EricBall's Tech Projects

You know, of course, the day after you order an iMac they'll announce the Mini updates.

You know, of course, the day after you order an iMac they'll announce the Mini updates.

And I will be very very upset with the guys who sold me the iMac (local outfit - better than Apple pricing & authorized service center). However, I think the iMac will still have a better GPU than the next Mini - which is probably worth something.

I've been very happy with my iMac for the last couple of years. I just made sure I spec'd out the best CPU and GPU I could at the time, and it still feels as zippy as anything I use at work. (Although I am testing a new Mac Pro… so that could change.)

I'm in limbo.

 

I want a new computer, especially after seeing how much faster my mini is than my late 2008 MacBookPro. I don't like glossy screens so the iMac's out of the picture. I don't think I'll get another laptop, my iPhone and iPad work fine enough when I travel.

 

So I'm debating between the Mac Pro and the mini.

 

One thing that could be a factor is I foresee a 4K HDTV in my future (the added resolution is nice, the expanded color gamut is even nicer). If the updated mini has HDMI 2.0 I'll probably pick one up and plan to turn it into my DVR. The Mac Pro has HDMI 1.4 which supports 4K TVs, but only at 30Hz.

On Friday we picked up my new 27" iMac with the i7 and 780M. The place I bought it from also put in 16GB of RAM for $230, bringing the total up to 24GB for about the same price as Apple would have put in 16GB. I also got the 1TB Fusion drive and the Superdrive (which sits nicely on the "foot"). I also bought a Unicomp Mac layout buckling spring keyboard.

 

I have to say the screen is very, very nice. It doesn't dominate the room like a giant TV (or maybe I'm just used to bigger TVs than I used to be), but when you use it the amount of real estate is impressive. I had to set the mouse sensitivity to near the top just so I wouldn't have to move my whole arm to cross the screen. This is going to make stitching panoramas much easier.

 

(And Apple hasn't announced a new Mac Mini yet.)