Hello, all! I'm having a dispute with my institution over my desktop
machine. I was promised $1500 in desktop equipment. I was hoping for
a mid-range iMac. But last summer (before the August refresher) I was
given a 1.83 GHz mac mini upgraded to 2 GB of memory (plus an old Dell
monitor--but that's a separate complaint). Two questions:
1. Is there any way that this box cost the $1100 that I've been told?
2. Should I fight for an iMac? What would be the performance
differential, over the four years this machine has to last? I am a
somewhat graphics intensive college teacher, and in particular I need
to run multiple applications at once.
I probably have the same mini that you have, although I upgraded to a larger hard drive. They could have paid $1100 for it, I don't remember exactly how much I paid for mine. I would think with the educational discount, it might be a little less.
The new minis don't come configured the same way. THe 1.83 GHz machine has a combo drive (mine has the superdrive). You have to upgrade to the 2 GHz to get the superdrive.
I've been pleased with my mini, but I think you do get a little more bang for your buck with the iMac. The new iMacs come with a minimum of 2.0Ghz, larger hard drive that runs at 7200 rpm, and probably a little better graphics card.
On Jan 11, 2008, at 6:35 PM, jg wrote:
> Hello, all! I'm having a dispute with my institution over my desktop > machine. I was promised $1500 in desktop equipment. I was hoping for > a mid-range iMac. But last summer (before the August refresher) I was > given a 1.83 GHz mac mini upgraded to 2 GB of memory (plus an old Dell > monitor--but that's a separate complaint). Two questions:
> 1. Is there any way that this box cost the $1100 that I've been told?
> 2. Should I fight for an iMac? What would be the performance > differential, over the four years this machine has to last? I am a > somewhat graphics intensive college teacher, and in particular I need > to run multiple applications at once.
If they bought the Mini built-to-order from Apple with the RAM upgrade, that 2GB could have been $200 or more, plus keyboard and mouse for another $100, and maybe a monitor cable adaptor.
Al Poulin
On Jan 11, 2008, at 7:30 PM, Gretchen Summers wrote:
> I probably have the same mini that you have, although I upgraded to a > larger hard drive. They could have paid $1100 for it, I don't > remember exactly how much I paid for mine. I would think with the > educational discount, it might be a little less.
> The new minis don't come configured the same way. THe 1.83 GHz > machine has a combo drive (mine has the superdrive). You have to > upgrade to the 2 GHz to get the superdrive.
> I've been pleased with my mini, but I think you do get a little more > bang for your buck with the iMac. The new iMacs come with a minimum of > 2.0Ghz, larger hard drive that runs at 7200 rpm, and probably a little > better graphics card.
> On Jan 11, 2008, at 6:35 PM, jg wrote:
>> Hello, all! I'm having a dispute with my institution over my desktop >> machine. I was promised $1500 in desktop equipment. I was hoping for >> a mid-range iMac. But last summer (before the August refresher) I was >> given a 1.83 GHz mac mini upgraded to 2 GB of memory (plus an old Dell >> monitor--but that's a separate complaint). Two questions:
>> 1. Is there any way that this box cost the $1100 that I've been told?
>> 2. Should I fight for an iMac? What would be the performance >> differential, over the four years this machine has to last? I am a >> somewhat graphics intensive college teacher, and in particular I need >> to run multiple applications at once.
On Jan 11, 2008 3:35 PM, jg <good...@iastate.edu> wrote:
> Hello, all! I'm having a dispute with my institution over my desktop > machine. I was promised $1500 in desktop equipment. I was hoping for > a mid-range iMac. But last summer (before the August refresher) I was > given a 1.83 GHz mac mini upgraded to 2 GB of memory (plus an old Dell > monitor--but that's a separate complaint). Two questions:
> 1. Is there any way that this box cost the $1100 that I've been told?
You should be able to find out the institutional price at the Apple Store online. That does seem a little high for a mini.
> 2. Should I fight for an iMac? What would be the performance > differential, over the four years this machine has to last? I am a > somewhat graphics intensive college teacher, and in particular I need > to run multiple applications at once.
I would think 2G RAM is going to be where you feel the pinch: maybe you can get that upgraded if they balk at the iMac.
Thanks, all. I checked with Apple, and no one I could reach had info
on an older Mini. I think that the box itself was the $799 one at the
time of purchase, but $400 for a memory upgrade seems excessive. No
mouse, cable, keyboard: all that harvested from other stray machines!
jg wrote: > Thanks, all. I checked with Apple, and no one I could reach had info > on an older Mini. I think that the box itself was the $799 one at the > time of purchase, but $400 for a memory upgrade seems excessive. No > mouse, cable, keyboard: all that harvested from other stray machines!
Actually $400 for RAM is about what Apple charges as they are usually 3-4 times more expensive than their suppliers like Crucial. Apple has a HUGE markup on RAM and always has, which is why I usually buy from Crucial or DataMem.
-- Sincerely, Dennis B. Swaney
"Windows is a command-line OS with a GUI shell while Mac System 10 is ... oh, never mind."
On Jan 11, 2008 3:35 PM, jg <good...@iastate.edu> wrote:
> Hello, all! I'm having a dispute with my institution over my desktop > machine. I was promised $1500 in desktop equipment. I was hoping for > a mid-range iMac. But last summer (before the August refresher) I was > given a 1.83 GHz mac mini upgraded to 2 GB of memory (plus an old Dell > monitor--but that's a separate complaint). Two questions:
> 1. Is there any way that this box cost the $1100 that I've been told?
> On Jan 11, 2008 3:35 PM, jg <good...@iastate.edu> wrote:
>> Hello, all! I'm having a dispute with my institution over my desktop >> machine. I was promised $1500 in desktop equipment. I was hoping for >> a mid-range iMac. But last summer (before the August refresher) I was >> given a 1.83 GHz mac mini upgraded to 2 GB of memory (plus an old Dell >> monitor--but that's a separate complaint). Two questions:
>> 1. Is there any way that this box cost the $1100 that I've been told?
> Judging by the eBay completed listings for this particular mac mini > I'd say that the mac mini is definitely not worth that much: > http://search-completed.ebay.com/1-83ghz-mac- > mini_W0QQcatrefZC5QQdfspZ1QQfclZ3QQfisZ2QQfromZR7QQfrppZ50QQfsooZ1QQfso > pZ1QQnojsprZyQQpfidZ0QQsacatZQ2d1QQsatitleZ1Q2e83ghzQ20macQ20miniQQsofi > ndtypeZ0QQsofocusZbs? > GetResult&catref=C5&dfsp=1&fcl=3&fis=2&from=R7&frpp=50&fsoo=1&fsop=1&no > jspr=y&pfid=0&sacat= > -1&satitle=1.83ghz+mac+mini&sofindtype=0&sofocus=bs&guest=1
I believe the institution bought a "new" machine, not used.
> Thanks, all. I checked with Apple, and no one I could reach had info > on an older Mini. I think that the box itself was the $799 one at the > time of purchase, but $400 for a memory upgrade seems excessive. No > mouse, cable, keyboard: all that harvested from other stray machines!
Along with using the Dell monitor, this is a beautiful example for the marketing of the Mini.
Reviewing the arithmetic, as shown in the lowendmac profiles, the box sold for $799. You said initially that the "institution" claims to have paid $1100, for a $301 delta, not $400. As I indicated earlier, the 2MB RAM could have been "$200 or more." So we are at $1,000 or more already. And by the way, perhaps there is a sales or use tax on that purchase, easily another $50 or $60. Excessive? Yes! but that is Apple's pricing on RAM which is a perennial complaint, and is an easy way for institutions using tax-payers' money and businesses with tax write-offs, but no in-house tinkerers to buy their machines.
Is the Mini really all that bad? One can compare the performance parameters of that Mini with the mid-range iMacs of the same vintage, pre-August 2007 as well as with the current iMacs. Macworld.com and their hard copy magazines go into this type of thing with their Speedmark tests. At other web sites, you can find other benchmarking results. In general, the pre-August iMac could be somewhere between 5 and 10 percent faster in running your work tasks, depending on what applications you use. But that does not translate into a 5 to 10 percent improvement in your personal job performance, maybe 2 or 3 percent to be honest? Then we have to ask how much an iMac would improve your efficiency. How would it change the way you devote time to other work?
Now back to the old Dell monitor. You mentioned that as a "separate complaint." Is the monitor the real problem? Is it a CRT with a VGA adaptor?
You also asked "Should I fight for an iMac?" Only you can answer that question. We do not know your job well enough to help on that. You'd have show your boss a cost-benefit analysis to demonstrate how the cost of a new iMac today would pay off in productivity over time. That is pretty hard to do in an organization that does not run on a profit motive.
You may find more help on the lowendmac iMac e-list which as about three times more members than this one.
Al is right. $1100 sounds a little high, but not excessively so. You cannot compare the price of a new mini to a used one selling on eBay.
I've been very happy with my mini which I believe is comparable to what you have. If you were going to press the issue with your institution, you might fight for a new flat panel monitor. Prices have come way down, and you should be able to get a really nice one for under $400 (not Apple of course, but Dell makes a very nice FP).
On Jan 11, 2008, at 9:36 PM, jg wrote:
> Thanks, all. I checked with Apple, and no one I could reach had info > on an older Mini. I think that the box itself was the $799 one at the > time of purchase, but $400 for a memory upgrade seems excessive. No > mouse, cable, keyboard: all that harvested from other stray machines!
