You can multitask on the computers, but if you need a file from one computer on another, it’s a huge pain to send it over, etc.. Even when on a network.

When it comes time to burn a dvd, or render a movie - while I COULD use the computer for something else - I let it alone to do it without any potential hiccups. Leaves me high and dry for a few hours. A Mini is just what the doctor ordered!

the real reason we see all the hubub about multicore is because higher clock speeds are increasingly difficult at the moment. Not because they are inherently better. Chip designers are being forced to go multicore because of the “wall” they are hitting with fab limitations now limiting clock speeds. As for the cell, I think we’ve seen this hype before: iTanium, RISC, etc. When we see REAL products with REAL gains in productivity (natural lang voice recognition anyone), then we can talk about paradigm shifts. Having said all this, your point is well taken. One mini to run photoshop, the other for email, web and other “mundane” tasks to run concurrently. Of course, you can’t run Motion or Core Video/Audio on G4’s though!