If you had $3000 to spend on a Mac -- iMac or Mac mini?

I’d go with the iMac. I love mine.

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Agreed, It slipped my mind :slight_smile:

I’d go with the MacMini. I was never a big fan of the all in one concept (and I have owned several iMacs and an eMac (ouch!)).

If you’re going to continue using notebooks for your main use and this is just for occasional things, I’d suggest the base or one step up processor and a fast external drive. It’d be way less money than an iMac.

I used my Mac Mini hooked up to a tv or a cheap monitor: it let me configure things and watch Netflix etc, and I saved money on the display. My main computing was done on a different machine.

If you’re thinking of buying a computer and a decent display though, get an iMac. The iMac is undeniably the better machine, but you are paying top dollar for a top screen.

I would cast another vote for iMac. Then the more I think about it, a mini also has a boatload of appeal. Price being the first strong point for the mini. Then, I could pick a display that I like. Adding memory would be easier if it was a down the road thing.

The iMac, 27" would win, if it is a family machine sitting on a desk for all to see, it is sleek, only one cable out the back to light this whole thing up. Performance that is stellar.

You can’t go wrong either way. I still stand by my vote for a 27" iMac.

As many have mentioned. The cost of apple upgrades for SSD and RAM are obscenely expensive compared to what’s available elsewhere. The RAM could be upgraded by yourself for much less. An external SSD over TB3 would provide sufficient performance for everything except 8K and perhaps 4K video editing whilst allowing you to save a significant amount on the purchase price and increase the storage as your usage changes or perhaps even get a RAID network drive.

Mac mini + LG UltraFine Display. The mini’s onboard graphics is fine, unless you cut a lot of video (which you don’t appear to do.)

As long are you are fine with the cost, the 27-iMac is the way to go. Buy the biggest SSD drive you can afford. RAM is upgradeable on your own and is simple to install, so do not buy Apple’s expensive RAM. If you need more ports, OWC makes excellent thunderbolt docks to expand your ports and it provides different types too.

Thank you! I assumed that you could not easily expand the memory on an iMac. I’m glad I was wrong!

We’ve had iMacs before and they were great. I’m probably going to get the 27” iMac with the smallest SSD and attach an additional hard drive.

Again, thank you all for your thoughtful input!!

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