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our two computers - an imac and a macbook are nearly 6 years old and it is time to upgrade. what is the best set up for a family of 6 - oldest children almost in high school. would a mac mini with several stations be the way to go? Maybe one imac and one macbook will serve us well.
A Mac Mini is not capable of several stations however you could get a Mac Mini Server and use it it's server capabilities with other Macs in the house. However if your goal is one computer that will be shared by a number of family members just about any iMac or Mac Mini would work. If you could give us some advice of how various members would use the computer then we can give you a better idea. For example Mom maybe use the computer for setting up events in iCal and sending email and doing some web surfing. Dad maybe wants to create family home movies, surf the net and email and your teens maybe into 3D video gaming. If we knew information like that then we have a much better idea otherwise we're just shooting in the dark.
Thank you!
I am doing a lot of email,ical, websurfing, photos, etc. Some word processing. The kids are not gamers, but big into garage band. They need the computers for school work, largely word processing and surfing the web. My husband uses his work computer, but at home makes home movies and surfs the net. My boys are ages 14, 12, 9 amd 7 and I am not a fan of them having their own laptops or computers in their rooms. Right now we have both the laptop and imac in the kitchen/family room.
I would say any of the 27" iMacs would be a great solution. If you tend to keep computers for 4-5 years then it's wise to invest in the most power iMac today. In 4 years you will have a 18, 16, 15 and a 11 year old and you can be sure their interests will change. In that case I'd probably opt for the i7 CTO iMac with a 2TB HD. Do not buy additional RAM from Apple, buy that from reputable vendors such as OWC (www.macsales.com) or Crucial. Upgrading RAM is incredibly simple taking less than 10 minutes to do. I would upgrade the RAM to 12 or 16GB. I would stay with the base graphics card and consider getting the SSD option which will enhance speed.
If your habits are to keep computer for 1-2 years and then recycle them then either of then I'd probably opt for the base 27" iMac with the same HD noted above and RAM recommendations.
I'd keep as many around as possible, hoard the new iMac for myself and let the kids fight over the old ones.
what is the best imac for a family?
