iMac, or Mini for Portal 2?

A

alhava

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 8, 2004
Messages
82
My Fiancee is a composer, and she makes good use of Garage band on her aging MacBook. I'd like to get her a Mac desktop as a graduation present, but the price/value is killing me.

The Mac Mini has a much more approachable price, but we'd be using a standard display, and that will lack some of the "wow" that we'd get out of the iMac. Also, if I have to spend $200 on peripherals, there goes the price difference.

She's a fan of Portal (2), and I would love her new computer to be as good at playing it as her old one (2.2 Ghz, C2 Duo, nVidia 9800).

Does anyone have experience with this?
 
I play portal 2 just fine on my 13inch 2010 macbook pro - The mac mini is about the same guts as my macbook pro (nvidia 320m) so it'll run portal OK, just not that great at the higher resolutions of a desktop monitor. (I run it native on my mbp's screen, 1280x800)

I imagine that the one of the new iMac's won't have any trouble.
 
Portal is a pretty low demand game visually, should not have any issues on either machine.
 
Mac Mini (2.4 C2D +320M) = $700
Magic Mouse = $70
BT Keyboard = $70
Dell U2210 (ips) = $230

Total = $1070

New Imac (2.5 Core i5 quad with 6750M) = $1200

I'd take the quad, upgraded graphics, and form factor of the iMac all day long. The C2D will function fine in everyday tasks, but it is long in the tooth at this point. Plus, remember, happy wife, happy life.
 
I'm playing on a 1-1/2 yr old Mac Mini with no issues. I've got a pair of older 22" Acer 16:10 displays and a Logitch Trackman Wheel. The only "additional" cost was a Mac keyboard.
 
alhava said:
My Fiancee is a composer, and she makes good use of Garage band on her aging MacBook. I'd like to get her a Mac desktop as a graduation present, but the price/value is killing me.

The Mac Mini has a much more approachable price, but we'd be using a standard display, and that will lack some of the "wow" that we'd get out of the iMac. Also, if I have to spend $200 on peripherals, there goes the price difference.

She's a fan of Portal (2), and I would love her new computer to be as good at playing it as her old one (2.2 Ghz, C2 Duo, nVidia 9800).

Does anyone have experience with this?
Click to expand...

She's still in school so you can use the educational discount.
21.5" iMac - $1150 - Sandy Bridge 2400S i5 Quadcore, 4GB DDR3, 500GB HDD, ATi 6750M, 1920x1080 21.5" IPS

It's not really a bad deal when you look at similar prebuilt systems.
 
ryken said:
Mac Mini (2.4 C2D +320M) = $700
Magic Mouse = $70
BT Keyboard = $70
Dell U2210 (ips) = $230

Total = $1070

New Imac (2.5 Core i5 quad with 6750M) = $1200

I'd take the quad, upgraded graphics, and form factor of the iMac all day long. The C2D will function fine in everyday tasks, but it is long in the tooth at this point. Plus, remember, happy wife, happy life.
Click to expand...

This.
 
If you decide you want a mac mini I would wait a few. I know if you are always waiting for the next thing you will never get anything but they should come out in the next 2 months or so and I think the wait will be worth the i series. But they may also just use intels graphics... but I think it could still handle portal 2.
 
Happy Wife, Happy Life.
I think those are words to grow by.

I'll call my local apple store to see if I can get one of thems new iMacs.
 
Echoing what everyone else here has said, the iMac is a much better value. Better components, more storage, IPS display, you are getting way more bang for your buck than with the Mini.
 
alhava said:
Happy Wife, Happy Life.
I think those are words to grow by.

I'll call my local apple store to see if I can get one of thems new iMacs.
Click to expand...

or the Southern variant:

if momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top