Venturing into Macs

[sgrinavi]

Per my previous thread I'm looking at picking up some sort of Mac device to use around the house for surfing and iTunes - rather than pickup some POS (like last time) I thought I might ask you guys what to look for.

• I have about 50 GB of music on my PC that I'd be transferring over, maybe 20 GB of photos and misc. stuff.
• Edit a video here and there - maybe another 50-100 GB at any given time.
• I just want to do social media, looks stuff and and do iTunes
• Maybe print recipes or do the occasional letter / spreadsheet
• Edit photos
• No smaller than a 15" display, 21 would be large enough.
• Laptop or AIO is fine

I don't want to spend too much, maybe 500-600, more if I really have to.

What should I look for?

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

The 500-600 price range only really has the Mac Mini in there, which means you would have to provide your own monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

 

[sgrinavi]

The 500-600 price range only really has the Mac Mini in there, which means you would have to provide your own monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

Is something like this NFG?

https://www.tanga.com/deals/171df09ed490/apple-24-imac?internal_campaign=channel

Model MA878LL/A
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz Processor
Dual-Core
4GB RAM
320GB Hard Drive
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO Graphics
24" “glossy” TFT widescreen active matrix display with a native resolution of 1920×1200
iSight Video Camera
DVD-RW Super Drive
Mac OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) – Free upgrade to 10.10 (Yosemite)
Ports: 1-Mini DisplayPort, 3-USB, 2-Firewire, 1-Ethernet
Dimensions: 20.5 × 22.4 × 8.1
Weight: 20.1 lbs
Apple Wired Keyboard and Wired Mighty Mouse included
Certified Preloved by Mac Warehouse Apple Certified Tech Team

• Certified Preloved by Mac Warehouse Apple Certified Tech Team

• 30 day warranty

 

[mmntech]

The current Mac Mini starts at $700. That's for the decent one. I wouldn't bother with the base model as it's too wimpy. They basically took the guts out of the base MacBook Air and shoved them in there.

You'll have to go refurbished or used if you want one cheaper. I'd look for the Ivy Bridge minis, last gen. Still very respectable, and Apple hasn't perma-soldered the RAM in them so they're easier to upgrade.

 

[KeithP]

OWC has a used Mac Pro for $650 you might want to take a look at (only 5 available). The form factor isn't nearly as convenient as the Mac Mini but it is easier to work on/upgrade should the need arise.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Apple/MB877LLAUD/

-KeithP

 

[suklee]

$419 for a refurb 2012 Mini.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FD...-Intel-Core-i5

 

[sgrinavi]

The mini route seems to make sense. Thanks a bunch

 

[KeypoX]

upgrade motherboard, video that is compatible with mac. Can buy for less than above, and have better machine. But gotta spend time researching, fixing, etc. But when its running it runs pretty near perfect. Clover adds more native mac features.

But really only takes maybe an hour of solid researching then another hour or so to install. Worth it but you gotta be willing to put that hour in every so often to learn whats going on in the hack world.

 

[suklee]

The Mac Mini suggestion has me wondering if the Mini can act as a headless 'travel desktop' and connect to an iPad as monitor, using duet display / Teamviewer / something similar. Google recommends an adaptor to trick the mini into thinking there is a monitor connected (to activate built in GPU?).

Tempted to pick up that Mini refurb I linked to earlier (currently sold out) to play around with until that 12" MBA arrives...