Official "I Ordered an Intel Mac Mini" Thread...

[tjwett]

Let's integrate and talk smack while we wait for ours to arrive in the mail!

Core Duo, 1GB RAM here.

[Mord]

no one, intel GMA 950, grrrr.

[tjwett]

i guess i'm the only one around here who likes weak graphics and minimal storage. fine, have it your way!

[mduser63]

Being pretty sure that an Intel Mac mini was coming, I had planned to order one today. However, due to the integrated graphics, and high price, I'm not ordering one. Drop the price $50-$100 on both models, and put in a dedicated GPU, and I'll buy one.

[admanimal]

Let's integrate and talk smack while we wait for ours to arrive in the mail!

Core Duo, 1GB RAM here.

It took me all afternoon to decide but I finally bit the bullet and ordered the standard Core Solo model. I figured I'd see how well it suits my purposes (using Front Row on my tv and as a very lightly used ftp server) before I upgrade the RAM. I wasn't really looking for a powerhouse or anything. If it runs at least as well as my 1.2GHz G4 iBook, I'll be happy.

[dwd3885]

If it runs at least as well as my 1.2GHz G4 iBook, I'll be happy.

then why didn't you just buy a mac mini g4? for $399?

[admanimal]

then why didn't you just buy a mac mini g4? for $399?

Because I wanted Front Row/remote, and I also do a little development, so having an Intel Mac will be nice. Plus obviously in general it will be faster than a similar g4 version.

[mvelinder]

Let's integrate and talk smack while we wait for ours to arrive in the mail!

Core Duo, 1GB RAM here.


My poor poor Mini... he is so obsolete. A mere 1.25GHZ G4 w/ 512MB RAM.

Now back to waiting for my MBP.

[Chundles]

It took me all afternoon to decide but I finally bit the bullet and ordered the standard Core Solo model. I figured I'd see how well it suits my purposes (using Front Row on my tv and as a very lightly used ftp server) before I upgrade the RAM. I wasn't really looking for a powerhouse or anything. If it runs at least as well as my 1.2GHz G4 iBook, I'll be happy.

I think it will give your iBook if not a sound thumping then a good whack around the ears. It's a good deal quicker than the 1.42GHz G4 which was noticeably quicker than the 1.2GHz G4 so it should be real nice.

I don't give a flying rat's arse about the integrated graphics malarky, this is not a gaming machine, it's for people to type documents, surf the internet do email and watch movies on. It should run 720p movies very capably and DVDs etc will run with no trouble at all. Shame the price has gone up but if I was in the market for a desktop I'd be looking at the iMac to be honest but the Mac mini would be a nice one to plug in under the TV and watch DVDs and stuff. It would also make a nice little encoding machine for ripping my DVDs to mp4s.

[skubish]

I think you will find that the integrated graphics will be pure garbage.
It is not worth the price increase. Wait 6 months and I bet there will be a video card in there.

[admanimal]

I think it will give your iBook if not a sound thumping then a good whack around the ears. It's a good deal quicker than the 1.42GHz G4 which was noticeably quicker than the 1.2GHz G4 so it should be real nice.

I don't give a flying rat's arse about the integrated graphics malarky, this is not a gaming machine, it's for people to type documents, surf the internet do email and watch movies on. It should run 720p movies very capably and DVDs etc will run with no trouble at all. Shame the price has gone up but if I was in the market for a desktop I'd be looking at the iMac to be honest but the Mac mini would be a nice one to plug in under the TV and watch DVDs and stuff. It would also make a nice little encoding machine for ripping my DVDs to mp4s.

Yeah I think people are forgetting that these are really entry level machines. It just so happens that the form factor is so cool that everybody wants one to suit their more advanced purposes.

[MacSA]

Yikes... only two people have bought one so far....:eek: Compare that to the flood of MacBook pro orders.

[CoMpX]

My poor poor Mini... he is so obsolete. A mere 1.25GHZ G4 w/ 512MB RAM.

Now back to waiting for my MBP.

My 1.42Ghz mini is all maxed out, and I feel trapped. I'm starting to reach the limits of it's speed and I need more speed. But I'm gona have to wait a while before my dad buys me another computer. Maybe another 1 or 2 years. Unless he wants to give my mini to my sister and my me an iMac. ooooo

[aamiic]

I think you will find that the integrated graphics will be pure garbage.
It is not worth the price increase. Wait 6 months and I bet there will be a video card in there.

I really doubt this. It really depends on what you want to do. I woudln't expect to be playing games on a mac mini - it's not what it is designed for anyways. For general web purposes, watching video and such, a 256MB x1600 or a 32mb integrated card is not going to make any difference at all.

If you wait 6 months, then your'll just be further along in the gaming/graphics race and still have a crap video card compared to what is required. You're missing the purpose of the Mini (as has been stated above already by another). The mini is a well priced mac that will meet many peoples needs.

[admanimal]

I think you will find that the integrated graphics will be pure garbage.
It is not worth the price increase. Wait 6 months and I bet there will be a video card in there.

I used to use a homebuilt PC with a 1.2GHz Duron with 256 MB of RAM and some kind of integrated graphics on the motherboard (it was a cheap one, I forget the exact kind) for basically the same things (except Front Row, obviously) I will use my new mini for. That computer worked out fine for me, and I expect the mini will be even better. Neither of these computers were/will be my primary use machines, so I wasn't looking for the fastest of anything in particular.

That said, I did notice a big improvement in speed when I eventually did add a real graphics card to the Duron machine. But I'm sure with more memory and a better IG chipset, the mini's will do better than that computer's integrated graphics.

So to summarize, I know exactly what integrated graphics are like, and I bought one anyway.

[badmofo9000]

I think you will find that the integrated graphics will be pure garbage.
It is not worth the price increase. Wait 6 months and I bet there will be a video card in there.


I had a dev kit with the intel gma 900. For non graphics intensive apps it worked great. I was pretty much amazed how well it ran quartz and core image. I got the same ripple with the gma 900 as I got with the nvidia 5200 on my G5 powermac. I believe the gma 950 will be fine. If you are a gamer the chip is a sloutch, but for everyday iLife type apps it will do the job. Pure garbage I think is a bit of an exagerasion.

[jsw]

My local Apple Store claims they'll have them on the 3rd. If so, there's a good chance I'll have one on the 3rd. 80%, say. Still deciding solo vs duo.

I'd really like to add one to my living room for DVD viewing and couch surfing, and I'll likely have it serve up my home web stuff and files as well. The integrated graphics don't bother me. My Intellimac, PowerMac, and PowerBook can handle that sort of stuff just fine already.

I had a dev kit with the intel gma 900. For non graphics intensive apps it worked great.
Ditto.

I am, however, curious to see how it performs with the "slower" Core chips... the 3.6GHz Pentium in the DTK was pretty slick.

[admanimal]

My local Apple Store claims they'll have them on the 3rd. If so, there's a good chance I'll have one on the 3rd. 80%, say. Still deciding solo vs duo.

I'd really like to add one to my living room for DVD viewing and couch surfing, and I'll likely have it serve up my home web stuff and files as well. The integrated graphics don't bother me. My Intellimac, PowerMac, and PowerBook can handle that sort of stuff just fine already.


I was tempted to get the Duo just for the cool factor of having a tiny little dual core CPU machine sitting under my TV, but I decided that I don't really need the power in this machine.

It would be awesome if Apple (or someone else) could come up with a Front Row like interface for Mail and Safari so I could browse those from my couch too. Just a thought.

[tjwett]

all this uproar about the integrated graphics is perhaps a bit premature. for one thing, as many have said, this is an entry-level machine. it is not a gaming power house. i wouldn't want to game on an entry-level PC with integrated graphics either. people's argument seems to mostly be "well, for this price you could get a monster PC with blah blah blah graphics card". great. that's how it has always been. Macs have always been more expensive and they likely always will be. i don't know of any evidence that would suggest the Intel switch would result in cheaper prices. that was just speculation based on hopes and prayers. did people think Apple was going to choose this crappy little press event to completely pull a 180 on it's successful entire pricing method of the past 20 years and start putting top-of-the-line components into the cheapest machine they've ever made?!? wake up, this is Apple we're talking about. nothing is going to be cheap. furthermore, we don't even know what this thing will actually perform like. the only details out there are benchmarks from heavy gaming on Windows. that says just about nothing conclusive or useful as to how it will actually run on OS X. geez, i've seen 3 Ghz PCs that run certain things more sluggishly than my little PowerBook. how are so many people running Tiger right now on CPUs half the speed of their PC counterparts? granted, games appear to not be this GPU's bag at all. but there are attributes in this chip that make it optimized for a lot of other things this little machine was probably more intended to do. hell, they didn't even include Bugdom or whatever free games they usually throw in. let's see how it performs with iLife. that's what it was made to do. hey, it may suck. or i may be pleasantly surprised. but i'm not going to have a heart attack because of some Windows Doom 3 benchmarks. the fact is that no one really knows how this machine combined with this processor and memory actually performs.

[Aramis]

all this uproar about the integrated graphics is perhaps a bit premature. for one thing, as many have said, this is an entry-level machine. it is not a gaming power house. i wouldn't want to game on an entry-level PC with integrated graphics either. people's argument seems to mostly be "well, for this price you could get a monster PC with blah blah blah graphics card". great. that's how it has always been. Macs have always been more expensive and they likely always will be. i don't know of any evidence that would suggest the Intel switch would result in cheaper prices. that was just speculation based on hopes and prayers. did people think Apple was going to choose this crappy little press event to completely pull a 180 on it's successful entire pricing method of the past 20 years and start putting top-of-the-line components into the cheapest machine they've ever made?!? wake up, this is Apple we're talking about. nothing is going to be cheap. furthermore, we don't even know what this thing will actually perform like. the only details out there are benchmarks from heavy gaming on Windows. that says just about nothing conclusive or useful as to how it will actually run on OS X. geez, i've seen 3 Ghz PCs that run certain things more sluggishly than my little PowerBook. how are so many people running Tiger right now on CPUs half the speed of their PC counterparts? granted, games appear to not be this GPU's bag at all. but there are attributes in this chip that make it optimized for a lot of other things this little machine was probably more intended to do. hell, they didn't even include Bugdom or whatever free games they usually throw in. let's see how it performs with iLife. that's what it was made to do. hey, it may suck. or i may be pleasantly surprised. but i'm not going to have a heart attack because of some Windows Doom 3 benchmarks. the fact is that no one really knows how this machine combined with this processor and memory actually performs.

Well said.

[Spanky Deluxe]

Woohoo!! I ordered one about 45 minutes after the UK Store went up! Mind you it took me 45 minutes to place the order because Apple's store was so overwhelmed and was going soooo slowly. At first I thought I could be one of the first!!

I went for the 1.66 Core Duo CTO'd with a gig of RAM. 1 Gig of RAM from Crucial is £77.54 whereas the 1 gig straight away from Apple is only £70 and that's before my discount. Selling the two 256MB sticks on eBay would have got me peanuts so it really wouldn't have been worth it.

So that's a 1.66 Core Duo 1GB RAM, 80GB HDD and Superdrive for £601.22 with the discount I can get through my Uni.
I also picked up a Deskjet for 5940 - £79.95 but gives me a £60 rebate. A decent new printer for £20?? Bargain! The girlfriend can have my old one. :)

Now I've just got to find a nice enough case to puck my headless eMac in so that I can 'give' (loan) it to my girlfriend and convert her to the wonderous world of OS X and Apple!!

[tjwett]

...The girlfriend can have my old one. :)

...Now I've just got to find a nice enough case to puck my headless eMac in so that I can 'give' (loan) it to my girlfriend and convert her to the wonderous world of OS X and Apple!!

ahh, how well we treat our ladies. i do the same thing. something new out? well, i can always give the old one to the girlfriend! nothing says i love you like hand-me-downs. :)

[ppnkg]

Yikes... only two people have bought one so far....:eek: Compare that to the flood of MacBook pro orders.

You forget that people wanted a new powerbook for years...

[Aarow]

My poor poor Mini... he is so obsolete. A mere 1.25GHZ G4 w/ 512MB RAM.

Now back to waiting for my MBP.

I know your pain, minus the MBP.

[Spanky Deluxe]

ahh, how well we treat our ladies. i do the same thing. something new out? well, i can always give the old one to the girlfriend! nothing says i love you like hand-me-downs. :)

Lol! Its the only way to go! Without people like us a lot of girls would still be using Pentium-2s with 128MB RAM. Unless they have a rich daddy of course!! :D

[Artful Dodger]

My local Apple Store claims they'll have them on the 3rd. If so, there's a good chance I'll have one on the 3rd. 80%, say. Still deciding solo vs duo.

I'd really like to add one to my living room for DVD viewing and couch surfing, and I'll likely have it serve up my home web stuff and files as well. The integrated graphics don't bother me. My Intellimac, PowerMac, and PowerBook can handle that sort of stuff just fine already.


Ditto.

I am, however, curious to see how it performs with the "slower" Core chips... the 3.6GHz Pentium in the DTK was pretty slick.

My girlfriend is thinking about getting the Core Duo and selling her iBook as this would serve her very well. She could get a nice 17" lcd of her choice and all the extras that her iBook doesn't have without it breaking the bank ;) Of course I'd love to take it for a run from time to time, just to make sure it's doing it's job (surfing, listening to iTunes, using Word) :D

[ChrisFromCanada]

Dual 1.66 here CTO 1GB.

Ordered from Canadian Apple Online Store. Estimated ship - March 3. It was March 2 but then I re-orderd to go for the extra RAM.


1,000 Posts!!!!!

[xterm]

I ordered my core duo mini from the Australian store at 10:08AM, got a shipment notification at 2:50PM, not bad!

Would it be shipping from China, or from an Australian Warehouse?

[coot]

Hi,

Just ordered a duo with 512Mb and will pick up some more memory later on.
Have an iMac G5 at work, a matching one in the home office and think the mini will work well at home to watch some media on the DLP goggle box.

Also handy for running some slideshows ( I do a bit of photography ) and web access for the familly.

The upgrade to iLife '06 ( have '05 on the other two ) is handy too.

All in all looking forward to it.

Hopefully shipping tomorrow so might get lucky and have it by the weekend....

Cheers,

Pete.

[BWhaler]

I bought the Duo with 120gig HD and 2gig memory.

It's for my wife, and she is going to love it. While I agree about the integrated graphics, my wife will never notice nor care. She'll just know how fast iLife is now and how much she can get done.

[tjwett]

I bought the Duo with 120gig HD and 2gig memory.

It's for my wife, and she is going to love it. While I agree about the integrated graphics, my wife will never notice nor care. She'll just know how fast iLife is now and how much she can get done.

awesome gift. and here we were just talking about how girls always get our hand-me-down computers. way to make us look bad. ;)

[tjwett]

I ordered my core duo mini from the Australian store at 10:08AM, got a shipment notification at 2:50PM, not bad!

Would it be shipping from China, or from an Australian Warehouse?

damn i ordered right after the event and mine still hasn't shipped. did you get it all stock or did you add any CTO options? i think mine is taking so long because of the extra RAM i added.

[MacTruck]

I don't know about the mac min intel version. I mean whats the point? I already have a slow mac mini PPC why get another slow intel mac mini? Its an entry level (crappy) machine after all and the whole point is that its supposed to be cheap but when it hits $800 then I'm like "meh". Now had it had a DVR capability with a tv card I'd a left my house running without my pants on to get one but then itunes wouldn't make as much money if people could record shows.

Thank GOD for eyeTV!

[bevo]

after much debate with myself, I decided to plunk down the cash for a intel core solo

this will be my first mac since I was forced to sell my ibook g3 500 a few years ago for school.

I'm not thrilled about the integrated graphics gpu, but in the end I dont think it would be anyworse than the ati 9200 gpu which didn't even support all of the os x graphics features.

because of the higher cost, I was forced to delay upgrading the ram on it.
I would have prefered a version without the bluetooth and wireless standard. I dont have a need for those, so I'm buying this *upgrade* for no reason. But its the way of things to come.


So I'm going with the default core solo mini and when I can afford a ram upgrade, I'll go at least 1 gig. More if the chips are cheaper then. Looking at newegg for ram, seems there aren't alot of DDR2 SO-DIMMs that run at pc5300?

so the market is no where close to what I would expect. Hopefully with the introduction of these minis and other computers, the manufacturing and cost of these chips will drop some.

est ship date of march 1, delivery by march 8th (prob a bit sooner if it was like the last thing I bought).

*update* just checked my order status on apple.com, it had a tracking # available there. I haven't received an email yet. So when I clicked track the package, fedex had a delivery notification of this friday! 2 day shipping? I only got the free ground shipping...

[tjwett]

I don't know about the mac min intel version. I mean whats the point? I already have a slow mac mini PPC why get another slow intel mac mini? Its an entry level (crappy) machine after all and the whole point is that its supposed to be cheap but when it hits $800 then I'm like "meh". Now had it had a DVR capability with a tv card I'd a left my house running without my pants on to get one but then itunes wouldn't make as much money if people could record shows.

Thank GOD for eyeTV!

i don't know if id call it slow. especially in comparison to the PPC mini. it's got a 667mhz system bus, compared to 167mhz on the PPC version. and the Intel Core processor is arguably a more modern and advanced chip that the G4. the ability to add 2 GB of RAM ain't bad either. yes, it has shared graphics. and that's all anyone knows since no one has tried one yet.

[MacTruck]

i don't know if id call it slow. especially in comparison to the PPC mini. it's got a 667mhz system bus, compared to 167mhz on the PPC version. and the Intel Core processor is arguably a more modern and advanced chip that the G4. the ability to add 2 GB of RAM ain't bad either. yes, it has shared graphics. and that's all anyone knows since no one has tried one yet.


I am willing to bet you won't be impressed despite what you will post. These are meant to be slow, speed is in the desktops and notebooks, nothing else.

I have a loaded PPC mini and a PPC laptop. Specs are very close. Powerbook spanks the living hell out of the mini ten times over. WHY? Its the same architecture, I don't get it. Yeah the hd is slower and the graphics card sucks and the processors are 250mhz diff but to spank it as bad as it does is insane.

Mini = engineered to be slow as crap. But for $499 not bad.

By the way, I have used many computers with shared graphics before. You are in for a let down.

[DougTheImpaler]

ahh, how well we treat our ladies. i do the same thing. something new out? well, i can always give the old one to the girlfriend! nothing says i love you like hand-me-downs. :)
I did the same thing with my wife, and she LOVES her Mac. No matter what, the handmedown is still faster than the previous handmedown, right? ;)

[tjwett]

I am willing to bet you won't be impressed despite what you will post. These are meant to be slow, speed is in the desktops and notebooks, nothing else.

I have a loaded PPC mini and a PPC laptop. Specs are very close. Powerbook spanks the living hell out of the mini ten times over. WHY? Its the same architecture, I don't get it. Yeah the hd is slower and the graphics card sucks and the processors are 250mhz diff but to spank it as bad as it does is insane.

Mini = engineered to be slow as crap. But for $499 not bad.

i'll be impressed if it does what it is intended to do; iLife and OS X. and i will post whatever i see. just because i bought one doesn't mean i need to fudge the results to justify my purchase. i am a Mac consultant for a living and i need to know if i can recommend stuff to clients.

[TBi]

<snip>

I don't give a flying rat's arse about the integrated graphics malarky, this is not a gaming machine, it's for people to type documents, surf the internet do email and watch movies on.
<snip>

I do give a flying rat's arse. I have a nice big 20" screen, apple wireless keyboard and a nice mouse that i could set up the Mini with. I don't expect anything major from the entry mini but the higher end one could have at least had the option for something better. I'm not looking for something awe inspiring, just something that is faster than integrated and nearly everything is.

I'd rather not have to get an iMac since i already have a screen although with DVI out i could hook my dell up to a 17" iMac and get all the benefits including dual screen.

I have a G4 mini though and i absolutely love the form factor and size and the new one would have been perfect with a better graphics card. I'd have happily paid for it.

[admanimal]

I am willing to bet you won't be impressed despite what you will post. These are meant to be slow, speed is in the desktops and notebooks, nothing else.

I have a loaded PPC mini and a PPC laptop. Specs are very close. Powerbook spanks the living hell out of the mini ten times over. WHY? Its the same architecture, I don't get it. Yeah the hd is slower and the graphics card sucks and the processors are 250mhz diff but to spank it as bad as it does is insane.

Mini = engineered to be slow as crap. But for $499 not bad.

By the way, I have used many computers with shared graphics before. You are in for a let down.

Actually, your Mini and powerbook's architectures are NOT the same. The G4 Mini I believe had a 167 MHz system bus, whereas the PB has a 667 MHz bus. This does actually make a difference performance-wise when everything else is equal (or as you pointed out, when the mini also has a slower HD and graphics.) The Intel Mini now does have a 667 MHz bus and supports DDR RAM, which is going to put it closer to if not beyond your PB (that will depend on the graphics and HD).

[Artful Dodger]

tjwett

i'll be impressed if it does what it is intended to do; iLife and OS X. and i will post whatever i see. just because i bought one doesn't mean i need to fudge the results to justify my purchase. i am a Mac consultant for a living and i need to know if i can recommend stuff to clients.

I'll be waiting for your feedback on the Mac Mini, as stated before my gf really would like one and doesn't need super graphics for her stuff but something better than her G4 would be nice ;) After using my 20" Intel iMac she really likes the larger screen, a 17" lcd would be great for her and would fit just right in her roll top desk along with the Mini :)

[Diatribe]

The questions are the following:

1. Will a Core Solo be enough to run 1080p decently?
2. Will the graphics card be enough to run 1080p decently?
2. Does EyeTV rely more on the processor or on the graphics card and will it be enough to run it smoothly at full screen?

If those three answers are yes, I retract my statement regarding the integrated graphics. Although it would have been nice to play the occasional game on it. But I realize that this is not the target market.

[Spanky Deluxe]

The questions are the following:

1. Will a Core Solo be enough to run 1080p decently?
2. Will the graphics card be enough to run 1080p decently?
2. Does EyeTV rely more on the processor or on the graphics card and will it be enough to run it smoothly at full screen?

If those three answers are yes, I retract my statement regarding the integrated graphics. Although it would have been nice to play the occasional game on it. But I realize that this is not the target market.

1. Probably not without stuttering. The core Duo should do without a problem unless Microsoft are better at writing software than Apple.
2. I don't think even the X1600 currently supports hardware accelerated decoding for 1080p so this isn't really a factor. As long as the card supports 2d acceleration it should all simply be down to the processor.
3. Processor. Unless for some crazy reason it uses 3d acceleration. 2D acceleration stagnated years ago. This is CPU stuff now.

My P-M 1700Mhz Dell 8600 can run 1080p. It does stutter though and isn't completely smooth. That's a 3 year old processor two generations older than the Core Solo/Duos. If the Core Duo can't run 1080p smoothly then Apple need to get out of the software industry and leave it to Microsoft. The Core Solo *might* be able to run 1080p smoothly with a serious amount of optimisation but this leaves to be seen.

[munkees]

Actually, your Mini and powerbook's architectures are NOT the same. The G4 Mini I believe had a 167 MHz system bus, whereas the PB has a 667 MHz bus. This does actually make a difference performance-wise when everything else is equal (or as you pointed out, when the mini also has a slower HD and graphics.) The Intel Mini now does have a 667 MHz bus and supports DDR RAM, which is going to put it closer to if not beyond your PB (that will depend on the graphics and HD).

Both the PPC mini and the PPC PowerBooks have 167Mhz bus Both CPU have 512K L2 cache

I believe that the Mac Intel Mini will be great as long as you have more than 1GB ram, that means the shared memory will be running at 667Mhz for both GPU and CPU, this is great, I believe much faster than the prior GPU buses in the older models. Plus both the 1.5 Solo and the 1.67 Dual cores have 2MB cache this make though put performance even better.

See my proposed network, I have most of the items but buy summer It shall be complete. The Mac mini fills a spot in my house, with front row, eyetv HD, it's a good family machine. I will replace my aging no FLAT tv 21" with a 24" HD TV, in the future, i will replace the mini, with another much more powerful, and the LCD, and retire these to be a server (like 3 years from the time I buy it) I can get a 24" about $400, which specs very well.

With stream video from with iTunes I can now watch my iTune videos from a central server (one of my iMacs, which I have 2 external drives on the back, one for media, one for backup). All computer in the house can play and watch videos, and that is great.

http://www.planetresearch.com/Network%20Layout.html

[admanimal]

Both the PPC mini and the PPC PowerBooks have 167Mhz bus Both CPU have 512K L2 cache



Whoops...you're right.

In other news, my Mini shipped this morning via FedEx ground, and it is due for delivery tomorrow. I am in Connecticut, so it must be shipping from somewhere in the northeast, which means Apple had these distributed around the country probably prior to the announcement.

[tjwett]

...In other news, my Mini shipped this morning via FedEx ground, and it is due for delivery tomorrow. I am in Connecticut, so it must be shipping from somewhere in the northeast, which means Apple had these distributed around the country probably prior to the announcement.

damn, i'm in NY and i ordered minutes after the event and mine still hasn't shipped. did you get the stock config? i added RAM, i wonder if that is what's holding it up.

[MacTruck]

Actually, your Mini and powerbook's architectures are NOT the same. The G4 Mini I believe had a 167 MHz system bus, whereas the PB has a 667 MHz bus. This does actually make a difference performance-wise when everything else is equal (or as you pointed out, when the mini also has a slower HD and graphics.) The Intel Mini now does have a 667 MHz bus and supports DDR RAM, which is going to put it closer to if not beyond your PB (that will depend on the graphics and HD).


Wrong.

[risc]

I'd like one but not with the current graphics configuration. I need something powerful enough to power a HDTV and this isn't it. Hopefully the Rev B includes REAL support for HD. The stuff like networked Front Row is absolutely great, if it has networked EyeTV support even better, but like I said until it has a graphics solution that has enough power to do HD I'll wait.

[MacSA]

Whoops...you're right.

In other news, my Mini shipped this morning via FedEx ground, and it is due for delivery tomorrow. I am in Connecticut, so it must be shipping from somewhere in the northeast, which means Apple had these distributed around the country probably prior to the announcement.

You'll have to tell us all about it when it arrives. :D

[jsw]

I am now sitting here, looking at the box for the mini duo I just bought at the local Apple Store.

Part of me wants to leave it unopened, wait for reviews, and maybe return it.

Part of me wants to open it, takes some geek-porn pics, and use it.

Damn.

[risc]

I am now sitting here, looking at the box for the mini duo I just bought at the local Apple Store.

Part of me wants to leave it unopened, wait for reviews, and maybe return it.

Part of me wants to open it, takes some geek-porn pics, and use it.

Damn.

Open it, and tell us how well it goes with DVD, H.264 1080p content, and the general vibe of the OS - we all want to know no matter how much we (um I?) hate the idea of integrated Intel video. ;)

[admanimal]

Wrong.

Yes, my mistake...as was pointed out a couple hours ago.

[jsw]

Open it, and tell us how well it goes with DVD, H.264 1080p content, and the general vibe of the OS - we all want to know no matter how much we (um I?) hate the idea of integrated Intel video. ;)
Oh, I want to open it. I'm just deciding if I "gotta-tell-the-wife-I-spent-$750*-on-another-Mac" want to open it.

* I get a 6% discount, and there's no sales tax in New Hampshire, so cost was $751.06.

[admanimal]

damn, i'm in NY and i ordered minutes after the event and mine still hasn't shipped. did you get the stock config? i added RAM, i wonder if that is what's holding it up.

Yeah i got a stock model. Custom configs generally take 1-3 days to ship, according to Apple.

[admanimal]

Oh, I want to open it. I'm just deciding if I "gotta-tell-the-wife-I-spent-$750-on-another-Mac" want to open it.

If you can wait until tomorrow night, I can compare my Core Solo model to a 1.2GHz G4 iBook, a 1.something GHz G4 Powerbook (my girlfriends), and a 2.0 GHz G5 iMac...and then you can extrapolate how well the Core Duo will perform from there :)

[jsw]

If you can wait until tomorrow night, I can compare my Core Solo model to a 1.2GHz G4 iBook, a 1.something GHz G4 Powerbook (my girlfriends), and a 2.0 GHz G5 iMac...and then you can extrapolate how well the Core Duo will perform from there :)I'll try to wait.

I think we all know how difficult it is to have an unopened Apple box in front of us.

Then again, there's that wife factor....

[MacTruck]

I am now sitting here, looking at the box for the mini duo I just bought at the local Apple Store.

Part of me wants to leave it unopened, wait for reviews, and maybe return it.

Part of me wants to open it, takes some geek-porn pics, and use it.

Damn.


OPEN it and please prove us all wrong with some benchmarks.

[jsw]

OPEN it and please prove us all wrong with some benchmarks.
I'd appreciate it if someone could tell me which benchmarks to run - I'll make sure they work on the Intellimac, then maybe I'll open the mini....

[MacTruck]

I'd appreciate it if someone could tell me which benchmarks to run - I'll make sure they work on the Intellimac, then maybe I'll open the mini....

Photoshop thread test baby.


http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=136593

[Spanky Deluxe]

I'd appreciate it if someone could tell me which benchmarks to run - I'll make sure they work on the Intellimac, then maybe I'll open the mini....

Well the general responsiveness will be interesting. Rosetta applications are probably going to go a bit slow since the stock (If you bought if off the shelf) 512MB will hold it back.

If you have UT2004 lying around, install that and download the universal binary.

I'd really prefer Rosetta applications to be left until a 1GB test since we all know that Rosetta needs that.

[jsw]

Photoshop thread test baby.


http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=136593
I have no other apps for this except for the ones that come with it. Photoshop Elements won't run. eclipse (Java development) doesn't led itself to benchmarks. WCIII... likely won't run unless I up the RAM (I have it on the Intellimac, but it's at 2GB RAM and I'm not sure how to get specs off of it anyway). I don't have UT.

Any suggestions?

[admanimal]

Photoshop thread test baby.

I would guess that anything that uses Rosetta on a stock (i.e. 512MB of RAM) Intel Mini is going to be reallllly slow (even for Rosetta) given that the CPU only has about 432 MB of RAM at its disposal.

Personally I am more interested in seeing how native apps run, since that's pretty much all I'll be using.

Do you have any good sized movie clips that you could import into iMovie and then just stick them all together and export? It won't be exact but if you do the same thing on your Mini and intellimac, the difference should be large enough to capture while timing it by hand, and it will give us a rough idea of the performance.

[jsw]

I would guess that anything that uses Rosetta on a stock (i.e. 512MB of RAM) Intel Mini is going to be reallllly slow (even for Rosetta) given that the CPU only has about 432 MB of RAM at its disposal.

Personally I am more interested in seeing how native apps run, since that's pretty much all I'll be using.
If I open it, I'll definitely provide that feedback, but I was hoping for a benchmark so as to share some sort of objective measurement with the community.

[MacTruck]

If I open it, I'll definitely provide that feedback, but I was hoping for a benchmark so as to share some sort of objective measurement with the community.


No offense but this is why intels suck right now. Buying one of them is purely for gadget junkies. They are useless.

[tjwett]

XBench is now Universal Binary. not the best test but it's something.

[admanimal]

No offense but this is why intels suck right now. Buying one of them is purely for gadget junkies. They are useless.

How does not being able to benchmark them make them useless? Last time I checked they can still access email, play music, go on the web, make movies and DVDs, etc. And it can definitely do these things faster than a lot of people's current Macs.

[tjwett]

No offense but this is why intels suck right now. Buying one of them is purely for gadget junkies. They are useless.

this comment has some merit, at least for some people. they are useless for anything from Adobe or Apple's Pro apps. or anything that requires timing, like most 3rd party audio and video software. i tried running Reason on the Core Duo iMac and it wasn't so pretty. i am eager to find out what out what my Core Duo mini feels like after just selling my dual G5. luckily i won't need to be doing any mission critical design work for another 6 months or so. finishing up a web design project this week on my 12" PowerBook and it's not too much fun in Photoshop. not even gonna bother trying with the mini. the only app i'm concerned about will be FileMaker, which should have been Universal from day one in my opinion considering they are an Apple-owned company. everything else i use is Universal already except for Apple Remote Desktop.

[jsw]

Buying one of them is purely for gadget junkies.
Cool. Then I was on target getting one. :D

[tjwett]

Cool. Then I was on target getting one. :D

oh open it already! :) mine hasn't even shipped yet.

[jsw]

oh open it already! :) mine hasn't even shipped yet.
I have to tell the wife first.

I love Macs... but I value my life more. ;)

[Spanky Deluxe]

jsw, what does the box look like? Is it basically the same as the previous minis? You can take photos of the box without invalidating the wife-rule!!

BTW, if you had a G4 mini and had just bought this one would you be waiting to open it or would you have switched them and told her "what, this remote?? Oh we've had it for ages but I couldn't find it!"

[tjwett]

...BTW, if you had a G4 mini and had just bought this one would you be waiting to open it or would you have switched them and told her "what, this remote?? Oh we've had it for ages but I couldn't find it!"

was thinking the same thing. just quietly swap this one in its place. ha, i know my girlfriend would never know the difference. she couldn't care less about any of this though.

[admanimal]

Quick jsw, we need some box shots and benchmarks to pull this thread back together!

[IanC]

I have my finger hovering over the Checkout button right now.

Damn it :D

[bevo]

Push!! Push!!

[aswitcher]

I really want to see benchmarks before I write the graphics card off - and this rev.

I guess we will see another rev before years end.

[liketom]

i ordered one mac mini solo , stock model :rolleyes:

mine is shipping on the 6th for delivery on the 8th

[tjwett]

anyone have links to compatible RAM from 3rd parties at a better price than Apple's CTO price? i'm considering upping mine to 2GB now before it ships.

[jsw]

Quick jsw, we need some box shots and benchmarks to pull this thread back together!
OK, the wife has the good digital camera leaving me with my POS cellphone cam. Still, here are some shots of the box... no opening until and unless I get approval.

And, yes, I'd've disguised it as an older mini... except that I don't have one!:(

She might not notice it amongst the Lacie d2 drives, though.

But I think she'd notice the $750 charge. ;)

[admanimal]

anyone have links to compatible RAM from 3rd parties at a better price than Apple's CTO price? i'm considering upping mine to 2GB now before it ships.

Keep in mind that the memory is set up to use 2 chips of equal size to take advantage of DDR. So if you keep your current 1GB order with Apple and then upgrade later, you will actually have to buy a whole 2GB (two, 1GB sticks) rather than just the 1GB that you actually want to add. The good news is that I will take the two 512 MB sticks you are left with off your hands for a reasonable price :)

But anyway my point is that you might be better off just getting the 2GB to begin with.

[tjwett]

Keep in mind that the memory is set up to use 2 chips of equal size to take advantage of DDR. So if you keep your current 1GB order with Apple and then upgrade later, you will actually have to buy a whole 2GB (two, 1GB sticks) rather than just the 1GB that you actually want to add. The good news is that I will take the two 512 MB sticks you are left with off your hands for a reasonable price :)

But anyway my point is that you might be better off just getting the 2GB to begin with.

no i understand that. what i was thinking was if i could find those two 1GB chips cheaper elsewhere then maybe i would bump my order down to the stock 512. it would speed up the shipping and save me some money. or if i can't find them cheaper elsewhere (so far i cannot) then i may bump it up through Apple while i still have time before they ship it.

[tjwett]

OK, the wife has the good digital camera leaving me with my POS cellphone cam. Still, here are some shots of the box... no opening until and unless I get approval.

And, yes, I'd've disguised it as an older mini... except that I don't have one!:(

She might not notice it amongst the Lacie d2 drives, though.

But I think she'd notice the $750 charge. ;)

cool! i think you have the first one in the public. can't find box shots on any other site.

[Spanky Deluxe]

I would of loved to have 2GB in my mac but think it would be overkill for now. Maybe in a few months time or something though. The 2x512MB sticks should hold their value a lot better than the 2x256MB sticks in the base model anyway.

For info, 2x1GB from Crucial is &#163;146.86 here in the UKU and 2x512MB from them is &#163;74.01.
From Apple, 2x1GB is &#163;210.01 upgrade while the 2x512MB is only a &#163;70.01 upgrade.
Getting 2GB on Macs from Apple has still been seriously over inflated but recently their options for getting 1GB on macs have been very competetive. Yes getting the memory from crucial will give you 2 256MB chips to sell but they're not very popular chips anyway. Also after the Uni discount I got from Apple it really wasn't worth the whole opening the thing up and flogging the chips in it thing.

Edit: I think I got my 2x512MB for &#163;62ish after my discount. So I'd have to have sold my 256 chips for at least &#163;13 for the pair. I'd guess I could've got &#163;30 for it but for &#163;15 worth of effort and risking damaging the thing whilst opening it up, it really wasn't worth it.

[jsw]

cool! i think you have the first one in the public. can't find box shots on any other site.
To be honest, it isn't mine. MacTruck sent me pics of his.

*** ducks ***

[macnoir]

whaddaya think..

I'm really close to pulling the trigger on the dual-core. It's taking a great deal of self-restraint.

But I've been wondering, would i get better performance by storing my movies on a firewire drive attached to the mac mini or on my networked G4 Sawtooth (upgraded to 800 Mhz) with a gigbit card? I know gigbit has a much higher transfer rate, but maybe there are botlenecks I'm not aware of.

-K

[jsw]

whaddaya think..

I'm really close to pulling the trigger on the dual-core. It's taking a great deal of self-restraint.

But I've been wondering, would i get better performance by storing my movies on a firewire drive attached to the mac mini or on my networked G4 Sawtooth (upgraded to 800 Mhz) with a gigbit card? I know gigbit has a much higher transfer rate, but maybe there are botlenecks I'm not aware of.

-K
I know of this self-restraint. I've been staring at the unopened box for four hours. :D I'm considering waiting and returning it for one of the ones they'll get in with more RAM (coming "sooner or later" according to them...).

My guess w.r.t. your question is that either option would be fine for movies. Gigabit is faster - if it can pull it off the drive faster, and if the drive isn't in use for other things. Local FW will provide a consistent - and fully adequate - speed.

[yoda13]

I wish that your wife would hurry up and get home...:D

[xterm]

My Mac Mini just arrived at the door, bloody good service from Apple!

[Spanky Deluxe]

My Mac Mini just arrived at the door, bloody good service from Apple!

Oh cool! Its a core duo too, isn't it? I think I remember you saying that earlier. How much ram? Have you opened it yet? If not... why not!!

[xterm]

Some Images:

http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/3226/img02853ee.th.jpg (http://img235.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img02853ee.jpg)

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/5070/img02848oe.th.jpg (http://img59.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img02848oe.jpg)

http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/1827/img02866xx.th.jpg (http://img412.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img02866xx.jpg)

http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/7927/img02886ka.th.jpg (http://img412.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img02886ka.jpg)

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/20/img02905yt.th.jpg (http://img219.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img02905yt.jpg)

http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/2576/img02941qe.th.jpg (http://img202.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img02941qe.jpg)

[jsw]

Some Images:
Darn it, I want to hold off until I can see the upgraded version in the stores, but your geek porn is making me want to open mine!

[phampton81]

I feel a lot of people here are underestimating this machine, I am excited to see how it performs. I am especially interested in how fast it encodes. If anyone gets a chance to use handbrake I'd be grateful.

[yoda13]

I am drooling....we need some comparable benchmarks....please, please, save us....:cool:

[jsw]

I am drooling....we need some comparable benchmarks....please, please, save us....:cool:
Hopefully, those benchmarks will be forthcoming from others. I think I'm going to return mine when the store gets some with more RAM, which they've promised will come. There's no sales tax in NH, so it behooves me to buy from the Store if at all possible.

[tjwett]

man i should have just held out a day. i have an Apple store right down the street, coulda picked it up by hand today.

[powerbook911]

The Mac Mini sure is a wonder.

I just love the box it comes in. So many things are possible, from such a small box. Amazing.

[tjwett]

this is from MacInTouch's early review of the Intel mini...

"Your Mac Mini does not have any user-serviceable parts."

eek. i hope that doesn't mean we can't at least add some RAM like in the old one? even if it means prying it open with a putty knife?

[risc]

Some Images:


Instead of pics if this is yours fire up a 1080p H.264 stream and tell us if QuickTime drops any frames? I'd also be interested in what you think of dvd playback, xvid, divx, etc? Since if I buy one of these it would be for HT.

[xterm]

I realised I did not own a USB keyboard, so I ran down to the apple store and bought one. Im posting this from my new mac mini :)

[iMeowbot]

Yikes... only two people have bought one so far....:eek: Compare that to the flood of MacBook pro orders.
I bought two, single-handedly doubling Apple sales!

[risc]

I realised I did not own a USB keyboard, so I ran down to the apple store and bought one. Im posting this from my new mac mini :)

So how does it go with H.264 1080p video?

[xterm]

http://www.seagate.com/cda/products/discsales/marketing/detail/1,1081,677,00.html

This is the hard drive that comes with it, System Profiler reports SDRAM, no mention of "SO-DIMM"

I will try out some video once software update is done

[colocolo]

Any chance you are a Wow player? Or just about any game, to see how it performs?

[yoda13]

Hopefully, those benchmarks will be forthcoming from others. I think I'm going to return mine when the store gets some with more RAM, which they've promised will come. There's no sales tax in NH, so it behooves me to buy from the Store if at all possible.


Dang it JSW. I don't blame you, but I was really looking forward to your report.:p

[xterm]

Trying mission Impossible Superbowl Trailer from trailers.apple

720P plays at full frame rate, no problems.

trying 1080P now

It will take a while as I only have 512K ADSL...

[yoda13]

this is from MacInTouch's early review of the Intel mini...

"Your Mac Mini does not have any user-serviceable parts."

eek. i hope that doesn't mean we can't at least add some RAM like in the old one? even if it means prying it open with a putty knife?

Does that mean that we can't even add RAM to it? I don't like that either, because it means I will have to pay Apple their full overinflated price for RAM. Oh well, nothing is perfect. If this graphics chipset isn't a total dog, I still want one.

[xterm]

1080P does not drop any frames either!

[risc]

1080P does not drop any frames either!

Time to sell my Dual G5 + nVidia 6800 Ultra DDL then seems like a waste of money when a $600 machine can play H.264 just as well. :rolleyes: (btw the :rolleyes: is for how lame Apples PPC video drivers are not you).

[yoda13]

1080P does not drop any frames either!

Wow. That suprises the heck out of me. I am in a state of disbelief. I was not expecting this...:confused:

[tjwett]

Does that mean that we can't even add RAM to it? I don't like that either, because it means I will have to pay Apple their full overinflated price for RAM. Oh well, nothing is perfect. If this graphics chipset isn't a total dog, I still want one.

well i'm trying to figure it out now before mine ships so i can beef it up to 2GB CTO before they get it out the door. it could very well be that the RAM in the original minis was also considered to not be a user serviceable part. anyone with a PPC mini that can confirm or deny this?

[risc]

Wow. That suprises the heck out of me. I am in a state of disbelief. I was not expecting this...:confused:

I'd like to see it confirmed since I've used these integrated video cards in Windows before and there is no way in hell they can even play 720p. This was on dual core CPUs before you ask. Both wmv hd and H.264 sucked using this integrated Intel, so if this is true it is damn right amazing imo.

[admanimal]

Am I the only one who got a Solo model? It will be interesting to see how well it does in comparison.

[xterm]

how do you take screenshots in OSX?

[tjwett]

http://www.seagate.com/cda/products/discsales/marketing/detail/1,1081,677,00.html

This is the hard drive that comes with it, System Profiler reports SDRAM, no mention of "SO-DIMM"

I will try out some video once software update is done

well thank god. i was worried they would put a POS Western Digital in there. yuck. Seagate makes me happy.

[jsw]

how do you take screenshots in OSX?
⌘-shift-3.

[tjwett]

how do you take screenshots in OSX?

Apple+Shift+3 - it will snap a png image to your desktop.

[admanimal]

Apple+Shift+3 - it will snap a png image to your desktop.

There's also Apple+Shift+4 which lets you select the rectangle to grab, or Apple+Shift+4 then Spacebar which lets you select a particular window to grab.

I'm almost certain that PPC Mini's were not officially user serviceable either. I doubt Apple would promote prying off the lid with two thin putty knives, which I think is pretty much the only way people have been able to get it open.

[yoda13]

I'd like to see it confirmed since I've used these integrated video cards in Windows before and there is no way in hell they can even play 720p. This was on dual core CPUs before you ask. Both wmv hd and H.264 sucked using this integrated Intel, so if this is true it is damn right amazing imo.

Could the Apple drivers for this card make this much difference in the performance that it is capable of?

[jsw]

Am I the only one who got a Solo model? It will be interesting to see how well it does in comparison.
I would suspect it'll actually be pretty competitive. :)

[tjwett]

There's also Apple+Shift+4 which lets you select the rectangle to grab, or Apple+Shift+4 then Spacebar which lets you select a particular window to grab.

let's not confuse the man! he's got important work to do. ;) xterm, i'd like to see you run XBench with the hard disk and memory options disabled, along with the beam sync thing off. please?

[risc]

Could the Apple drivers for this card make this much difference in the performance that it is capable of?

What I'd like to know even more is - If this is the case why the hell do my nVidia 6800 Ultra DDL drivers suck so badly? Considering my DDL cost more than a Mac Mini.

[jsw]

let's not confuse the man! he's got important work to do. ;) xterm, i'd like to see you run XBench with the hard disk and memory options disabled, along with the beam sync thing off. please?iMac 17" 128MB/2GB/160 GB for comparison using those settings:
Results 121.80
System Info
Xbench Version 1.2
System Version 10.4.5 (8G1454)
Physical RAM 2048 MB
Model iMac4,1
Drive Type Maxtor 6L160M0
CPU Test 69.90
GCD Loop 238.48 12.57 Mops/sec
Floating Point Basic 83.34 1.98 Gflop/sec
vecLib FFT 40.04 1.32 Gflop/sec
Floating Point Library 62.28 10.84 Mops/sec
Thread Test 178.36
Computation 163.02 3.30 Mops/sec, 4 threads
Lock Contention 196.88 8.47 Mlocks/sec, 4 threads
Quartz Graphics Test 105.96
Line 103.15 6.87 Klines/sec [50% alpha]
Rectangle 114.75 34.26 Krects/sec [50% alpha]
Circle 113.30 9.24 Kcircles/sec [50% alpha]
Bezier 112.64 2.84 Kbeziers/sec [50% alpha]
Text 90.28 5.65 Kchars/sec
OpenGL Graphics Test 131.23
Spinning Squares 131.23 166.47 frames/sec
User Interface Test 245.15
Elements 245.15 1.13 Krefresh/sec

[xterm]

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/8830/picture36ll.th.jpg (http://img213.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture36ll.jpg)

I had to make the window a tiny bit smaller to fit it all on the screen, click the image in image shack to see full res

[jsw]

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/8830/picture36ll.th.jpg (http://img213.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture36ll.jpg)
Dude....

1920x1024 scaled down and still 24fps.

*** swoons ***

[tjwett]

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/8830/picture36ll.th.jpg (http://img213.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture36ll.jpg)

I had to make the window a tiny bit smaller to fit it all on the screen, click the image in image shack to see full res

nice! so are you on the stock Core Solo with 512 RAM?

[xterm]

I have to goto uni now, ill try some bechmarking later on tonight

[xterm]

nice! so are you on the stock Core Solo with 512 RAM?

Stock Core Duo

[jsw]

Stock Core Duo
*** eyes mini box ***

*** weighs wrath of wife vs opening box ***

*** begins shaking uncontrollably ***

[bevo]

open...open...open...open...open...open...open...open...open...open...


fedex status page gives me an error now...

[generik]

I have my finger hovering over the Checkout button right now.

Damn it :D

I just clicked mine 10 mins ago :o

[yoda13]

What I'd like to know even more is - If this is the case why the hell do my nVidia 6800 Ultra DDL drivers suck so badly? Considering my DDL cost more than a Mac Mini.


Yeah, I would be upset if I were you, also. I guess the drivers would have to make the difference here I guess.

jsw, just open it man, just open it.:D

[generik]

Tell your wife you are starting a web hosting business with the mini :D

http://www.macminicolo.net

[yoda13]

Tell her what ever you have to tell her so you can open it....:D

[jsw]

If this had > 512MB it would be open now. ;)

My willpower is strong tonight. I will wait a day or two to see if they get the loaded version in stock - I do want 1GB or more and don't look forward to adding it myself (usually not an issue... but too many mini horror stories for me to want to try).

If there's nothing by the weekend, I'll open the puppy. And by the weekend, I mean Friday. Or maybe tomorrow.

I think we've all seen that HD video won't be an issue. I think 1GB RAM or more will make these minis fly.

[yoda13]

Now, for my own clarification, just because it seems to be excelling at playing HD video, that doesn't necessarily mean that it will play any type of 3D game, am I correct, or should I hope that it might?

[jsw]

Now, for my own clarification, just because it seems to be excelling at playing HD video, that doesn't necessarily mean that it will play any type of 3D game, am I correct, or should I hope that it might?
I think they're very different beasts. H.264 is very CPU-intensive, something the core duo should excel at (and does, in my Intellimac). 3G games stress the GPU, so the performance should suffer a bit. But I'm prepared to be pleasantly surprised.

If I buy a 3D game for the Intel Mac(s), what should I get?

[yoda13]

Well, I am personally fond of C and C Generals and Sims 2. However, I don't know if the univeral binaries are out for them yet. I am looking forward to Call of Duty 2, but it won't be shipping for a while. Maybe someone else can chime in here with a good game, besides WOW which requires a monthly subscription, that is already out in a universal binary.

If anyone wants to tell me how WOW runs on a Mac Mini with Intel, that is great, I just didn't want jsw to have to get something with a monthly subscription to play, unless he just wants to!

[tjwett]

If this had > 512MB it would be open now. ;)

My willpower is strong tonight. I will wait a day or two to see if they get the loaded version in stock - I do want 1GB or more and don't look forward to adding it myself (usually not an issue... but too many mini horror stories for me to want to try).

If there's nothing by the weekend, I'll open the puppy. And by the weekend, I mean Friday. Or maybe tomorrow.

I think we've all seen that HD video won't be an issue. I think 1GB RAM or more will make these minis fly.

wow, i didn't realize they would carry anything other than stock in the retail store. if mine hasn't shipped by morning i think i'm going to call and bump mine up to 2GB of RAM, maybe even spring for the bigger hdd. never thought i could spend $1200 on a mini.

[tjwett]

I think they're very different beasts. H.264 is very CPU-intensive, something the core duo should excel at (and does, in my Intellimac). 3G games stress the GPU, so the performance should suffer a bit. But I'm prepared to be pleasantly surprised.

If I buy a 3D game for the Intel Mac(s), what should I get?

something that is Universal binary for sure. i don't know if the mini even meets the minimum GPU requirements for the likes of Doom.

[jsw]

wow, i didn't realize they would carry anything other than stock in the retail store.
I don't think they usually do, but the one near me often orders beefed-up minis and certain other models.

[yoda13]

Yeah, that is a tough pill to swallow. I get an education discount since I teach at a uni, but on the mini, it is beans besically. I just think the size of the mini is so cool....oh well, maybe it will game a little...:o

[tjwett]

Yeah, that is a tough pill to swallow. I get an education discount since I teach at a uni, but on the mini, it is beans besically. I just think the size of the mini is so cool....oh well, maybe it will game a little...:o

i do most of the little gaming i do in the living room on the Gamecube. occasionally i'll play a round or two or Warcraft III or Myst Revelation but that's about it. i probably won't even get the opportunity to hate my mini for not being a proper gaming machine.

[jsw]

Yeah, that is a tough pill to swallow. I get an education discount since I teach at a uni, but on the mini, it is beans besically. I just think the size of the mini is so cool....oh well, maybe it will game a little...:o
Yeah... part of me is happy they might be getting beefier versions in at the local Store - because it'll give me a chance to think about this instead of just opening it up.

I love the mini's form factor, and I'd really like a Mac in the living room... but, yeah, $1000+ for a mini? Steep. We'll see.

[bevo]

hope its not too hard to upgrade the ram on the mini....


couldn't afford a BTO mini right now and I've been soo impatient about getting one.

[yoda13]

i do most of the little gaming i do in the living room on the Gamecube. occasionally i'll play a round or two or Warcraft III or Myst Revelation but that's about it. i probably won't even get the opportunity to hate my mini for not being a proper gaming machine.

I have both a PS2 and an xBox 360 for gaming. However, there are games like Tropico and Civilization IV, when it comes out that I want to be able to play. These are the games I really hope that the mini can play. We'll see.:)

[jsw]

...there are games like ... Civilization IV, when it comes out that I want to be able to play.
You and me both. I cannot wait for Civ IV - and I'm sure the minis will play it just fine.

[yoda13]

I sure hope so, I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to that game...;)

[risc]

42276
42277

Woo hoo go the over sized mini! :D

[iHeartTheApple]

1080P does not drop any frames either!
Oh yeah! Fricken' sweet! Glad to hear it and grats on the purchase! :D

[bevo]

does the mini take 240 pin DIMMs or So-DIMMs?


this is from curcial.com

* Crucial Part Number: CT516908
* Module Size: 1GB kit (512MBx2)
* Package: 240-pin DIMM
* Feature: DDR2 PC2-5300
* Configuration: 64Meg x 64
* DIMM Type: UNBUFFERED
* Error Checking: NON-ECC
* Speed: 667
* SDRAM Timings: CL=5
* Specs: DDR2 PC2-5300 • CL=5 • UNBUFFERED • NON-ECC • DDR2-667 • 1.8V • 64Meg x 64

apple's info page on the mini states

512MB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300) on two DIMMs; supports up to 2GB

[iHeartTheApple]

I don't think they usually do, but the one near me often orders beefed-up minis and certain other models.

Don't they carry what Apple calls the "Ultimate" version of some of the compies? I know when I bought my PB, the sales guy asked me if I wanted a better computer without buying from the webstore, then went on to explain that they had a PB "Ultimate" in stock. :)

[admanimal]

Some interesting Solo benchmark results:

http://www.macintouch.com/#tips.2006.03.01

[bevo]

so according to a poster on the apple boards... he opened up the mac mini and was unable to find the ram?!


anyone with a mini now care to be adventerous and open one up? take pics?

etc etc etc?

[lord patton]

anyone with a mini now care to be adventerous and open one up? take pics?

MacWorld's got some...

http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/macword/2006/03/minicsi/index.php

[iHeartTheApple]

Some interesting Solo benchmark results:

http://www.macintouch.com/#tips.2006.03.01

Wow, the graphics results are pretty impressive. It consistently performs at or above the level of the iMacG5, but what's up with its Hardware OpenGL score? :confused: The disk results are good, too. I'm not sure what's up with the DV-MPEG4 results, it does absolutely terrible...The authors don't seem to provide anymore info as to why this might be the case. Any ideas?

[iMeowbot]

anyone with a mini now care to be adventerous and open one up? take pics?
Opening up the Intel Mac mini (http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/macword/2006/03/minicsi/index.php?lsrc=mwrss)

[iHeartTheApple]

MacWorld's got some...

http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/macword/2006/03/minicsi/index.php

Yep, so that review pretty much answered the previous question about whether the RAM is user-serviceable. :( Actually, it probably still could be done, though I personally won't be taking a putty knife to my mini when i get it. :eek: I guess I'll have to make sure to get all the upgrades I want when I place the order...

[admanimal]

Wow, the graphics results are pretty impressive. It consistently performs at or above the level of the iMacG5, but what's up with its Hardware OpenGL score? :confused: The disk results are good, too. I'm not sure what's up with the DV-MPEG4 results, it does absolutely terrible...The authors don't seem to provide anymore info as to why this might be the case. Any ideas?

There is some issue with MPEG4 encoding on Intel Macs...not sure if its hardware or software related. You can see on that page that the G4 Mini actually beats out the Core Duo iMac in that test.

[bevo]

mines already on its way....

looks like I'll be doing it eventually ....

answers my other question as well.... SO-DIMMS are more expensive :|

[yoda13]

well, these benchmarks are providing me with at least a little optimisim that the mini might be able to play Civ IV and Tropico. Actually the card seems better than I expected. Perhaps that is because I expected so little...:p

[wpwj40e]

Here is an early report from a happy mini solo owner. All looks pretty good...no 1080p playback...but otherwise - better than I expected:)

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?t=287542

[tjwett]

Opening up the Intel Mac mini (http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/macword/2006/03/minicsi/index.php?lsrc=mwrss)

gah! time to call and get mine pre-beefed to 2GB RAM before it ships. doesn't seem like a total nightmare but i'd rather not deal with it. plus the 3rd party prices on this RAM aren't so hot anyway. thanks for this link!

[risc]

Here is an early report from a happy mini solo owner. All looks pretty good...no 1080p playback...but otherwise - better than I expected:)

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?t=287542

xterm says 1080p plays fine on his Core Duo looks like that is the one to get for use with a HDTV.

[iHeartTheApple]

Yes, Xterm said that he had no problems with 1080p...I thought he was on a solo, but I might be wrong. :o

[gammamonk]

They can't give the mini a good video card, or sales of the iMac would drop. I'm sure they make more money on the iMac.

I was really hoping to get one, I don't have a "desktop" machine, but if it sucks at WoW, forget it. I don't have space for an iMac right now.

[yoda13]

Well, we should know fairly shortly whether it will play it or not. The more of these things that get into people's hands the more likely someone will try to play WOW on it and give us some feedback. Or at least, one can only hope that anyway.:p

[generik]

Where can I buy this putty knive thing that I have been reading about?

Do I need a special Apple Certified(tm) putty knive to service my Mini? :confused:

[yoda13]

lol. I don't think I will be cracking mine open if I get one. I don't have the guts to open a machine, possibly violate the warrently, and be left with possible repair costs on a rev. A mahcine. However, I admire the fact that you are part of the "Intel Mac mini beta test team.":)

[admanimal]

Where can I buy this putty knive thing that I have been reading about?

Do I need a special Apple Certified(tm) putty knive to service my Mini? :confused:

Apple stopped selling them after too many people complained that the shiny metal surface was being scratched during normal use.

You'll just have to pick up a generic Home Depot brand one instead.

[generik]

However, I admire the fact that you are part of the "Intel Mac mini beta test team.":)

Let's just say temptation won over.. when the MBP came out I was like "Omg omg omg.. I gotta buy that" (but I'm really steadfast about Merom!), the Duo Mini is like the next best thing.

*PS: They really need to make the iMac have detachable monitors and sell it optionally without the damned monitor :o

[generik]

Apple stopped selling them after too many people complained that the shiny metal surface was being scratched during normal use.

You'll just have to pick up a generic Home Depot brand one instead.

But seriously, how do the Apple technicians open theirs? Same thing with the iPod..

Maybe I should look for job openings for AppleCare to solve that mystery once and for all.

[iMeowbot]

Do I need a special Apple Certified(tm) putty knive to service my Mini? :confused:
There is an official putty knife, Apple part number 922-6761 :)

They explain that it is a plain narrow putty knife from a hardware store, with one side ground down so that it has a beveled edge. They recommend using sandpaper to shape the blade of a generic putty knife if you don't have the official tool.

[yoda13]

Let's just say temptation won over.. when the MBP came out I was like "Omg omg omg.. I gotta buy that" (but I'm really steadfast about Merom!), the Duo Mini is like the next best thing.

*PS: They really need to make the iMac have detachable monitors and sell it optionally without the damned monitor :o

I completely agree with your sentiments about the iMac and detachable monitors, etc. I would be all over that.

I think I am going to be joining you in this beta test community, but I am not quite there yet. I doubt that I will be able to resist all weekend, and almost certainly not at all if it will play Civ IV.

Even if it won't, I am not sure that I will be able to resist.:D

[generik]

I completely agree with your sentiments about the iMac and detachable monitors, etc. I would be all over that.

I think I am going to be joining you in this beta test community, but I am not quite there yet. I doubt that I will be able to resist all weekend, and almost certainly not at all if it will play Civ IV.

Even if it won't, I am not sure that I will be able to resist.:D

Well I told myself that even if I found it too slow (eventually when Merom comes.. and same with the Mac Pros :drool: ) you really can't argue with the fact that a tiny computer that uses so little power is very useful.

Heck I'll just put it in the basement or besides the TV and run it 24/7 as a web server or bit torrent client for that matter :rolleyes:

Edit: it also happens that I have a Pee Cee for my gaming needs. Need to game, get a Pee Cee! Leave the Mac for the real apps!

[yoda13]

Edit: it also happens that I have a Pee Cee for my gaming needs. Need to game, get a Pee Cee! Leave the Mac for the real apps!

I hear you. I have an xBox 360 and a PS2 for gaming. The only games I really ever play on the Mac are Tropico and Civ III. I want to play Civ IV. I don't want to have to buy a PC just for that. But there is no doubt that gaming is better on the PC...:)

[generik]

From the many reviews I read on Amazon it seems like Civ IV is really a step backwards from Civ III. Oh, and the crashes, which the many patches failed to fix... definitely a downer.

I'm not too excited about it even though I'm quite a big Civ fan too.

[MacSA]

I know of this self-restraint. I've been staring at the unopened box for four hours. :D I'm considering waiting and returning it for one of the ones they'll get in with more RAM (coming "sooner or later" according to them...).


Huh? :eek: So someone at the Apple store told you there would be other configurations of the Mini coming out?

[xterm]

Im back home from uni, ran xbench and uploaded the benchmark stats, this thing absolutely destroys the G4 Mac Mini, even in OpenGL!

http://db.xbench.com/merge.xhtml?doc1=158732&doc2=146457

If you use digg.com, digg this story please http://digg.com/apple/Mac_Mini_Core_Duo_1.66Ghz_Benchmarks._OpenGL_over_2x_Faster_than_G4

[MacSA]

Im back home from uni, ran xbench and uploaded the benchmark stats, this thing absolutely destroys the G4 Mac Mini, even in OpenGL!

http://db.xbench.com/merge.xhtml?doc1=158732&doc2=146457


Good stuff......... although i'm sure someone will find something to complain about :rolleyes:

How much lower would you expect the Core Solo results to be?

[phampton81]

Im back home from uni, ran xbench and uploaded the benchmark stats, this thing absolutely destroys the G4 Mac Mini, even in OpenGL!

http://db.xbench.com/merge.xhtml?doc1=158732&doc2=146457
Hmm, I bet this thing wouldn't be quite that bad at gaming afterall. I'm not saying you should consider this one for your primary gaming, but I think this test shows it can hold it's own, especially against the ATI 9200, the 64mb vs. 32mb video may have a bit to do with this.

[generik]

My guess is that the Duo has enough spare juice left over to do some video rendering of its own? :rolleyes:

[bigandy]

Being pretty sure that an Intel Mac mini was coming, I had planned to order one today. However, due to the integrated graphics, and high price, I'm not ordering one. Drop the price $50-$100 on both models, and put in a dedicated GPU, and I'll buy one.

"drop the price $50-$100" - so they lose a big chunk of their profit (due to the vastly increased cost of the Core chips compared to the G4's)

"put in a dedicated GPU" - so the rest of the profit goes.

so, apple potentially losing money on each mini would be ok then?

i bet they disagree.

[generik]

"drop the price $50-$100" - so they lose a big chunk of their profit (due to the vastly increased cost of the Core chips compared to the G4's)

"put in a dedicated GPU" - so the rest of the profit goes.

so, apple potentially losing money on each mini would be ok then?

i bet they disagree.

Maybe they should learn to sell OSX to themselves at OEM prices then :rolleyes:

[cube]

Wow, the graphics results are pretty impressive. It consistently performs at or above the level of the iMacG5, but what's up with its Hardware OpenGL score? :confused:

The Intel graphics don't have hardware T&L so this is done in software.

[TBi]

According to this (http://db.xbench.com/merge.xhtml?doc1=158732&doc2=152913) the intel mac mini is faster than a 20" core duo iMac. Something must be wrong...

[munkees]

According to this (http://db.xbench.com/merge.xhtml?doc1=158732&doc2=152913) the intel mac mini is faster than a 20" core duo iMac. Something must be wrong...
You cannot trust xBench, it does not give true resaults

[liketom]

GUTTED - was going to be 8th march when i get it but now :mad:

[coot]

:(

Mine is due for shipment today ( coming to Beverely, E. Yorks ), for delivery by the 9th.
Not sure where they are being shipped from though.....

Almost quicker to head off to Meadowhall to see if they have any...

Pete.

[liketom]

:(

Mine is due for shipment today ( coming to Beverely, E. Yorks ), for delivery by the 9th.
Not sure where they are being shipped from though.....

Almost quicker to head off to Meadowhall to see if they have any...

Pete.
mines on the slow boat from china :mad: should have gone to medowhall

[coot]

mines on the slow boat from china :mad: should have gone to medowhall

If mine hasnt been sent out by end of play today I'll have a trip out tomorrow and try and get one - downside is I was at Trafford apple centre last weekend, should have delayed that for a couple of days :)

Cheers,

Pete.

[coot]

Yay!

Shipped, TNT International, will wait until I can track it to see where it gets to.... dont think I'll be having any big screen goodness this weekend though :(

[Spanky Deluxe]

I don't quite see why people are so surprised that the Core Duo mini can play 1080p smoothly, I explained several times on here why it was perfectly capable of doing so!! Its exactly as I said, Core Solo underpowered for 1080p, Core Duo perfectly capable of smooth 1080p!
The integrated graphics doesn't have any impact on the performance of 1080p decoding since most graphics cards don't support hardware accelerated HD decoding anyway right now. As long as the graphics card supports basic 2D acceleration HD is completely possible on a decent CPU. As this shows!!

On a side now, mine got shipped today!! Although its saying "We estimate that it will be delivered to your shipping address on or before 14.03.2006.". :eek:

I hope that's not true!! It can't possibly take 12 days to get here from the factory!!

The insides of the mini look beautiful though. I don't think it'll be *that* much harder to upgrade the RAM. The hard bit I always thought was getting the case off without damaging it. Anything after that's fine. I'm guessing the CPU's soldered on, does anyone know for sure yet though?

[Daedalus]

Where can I buy this putty knive thing that I have been reading about?

Do I need a special Apple Certified(tm) putty knive to service my Mini? :confused:

Generic pizza cutter wheel, straight from your kitchen! The ones with a wheel attached to a handle...

Most already have a beveled edge, and being round lets you rock it back and forth in the seam to pop all the catches.

Works even better than the putty knife (at least the putty knives I tried) and you might already have one!

[bevo]

i have found that the apple expected delivery date is just an guesstimation.

Both times I have ordered from apple.com I've had my delivery come before they're expected date.

When I ordered the mini, they said 3/08. Once I got a track number from fedex, fedex said it would get here on 3/05


My shuffle shipment came 2 days ahead of schedule, but it had to come from Ca.

[xterm]

CINEBENCH 9.5
****************************************************

Tester : xterm

Processor : 1.66GHz Core Duo Mac Mini
MHz : 1666
Number of CPUs : 2
Operating System : Mac Os 10.4.5

Graphics Card : Intel GMA950
Resolution : 1600x1200
Color Depth : Millions
****************************************************

Rendering (Single CPU): 255 CB-CPU
Rendering (Multiple CPU): 473 CB-CPU

Multiprocessor Speedup: 1.85

Shading (CINEMA 4D) : 300 CB-GFX
Shading (OpenGL Software Lighting) : 1075 CB-GFX
Shading (OpenGL Hardware Lighting) : 545 CB-GFX

OpenGL Speedup: 3.58

****************************************************

How does it compare?

[jsw]

I don't quite see why people are so surprised that the Core Duo mini can play 1080p smoothly, I explained several times on here why it was perfectly capable of doing so!!
It was just nice seeing confirmation - the theory was sound, but the reality is better.

[iHeartTheApple]

Im back home from uni, ran xbench and uploaded the benchmark stats, this thing absolutely destroys the G4 Mac Mini, even in OpenGL!

http://db.xbench.com/merge.xhtml?doc1=158732&doc2=146457

If you use digg.com, digg this story please http://digg.com/apple/Mac_Mini_Core_Duo_1.66Ghz_Benchmarks._OpenGL_over_2x_Faster_than_G4

Xterm, did you disable the beam sync like others were suggesting when you ran Xbench on your intel mini? Just wondering because I posted an Xbench score of ~49 (without disabling beam sync) on a stock Duo that I was playing with in my local Apple Store last night. :( If you did, that would definitely mean that the "beam sync on" scores are a load of garbage! Here's to hoping...'cause the benchmark you just posted was impressive! :D

[srobert]

This thread is very encouraging. I'm glad to hear about 1080i/p running fine.

I'd like to hear from people who have this setup:

Dual core Mini (1GB to 2GB RAM) --> DVI to HDMI Cable --> 16:9 HDTV (i)

Question 1: How does 1080i/p behave? When displaying the desktop, does it all fit on the TV?

I ask because I tried hooking a dual core iMac to my HDTV and I was missing a few rows of pixels at the top and bottom. iMac can't output to 16:9 out of the box, only 16:10. The top menu was completely outside the viewing area. SwitchResX couldn't fix this since it's having trouble with my intel core and TV.

Question 2: Using Front Row, has anybody tried streaming 1080p video hosted on another computer? Did it work fine? Through Airport or cables?

I ask because if this works fine, I might not upgrade the Mini's Hard Drive, having a few terabytes spread around the house's Macs and external Hard Drives.

Question 3: Is it worth the trouble getting the maxed RAM from crucial instead of Apple? How much could I save?

Thanks guys

[Spanky Deluxe]

Question 3: Is it worth the trouble getting the maxed RAM from crucial instead of Apple? How much could I save?


If you're going of 1GB total then you won't save much in getting the RAM from Crucial and its not worth the savings imo. If you're going for the 2GB then its most definately worth going for the Crucial option. I can't say how much exactly you'd save but for me over here in the UK getting Apple to install the RAM and using my educational discount it only cost like £10-£15 more, which isn't worth the hassle of opening the mini up. If it were a PowerMac I would probably have installed the extra memory myself but these Minis are tough little cookies that are pretty tricky to get into.

[tjwett]

...
Question 3: Is it worth the trouble getting the maxed RAM from crucial instead of Apple? How much could I save?


from what i've found the third party stuff is as or more expensive than Apple's price, depending on the config. Apple's 1GB kit is actually nicely priced. but you can save a few bucks on the 2GB kit from RamJet for example. not a huge savings though, about $20. keep in mind that installing RAM on the Intel mini is not quite as easy as in the G4. the RAM is no longer exposed and you have to remove the drive cage to get to it. not sure i feel like dealing with that. i putty knife'd open a few G4s and while nothing ever went wrong it still wasn't a pleasant experience. crunch.

[Eccles]

****************************************************

Tester : Me

Processor : Intel Core Duo
MHz : 1.83
Number of CPUs : 2
Operating System : Mac OS X 10.4.5

Graphics Card : Radeon X1600 128 MB
Resolution : 1440x900
Color Depth : millions

****************************************************

Rendering (Single CPU): 282 CB-CPU
Rendering (Multiple CPU): 513 CB-CPU

Multiprocessor Speedup: 1.82

Shading (CINEMA 4D) : 329 CB-GFX
Shading (OpenGL Software Lighting) : 867 CB-GFX
Shading (OpenGL Hardware Lighting) : 1441 CB-GFX

OpenGL Speedup: 4.38

****************************************************

Not sure exactly what all the numbers mean. The most dramatic difference is the OpenGL Hardware Lighting number.

[srobert]

not a huge savings though, about $20.

I see. If it's only a $50 or less saving I'd probably go with factory installed.

Then, this brings Question 4:

Will there be a big difference in 1080p/i video playback quality between a 1GB and 2GB RAM iMac? These iMacs would only have iTunes, Front Row and Quicktime running at the same time.

[admanimal]

Awesome, looks like we can upgrade our CPUs, assuming there isn't some firmware lock against doing so. Makes me feel better about getting the Solo version.

[jsw]

I see. If it's only a $50 or less saving I'd probably go with factory installed.

Then, this brings Question 4:

Will there be a big difference in 1080p/i video playback quality between a 1GB and 2GB RAM iMac? These iMacs would only have iTunes, Front Row and Quicktime running at the same time.
No, no difference to speak of. 1080 ran fine when my 17" Intellimac first arrived with 512MB, fine with 1.5GB, and fine now at 2GB. I suspect that the 512MB would have showed issues sooner or later, but I'm sure it'd be rock solid at 1GB.

[tjwett]

Awesome, looks like we can upgrade our CPUs, assuming there isn't some firmware lock against doing so. Makes me feel better about getting the Solo version.

socketed CPU?

[iHeartTheApple]

Awesome, looks like we can upgrade our CPUs, assuming there isn't some firmware lock against doing so. Makes me feel better about getting the Solo version.

Wow! :D Is the cpu able to be replaced? That recently-posted gallery of disassembly photos said he wasn't sure if it was socketed or not... That would be sweet! So, assuming it *is* upgradable, does that mean we can drop a Duo @ 2+GHz in there later on? And if we can, where are we going to get the actual processor? :o

[Spanky Deluxe]

Wow! :D Is the cpu able to be replaced? That recently-posted gallery of disassembly photos said he wasn't sure if it was socketed or not... That would be sweet! So, assuming it *is* upgradable, does that mean we can drop a Duo @ 2+GHz in there later on? And if we can, where are we going to get the actual processor? :o

Hopefully, yes! Processors will become available through OEMs in the next few months I imagine. Don't expect them any time soon though!! I wonder what the thermal specifications of the 2.13Ghz vs 1.66Ghz Duos are. I'm guessing the 2.13Ghz Duos will run fine even in the small form factor but the fan might run more often.
Its only a matter of time until someone that has both a Core Duo iMac and a Core Duo Mini will take them apart and switch the processors around so we'll be able to see what a 1.83Ghz or 2.0Ghz Core Duo Mini is really like. :)

[yoda13]

If it is socketed, are we sure that the faster processor will be able to run in the smaller spaces without thermal issues?

2)The benchmarks are looking good on this thing, but has anyone tried to play any type of 3D game on this thing yet to see how it does?

[yoda13]

From the many reviews I read on Amazon it seems like Civ IV is really a step backwards from Civ III. Oh, and the crashes, which the many patches failed to fix... definitely a downer.

I'm not too excited about it even though I'm quite a big Civ fan too.

Well, I haven't done much research on it, but my nephew bought it to play on his stepdad's PC, (no way his iBook would handle it when it comes out), and he loved it and had no problems with it. I guess that is why I am so enthusiastic about it. But he is a fan of the game like me, so I guess he could be biased. Oh well. I just hope the mini will play it, so that I can find out for myself..;)

EDIT-sorry about the side by side posts. I figured someone else would have posted since I did and I didn't look. Once again, sorry...Mods...feel free to merge these two posts if you want, I don't know how, nor do I think that I am able to. Once again, sorry.

[admanimal]

If it is socketed, are we sure that the faster processor will be able to run in the smaller spaces without thermal issues?


Check out the pictures linked from the macrumors.com front page story. There are some where the guy had removed the CPU.

Good point about the heat issues. I got a Solo version to begin with, so I can be fairly comfortable that it could support a 1.67GHz Duo at some point. I'm sure someone will try to stick a 2+GHz Duo in one at some point, so we'll find out if it works eventually.

[negz]

Argh, I could very easily sell my big noisy MCE2005 HTPC and grab one of these to hook up to my LCD TV. 720p will suit me fine, though I'm glad to see 1080p seems to work. A HTPC with good iTunes integration for my music library would be a dream come true. Keeping MCE2005, which is WMP based, in in sync with iTunes is a huge pain. Unfortunately I'd really like to keep the ability to perform PVR tasks via a dedicated interface, so I might have to wait until Mac HTPC software matures a little more.

Personally, I'm not fussed about the slight price increase. I would always have added in at least Airport, bringing the price up. Besides which, it was never particularly cheap in Australia anyhow.

I'm also glad that the integrated graphics are proving to be better than most people expected. Judging by the initial reactions upon announcement most people were bagging the Intel Mini because it wasn't specced like an Intel iMac for $499usd or due to sheeplike hearsay and half-facts regarding the integrated graphics. :rolleyes: They're not exactly a powerhouse, but they should be an improvement on the 32MB Radeon and well suited to the Mini's target audience.

[IanC]

If it is socketed, are we sure that the faster processor will be able to run in the smaller spaces without thermal issues?
Thats a good point.

Damn you xterm, i really want to order one now lol.
But ill wait and see how good the Solo is, i have one custom configured to my liking and saved....

[yoda13]

I really want to buy one as well, but I still can't make myself swallow the 1200 price tag that I get if I configure the one the way that I want it. That is a 17" iMac. Of course, I already have a monitor that I like, so it would defeat the purpose of getting an iMac. Anyway, I am glad that this is turning into a better computer than we thought initially. I still want to see someone post some results from trying to play a light 3d game on it.:cool:

[patrick0brien]

Picked one up yesterday.

Named it "Argos" (check the 'sig), and it runs my home automation system as well as Front Row to the Home theater.

Happy little guy.

[srobert]

Picked one up yesterday.

Named it "Argos" (check the 'sig), and it runs my home automation system as well as Front Row to the Home theater.

Happy little guy.

Congratz. Have you tried streaming video from computer to computer to TV with Front Row?

[lightbluecollar]

If you order your memory from crucial yesterday you are in for a big surprise. They had the wrong memory. Today they took the 2 gig package down and replaced it with a single that you buy 2 of. Before they had just DIMM and 240 pin. Now its SODIMM and 200 pin so sucks to whoever order it yesterday. FYI

-Chris

[Eccles]

I really want to buy one as well, but I still can't make myself swallow the 1200 price tag that I get if I configure the one the way that I want it. That is a 17" iMac. Of course, I already have a monitor that I like, so it would defeat the purpose of getting an iMac.

It's too bad you're in Texas, or we could do a little horse trading; my iMac for your monitor plus some amount of cash, so I can switch to a Mac Mini. I think in the end the Mac Mini Duo would have suited my needs better. Idiot that I am, I just didn't expect the Intel Mini to come out so soon...

[srobert]

If you order your memory from crucial yesterday you are in for a big surprise. They had the wrong memory. Today they took the 2 gig package down and replaced it with a single that you buy 2 of. Before they had just DIMM and 240 pin. Now its SODIMM and 200 pin so sucks to whoever order it yesterday. FYI

-Chris

Am I reading that wrong? Crucial 2GB Ram upgrade for the Mini more expensive than Apple's?

[Artful Dodger]

Am I reading that wrong? Crucial 2GB Ram upgrade for the Mini more expensive than Apple's?

It's $119 for a 1GB stick at datamem for the memory FWIW :)

[jsw]

Am I reading that wrong? Crucial 2GB Ram upgrade for the Mini more expensive than Apple's?
*** crackling sound as hell freezes over ***

[lightbluecollar]

I was shocked to see that price compared to apple. This looks like a good deal.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/5300DDR2S1GB/

I actually was about to buy some from zipzoomfly for 193 dollars for 2, 1 gig sticks, I went off of crucials listing yesterday and to find today it is different. I stopped the order in time.

-Chris

[patrick0brien]

Congratz. Have you tried streaming video from computer to computer to TV with Front Row?
-srobert

Thanks!

No, I haven't. How does one do that? Put a DVD in the Powerbook?

I'll be happy to give a review...

[srobert]

-srobert

Thanks!

No, I haven't. How does one do that? Put a DVD in the Powerbook?

I'll be happy to give a review...

A) Have the latest version of iTunes installed and running on your Powerbook.
B) Make sure sharing is on in the iTunes settings.
C) Have a least one movie, TV episode or Video in your iTunes library (It might have to be labelled as such). If you have Quicktime pro, try it with a 1080p HD trailer to really put it to the test.
D) Open Front Row on your mac mini and see if you can browse your Powerbook's video library.

If you have trouble making iTunes label videos correctly, try downloading "Parsley is Atomically Delicious - 1.0.2" from version tracker.

I hope it works well.

Thanks

[aswitcher]

Picked one up yesterday.

Named it "Argos" (check the 'sig), and it runs my home automation system as well as Front Row to the Home theater.

Happy little guy.

Hey patrick0brien, I see you plan to use the mini for home security. Are you using cameras, and if so what sofware are you running. Neither securityspy or evocam seem intel native?

[patrick0brien]

Hey patrick0brien, I see you plan to use the mini for home security. Are you using cameras, and if so what sofware are you running. Neither securityspy or evocam seem intel native?
-aswitcher

Good eye.

Indigo 1.8 for Home Automation, and yes, EvoCam for the Camera(s). Neither are Intel native, but Rosetta does a fine job.

Oh, the Cameras are Network Cameras.

[yoda13]

It's too bad you're in Texas, or we could do a little horse trading; my iMac for your monitor plus some amount of cash, so I can switch to a Mac Mini. I think in the end the Mac Mini Duo would have suited my needs better. Idiot that I am, I just didn't expect the Intel Mini to come out so soon...

Well, I actually thought that the intel iBook would come out first myself, but that shows you what I know...:p

[aswitcher]

-aswitcher

Good eye.

Indigo 1.8 for Home Automation, and yes, EvoCam for the Camera(s). Neither are Intel native, but Rosetta does a fine job.

Oh, the Cameras are Network Cameras.


Ah, thats my next question. What network cameras are you using and what would you recommend?

I am thinking of a wireless camera in the garage linked to the Mac Mini and possibly another one connected to it upstairs. I am a bit worried that teh wireless will be too far (2 stories up through a grill and a window).

The AXIS 207W looks like a good choice but its expensive downunder compared to US prices.

But the D-Link DCS-2100G is a bit cheaper and seems to have most of the same features. It also looks like I can chage aerials for better range.

[tjwett]

...Indigo 1.8 for Home Automation...

is this the best solution out there in your opinion? i do a lot of AppleScripting and have tinkered with some X10's and a USB power thing a while back that was scriptable but nothing with a GUI. does this software allow you to add your own manual scripts? does it ship with any Automator Actions?

*EDIT: oop! found the entire dictionary posted right on their site. looks cool! doing anything weird with it or basic lighting etc?

[patrick0brien]

is this the best solution out there in your opinion? i do a lot of AppleScripting and have tinkered with some X10's and a USB power thing a while back that was scriptable but nothing with a GUI. does this software allow you to add your own manual scripts? does it ship with any Automator Actions?

*EDIT: oop! found the entire dictionary posted right on their site. looks cool! doing anything weird with it or basic lighting etc?
-tjwett

Oh, boy - well, I was warned by a good friend that I had "Broken on through to the other side" with the wierd crap my home can do now. Obviously, lighting control is the first thing I have it do. Modes for when I'm out of town, etc. But due to our friend the Variable, If I leave the garage open for 15 minutes, and there is no motion in it, it closes itself. I can control scenes using my Philips Pronto Remote and the IR543 and KeyPadLinc's.

Though I don't have the sprinklers yet, when I do get them, they'll only water if it hasn't rained for the last 24 hours.

Yes, Variables are our friend. But they are too complex for the PowerLinc (the powerline/computer interface) to understand all by itself. If you want truly intelligent control, you need a computer on, and controlling the automation directly - ergo "Argos".

Tell you this: Sure reduced the electrical bill!

-aswitcher

To be honest - I'm still playing with those. The D-Link DCS-900W is good, but it's 802.11b. I think we all want G. So I'm looking at the AIRLINK AIC250W - but it's not on the list of tested stuff, soo....

[aswitcher]

-aswitcher

To be honest - I'm still playing with those. The D-Link DCS-900W is good, but it's 802.11b. I think we all want G. So I'm looking at the AIRLINK AIC250W - but it's not on the list of tested stuff, soo....


Thanks. Yeah I want G for bandwidth and so it doesn't pull down the rest of my network to "B".

Well I would be interested in knowing how the Mac Mini handles a couple of cameras whilst doing other things when you get it up and running.

[punkmac]

Congratz. Have you tried streaming video from computer to computer to TV with Front Row?


I couldn't stand it anymore and purchased a Core Duo MacMini. 1080p plays perfect. Handbrake at 24 fps! Real time!

So happy!

Streaming internet and iTunes from my G4. Also some video I encoded for an iPod. So yes you can stream video. I'm trying to network all the other media together between the 2 Macs. I want to access all the files on the G4 any help? Then I can stream 480p H.264 from there.

Did I mention I was happy?

I guess Xbench is next...


I.

[tjwett]

I couldn't stand it anymore and purchased a Core Duo MacMini. 1080p plays perfect. Handbrake at 24 fps! Real time!

So happy!

Streaming internet and iTunes from my G4. Also some video I encoded for an iPod. So yes you can stream video. I'm trying to network all the other media together between the 2 Macs. I want to access all the files on the G4 any help? Then I can stream 480p H.264 from there.

Did I mention I was happy?

I guess Xbench is next...


I.

awesome. would you mind running an XBench without hard disk and memory options checked and beam sync off?

[punkmac]

awesome. would you mind running an XBench without hard disk and memory options checked and beam sync off?

Ijust ran it with memory and disc options off. Iwas encoding H.264 at the time. I don't know where the beam sync options are.Results 52.65
System Info
Xbench Version 1.2
System Version 10.4.5 (8H1619)
Physical RAM 512 MB
Model Macmini1,1
Drive Type ST98823AS
CPU Test 63.83
GCD Loop 215.55 11.36 Mops/sec
Floating Point Basic 75.40 1.79 Gflop/sec
vecLib FFT 37.76 1.25 Gflop/sec
Floating Point Library 54.70 9.53 Mops/sec
Thread Test 152.46
Computation 142.49 2.89 Mops/sec, 4 threads
Lock Contention 163.94 7.05 Mlocks/sec, 4 threads
Quartz Graphics Test 57.97
Line 55.13 3.67 Klines/sec [50% alpha]
Rectangle 49.05 14.64 Krects/sec [50% alpha]
Circle 48.71 3.97 Kcircles/sec [50% alpha]
Bezier 74.81 1.89 Kbeziers/sec [50% alpha]
Text 72.32 4.52 Kchars/sec
OpenGL Graphics Test 148.78
Spinning Squares 148.78 188.73 frames/sec
User Interface Test 20.50
Elements 20.50 94.10 refresh/sec

I paused Handbrake...

Results 81.58
System Info
Xbench Version 1.2
System Version 10.4.5 (8H1619)
Physical RAM 512 MB
Model Macmini1,1
Drive Type ST98823AS
CPU Test 64.20
GCD Loop 216.18 11.40 Mops/sec
Floating Point Basic 75.68 1.80 Gflop/sec
vecLib FFT 37.37 1.23 Gflop/sec
Floating Point Library 56.48 9.83 Mops/sec
Thread Test 160.19
Computation 144.31 2.92 Mops/sec, 4 threads
Lock Contention 179.99 7.74 Mlocks/sec, 4 threads
Quartz Graphics Test 62.39
Line 58.66 3.91 Klines/sec [50% alpha]
Rectangle 49.53 14.79 Krects/sec [50% alpha]
Circle 50.88 4.15 Kcircles/sec [50% alpha]
Bezier 81.20 2.05 Kbeziers/sec [50% alpha]
Text 91.47 5.72 Kchars/sec
OpenGL Graphics Test 188.86
Spinning Squares 188.86 239.58 frames/sec
User Interface Test 55.10
Elements 55.10 252.87 refresh/sec


Very nice I think...

Safari and Dashboard still open.

[tjwett]

Ijust ran it with memory and disc options off. Iwas encoding H.264 at the time. I don't know where the beam sync options are.Results 52.65
System Info
Xbench Version 1.2
System Version 10.4.5 (8H1619)
Physical RAM 512 MB
Model Macmini1,1
Drive Type ST98823AS
CPU Test 63.83
GCD Loop 215.55 11.36 Mops/sec
Floating Point Basic 75.40 1.79 Gflop/sec
vecLib FFT 37.76 1.25 Gflop/sec
Floating Point Library 54.70 9.53 Mops/sec
Thread Test 152.46
Computation 142.49 2.89 Mops/sec, 4 threads
Lock Contention 163.94 7.05 Mlocks/sec, 4 threads
Quartz Graphics Test 57.97
Line 55.13 3.67 Klines/sec [50% alpha]
Rectangle 49.05 14.64 Krects/sec [50% alpha]
Circle 48.71 3.97 Kcircles/sec [50% alpha]
Bezier 74.81 1.89 Kbeziers/sec [50% alpha]
Text 72.32 4.52 Kchars/sec
OpenGL Graphics Test 148.78
Spinning Squares 148.78 188.73 frames/sec
User Interface Test 20.50
Elements 20.50 94.10 refresh/sec

I paused Handbrake...

Results 81.58
System Info
Xbench Version 1.2
System Version 10.4.5 (8H1619)
Physical RAM 512 MB
Model Macmini1,1
Drive Type ST98823AS
CPU Test 64.20
GCD Loop 216.18 11.40 Mops/sec
Floating Point Basic 75.68 1.80 Gflop/sec
vecLib FFT 37.37 1.23 Gflop/sec
Floating Point Library 56.48 9.83 Mops/sec
Thread Test 160.19
Computation 144.31 2.92 Mops/sec, 4 threads
Lock Contention 179.99 7.74 Mlocks/sec, 4 threads
Quartz Graphics Test 62.39
Line 58.66 3.91 Klines/sec [50% alpha]
Rectangle 49.53 14.79 Krects/sec [50% alpha]
Circle 50.88 4.15 Kcircles/sec [50% alpha]
Bezier 81.20 2.05 Kbeziers/sec [50% alpha]
Text 91.47 5.72 Kchars/sec
OpenGL Graphics Test 188.86
Spinning Squares 188.86 239.58 frames/sec
User Interface Test 55.10
Elements 55.10 252.87 refresh/sec


Very nice I think...

Safari and Dashboard still open.

not bad at all! i hate to be a pain in the @$$ but could you run the same config again without any other apps running (quit everything except XBench and Dashboard)? i'd like to see it at full bore. i have a feeling this thing is capable crossing the 90 mark. :)

[punkmac]

not bad at all! i hate to be a pain in the @$$ but could you run the same config again without any other apps running (quit everything except XBench and Dashboard)? i'd like to see it at full bore. i have a feeling this thing is capable crossing the 90 mark. :) I paused handbrake( I don't want to lose the file) and closed everything else...
Results 83.17
System Info
Xbench Version 1.2
System Version 10.4.5 (8H1619)
Physical RAM 512 MB
Model Macmini1,1
Drive Type ST98823AS
CPU Test 63.92
GCD Loop 216.80 11.43 Mops/sec
Floating Point Basic 75.76 1.80 Gflop/sec
vecLib FFT 36.96 1.22 Gflop/sec
Floating Point Library 56.47 9.83 Mops/sec
Thread Test 163.82
Computation 149.16 3.02 Mops/sec, 4 threads
Lock Contention 181.69 7.82 Mlocks/sec, 4 threads
Quartz Graphics Test 62.05
Line 58.15 3.87 Klines/sec [50% alpha]
Rectangle 49.46 14.77 Krects/sec [50% alpha]
Circle 49.80 4.06 Kcircles/sec [50% alpha]
Bezier 81.40 2.05 Kbeziers/sec [50% alpha]
Text 92.55 5.79 Kchars/sec
OpenGL Graphics Test 188.97
Spinning Squares 188.97 239.72 frames/sec
User Interface Test 58.95
Elements 58.95 270.57 refresh/sec


I bet it could hit 90 if everything was shutdown...

Still 83% of a Dual 2 ghz G5 is very nice.

[tjwett]

I paused handbrake( I don't want to lose the file) and closed everything else...
Results 83.17
System Info
Xbench Version 1.2
System Version 10.4.5 (8H1619)
Physical RAM 512 MB
Model Macmini1,1
Drive Type ST98823AS
CPU Test 63.92
GCD Loop 216.80 11.43 Mops/sec
Floating Point Basic 75.76 1.80 Gflop/sec
vecLib FFT 36.96 1.22 Gflop/sec
Floating Point Library 56.47 9.83 Mops/sec
Thread Test 163.82
Computation 149.16 3.02 Mops/sec, 4 threads
Lock Contention 181.69 7.82 Mlocks/sec, 4 threads
Quartz Graphics Test 62.05
Line 58.15 3.87 Klines/sec [50% alpha]
Rectangle 49.46 14.77 Krects/sec [50% alpha]
Circle 49.80 4.06 Kcircles/sec [50% alpha]
Bezier 81.40 2.05 Kbeziers/sec [50% alpha]
Text 92.55 5.79 Kchars/sec
OpenGL Graphics Test 188.97
Spinning Squares 188.97 239.72 frames/sec
User Interface Test 58.95
Elements 58.95 270.57 refresh/sec


I bet it could hit 90 if everything was shutdown...

Still 83% of a Dual 2 ghz G5 is very nice.

definitely. interesting number considering i just sold my dual G5 for exactly 83% of the original price and used 83% of the money to buy my mini. hey, one of my sisters was born in '83 and i think my girlfriend's grandmother is 83 years old. 83 Fest um, 2006! :o ahem, seriously though... very psyched by those numbers. now if mine would only leave the factory and make it's way to my house!

[p0intblank]

I haven't read through the entire thread yet, but can someone please answer one simple question... is the Mac mini performing better than we all expected it to be, considering it has integrated graphics now? Thanks! :)

[tjwett]

I haven't read through the entire thread yet, but can someone please answer one simple question... is the Mac mini performing better than we all expected it to be, considering it has integrated graphics now? Thanks! :)

depends on who you ask. this test doesn't touch on any 3D at all, at least not that i know of. so for what it's testing yeah, it's got some nice numbers. the threads are particularly impressive. but i think someone did some Cinebench tests with 3D and it wasn't as pretty. basically i think the story is as was speculated. for 2D and video this is pretty nice. for 3D, not so hot. makes the line pretty clear though for potential buyers if it will meet their needs or not. non-gamers should have a good old time on this machine. eager to see how my duo with more ram holds up.

[admanimal]

So I finally got my new Core Solo Mini set up and running...I noticed something kind of weird though...see if you can spot the weirdness in this screen shot:

http://www.adamsuniverse.com/images/soloweird.png

I'll give you a hint. I was very excited for a moment when I saw About This Mac, and then less so when I looked at the system profiler :)

[p0intblank]

Now I'm really thinking of getting one... my main tasks are as follows:

Web surfing
Instant messaging
E-mailing
Graphic design
Digital photography
Minor Web design
Minor video editing

Okay, basically everything but gaming. And I don't ever do 3D rendering, and don't plan on doing so anytime in the near future. And if I do, I always have my PowerBook for that (specs in sig). Ah, now I'm really tempted! I've wanted the new iMac since it was shown at MacWorld this year, but the Mac mini Duo would also be awesome. I already have a 20.1" screen so I could hook it up to that via DVI. I hate making decisions. :(

But anyway, thanks for the quick response. :D

[tjwett]

So I finally got my new Core Solo Mini set up and running...I noticed something kind of weird though...see if you can spot the weirdness in this screen shot:

http://www.adamsuniverse.com/images/soloweird.png

I'll give you a hint. I was very excited for a moment when I saw About This Mac, and then less so when I looked at the system profiler :)

that is weird. hey maybe this is some kind of clue as to the ability to swap out the processors though. how cool would that be if you could slap a core duo in there next year!

[plinden]

So I finally got my new Core Solo Mini set up and running...I noticed something kind of weird though...see if you can spot the weirdness in this screen shot:

http://www.adamsuniverse.com/images/soloweird.png

I'll give you a hint. I was very excited for a moment when I saw About This Mac, and then less so when I looked at the system profiler :)
Quite obvious - how did Apple make such a typo? Any other Core Solo owners out there see this?

Now I'm really thinking of getting one...
So am I. I think fate is telling me something, that my PC broke down fatally just after I ordered my iMac, and my wife's died yesterday the day after the new mini was released. I think this will be a nice addition to the family. She thinks the mini's cute. She won't be playing any 3D games.

[tjwett]

Now I'm really thinking of getting one... my main tasks are as follows:

Web surfing
Instant messaging
E-mailing
Graphic design
Digital photography
Minor Web design
Minor video editing

Okay, basically everything but gaming. And I don't ever do 3D rendering, and don't plan on doing so anytime in the near future. And if I do, I always have my PowerBook for that (specs in sig). Ah, now I'm really tempted! I've wanted the new iMac since it was shown at MacWorld this year, but the Mac mini Duo would also be awesome. I already have a 20.1" screen so I could hook it up to that via DVI. I hate making decisions. :(

But anyway, thanks for the quick response. :D

you're all clear up to the graphic design part. while i have no doubt this thing would do nice with low-res photoshopping for the web eventually (upon Universal binary release), gotta remember that Adobe CS won't be Universal until maybe as late as next year. i do a fair amount of web design work but luckily it will be on hold for the next 6 months or so. i still have my 12" PowerBook if i need it. yeah, that's as scary as it sounds. the 12" PowerBook clobbered the Core Duo iMac in Photoshop tests. this is Rosetta in action. just keep that in mind. iMovie will work great and maybe, MAYBE Final Cut Express. not sure of the min requirements when it goes Universal.

[p0intblank]

you're all clear up to the graphic design part. while i have no doubt this thing would do nice with low-res photoshopping for the web, gotta remember that Adobe CS won't be Universal until maybe as late as next year. i do a fair amount of web design work but luckily it will be on hold for the next 6 months or so. i still have my 12" PowerBook if i need it. yeah, that's as scary as it sounds. the 12" PowerBook clobbered the Core Duo iMac in Photoshop tests. this is Rosetta in action. just keep that in mind. iMovie will work great and maybe, MAYBE Final Cut Express. not sure of the min requirements when it goes Universal.

Yeah, I realize the downfalls with Rosetta... but I rarely work with large files. Most of my graphic design work consists of layouts, logos, and business cards. I also do a lot of digital photography work, but nothing with RAW images if that makes a difference. I think I could get by with Rosetta. I've been reading it actually performs better than a G4 would. Mine is a 1.5 GHz with 1.5 GB of RAM, so what do you think? It's only a 4200 RPM drive by the way.

[plinden]

no doubt this thing would do nice with low-res photoshopping for the web eventually (upon Universal binary release), gotta remember that Adobe CS won't be Universal until maybe as late as next year. Anyone have any opinions about GIMP? How does it compare to photoshop?

[iHeartTheApple]

So I finally got my new Core Solo Mini set up and running...I noticed something kind of weird though...see if you can spot the weirdness in this screen shot:

http://www.adamsuniverse.com/images/soloweird.png

I'll give you a hint. I was very excited for a moment when I saw About This Mac, and then less so when I looked at the system profiler :)

Hmm...that's really weird! How can Apple make a typo like *that*?! :confused: :eek: Now I'm confused. Are any other Solo owners seeing this as well?

[admanimal]

that is weird. hey maybe this is some kind of clue as to the ability to swap out the processors though. how cool would that be if you could slap a core duo in there next year!

Since we know it is not soldered in, I bet someone will try to swap the CPU in one sooner rather than later. Personally I would be weary to put in anything above a 1.67GHz Duo though, unless Apple themselves release a faster one without changing the design at all, so we know it can handle the temperatures.

Assuming that you can swap the CPU, this will be really sweet in say a year or two when Core Duo CPUs are $150-$200 rather than $250+

[tjwett]

Anyone have any opinions about GIMP? How does it compare to photoshop?

i can't give very good opinions about GIMP because the process of getting it running will overshadow and bias any rational thought i might have. i appreciate the UNIX underpinnngs of OS X. but much like a snow storm (or a car accident), i prefer to watch from a distance. you gotta install and configure X11. and then compile and install GIMP. i know i'm losing geek cred by saying this but it's just annoying, at least i found it to be so. if you don't mind a little Terminal and X11 then you might not mind at all. as for GIMP itself, i think i could see the value of it being free. it's missing a fair amount of features. if you're into typography you might get pretty frustrated with the limited control. i sure did. it's certainly no photoshop, but i'm sure it can do the job in a pinch. and i'm sure there are plenty of open source enthusiasts who use it as their primary. give it a whirl is all i can say. also worth mentioning, GraphicConverter is Universal binary and kicks ass, depending on what you're looking to do.

[iHeartTheApple]

I bet it could hit 90 if everything was shutdown...

Still 83% of a Dual 2 ghz G5 is very nice.

That's a great score! Let us know when you're able to do the test again with no software running. I'd love to see that 90+! Go go gadget intel mini! :D

[lostinblue]

For anyone on the fence about the mini, there are some xbench (http://db.xbench.com/merge.xhtml?doc2=158895) results to mull over while you balance.