[lrvman]

I currently have a HP Pavilion with a AMD 64X2 4200 and 2GB of RAM with 2 200 GB drives, #1 drive for applications, and #2 for data. I mostly surf the web, check email, play MS Flight Sim X, Submarine Simulations, and occasion copy home movies from my DV camcorder, and make home DVD's and convert some to a format which will allow me to play the movies on my XBOX 360 in HD.

Now, I have a G4/1.2GHZ desktop that I let the kids use, which is nice, but slow. (Running the latest OSX.). Well, income tax time is coming around, and I'm looking at replacing the AMD box with either a Mac Mini, or a IMAC. I've got a pretty nice 19 inch Acer display on the HP, that I could use, or go with the Imac with the 20 inch screen. Mac Pro would be the best route to go, but the cost is very high for my budget, but I do love the ease of upgrading a tower system, vs the limitations of the mini and Imac.

What I'm asking in short is....Considering what I do, what would be the best system for me to go with? Best bang for buck? Boot Camp? (If I gotta run Windoze, I do not want a slow turtle, that will exasperate me.) I would even look at used systems to hopefully be able to stretch my dollars a bit further. (As of right now, budget is not set on cost, but 2K would be the absolute most I'd be willing to spend!)

One of the big hurdles I have to mentally get over is the cost difference between a Windows box and an Apple product. Kinda hurts to see a unit with similar specs from HP for much less cost. That's the main reason I have not gone fully Apple as of yet.



Thanks in advance!

John

[MacosNerd]

I think the iMac is the way to go. The mini is a nice computer for a great price but its way to limited in max memory, hd size and of course the video card.

The much maligned integrated graphics card's Achilles heal is 3d and gaming so if you plan on playing games performance is going to be an issue. Additionally I think the iMac's expandability gives you some future proof insurance so that it should longer.

[estumpges]

I also think the iMac is definitely the way to go. The Mac Mini is due for an update soon and is showing it's age.

[Kazoo]

yep, imac-- unless you can squeeze a mac pro into your budget.

[mdawson]

Of the two, I would concur with everyone else that the iMac is you best choice. Given that it is not expandable, you will want to get as much iMac as you can for your money. At the online Apple Store you can get the following for $1,899.00:
* 2.4 GHz Intel Core Duo
* 1 GB 667MHz DDR2 RAM
* 500GB Serial ATA drive (upgrade from base option)
* 8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
* ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO w/256MB VRAM
* 24-inch glossy widescreen display
* AirPort Extreme wireless
* Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
You can get additional RAM inexpensively buy purchasing memory from third-party sources such as MemoryToGo, OWC or Crucial. The minimum that you would want in your iMac is 2GB to provide yourself some decent memory headroom.
The iMac only has a single internal drive, you can partition the 500GB drive to mirror the configuration on your HP; one partition for the OS and applications and the second for your documents.
As of this posting Apple has both 24-inch models available as refurbished systems. The 2.4GHz model is available for $1,549.00, but you would have to settle for the base configuration’s 320 GB hard drive. The 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme version is available for $1,949.00 and includes more RAM (2GB) and a 500GB hard drive.