sexier setup in my opinion. Not sure what the resolution will look like on the TV, though.

 

So I have a mac mini. I had a 27" iMac for a couple weeks but moved that on as I bought a Mac Pro.

Anyway, back to the topic.

The iMac is amazing, it has most things you need, firewire, usb, wireless peripherals, and a great screen. Its also ver powerful as standard witha big hard disk.

However, when it gets a bit old it'll be hard to make it do other jobs because of its size and the built in monitor.

I have a mac mini as my media PC, bascially all it does is download/convert dvd's and play all my movies/tv.

The modern one has HDMI out inc audio so its fantastic for a media PC, but even my older machine is very capable of being used as a proper PC. I can certainly use it for moderate Photoshop stuff without issue.

It plays full 1080 HD stuff no issues, no jumping/stuttering.

Oh, if plugged into a TV it outputs full 1080HD res, it can do 1900x1200 no issues as well. With a special adaptor it can do 2560x1600.

The new mac mini can have its RAM upgraded easily too.

I personally also store 99% of my stuff on external firewire drives which is much faster than USB2 in day to day usage, and you can daisy chain them so only one cable back into the box.

If you aren't going to be doing PS/Movie editing a lot, and you want to output to a TV then the mini is an excellent choice, but dont forget to budget for wireless keyboard and mouse.

If you want high end stuff, then the iMac might be a better choice.

 

The mini is kind of a gateway machine for PC people, meant to coexist with other machines (and generally use their peripherals) for people who are not quite ready to move away from a PC entirely. They're great little machines, but IMO you're missing a lot of the Mac experience by using generic displays and keyboards.

I'd go with the iMac. The current ones are great machines, I use one as my primary desktop machine at work.

 

I like my setup clean, so both approaches would work. I would have normally said to go with the iMac but the new mini has some impressive spec. I would say it depends on what u use them for. I originally went with the PowerBook g4 for stupid money when I got my first apple. Now I have the black MacBook bc I only use word processing l, Internet, and occassional PS and confocal microscopy stuff for my research. I have that set up to an apple cinema display, with wireless accessories and it works perfectly. If ther performance of the mini is good for you, I would get that, mount it under your desk with a cinema display and use all wireless stuff. Then when u want to move it to your tv it is simple. I use my MB with my sharp 1080p all the time.

I prefer the cinema display to their new LCD display bc my eyes don't like the glossy. Regardless, on macrumors.com if you are a memeber you can view the marketplace and get displays pretty cheap. Also they have an awesome groups of threads on setups. It gave me a lot of cool ideas.

 

With the Mac mini, that's what most people are using it for - Makes a great multimedia box.

Storage is the biggest issue, but this can be solved via external HD for keeping movies, music & photo's.

Definitely upgrade to the 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. You can buy cheaper Ram after market, if you can be bothered (just do a Google search)

 

I don't do a LOT of media stuff, nor do I do any PS work. A very simple computer can be just fine for me.
With the Mac Mini, I thought it could be versatile and still do the main job well. Found some good Dell 23'' monitors for $180 special on their site. Would probably get the Apple mouse/keyboard to "complete the experience."
But, I don't know if I'll use it any differently than a good ol' iMac all set to go...

 

wyatt, get the iMac. You won't regret it.

 

All I can add Wyatth, is a slash in the "BUY" column

 

It's worth noting that Apple's displays are pretty well the best in the business. You won't get the most out of a given system using el-cheapo panels. I know a lot of people who made this mistake as they wanted a dual head on a Mac Pro but didn't want to spring for the Apple displays. They really are that much better.

 

Made the switch to an iMac 3 years ago and have never looked back. This includes having to use a WinXP emulator to use IE specific hospital systems like PACS (radiology).