mouse to make the package complete. Why would users who don't need internal expansion slots look elsewhere?
That logic made sense -- the Mac Pro is too much computer for many users, and the Mac mini introduced in 2005 was woefully underpowered for all but casual internet and word processing duties. That is, until last year, when the Mac mini got a sexy new look that made desktop fans stop and take another look.
Sizing Up the iMac
Last week, the decision got even harder following Apple's introduction a refreshed Mac mini lineup complete with Intel Sandy Bridge processors and Thunderbolt I/O port in addition to all its other already awesome features. While the iMac still packs more raw processing power than the Mac mini, if you're already equipped with a monitor, keyboard and mouse you love, that diminutive Mac might just be worth another look.
This year's iMac refresh didn't introduce much in the way of new features beyond Sandy Bridge and Thunderbolt, but as usual, Apple made them even faster, with AMD Radeon HD graphics standard across the board. Starting at $1199 and maxing out at $1999 (not counting various build-to-order options available from Apple's website), the iMac is definitely a larger investment than the Mac mini -- but you get a lot for those extra dollars.
Memory and Storage
Available in both 21.5-inch and 27-inch display sizes, the iMac features 4GB of RAM standard (compared to the base model Mac mini with a mere 2GB), expandable to 16GB -- that's a critical difference for anyone considering a Mac mini, which tops out at 8GB of RAM. If you plan to use your Mac for Final Cut Pro X, Photoshop CS5.5 or other 64-bit applications that can use all available RAM, you'll want to stick with the iMac for now, unless you're used to running a single task or two at a time on your existing Mac.
The iMac line also makes 7200-rpm hard drives standard across the line, with all but the base model featuring 1TB of storage (the cheapest 21.5-inch iMac comes with 500GB) and configurable up to 2TB online, or with a second 256GB solid-state drive. While the Mac mini is now also capable of a second SSD, the hard drive storage maxes out at 750GB (and the default is even less at 500GB, 5400-rpm).
Processor Speed
The iMac is now one of the fastest Mac computers ever thanks to Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors, but just how much faster are they than the Mac mini? Now that both lines feature Intel's Sandy Bridge architecture, the systems are a bit more on equal footing -- but the iMac still has the speed advantage.
The base model 21.5-inch iMac comes equipped with a 2.5GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 with 6MB on-chip shared L3 cache, compared to a stock Mac mini with a 2.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 with 3MB on-chip shared L3 cache. In fact, the entire iMac lineup features quad-core Core i5 processors versus the Mac mini's dual-core, a crucial difference that equates to faster everything in the real world.
At the high end of the Mac mini, the processor speed for the $799 model tops out at 2.5GHz dual-core (2.7GHz for a build-to-order model), while the high-end 27-inch iMac ramps things up to 3.1GHz quad-core, configurable to a 3.4GHz quad-core Core i7 which smokes every other Mac, including the current Mac Pro with its dual 2.4GHz quad-core Intel Xeon ES620 "Westmere" processors in many cases.
Graphics
The iMac also outpaces the Mac mini when it comes to graphics, thanks to its AMD Radeon HD GPU -- 6750M on the 21.5-inch base model, 6770M on the high-end 21.5-inch or base model 27-inch and 6970M on the high-end 27-inch, the latter of which can be configured with 2GB GDDR5 graphics memory (versus the stock 1GB). All other models come standard with 512MB of GDDR5 memory.
While the Mac mini isn't exactly a slouch with its AMD Radeon HD 6630M graphics with 256MB of GDDR5 memory on the high-end model, the $599 base model sticks with the on-board Intel HD Graphics 3000 processor with 288MB of DDR3 SDRAM, which is shared with the main memory.
Despite their GPU differences, all of these computers are capable of driving a monitor up to 2560 x 1600 resolution through the Thunderbolt port, with the 21.5-inch iMac display rocking 1920 x 1080 pixels and the 27-inch iMac jamming up to 2560 x 1440 pixels. One Mac mini advantage is the built-in HDMI output (a feature yet to appear on the iMac) with support for up to 1920 x 1200 resolution, which can be converted to DVI using the included adapter for dual display or mirroring.
Other Considerations
While the specs alone would seem to indicate that the iMac is the clear winner, there are other things worth considering before you crack open your wallet. Perhaps you've already got an awesome monitor at home with plenty of life left in it -- buying an iMac would be redundant unless you're planning to go with a dual display. (Indeed, you can use the iMac display as a second monitor, which we're currently doing with a 30-inch Dell as our main display.) Not everyone has space for an iMac, while a Mac mini can fit most anywhere, depending upon the monitor size.
The same logic applies for users who have already invested in their favorite keyboard and mouse. Apple doesn't include either of these items with the Mac mini, while the iMac comes standard with the Apple Wireless Keyboard and your choice of either a Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad. (Of course, you can use whatever keyboard and mouse you'd like.) Mac mini users also lose out on an iSight camera for use with iChat or FaceTime -- that is, unless one chooses to buy the new 27-inch Thunderbolt Display for another $999, in which case you'd for sure be better off with the iMac.
Speaking of the 27-inch iMac, that model also doubles the fun when it comes to Thunderbolt I/O ports, featuring two of those little speed demons (the 21.5-inch comes with only one). Not a big deal since there aren't too many Thunderbolt peripherals available yet and they can easily be daisy-chained, but two ports are always better than one. Finally, all iMac models come with a SuperDrive (at least for now), which will set you back another $79 should you choose to go with the Mac mini, which finally lost its optical drive with last week's refresh.
We know: Decisions, decisions! The good news is that today's Mac mini and iMac computers are both very capable systems, so buy what you can afford (and have space/need for), content in knowing that you'll be getting OS X Lion and all of its 64-bit goodness that will serve you well for the foreseeable future.
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