What type of Hardware should I get for my small company?

steve86

Hey Guys.

I got a quick question for ya. I'm about to start a small software company and I'm in the process of selecting what type of equipment I should buy for my team. First let me tell you about what the company is going to do so maybe you can understand better my needs.

I'm going to have two teams of three people one team is going to make mobile applications and games and the other team is going to make web systems and websites for companies.

I'm all set for the web systems team as those do not really require a Mac and I already bought some good pc desktops for them.

My real question is what kind of macs should I get for my mobile app team. I have a budget of $3,500 dollars to buy 3 mac computers. Of course I don't need to burn all the budget the less I spend the better.

What I really want is just to buy 3 mac minis the lower end model that cost $599 so three of those are going to set me back at a $1,800 dollars + 3 keyboards 3 mouses and 3 monitors (Which they don't have to be Apple branded so I think I can get all of that for $450.00 dollars)

But the real question is you guys think this is a good idea? I haven't had really a lot of experience with mac minis. Are they good for software development? Is the new low-end mac mini model suitable to run GameSalad without hiccups. Also are they good enough to run flash, aftereffects and photoshop?.

Please let me know what you suggest I do with my $3500 to buy 3 mac computers but remember that I really want to keep the cost down and not spend the whole $3500, but if I have to I will because I DO want new computers I don't really want to buy used stuff and then have short term trouble with the equipment.

Thanks a lot for your suggestions.

Steve

osucowboy18

Hey Steve,

Congrats on the new company! As far as what computers to buy, the Mac mini would be the way to go, given your budget. When I started using GS, I had the low-end Mac mini and it worked great! Since then, I've upgraded to a Macbook Pro and given the Mac mini to another member of my company for him to use. So far he hasn't had any problems running 0.9.7, but due to the bugs within GS, I told him not to upgrade just yet. Hope that helps

- Alex

steve86

Hey Osucowboy.

Thanks a lot. that was exactly the info that I was looking for, also how is the performance on the mac minis for photoshop, flash etc.

Thanks again.

lildragn

The new mac minis are surprisingly powerful, and if you max out the ram at 8GB ($65 for Kingston/Crucial brands 4GB x2) you will benefit by maxing out your on board GPU to 512MB instead of the 256MB I believe it ships at. I can run 3D applications probably better than my i7 PC so you will be more than fine with photoshop e.t.c.

Best of luck with everything

~t

lildragn

The new mac minis are surprisingly powerful, and if you max out the ram at 8GB ($65 for Kingston/Crucial brands 4GB x2) you will benefit by maxing out your on board GPU to 512MB instead of the 256MB I believe it ships at. I can run 3D applications probably better than my i7 PC so you will be more than fine with photoshop e.t.c.

Don't let the size fool you.

Best of luck with everything

~t

steve86

Hey Lildragn

Thank you very much for your comments. That is exactly what I wanted to hear.

steve86

I guess mac minis it is.. <takes out master card>

Thanks guys.

Grubby_Nerdblender

Another vote for mac mini - I'm using the older model one (They announced the redesign about a week after I bought mine) but it's nice a speedy, it's even pretty good for 3d stuff too.

steve86

The monitor I Buy for the mac mini has to have hdmi input right?

Grubby_Nerdblender

From the mac store website:

-Thunderbolt port with support for up to 2560-by-1600 resolution
-HDMI port with support for up to 1920-by-1200 resolution
-DVI output using HDMI to DVI Adapter (included)
-Support for dual display and video mirroring

So if you get hold of an HDMI to DVI adapter then you're good with a DVI monitor.

steve86

Thanks grubby

JohnPapiomitis

Just adding a vote to mac mini. I have a 2010 model with 8gb of ram upgrade (only like 50 bucks from crucial and guarenteed to work) and i have no problems runnning maya and other 3d applications, so its definetly more then enough for gamesalad and photoshop.

Also the mac mini (my year at least) has a mini display port and hdmi port for monitors. And you can get adapters to make them compatibvle with basically any kind of connection. What i have is dual monitors. I have a mini display port to vga adapter for my vga monitor. And i have hdmi to dvi adapter for my main dvi monitor.

Hope that helps

Grubby_Nerdblender

Hey John my mini (late 2009-early 2010) has DVI and mini display port, but it looks like the new mini only comes withThunderbolt and HDMI. Who's ever seen a thunderbolt monitor?

steve86

Wow I had no idea mac minis were this good for the price. I was gonna get an iMac for my office but now I think i'm going to get another mac mini for me.

Thanks john

JohnPapiomitis

have no clue about a thunderbolt monitor haha, but heres the mac mini i have. Has mini display port and hdmi like i said. I guess you have the model before mine

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_mini/stats/mac-mini-core-2-duo-2.4-mid-2010-specs.html

cheers

steve86

Grubby_Nerdblender said:
Hey John my mini (late 2009-early 2010) has DVI and mini display port, but it looks like the new mini only comes withThunderbolt and HDMI. Who's ever seen a thunderbolt monitor?

You have to buy the mini display port to DVI or VGA adapter for 29 bucks to connect normal monitors or use the incluyed HDMI to DVI adapter

Grubby_Nerdblender

This is my one:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3478. Still really good but I doubt you'll get a new one anywhere now.