gdgt

If the ability to replace your own hard drive is of any importance at all to you, get a mini. The new iMacs use proprietary SATA power connections and you cannot buy drives for them yourself, but would have to take it to Apple to have them replace it at their usual rate. The only reason I mention this is because I know a number of people who had hard drive failures in the last gen iMac just after the 1 year warranty ran out and were faced with the dilemma of either paying Apple's exorbitant repair rate, or risking permanent damage to their iMac by removing the glass with suction cups and pulling out the LCD to get to the drive.

iMacs are not for people who like to fix their own stuff. They are for people who are just going to take their computer to the Apple store anyway when they have problems. With the extra money you will save by not buying an iMac, you could put an SSD drive in a Mini, which would probably benefit the kind of computing you will be doing a lot more than a faster processor.

I also agree with Peter wait on the mini till it's refreshed.

if you have the montiors and all the other parts and don't need the power of the iMac i say go with the Mini.

It depends on your display preference. There is no better experience than working on a 27" iMac screen. However, if you are happy with your displays get the Mac mini. (although I agree with Peter, wait for the update) In the long run though I think you're going to wish you did the iMac for the display alone.

The only problem with waiting for a Mac Mini update, is from my memory they don't update them often. It always seems like they are always long over due for an update.

Also if you get the iMac you can plug your other screens into it! three screens are way better than 1!

Depends how much you're willing to pay. Mac mini has everything Mac OS X can offer, excluding the webcam features.