which is better nursery or child minder for just two year old

I think IMHO it really depends on the child as well. i.e. if the lo is very sociable then a nursery would be fine, if not I'd opt for a childminder.

Several considerations are:

Time off required:
if cm is sick you or your partner will have to take a day off.
Nursery will always be open

Cost:
cm usually cheaper than a nursery

Child/Carer ratio:
IMHO better at CM even if they have full alotment as long as they stick to the regs and only have 3 under 5's. That way the lo has bigger 'siblings' to play with but isn't overwhelmed by a whole class of toddlers.

I had dd with a childminder from age 5 months until she was 3.5 - that was when ds came along.
I had the great advantage that my cm had a very big extended family and they all lived in the same house. She was also looking after 2 more under 5's when she took on dd. DD loved playing with those two.

So it was great for the family environment and dd got lots of attention especially from the 12 year old daughter and her school friends who always wanted to play with her :) Also if cm was sick, no issue as there were 2 grown daughters, her sister and her husband who worked shifts - o.k. they weren't qualified cm's but I was happy with the arrangmenet.

couldn't find exact link but this is \link{http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk?topicid=8&threadid=153170&stamp=060309141931\in favour of nurseries} (just to show i'm not biased )

blimey - where to start?!
everyone will have their own opinions on this but i'll just give you my two penneth and also something else i've read recently. at the end of the day it will depend on you, your child and the individual carer(s) - there are good and bad examples of nurseries and childminders.

I, personally and IME, would say that children are better off with a good childminder up to the age of 2 or 3 just because of ratio of adult to child. If you can find a childminder who only has 1 or 2 pre-schoolers in the day i would say this is great, obviously depending on the childminder.

It used to be thought that, at two years old, children were ready for a bit more socialising and so nurseries were better for them as they didn't need such individual care and attention at this age. However, Steve Biddulph's lastest book and his research over the past few years suggest that nurseries are better for the threes and over, no younger.

It also depends on whether your child has a full or part time place away from you/the family, as a mixture of both types of care might be ideal for some children but not for others who might find it disruptive. will try to find link to article SB wrote recently - there was a thread about it.

I guess it depends how flexible you can be. If for example the childminder is off sick can you easily get time off work as with a nursery this sin't a problem. Also will the childminder have other mindees, take the child to lots of activities. At nursery the child will have lots of social interaction with other kids and lots of structured activities. If your child has individual needs like a strict diet due to allergies then a childminder is probably the way to go