On Thu, Sep 05, 2013 at 03:50:18PM -0600, steve harley wrote: > on 2013-09-05 13:24 Larry Colen wrote > >The mac-mini seems to have a couple of major advantages over the iMac or > >laptops: > > > >1) more ports, and a wider range of ports. USB, firewire, thunderbolt, video > > and gigabit ethernet > > i would consider the ports more of a trade of the Mini's HDMI and > FireWire ports for a built-in display and an extra Thunderbolt port
There are also tbolt ports on the display. > > a Thunderbolt port is more flexible; it can become either of the > ports you lose — a Thunderbolt to FireWire adapter is $29; a > Thunderbolt (really DisplayPort) to HDMI or DVI adapter is under $10 > — and since the display is built-in, you could get both of the > Mini's ports back if you want (even after adding other Thunderbolt > devices as long as they have pass-through) > > the Mini does have separate audio in & out, though for serious audio > most would use an external ADC/DAC > > > >2) When the CPU is obsolete, you don't need to throw away the monitor. > > no one throws away (er, recycles) iMacs unless they are broken > (that's the worst case scenario) > > if the CPU is obsolete, just put it in TDM and it will act just like > a Thunderbolt display (the CPU can idle or remain booted headless) How would I do this with my old iMac? It doesn't have a thunderbolt port. It would be awesome to use it as a second display. > > > >3) Even the single disk minis can be upgraded to dual disk. Upgrading the > >drive on an iMac is a bit of a pain. > > upgrading to dual on a Mini is only a lesser pain; ifixit rates it > "moderate", same as the 2011 iMac, versus "difficult" for the > current iMac (i would not want to mess with the 2012 iMac): > > <http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Replacing+Mac+Mini+Late+2012+Dual+Hard+Drive+Kit/11713/1> > > <http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Replacing+iMac+Intel+27-Inch+EMC+2429+Dual+Hard+Drive+Kit/7575/1> > > (ifixit sells a dual drive kit for 2011 iMac, but has no guide) > > <http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Replacing+iMac+Intel+27-Inch+EMC+2429+Hard+Drive/7555/1> > Interesting. Kind of moot at the moment. > some advantages for the iMac: > > * iMacs have discrete graphics; this is the only major performance > difference (assuming you aren't relying on spinning disks, which are > slower on the Mini); when the GPU matters, the iMac will be *much* > faster I thought that Lightroom didn't make use of the GPU. > > * the iMacs support Target Display Mode (TDM); also, if you have a > Thunderbolt Display attached to a 2012 iMac, you can put it into TDM > and the main display can be used by another machine while the iMac > continues to run on the external display > > > >I do expect that it is just a bad drive. > > you could try to boot from an external (or another Mac in Target > Disk Mode) to test that theory > > > >I'm also hoping that I can pull the superdrive out of > >a dead macbook to repair the dead drive in the iMac. > > probably simpler to pop it into a cheap USB case If I have everything apart anyways, I might as well just do it right. Anyways, the die has been cast. The cpu and monitor are supposed to show up tomorrow. I will upgrade the memory in it as soon as practical. I'll wait to upgrade the drive until I have a reason to *need* to, because the longer you can wait to upgrade drives, the more that you get for your money. It's also quite possible that with t-bolt and usb3, I can set up an external drive that is fast enough I don't need to dig into the box. There are certain eternal truths about buying computers. 1) Within weeks or months, you will always be able to get more for less than you paid. Often this is true before you even get it home and plugged in. 2) No matter how much you like what you bought, someone else will argue that you made a poor choice because what you bought isn't perfect for them. -- Larry Colen l...@red4est.com http://red4est.com/lrc -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
