<p>Our 2006 iMac is giving up the ghost. With a college discount, a new 21.5", 2.7GHz iMac would run $1249. We already have a keyboard and mouse hooked up to our old one. What would we sacrifice by going instead to a 2.6 GHz Mac Mini? It sells for $679 and a 20" Acer display can be had for $180. Would our user experience or convenience be significantly less? Would it be any more complicated to move files and photos from our 2006 iMac over to the Mini than if it went iMac to iMac?</p>
<p>No. It’s the same process. The Minis are great. If you don’t want the great big iMac display, go for it.</p>
<p>And if the monitor goes bad, you don’t lose your entire computer.</p>
<p>^ Agree.</p>
<p>Great - Is there any difference for the $400 cost differential other than the size of the monitor? If it’s really the same, I’m not sure why people would still be buying the all-in-one iMac.</p>
<p>If you want to Skype, etc., be sure your monitor has a camera. That is one thing Macs and Mac monitors come with that other monitors may lack. You might need to get a peripheral camera if you want that capability.</p>
<p>It is a good time to spend a bit more on the monitor. Not all LED are created equal. On the bargain side, you have this type </p>
<p><a href=“TigerDirect Sunset”>TigerDirect Sunset;
<p>This is the time of great savings. Subscribe to newegg, tigerdirect, and Amazon. The specials will roll in in the next weeks. </p>
<p>My wife has been using a Mac mini for 5+ years. It continues to work flawlessly other than being slower than the more up to date models (since the CPUs are more powerful and there is more memory) In her case, we had an existing monitor which we recycled. The small footprint works very well for her as her desk is pretty small… </p>
<p>Great feedback - thanks for the point about the camera. Xiggi’s recommendation on a 24" monitor has high quality stereo speakers in the $150 range. That’s pretty appealing.</p>
<p>The Mac minis are great value; however, be aware that the new models are no longer user-upgradable for RAM. If you intend to use your Mini for another 8 years before replacing it, I strongly advise upgrading it to the maximum 16gb of RAM. It’s an extra $200, but that $200 could be the difference between a machine you need to replace in 4-5 years and one that last you for the next 8.</p>
<p>DreamSchlDropout - completely agree. I wish we had maxed out memory on my DW’s machine. I know we could add now, given it is an older model which is upgradeable, but we are also reaching the point where other components are likely to start failing and the machine isn’t worth much. So we just keep it backed up until the time we replace it. </p>
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<p>What are the symptoms of it failing, just out of curiosity. </p>
<p>Still know many folks, especially graphics/desktop publishing pros who still have 2006 era imacs running because they need to stay with Snow Leopard because some/most of their professional software tools are from the powerPC era and they aren’t eager/able to afford spending tens of thousands to replace them…assuming a modern Mountain Lion/Mavericks compatible replacement could be found. </p>
<p>I have a 24" one I use as one of my main home machines after finding the seller of RAM wanted to junk it on the street because it has been giving him problems. Been running fine for a little more than a year. </p>
<p>Turned out cleaning it out of dust and performing some deep internal maintenance did the trick. </p>
<p>Understandably, I understand not everyone can do this as it does require one to open up and field-strip out the entire machine. </p>
<p>I don’t see an option for 16 gb on the Apple Store. The $499 economy model is 4 gb and the other two are 8 gb.</p>
<p>@gadad You select the 16gb upgrade after adding the mini to your cart, on the Configure screen</p>
<p>FWIW, I do the keyboard/monitor thing with my MacbookPro, and I’m very happy. I’m not saying you shouldn’t get the Mini, just that I’m doing the same basic idea. My monitor is much bigger than the iMac I use in my office.</p>