Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Molson1020

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 3, 2009
139
18
I am thinking about getting a Mac Mini base model. The most I'll be doing is web surfing, email, etc. I will do the occasional Handbrake DVD or Bluray Rip along with some light Photoshop/Illustrator work.

Can the lower end 2012 mini handle this (assuming I upgrade the ram).
 

mdgm

macrumors 68000
Nov 2, 2010
1,665
406
The quad-core in the higher end models would be much better for Handbrake. Still the dual-core should be better for Handbrake than all previous models apart from the quad-core in the Mid-2011 Mini Server.
 

blanka

macrumors 68000
Jul 30, 2012
1,551
4
Sorry, but with a Mini 2.5 i5 Handbrake runs great too. Having to code a movie in 3 min instead of 5 really does not matter. You can surf the web in the meantime, and the OP says occasionally....
Bottleneck with movie encoding seems to be HD anyway (mine recodes rougly as fast as just copying the file would take), and those are slow in every model.
 

Molson1020

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 3, 2009
139
18
Well, I am in the process of ripping my entire DVD collection to digital, and will follow that with my Bluray collection. Granted, I'll only be doing one at a time, and most likely have it run over night.

I am also planning on picking up an iPad, so I won't necessarily be surfing and encoding on the same device.
 

philipma1957

macrumors 603
Apr 13, 2010
6,361
248
Howell, New Jersey
Well, I am in the process of ripping my entire DVD collection to digital, and will follow that with my Bluray collection. Granted, I'll only be doing one at a time, and most likely have it run over night.

I am also planning on picking up an iPad, so I won't necessarily be surfing and encoding on the same device.

get the mid mini. buy some ram and if you don't like the speed you can return it in under 2 weeks and down grade to the base
 

Lance-AR

macrumors 6502
May 7, 2012
315
1
Little Rock, AR
The base 2012 is faster encoding than my mid 2011. My mid 2011 encodes slightly faster than a NetFlix 8 disc subscription can feed it.

With that said, the mid 2012 is considerably faster CPU than the base model.
 

xlii

macrumors 68000
Sep 19, 2006
1,867
121
Millis, Massachusetts
Well, I am in the process of ripping my entire DVD collection to digital, and will follow that with my Bluray collection. Granted, I'll only be doing one at a time, and most likely have it run over night.

I am also planning on picking up an iPad, so I won't necessarily be surfing and encoding on the same device.

Have you tried makemkv? It copies the movie from the disk and puts it into a .mkv file with no loss of detail. Your bluray's will look just as good as if you were playing from the disk. No loss of detail. Of course the file size will be huge... but disk space is cheap.
 

thekev

macrumors 604
Aug 5, 2010
7,005
3,343
Quad is faster than the dual, but either one is fine. Obviously the quad will finish your project in less time, but it's doubtful that anyone has comparative tests. I'd go with that one. If you buy directly, Apple has a lenient return policy. I doubt you'll need it.
 

TRAV9614

macrumors regular
Aug 27, 2012
184
0
I have the 2.3 ivy bridge quad in my cmbp and it takes about 30 min to rip a 2 hour movie. I am pretty sure my processor and the one in the middle mini is the same.
 

scottsjack

macrumors 68000
Aug 25, 2010
1,906
311
Arizona
Have you tried makemkv? It copies the movie from the disk and puts it into a .mkv file with no loss of detail. Your bluray's will look just as good as if you were playing from the disk. No loss of detail. Of course the file size will be huge... but disk space is cheap.

You're right. The mkv versions of Blu-rays created by MakeMKV are excellent. I've got Blu-rays that I've never played, they've only been in the computer in order to make the mkv versions.

Also Handbrake's regular/high profile setting makes high-quality, 1080p copies of the mkvs that have very little quality reduction. The mkv version of 'Knowing' 32.59GB, Handbrake's m4v is just 3.72GB, great for laptops.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.