Mini Mac? [Archive] - CodingForums.com

bradyj

01-12-2005, 12:12 AM

Love it:) -- I'm happy they finally came out with a low end version. This way I can keep my external drives, all my other equipment -- and really look at just buying a new box every few years without paying an arm and a leg. Cost was the only real reason why I only upgrade every four years (or every next gen architecture that's worth it).

It's downfall is when you start to beef it up -- more memory, superdrive, airport card - then I'm starting to get near a thousand bucks. 3rd party alternatives should ease that suffering.

Either way, we've already talked at work about upgrading some of these older G3's we use for some of the designers that don't need too much power, but need to communicate via mac with us.

In the end, though -- it's should come with a keyboard and a mouse, that seems a bit stingy.

01-12-2005, 03:51 AM

Definitely quite impressed as a PC user looking to possibly get a Mac. If Cherryos.com turns out to not be a scam though, I'd still prefer to just get a Windows notebook and install that thingie in there. :)

mindlessLemming

01-12-2005, 04:51 AM

jkd

01-12-2005, 05:18 AM

I give it no props.
It's a bit more powerful than an X-Box; woopdy doo :rolleyes:.
Excuse me for not being impressed by a shiny, tiny box whose sole purpose is to drag in new users and force them to spend extra on essential components before actually being able to use the thing.
I'd go for a PC running emulation any day :p

(Brady's going to DDoS me, I can feel it... :D)

But this is where the genius is. It's not aimed at completely new computer users, rather the Windows person who bought an iPod and likes it. They already have the mouse, keyboard, monitor, etc. They could buy an KVM switch if they wanted to keep both operable too. They're not awfully priced.

bradyj

01-12-2005, 05:36 AM

I give it no props.
It's a bit more powerful than an X-Box; woopdy doo :rolleyes:.
Excuse me for not being impressed by a shiny, tiny box whose sole purpose is to drag in new users and force them to spend extra on essential components before actually being able to use the thing.
I'd go for a PC running emulation any day :p

(Brady's going to DDoS me, I can feel it... :D)

Evil... bast... Over priced X-Box?! I bet that G4 1.25mhz with a gig of RAM'll smoke your little beige box working on a high end photoshop print graphic anyday...

It's better now. I'm ok.

God. If we ever open an office, you'll be the only PC in the place -- and I'm taking that OS purchase out of your personal pay:)

It's just a user difference. I stare at a PC, I get bored. I stare at my Mac, I feel more energized. But don't fret - you get iTunes tomorrow in Australia, you'll learn respect.

01-12-2005, 06:14 AM

I think I read somewhere the Mac Mini is 2.9 pounds. If that's true, it might be possible to use it as a laptop! Buy a folding keyboard and some sort of mini display...hmmm.

mindlessLemming

01-12-2005, 07:04 AM

They already have the mouse, keyboard, monitor, etc. They could buy an KVM switch if they wanted to keep both operable too.

I dig KVM's -- your point is well taken.

Evil... bast... Over priced X-Box?! I bet that G4 1.25mhz with a gig of RAM'll smoke your little beige box working on a high end photoshop print graphic anyday...

Hahahaaa...Oh man that's funny.. YOU WISH! I'd tell you the current specs of my custom beast, but I wouldn't want to confuse you with all those big numbers :p

The home-made laptop concept is kinda cool, but I'm def. going to continue playing devil's advocate on this one. ;)

bradyj

01-12-2005, 07:26 AM

I dig KVM's -- your point is well taken.

Hahahaaa...Oh man that's funny.. YOU WISH! I'd tell you the current specs of my custom beast, but I wouldn't want to confuse you with all those big numbers :p

The home-made laptop concept is kinda cool, but I'm def. going to continue playing devil's advocate on this one. ;)

You wanna test? I'll give you a 1gig psd file, we can clock it :cool:

I was having a discussion about this the other day with a friend of mine -- I could see the custom laptop usage; but it really seems a bit of a hectic choice. I see it's use to bring it to and from locations -- but when you start hauling a little keyboard and a monitor (even if it is compact), seems like too much work.

I dig the KVM idea -- I didn't think of it that way. Might be interesting:)

chilipie

01-12-2005, 07:18 PM

woopdy doo :rolleyes:.
I love that saying :p LOL.

I'm considering buying one; but I agree with Brady about it being a bit stingy not including a keyboard, mouse or screen :( .

rmedek

01-12-2005, 10:14 PM

Hahahaaa...Oh man that's funny.. YOU WISH! I'd tell you the current specs of my custom beast, but I wouldn't want to confuse you with all those big numbers :p
The last time I used a PC, I kept getting big numbers, too. What do these big numbers mean?

Technical information:
*** STOP: 0x0000004E (0x00000099, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

I kept getting them on a big blue screen, which I could only assume was an homage to IBM...
:D

For many of my friends envious of my Mac, this iMac is perfect. To them buying a $500 computer and spending a few hundred more on accessories is no different than buying the bottom of the line Dell for $800. It's an entry-level Macintosh, something Mac has needed for awhile.

01-12-2005, 10:23 PM

gsnedders

01-12-2005, 10:44 PM

I think I've discovered the Mac Mini's dirty little secret. Is it true the Mac Mini has a big brick-like adaptor, similar to how Gamecube does? If so, I'd consider that as an addition to its size, and probably would hesitate more to get one.It does, but I don't except it to be much larger than the one included with the 30" Apple Cinema Display HD (yes, I am that "lucky sob" :D), say 10cm (3.9370079") long and 2cm (0.78740158") thick (lemme open Calculator and do some quick conversions... although it'd be quicker in 10.4... :p), it's also very light (I really cannot guess weights :rolleyes: )...

Just finished watching the Keynote webcast, and when you first see that... How the hell can you make a computer that small???

Also, remember it'll need more RAM, 512MB min... Only got 4.5GB here... Buy third party RAM, don't go for the ultra expensive Apple stuff...

JamieR

01-13-2005, 12:18 AM

The mini macs are ok for people who want a mac desktop on a budget (well..excluding monitor etc). They give fair speed I would have thought with a decent amount of ram installed but if you want a really decent speed from a mac..you need a Powermac G5 - yes Geoffers - you lucky sod...

bradyj

01-13-2005, 01:40 AM

Also, remember it'll need more RAM, 512MB min... Only got 4.5GB here... Buy third party RAM, don't go for the ultra expensive Apple stuff...

Now is this a different RAM setup, or will modern G4/G5 RAM fly in it? I haven't heard anything yet.

And while I agree that a G5 is a better workhorse, you can still get quite a bit out of this 1ghz G4 -- remember, the processor speed is a little different than a PC:)

whackaxe

01-13-2005, 04:28 PM

i'm really tempted by this new mac. i can't say i was particularly impressed with the iMac G5 but this new mac looks great. i think i would have switched when longhorn came out, but now i can afford it :) mouse and keyboard are a bit of a disapointment, but it gives you the choice to spend more if you don't want to waste USB ports

liorean

01-15-2005, 02:25 PM

Hmm, I saw this comparison <http://www.systemshootouts.org/shootouts/desktop/2005/0111_sff0600.html>. It's the best comparison with another headless system I've seen so far.

Currently, here is no x86 PC manufacturer that really achieves what Apple does at such a light weight, small form factor and low energy consumption. (Custom ITX can, but I've not seen any prebuilt solution that can compete so far.) A Shuttle might come close, but it's far larger and heavier (more than twice the volume and weight). The AMD64 and G4 processors are about equally effective when compared to Intel P4, so the Mac Mini is a bit weaker. The real weakness is the graphics card, though.

01-15-2005, 03:05 PM

Very nice link liorean! It does make the Mac Mini look quite good side by side.

I think what would convince me to get a Mac Mini is if I had some cool ideas in my head that the box could be used besides just "experiencing Mac." There are ideas floating around, such as turning Mini into a Tivo like video recorder, a portable fixed computer etc. I think if Apple can turn the Mini into an appliance, and not just a computer, it would really help sway people to but it because of one of the numerous ways it can be used.

By the way, a Mac has a web server built in (apache) and always turned on right? I think I recall something along those lines. Might make it easier to test PHP scripts on it.

gsnedders

01-15-2005, 08:01 PM

By the way, a Mac has a web server built in (apache) and always turned on right? I think I recall something along those lines. Might make it easier to test PHP scripts on it.Yeah, but it's PHP 4.0.x, and it really isn't hard to complie Apache/PHP, heck, if a 12 year old kid can, I expect you can :D

liorean

01-15-2005, 11:28 PM

Well, I found a possible competitor from UK based Hoojum: The Nanode (http://www.mini-itx.com/news/nanode/), a 94x150x160 mm large compact PC. It runs the Via Eden-N processors (553, 800 or 1 000 MHz x86-32 processors) on the Via EPIA-N mainboard (Nano-ITX form factor).

In comparison, the Mac Mini is 51x165x165 mm. There's not especially many other points of data that can be compared at the moment, though, as the Nanode and it's specs are not released yet.

01-16-2005, 01:26 AM

Yeah, but it's PHP 4.0.x, and it really isn't hard to complie Apache/PHP, heck, if a 12 year old kid can, I expect you can :D

Well in Windows, I do have Phpdev installed, but as a program that needs to be launched manually (due to security concerns in Windows). If Mac acts as a server by default, testing PHP/ CGI scripts in it would be easier.

gsnedders

01-16-2005, 01:35 AM

Well in Windows, I do have Phpdev installed, but as a program that needs to be launched manually (due to security concerns in Windows). If Mac acts as a server by default, testing PHP/ CGI scripts in it would be easier.If you complie Apache/PHP, you can quite easily create an AppleScript to start it up, and make the AppleScript run at startup, or if you can't be bothered, ask me :p

rmedek

01-16-2005, 01:37 AM

Well, quite easily you can create an AppleScript to start it up, and make the AppleScript run at startup, or if you can't be bothered, ask me :p
Applescript in Windows? :D

jkd

01-16-2005, 04:34 AM

Just check "Personal Web Sharing" in the Sharing panel of the System Preferences, and Apache will automatically run in the background on every subsequent startup.

Stolenwords13

01-16-2005, 05:48 AM

So we could still use our windows keyboards, mouse and monitors for the mini mac?

That would be cool to store all my music and media files on the mac and use my xp for everything else. But then again I can still store everything on my current pc, so it seems that would be a waste of money. Although it just looks so great and tiny.

Anyone definately buying one?

bradyj

01-16-2005, 06:33 AM

I'm buying one for my parents -- though my opinion is biased since I love macs. They are spending a lot more time taking photos and want to mess around with movies... and they have an old PC. They want a new computer to be able to handle these, and I feel that a mac would be simpler for them to use, and would already come with the software as needed without any extra drivers for install. So, I told them as a gift, I'm ordering them one when they come out.

redhead

02-18-2005, 03:36 PM

Yes the Mac mini! I am saving for one at the moment (college rocks, having no money sucks!). I intend on using it with my existing mouse / keyboard / monitor and use a KVM switch between the two. "Fun fun fun", as The Beach Boys might put it. I've been wanting to switch to a Mac for ages, two of my friends have them (one's into graphic design and web design stuff and the other into music production, both of which I do on PC's at the moment) and it seems that I could do what I do much better on a Mac.

Hopefully I'll phase out my PC eventually... that'd be lovely, but I don’t see myself being able to manage switching immediately as I have so much "stuff" on this PC that I'd have to organize... heh heh. Will it be needing more RAM? 256 doesn’t seem like huge amounts. I guess I will be forced into upgrading if I start recording music on it (and it'll be cool to be using the same music production programs at home as at college... then I'll be able to do work at home, how convenient.)

So yeah, I shall be purchasing one in a few months if things go to plan... Rock and roll.

gsnedders

02-18-2005, 04:02 PM

256MB RAM is barely enough to run OS X, 512MB is the minimum if you actually want to do anything on it... Personally I have 4.5GB RAM in my PowerMac...

rmedek

02-18-2005, 08:26 PM

256MB RAM is barely enough to run OS X, 512MB is the minimum if you actually want to do anything on it...
I don't agree... maybe for hard-core computer hackers, but I had a 600 mhz iBook running Panther with 256mb RAM and for day to day use it was just fine. Only graphics-intensive programs (Photoshop, et al) would bog things down a bit.

I guess I will be forced into upgrading if I start recording music on it (and it'll be cool to be using the same music production programs at home as at college... then I'll be able to do work at home, how convenient.)
Yeah, you'll probably have to... I put Pro Tools LE on the iBook mentioned above and it ran on 256mb, but three plug-ins later and it was weeping for its mother. With 512mb it ran great.

JamieR

02-18-2005, 10:39 PM

I don't agree... maybe for hard-core computer hackers, but I had a 600 mhz iBook running Panther with 256mb RAM and for day to day use it was just fine. Only graphics-intensive programs (Photoshop, et al) would bog things down a bit.

I've got a G3 Powerbook Wallstreet, and it has 192MB ram running OS X Jaguar (10.2.7) and it runs fine...again, Photoshop CS and Illustrator CS lags as bit behind on the performance.

Jamie.

bradyj

02-18-2005, 11:14 PM

Got a slot loading iMac with 256mb of RAM, and it works quite well for just email and copying files, word, etc.

I think 512mb would be optimal, but for minor usage (not creative suite, or macromedia suite [though you could get away with dreamweaver]), 256-512mb is just fine.