Pardon the brain spew that follows...after about leaping for the iMac tonight, I am still on the fence. Input welcome. This is the first new CPU I am able to get since 2003 (gazoinks). And thanks to 'The Steve', options for me are still limited (we need a mini-tower, dangit) Not sure if anything the Apple Store has in store for 10th anniversary will affect a purchase made over the next couple days. My uses are a lot of Youtubing, a lot of programming, tons of runs a day with that when I am in the zone, a lot of graphics work and graphics programming (3D too) and a lot of disk thrashing doing graphics work via my own app and Photoshop. (Garageband will see more use too) I was set on a Mac mini for a long time for three reasons, size (love that) and cost, and TV interfacing, but the slower harddrives and relatively slower CPUs have me flipflopping. Plus one has to consider where you end up once done fitting one out. The screens with the latest iMacs are nice. The new iMac 21.5's i5's 2.5 GHz are on sale at Best Buy right now, $1139, or $1230 out the door, with tax. Not bad. The Mini's (new) there are $664, but only have 2 gig Ram. Refurbed Apple store old models (July 2010) 21.5 iMac are $1000 out the door with tax, from Apple right now. ($929, 3.06'ish gigHz) I know one mac reseller who has the older July 2009 27" iMac for $1200'ish, I'm tempted seriously, but it's a 'Demo'. And that thing is -huge-.. a 24" would be perfect. I'd have to run the iMac 21.5 at 1600 x 900 due to my eyes not dealing well with the super small type the native rez makes things, but that's workable I think. Pro iMac: Since my chances of getting a new mac later are quite iffy, and it was just upgraded, I am thinking I should go for the newest iMac. The Mac Mini is due for an update though I think... , I'll be bummed when they do come out...a week after I can't get one anymore, unless they stick an SSD in there. Throughout time...I I have not much liked iMacs. But they are pretty nice now. Anybody using one for FB / XCode dev? Are they reliable? If the disk dies out of warranty, or I just need to add a larger one, can I change it out myself? Con Mini: For Mac Mini's I would need the external monitor ($250 for a decent "IPS" LCD...) and I'll need a new keyboard and mouse (mouse for sure), plus extra ram. Adding all that up, one is in iMac $ land. Thing about the mini though, is that I could run it into my 32" LCD HDTV...though not sure how great that would look, or the resolution possible. Can you run an HDTV via DVI or VGA using the newest iMac 21.5? I can't find any mini-display port on the thing, though it says you can do it? That would defeat the point I'd guess of the built in monitor, but would help with movies, though the elegance of the mini still moves me. Bah. I would just get a Mac Pro Tower if I had the bucks, but am tired of noise and well, don't have the bucks. The Mac Pro laptops I cannot very well afford (they are the ones I like the most)..and no SSD's since I'll be running tons of file writes and reads doing dev work, that would wear that out fast. The Air is nice but it has a very small screen, my eyes are old, and the SSD and no DVD = I doubt it. Love the size otherwise. I've never been an iMac fan but am leaning towards one for this reason...IPS LED screen, looks nice enough, will have good graphics color, but am not sure if the LED PWM will kill my eyes or not. Anybody using one can tell me how it is to stare at an LED iMac all day? iMac also has speed of hard drive over Mac Mini, comes with more default ram. Comes with keyboard and mouse... on sale... But I still love the mini. Then again it's due for an update that I can't really wait for. I need to jump now...because the money will get billed away sooner rather than later. I guess after getting the iMac and maybe making some bucks on the app store (hoping) I could do my usual 'throw money at it' approach for situations of such dichotomous despair, and get the Mac Mini too. I really like those... Right now the faster ones are $719 refurbed right now, but only 2gig ram, and I'd need a $250 monitor plus a mouse, minimum. So after mouse, I don't end up very well. The others are $600 though. However, you can get the -new- Mac Mini for $664 at Best Buy right now. I just don't know that it will be fast enough. Or I could get two $600 refurbed Mac Mini's, use one for programming, and keep one as a spare, or use it just for Internet/TV stuff. Whatta world. I don't knowwwwwwww. Input welcome. : ) rc