by PortableOne | Wednesday, September 10, 2014 | 0 comment(s)

Mac Mini vs iMac vs Mac Pro: which one is right for you?

Choosing a Mac for your desktop shouldn’t be about sacrificing either performance or form factor, in favor of one or the other. In a world that is increasingly about space management and organization, every bit of real estate counts towards being productive, and choosing the right Mac is an important part of creating the perfect blend of productivity and entertainment, within the space available to you.

The Mac Mini

While it might look entry level, the Mac Mini goes a long way to get things done, within a very tight space, being only 7.7 inches wide, and 1.4 inches thick.

The Mac Mini is almost a “barebone” solution, as it is being sold with no display. Out of the box, it can be connected to any HDMI display, including most HDTVs, and it includes four USB 3.0 ports, a Thunderbolt port, Firewire 800, built-in bluetooth 4.0, Gigabit Ethernet and 802.11n WiFi.

The Mac Mini supports the Dual Core Intel i5, and the Quad Core i7, delivering great performance and energy efficiency.

While this is not an iMac, or a Mac Pro, when space is an issue, it is still the best choice for the price.

What makes the Mac Mini great is the ability to transform into a server, by installing Mac OSX Server. As a server, its small form factor allows the Mac Mini to be stowed away, out of sight, even without the need for a display.

Ideal applications:

Entertainment (media playback, web browsing, etc.)
Home server applications (files, photos, video, music, etc.)
Office server applications (files, database applications, document archiving and storage, etc.)
Communication (Facetime, email, social media, etc.)

The iMac

The iMac is an all-in-one cost-effective desktop solution that is easy on the eye and powerful enough to handle all your daily tasks, whether you are at work, or at home.

All iMacs are powered by a Dual or Quad Core Intel i5 processor, and come with up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, and up to 1TB of storage.

Graphic performance are provided by Intel HD 5000, Iris Pro or nVidia GeForce 750M, on the 21.5 inches display version, and by nVidia GeForce GT 755M and 775M on the 27 inches version. The iMac also comes with video support and Facetime HD camera,

AirDrop and AirPlay support is what makes the iMac stand out, thanks to the most recent updates in OSX Mavericks, which means greater connectivity and collaboration between your iPhone/iPad and your iMac, with advanced file sharing.

Ideal applications:

Home entertainment (media playback, web browsing, etc.)
Home office applications
Communication (Facetime, email, social media, etc.)
College/School use
Gaming

The Mac Pro

This is the ultimate Mac. A powerhouse designed for high-end productivity, and fit for production environments where speed, reliability and power are paramount.

The Mac Pro is powered by the Quad Core 3.7Ghz , as well as the Six Core 3.5Ghz Intel Xeon E5 Processor, and it supports up to 64GB of DDR3 ECC. The graphic processing power is handled by a Dual AMD FirePro D300/D500 with 2GB/3GB of GDDR5 VRAM (each).

The Mac Pro is not only easy on the eye, it provides for an outstanding desktop experience with support for up to three 4K displays, and as many as six Thunderbolt displays.

Storage space, and speedy access is another area in which the Mac Pro shines, with support for up to 1TB of PCIe Flash storage.

Wireless connectivity support includes WiFi 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.0.