Mac Mini Server with snow Leopard server vs Netgear readyNAS

[Marshall]

I'm looking for central storage for our business.
We run a design studio, and have two iMacs and two PC's.
We were looking at the Netgear ReadyNas, but Apple have just released the Mac Mini with snow leopard server, they have replaced the superdrive with two 500gb hard drives.
What we like about the Mac Mini server over the Netgear is having the server software, but we also liked the the Netgear because of the RAID feature.
We would like to use Raid 1, plus also we will have an external drive to backup to. The Mac Mini Server is selling for Aus $1399.
What are your thoughts on either the Mac Mini Server or the Netgear ReadyNAS.

 

[zjohnr]

What are you going to use it for?

I guess my question would be if you get the Mac Mini server, what else are you going to use it for?

If you're only going to use the server as a NAS, then I'd suggest spending less (I assume it would be less) and going with just the NAS. Getting the server because you think it may be useful in some way you haven't discovered yet only makes sense (to me) if the amount you spend isn't a big concern. No?

-irrational john

 

[Marshall]

We use to have a IBM Server, which we used as central storage and as a Exchange Mail Server which also had VPN.
We replaced the server with a Maxtor Storage II, and went back to pop email.
We miss having the server, and if we had the Mac Mini server, we would use as a mail server and stop using pop email, host our website, have VPN access, Synchronize and share contacts and Schedule events and share calendars.
The reason why we stopped using the IBM Server, was the cost of running it was to expensive, Anti virus for exchange, IT Maintenance costs.