Replacement iMac or Mac Mini?

wibbly · 26 Dec 2015

Looks like my old 2009 iMac has had enough of Christmas and given up the ghost with little signs of a comeback at present. I'm making the assumption that the HDD is FUBAR as it won't load or repair regardless of what I do.

I'm interested to know what thoughts are regarding replacement for either another 27"iMac, possibly a second hand 2010/2011 model or a Mac Mini and separate monitor to suit.

Most of what I do is either LR/PS through the cloud or local web development work.

I'm not really sure of how good the spec of a Mac Mini is compared to an iMac.

This isn't about MS v Apple etc. I like Appl, I've used their products for around 8 years now so am really not looking for suggestions on Windows products or to provoke a rug menus on which system is better - simply any real world experience of iMac v Mac Mini.

Thanks

Earley Man · 26 Dec 2015

If you find that the speed of your existing iMac is still adequate for your processing needs then it might be worth considering doing what I did last year when my 2008 iMac developed HDD problems. I took it to a local repairer, who has a good reputation, and got a 480 Gb SSD fitted, which improved the performance and was a lot less money than buying a new one.

steveb · 26 Dec 2015

It's quite easy and economical to replace your iMac's hard drive, worth doing unless it had other issues.

wibbly · 26 Dec 2015

Thanks guys, replacement of the HDD is one option, albeit I'm not convinced I'd bother throwing the cost of an SSD at it to be frank. I guess any 3.5” SATA drive "will do" and as these are relatively cheap, it would be a pretty quick fix and still give me comparable space.

As a backstory to this, I have a 256GB MacBook Air, which is almost constantly full, so as much as I see the speed benefits of SSD, I like cheap physical size too

andyred · 26 Dec 2015

I think I'd be tempted to replace the HDD on your current iMac if you were happy with how it performed prior to dying...

If not, then it's a good excuse (if one was needed

) to upgrade to a new Retina iMac - but this is a significantly more expensive option...

funny_h0w · 2 Jan 2016

andyred said:
I think I'd be tempted to replace the HDD on your current iMac if you were happy with how it performed prior to dying...

If not, then it's a good excuse (if one was needed ) to upgrade to a new Retina iMac - but this is a significantly more expensive option...

I agree... why not try an SSD and maybe if you can afford it, some upgraded memory (RAM).

If not, then a iMac Retina would be a good way to go!

ancient_mariner · 2 Jan 2016

To try to answer the OP, provided the spec is similar then there will be little to choose between the performance of a Mini or iMac. However the mini will work with whatever screen you choose, and when it needs replacing you will only throw away the mini - not the computer and screen. In your situation, provided you were happy with the spec of the mini and did not hanker after an almost cable-free environment then it would be the mini every time for me.

Andy Taylor · 2 Jan 2016

ancient_mariner said:
To try to answer the OP, provided the spec is similar then there will be little to choose between the performance of a Mini or iMac. However the mini will work with whatever screen you choose, and when it needs replacing you will only throw away the mini - not the computer and screen. In your situation, provided you were happy with the spec of the mini and did not hanker after an almost cable-free environment then it would be the mini every time for me.

The current minis are under powered compared to the iMacs. It's still the cheapest way to get a (new) Mac, but the specs are no longer comparable.

As for the OP - hard drive replacements are fairly easy to do, there was a time when I could swap the drive in a 2009 era iMac in about 10 minutes. You don't even need to remove the LCD, just unscrew and tilt forward to access the drive. Sometimes it would take longer to clean the dust off the glass before replacement.

You will need to check if your hard drive has the built-in thermal sensor - you may need to get an adapter to "fool" the logic board. Otherwise, your fans continuously run at full speed.