Should I get a Mac Mini?

[KWelz]

Mac Mini's are great for Daily computing work.  However they are not good for anything related to gaming.  

[AlanAlan]

Mac Mini's are great for Daily computing work. However they are not good for anything related to gaming.

Don't forget you can always run Windows on that Mac Mini with Bootcamp. And if you really wanted, you could get a external Thunderbolt GPU housing and have a dedicated GPU if you wanted to play games on it without buying/building a whole new PC.

 

Do you know what websites I can check that I am paying the lowest price for the Mac mini?

No you should not.

 

Why?

[KWelz]

Do you know what websites I can check that I am paying the lowest price for the Mac mini?

 

I usually check Microcenter and Apples Refurbished section.   

[HighTimez]

i'm afraid it will get pretty hot to when playing games i wouldn't recommend it

[Sauron]

No. For that price you can get something much, much better for everything you want to do on it.

[DrMacintosh]

No. For that price you can get something much, much better for everything you want to do on it.

 

That actually isn't really the case here. $450 for a Mac Mini of this caliber? We have already looked, any pre-built/barebones won't really compare to the Mac Mini for the price and performance.

i'm afraid it will get pretty hot to when playing games i wouldn't recommend it

 

Not really, any PC will get pretty hot when playing games, but that thing is a slab of metal waiting to dissipate heat.

[Sauron]

That actually isn't really the case here. $450 for a Mac Mini of this caliber? We have already looked, any pre-built/barebones won't really compare to the Mac Mini for the price and performance.

 

Not in the same form factor, that's not what I meant - but for 450$ I can easily muster a build that is more powerful and snappy than that.

[ShadowCaptain]

For browsing, office work, light photo editing etc - yes a mac mini is great

 

for anything heavy/gaming no

[DrMacintosh]

Not in the same form factor, that's not what I meant - but for 450$ I can easily muster a build that is more powerful and snappy than that.

Of course the, "I can build something better for cheaper" argument, classic.

[You_are_a_cunt]

Hell no.

For the same price you can get a NUC, Brix or Zbox and still have a bucketload of cash leftover

[Sauron]

Of course the, "I can build something better for cheaper" argument, classic.

 

And yet 100% true? If you need the form factor there's no arguing about custom builds, but if you don't a mac mini doesn't make sense...

[DrMacintosh]

Hell no.
For the same price you can get a NUC, Brix or Zbox and still have a bucketload of cash leftover

 

Those are all barebone PCs, you have to buy the last few components totaling in at around $100 extra on top of the price. That "bucket load" really isn't that much at all...

no

 

Troll is troll, ding*

[You_are_a_cunt]

Those are all barebone PCs, you have to buy the last few components totaling in at around $100 extra on top of the price. That "bucket load" really isn't that much at all...

Cheapest Brix is about 125 EUR, a stick of 8 gigs of ram is like 30 EUR and a 1TB drive is another 60 EUR

[DrMacintosh]

And yet 100% true? If you need the form factor there's no arguing about custom builds, but if you don't a mac mini doesn't make sense...

Make him a PC on PC part picker then and share the link if you can build one with more power for less money.

[RedRound2]

And yet 100% true? If you need the form factor there's no arguing about custom builds, but if you don't a mac mini doesn't make sense...

 

Have you even considered that he may not want to build a PC like most people. He doesn't want waste his time trying to figure out what parts he has to buy, dealing with individual manufacturers, hunting for best quotes in local shops (if available) etc

 

Second, please show me a build for $449 with windows that's equally has good quality parts, aesthetically pleasing and compact.

 

Building a PC only really makes sense if you want a high end or specific use case. Otherwise computers like the Mac mini and iMac are better alternative for no frills users

[DrMacintosh]

Cheapest Brix is about 125 EUR, a stick of 8 gigs of ram is like 30 EUR and a 1TB drive is another 60 EUR

I don't know where EUR is used, but here in the States, those PCs cost around $250 USD but have i3 processors. The Mac Mini wins in terms of performance of you buy one of the cheaper mini PCs. If you upgrade to an i5, the mini PCs become closer to the Mac Minis price and performance....but you still gotta add your RAM and your drive. Don't forget that those mini PCs have terrible I/O and don't look very great in comparison to the sleek Mac Mini.

[Kaita]

I'd say do more research. See if you can build a mini-itx PC that could beat the mac mini at the same price.

[Sauron]

Make him a PC on PC part picker then and share the link if you can build one with more power for less money.

 

Easy...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($188.75 @ OutletPC) 

Motherboard: Asus B85M-D PLUS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($59.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($29.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($48.99 @ NCIX US) 

Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($29.99 @ Newegg) 

Power Supply: SeaSonic 350W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($32.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Total: $390.70

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-21 10:44 EST-0500

 

 

Have you even considered that he may not want to build a PC like most people. He doesn't want waste his time trying to figure out what parts he has to buy, dealing with individual manufacturers, hunting for best quotes in local shops (if available) etc

 

Second, please show me a build for $449 with windows that's equally has good quality parts, aesthetically pleasing and compact.

 

Building a PC only really makes sense if you want a high end or specific use case. Otherwise computers like the Mac mini and iMac are better alternative for no frills users

 

No need to "waste time finding the parts to buy", we can easily take care of it with pcpartpicker for him. All he needs to do is click the "buy" button.

 

I never said I can build something better that looks better in the same form factor, I also clearly said if he needs the form factor he can't make a custom build. And he needs windows because...?  nvm forgot he wanted to game

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($174.89 @ OutletPC) 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H81M-HD2 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($39.99 @ Micro Center) 

Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($29.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($48.99 @ NCIX US) 

Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($29.99 @ Newegg) 

Power Supply: SeaSonic 350W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($32.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit)  ($89.99 @ NCIX US) 

Total: $446.83

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-21 10:48 EST-0500

[DebatED Nothing]

Hell no.

For the same price you can get a NUC, Brix or Zbox and still have a bucketload of cash leftover

How does buying something for "the same price" leave you a "bucketload of cash" compared to buying the mac mini?

 

I don't know where EUR is used, but here in the States, those PCs cost around $250 USD but have i3 processors. The Mac Mini wins in terms of performance of you buy one of the cheaper mini PCs. If you upgrade to an i5, the mini PCs become closer to the Mac Minis price and performance....but you still gotta add your RAM and your drive. Don't forget that those mini PCs have terrible I/O and don't look very great in comparison to the sleek Mac Mini.

EUR is a currency, as in €? Euros the currency in most EU member states?

[DrMacintosh]

Easy...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($188.75 @ OutletPC)

Motherboard: Asus B85M-D PLUS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($59.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Memory:

G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($29.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.99 @ NCIX US)

Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: SeaSonic 350W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($32.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Total: $390.70

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-21 10:44 EST-0500

No need to "waste time finding the parts to buy", we can easily take care of it with pcpartpicker for him. All he needs to do is click the "buy" button.

I never said I can build something better that looks better in the same form factor, I also clearly said if he needs the form factor he can't make a custom build. And he needs windows because...? nvm forgot he wanted to game

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.89 @ OutletPC)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H81M-HD2 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($39.99 @ Micro Center)

Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($29.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.99 @ NCIX US)

Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: SeaSonic 350W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($32.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($89.99 @ NCIX US)

Total: $446.83

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-21 10:48 EST-0500

THE SAVINGS! $60! Wow!

[KWelz]

Not to mention fewer USB, no Thunderbolt, higher thermals and power draw.  

[Sauron]

THE SAVINGS! $60! Wow!

 

and it's twice as fast with twice as much storage. And 60$ on 450 are a 15% saving, which is not bad for a 100% performance gain.

 

want the same performance?

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($64.99 @ Amazon) 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H81M-HD2 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($39.99 @ Micro Center) 

Memory: Mushkin ECO2 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($16.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Western Digital AV-GP 500GB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($35.90 @ Amazon) 

Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($29.99 @ Newegg) 

Power Supply: SeaSonic 350W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($32.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Total: $220.85

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-21 11:09 EST-0500

 

voilà, half the price

 

Not to mention fewer USB, no Thunderbolt, higher thermals and power draw.  

 

wow, 2$ extra per year if even that (remind me why exactly thermals matter in this case?)

 

oh and the wonderful thunderbolt he can use for.... for... oh right, nothing useful in this case - thunderbolt drives are incredibly expensive and he doesn't need them at all. Usb expansion cards are 20$.

[KWelz]

I know you are the resident self appointed leader of the Apple hate club but give it a rest.  

 

You have posted a machine that offers literally nothing above the iMac the OP asked about.   Even price as almost identical.  

 

Most people seem to forget that specs aren't everything.  user Experience, Form factor, etc all play into it   If only specs mattered we would have 1 type of car, one type of TV, one type of phone, etc.    

[RedRound2]

 

snip

 

So basically you just made an almost similar PC (granted with double the memory and storage) for almost same price (including windows). Now let's rethink priorities here

 

- You're getting a much better form factor with great ID

- You're getting pretty much getting the best after sales support in terms of both hardware and software

- You're getting Thunderbolt port for potential expansion

- User experience and much easier troubleshooting as its a popular machine

 

With custom build,

- Not everyone live in the US for an easy PCPartPicker checkout

- Nor anyone has the time to review each and every part for compatibility and reliability issues

- Don't have to troubleshoot problems yourself or bother shipping it back to anyone when you could just goto local app store and fix the issue in like 30 min

 

For an enthusiast like me sure a custom build would be a better fit but for most people in the world the former option is much more appealing than non perceivable performance improvement in MS Word

[Sauron]

So basically you just made an almost similar PC (granted with double the memory and storage) for almost same price (including windows). Now let's rethink priorities here

 

- You're getting a much better form factor with great ID

- You're getting pretty much getting the best after sales support in terms of both hardware and software

- You're getting Thunderbolt port for potential expansion

- User experience and much easier troubleshooting as its a popular machine

 

With custom build,

- Not everyone live in the US for an easy PCPartPicker checkout

- Nor anyone has the time to review each and every part for compatibility and reliability issues

- Don't have to troubleshoot problems yourself or bother shipping it back to anyone when you could just goto local app store and fix the issue in like 30 min

 

For an enthusiast like me sure a custom build would be a better fit but for most people in the world the former option is much more appealing than non perceivable performance improvement in MS Word

 

no, no, no - the i5 in there is more than twice as fast as the mobile, underclocked and undervolted one on the mac mini we're talking about.

 

-again, I said if form factor doesn't matter. It definitely wouldn't to me as I have plenty of space, but I did say that if it matters this build obviously won't do.

-personally I believe having individual warranties for different parts is better. You can still pay a shop like ncix 50 bucks to build it for you and you get their warranty too.

-expansion? like what? external thunderbolt drives are extremely expensive and completely pointless when you don't even have an ssd inside the computer, whereas you can easily expand and upgrade a custom build

-the "easy" troubleshooting is completely voided by the fact that it's a custom form factor machine inside which you can barely change anything without tearing it apart, definitely not easy to repair

 

as for pcpartpicker, he linked to a us amazon page so it's safe to assume he lives there. If he doesn't, prices will be different and this whole discussion won't make any sense. Time is not a concern, we're here to do it for him. And apple stores don't do hardware repairs on spot in 30 minutes... they'll either give you a new one or send it to a repair centre which will take at least a day, just like going to ncix or a dedicated store for it.

 

He said he'd use it for more than just word, too - he mentioned games. And a mac mini just won't do for those.