How is the Mac mini in-comparison to a PC?

[Habbanero]

I want a Mac mini but I need a PC!!!

I am sick of windows but I need a fully fledged windows machine for work purposes. However, I still want a mac.

I will use it for home media linked up to the TV in my living room. It will also be hooked up to a 32" monitor in my office where I will be doing some low level photo editing and would like to be able to dump 1000+ 8mp images on it and be able to sort through them rapidly without waiting on the thumbnails appearing. Other than that some basic video editing.

I have been looking into this for a while and from what I can see my best bet is to go for the mid range Mac mini running win 7 and office 2010 using Parallels and a 256gb ssd.

With student discount I can get all of this for just under ?750. That way I get the good stuff out of OSX and a pc for the mundane stuff I need to do.

I was seconds away from pulling the trigger when curiosity got the better of me. I ended up looking at this: http://m.dell.com/mt/www.dell.com/uk/p/xps-8700/pd?fl=m&oc=cdx8718

And I can get the xps for ?700 with my brother's employee discount.

I am basically looking for somebody to sell me on the mini.

Can anyone offer some friendly advice. I think my head is going to explode.

 

[Beyond Fire]

Re: I want a Mac mini but I need a PC!!!

You seem to already have your answer. You're sick of Windows but need it for work, and you want a Mac. If you get that Dell then you're going to be stuck with something you don't like for a while. If you get the Mac you can dual boot into Windows for work purposes then just use OS X as your daily driver. The answer should be easy for you, get a Mac.

 

[Habbanero]

Re: I want a Mac mini but I need a PC!!!

I am totally with you on that one but it seems as if I would get much better performance with the dell given the dedicated graphics and i7 proc.

That is what is making me stop and think.

 

[cardfan]

Re: I want a Mac mini but I need a PC!!!

There's no question that the dell is the better hardware and value in this comparison. What you have to ask yourself is if you need that better hardware. Not for Office, some photo editing or media streaming. The Mini will do you fine. Now if you're going to start talking about gaming and worry about running the latest and greatest, then you may as well get the PC.

 

[Algus]

Re: I want a Mac mini but I need a PC!!!

I dual boot my 2012 Mac Mini, largely for gaming support. I'm not a huge graphics guy and mostly play MMOs and sims but 100% of what I want Windows for I am able to run on my Mini thanks to Intel drivers and my 16 GB of RAM. Reboots between the two environments are FAST, even on my old 5400 RPM drive. Besides games, you will find the same, comparable, or in some cases better software for OS X.

You will get more specs for your money buying a Windows computer but that is an old story. If you want to get away from Windows but don't really want to spend the money for the Apple branding, consider learning about and installing a Linux distro. Ubuntu and Linux Mint are both very good operating systems with a ton of great free software. You can easily set up a dual boot on your Windows computer and use Linux when you aren't gaming or whatever.