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 BenBrockway, on 08 November 2012 - 02:41 PM, said:

With 16Gb RAM added, the Intel HD 4000 reports 768Mb is allocated to graphics (up from 25gMb when 4Gb installed).

Yup - it's something Intel baked into the chipset.

Thank god. Otherwise who knows if we would have ever got a mini with more than 256MB of VRAM if we had to rely on Apple to do it

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 AlrgreViajero, on 13 November 2012 - 01:44 AM, said:

Inn advance I tank you for helping making the right choice.

I wouldn't buy any monitor that didn't have a Display Port port on it. Since Dell is one of the few PC manufacturers that actually pushes Display Port your chances of the monitor having it are much higher, but not all Dell monitors do - the cheaper they are they less likely they are to have it. If it's not too high of resolution, HDMI can be a good way to go - not sure but since that looks like it's a 24" monitor I'd be shocked if it's native resolution would be higher than what HDMI supports.

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 udo2, on 29 November 2012 - 06:37 PM, said:

If you could live with a 2006 MacPro, you should be able live with Mac Mini i7, except that it does not heat your room as good.

Unless you need fast, discrete graphics with over 2 gigs of VRAM. The iMac's can get close, but I already have an excellent calibrated monitor - so it's Mini or Mac Pro

I really wish they would release a single socket tower. Forcing the Mac Pro to be tied to Intel's Xeon/Server chipsets that support two CPU's severely restricts what chips can be used, they have a dramatically slower update cycle (it's why Thunderbolt is still not in the Pro) and it jacks up the cost needlessly. With multi-core CPU's having two physical processors is overkill for all but the most extreme use cases. It's insane you can't get a real desktop class machine built around single socket desktop components - the mini and iMac use mobile/laptop components due to heat management issues from their extremely compressed casing - as if it matters that an iMac is one or two inches thinner vs. having something bigger with better airflow/heat management.

I totally love that Apple is OCD about making portable electronics like the iPhone and iPad as thin and light as possible, but some of their idiotic decisions on the desktop are just flat out frustrating and beyond annoying...