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paulrbeers

macrumors 68040
Dec 17, 2009
3,963
123
2011 Mini Server works great as HTPC via HDMI connected directly to a 55" LED Samsung (2011). Picture is stunningly good. BTW, an excellent HTPC is the late 2009 Mini which can be found on CL for $200-250. I have 4, one hooked-up to a new 55" Panasonic LED/LCD, mini-port to HDMI adapter. Picture is excellent. In fact, this is the best cheap HTPC I have found. Bullet-proof HW, N wireless, low power, quiet, can play or stream anything!

Thank you for reviving a 2 month old thread that isn't even relevant anymore since Apple released a fix over a month ago....
 

HiloHawaiian

macrumors newbie
Jan 16, 2013
2
0
Glad to do it! Please let me know when you have any additional time to make snide remarks! I will gladly supply the necessary content!

:D
 

padapada

macrumors regular
Jun 20, 2010
132
16
Thank you for reviving a 2 month old thread that isn't even relevant anymore since Apple released a fix over a month ago....

I am not 100% sure that the software fix for a hardware problem (faulty register) is as good as Intel fixing the hardware...

I decided to wait for Haskell because of this.

Patrick
 

paulrbeers

macrumors 68040
Dec 17, 2009
3,963
123
Glad to do it! Please let me know when you have any additional time to make snide remarks! I will gladly supply the necessary content!

:D

It's called forum etiquette. Reviving of old forums to post information that isn't even pertinent is bad form and is a regular complaint around these forums if you do revive old theards especially adding nothing to the original discussion. You might find it to be a snide remark, but the reality is that it is not appreciated on this or any forum.

http://lifehacker.com/5473859/basic-etiquette-for-email-lists-and-forums

And don't take mr retrofire's enforcement of your post to mean anything. He has even less of a life than I do and spends his time agreeing with people who do not agree with me just in spite. Sad really. I pity someone who cares that much about someone he has and never will meet.
 
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ericv232

macrumors newbie
Jun 14, 2012
19
0
No problem.

I'm glad you posted it and revived the thread.

I am a little skeptical that a firmware update would be able to fix a hardware problem. Can anyone confirm this is in fact fixed?

Also, do the 2012 models sound like hair dryers?
 

philipma1957

macrumors 603
Apr 13, 2010
6,361
248
Howell, New Jersey
I'm glad you posted it and revived the thread.

I am a little skeptical that a firmware update would be able to fix a hardware problem. Can anyone confirm this is in fact fixed?

Also, do the 2012 models sound like hair dryers?

I own 2 2012 mac minis a base model and a mid quad model . 0 repeat 0 screen blackouts since the firmware patch. also no screen static . these were driver issues not hardware the microcode in the cpu/cpu was wrong the patch has stopped the error.

all aluminum mac minis 2010 2011 2012 are really loud when the fan maxes at 5500rpm. the question for you to answer is will my work load push the cpu hard enough that the fan needs to ramp up to 5500 rpm. so to tell you it is loud or quiet means nothing .

tell us something about your work load. also tells us about your hearing. are you sensitive to noise?
 

ericv232

macrumors newbie
Jun 14, 2012
19
0
I own 2 2012 mac minis a base model and a mid quad model . 0 repeat 0 screen blackouts since the firmware patch. also no screen static . these were driver issues not hardware the microcode in the cpu/cpu was wrong the patch has stopped the error.

all aluminum mac minis 2010 2011 2012 are really loud when the fan maxes at 5500rpm. the question for you to answer is will my work load push the cpu hard enough that the fan needs to ramp up to 5500 rpm. so to tell you it is loud or quiet means nothing .

tell us something about your work load. also tells us about your hearing. are you sensitive to noise?



I am sensitive to noise. The work load would be mid to high level. Running it in a small office doing automated software testing.

Have you used the 2011 model before?
 

tejota1911

macrumors 6502
Nov 10, 2006
283
33
I'm glad you posted it and revived the thread.

I am a little skeptical that a firmware update would be able to fix a hardware problem. Can anyone confirm this is in fact fixed?

Also, do the 2012 models sound like hair dryers?


I'm having no issues with mine. I don't use the hdmi port regularly, but when I do, I experience no issues. The statement comparing the mini to a hair dryer is a little extreme. In reality, it is audible when maxing out the processor, but honestly the only time I ever hear the fans ramp up is while converting Blu-Ray rips in Handbrake(90%-95% CPU Utilization). During everything else I do, the mini is silent. I've actually been pretty impressed by how quiet it is, especially given the processing power that is crammed into it.
 

ericv232

macrumors newbie
Jun 14, 2012
19
0
I'm having no issues with mine. I don't use the hdmi port regularly, but when I do, I experience no issues. The statement comparing the mini to a hair dryer is a little extreme. In reality, it is audible when maxing out the processor, but honestly the only time I ever hear the fans ramp up is while converting Blu-Ray rips in Handbrake(90%-95% CPU Utilization). During everything else I do, the mini is silent. I've actually been pretty impressed by how quiet it is, especially given the processing power that is crammed into it.



Ok. That's good to know. Thanks.
 

Giuly

macrumors 68040
Add in the fact they become hairdryers under any load above 20%. The mini concept is great and worked well for a number of years but as the design got smaller and Apple leaned toward faster quad core chips it took a functional machine into something unusable at load. Add in the HDMI issues and it's a disaster. The HDMI issue seems to be a fault on Intels part, but still - disaster.

What you want is Fan Control, and tweak the temperature and elevation at which the fan increases its speed. You can actually run it under 100% load nearly silent, the default curves for the fan is pretty conservative. These settings should still work fine for the new model:
minifancontrol.png
 
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philipma1957

macrumors 603
Apr 13, 2010
6,361
248
Howell, New Jersey
I am sensitive to noise. The work load would be mid to high level. Running it in a small office doing automated software testing.

Have you used the 2011 model before?

I have used each and every model since 2006. If you are in the us apple has a 14 day return policy. Take it for a test drive. Also smcfancontrol may help or istats may work for you. both allow better fan settings then the stock settings. My mini uses istats and I set my floor fan speed at 2700 rpm vs 1800 rpm/ see thumbnail
 

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hugodrax

macrumors 65816
Jul 15, 2007
1,217
609
Sounds like you have a lemon. I have a 2012 model and I use it for image editing etc.. and the colors are accurate.
 

trancinchino

macrumors member
Nov 6, 2012
41
1
In terms of the color issue, I did have a color problem when I connected a brand new Asus monitor to my 2012 mini. No matter how I tweaked the settings in OSX, the colors were just all out of wack. I chalked it up to it being an Asus problem so I returned the monitor and purchased a Dell Ultrasharp U2412M. The Dell looked perfect as soon as I plugged it in. No tweaks necessary. Its possible that certain monitors just don't pair well with the Mac Mini or OSX? I'm not sure why that would be the case though.

But as someone mentioned, the firmware fixed all flickering from the HDMI port. I've had no problems since.
 

BingClawsby

macrumors regular
Mar 2, 2010
123
3
I connected my new mini to a couple generic lcd monitors I have.... a 22" acer widescreen and an older benq 20" 4:3. both have dvi ports.

I connected the 22" using a mini display port > dvi via the mini's TB port, and the 20" with the hdmi > dvi cable that came with the mini.

So far so good. No glitching, no black outs, no blurriness, no whacked color....and I didn't even do any sort of calibration adjustments or anything.... just plugged in and played.

When I get around to using Photoshop and LR on this machine, I'll go and do a proper calibration but other than that everything looks fine
 

BigMa

macrumors member
May 31, 2012
43
0
Will HP ZR30w work with Mac mini (late 2012)?

Hello everybody! :)

Waiting for my first Mac ever to arrive and am wondering what I should do to use my monitor to the fullest: watching Blu-Ray movies, doing some Photoshop... Any software tweaks, driver downloads, etc.? :confused:

Which application is best to control fans: so far two have been mentioned (smcfancontrol and iStats)? :confused:
 

frank4

macrumors regular
Oct 17, 2011
186
40
What you want is smcFanControl, and tweak the temperature and elevation at which the fan increases its speed. You can actually run it under 100% load nearly silent, the default curves for the fan is pretty conservative. These settings should still work fine for the new model:
Image

The image you posted is for Lobotomo Fan Control, not for smcFanControl. AFAIK smcFanControl requires that users manually set their fan speed according to CPU load (continual user adjustments), whereas the Lobotomo version I use is better because it automatically does the adjusting.
 

OTACORB

macrumors 68000
Jun 21, 2009
1,542
1,030
Central, Louisiana
I just upgraded from a low end 2011 Mac Mini to mid level 2012. Installed a SSD as the primary drive and used the included 1TB drive as the 2nd drive.

When I first started it after the Mountain Lion install finished I was like WOW the display looked horrid. It was so washed out I couldn't hardly even see the text. It initially said it couldn't find a profile for my monitor. I think did the update for Mini EFI... when I rebooted, it found my monitor, but still didn't look that great, though a little better. So, I ran the calibration and I was able to make it look really nice. I am really satisfied with the display, though it did require a little effort to get there.
 

hamkor04

macrumors 6502
Apr 10, 2011
359
0
I haven't tried the HDMI output on my 2011 mini, so I wonder if this is new for the 2012 models.

I'll try the HDMI output on my new rmbp and see if it has any issues; if it's an Intel problem then I should have the same problems on my Samsung 1080p TV.

Do they really get that noisy? My 2.0GHz isn't that much slower than the 2.3 but it doesn't make much noise under full load. Is it just the 2.6GHz models that are so noisy?

i got i7 2.3ghz 2012, it getts very noisy any random unexpected time, not necessarily "heavy" loaded, it does even when comp is in sleep (email+twitter sometimes safari will be running)

got if for about a month now, but when this fan and heat problem started (in few days after delivered) I got the case number for my issue, what do you think shell I go to store and make some human "Noise" to get my mini replaced?
 

SoCalReviews

macrumors 6502a
Dec 31, 2012
582
212
i got i7 2.3ghz 2012, it getts very noisy any random unexpected time, not necessarily "heavy" loaded, it does even when comp is in sleep (email+twitter sometimes safari will be running)

got if for about a month now, but when this fan and heat problem started (in few days after delivered) I got the case number for my issue, what do you think shell I go to store and make some human "Noise" to get my mini replaced?

I am considering getting the i7 2.3Ghz late-2012 Mini as a second Mac Mini used primarily as a computer and media player for another room. I was wondering about if fan noise was an issue on this model compared to the base model. If noise is an issue and if the mid model i7 fan can be frequently heard then the base i5 model might be a better choice for me. I have the i5 mid-2011 base model and I almost never hear the fan. I heard it recently for a short period of time when I installed Win 8 Pro upgrade in Parallels 8 and a few times I have heard it while playing Win 8 games in the Win 8 VM but the rest of the time it is completely silent.
 
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