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

Paskell

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 30, 2013
50
0
I am currently In a pickle. My 2009 Mbp is 2.2ghz 2 gb ram pretty fail now and I don't want to upgrade the ram it's a waste to drop money on it. I'm looking to either get an i7 Mac mini with basically all upgrades but the graphics card is weak I'm wondering if new one will have a top end card.. And when it will likely be released. If not ill get an 27" iMac i7 3.3ghz , 16gb ram, gtx 680 2gb.. Opinions / rumors of releases would be awesome. Also I have heard that its near impossible to upgrade the iMac minus the ram on the 27" but I hope no hdd fail:/
 

zedsdead

macrumors 68040
Jun 20, 2007
3,401
1,148
The Mini will likely not get a dedicated graphics card again. Apple dropped the only one on this last refresh because they feel the HD4000 is good enough.

Considering Haswell will house the HD4600 which will offer almost twice the performance of the HD4000, Apple will likely stick with the intergraded graphics approach.

If you can wait, like the previous poster said it will be much later in the year.

If not, the current model has a quad core processor and the HD4000 is a good chip for most uses. If you need more graphics power, your only current option then would be an iMac (or get a new macbook pro instead).
 

Micky Do

macrumors 68020
Aug 31, 2012
2,203
3,145
a South Pacific island
Last November I upgraded my early 2009 Mini (2 Ghz Core 2 Duo, 1 GB RAM, 120 GB HDD, Snow Leopard) to 5 GB, and had Mountain Lion installed. All done at a shop (I have no credit card so no App Store a/c), it set me back the equivalent to $US 130. The difference was like night and day; it was like getting a new computer. Had the HDD been looking dickie I would have replaced that too...... Maybe I will in a year or two, and then maybe a bit more RAM too.

If I had the facilities to do it myself the upgrade would have cost half as much. As it is I am happy with the upgrade, which set me back less than 15% of what it would have cost to get a new Mini and equivalent software. What I have now should see me right for several more years.

Right now, depending on your needs and circumstances, the upgrade option could be the way to go for you, as it was for me.

It was a different decision for me in 2009, when my early 2005 Mini HDD and power supply packed a sad. Repairs and upgrades would have cost nearly half the cost of a new computer, and would have left with an already obsolete G4 computer and OS.
 

Che Castro

macrumors 603
May 21, 2009
5,878
676
If I get the base model 2012 Mac mini & add 16gb , how many years will I be able to get out of it before it starts getting slow with new mac software ?
 

Razzerman II

macrumors member
Dec 13, 2011
58
0
Scunthorpe - yes, that place
Hello,

Wait for the next update, as had been said, if you can. I have an early 2009 mini and I'm waiting as patiently as I can for Haswell.

Can I ask what OS you're running? Has mountain lion eating all your 2gb of ram?

I personally would avoid an imac, as after 5 years your left with a nice screen and a dead end computer. Nature of all in ones, I guess.

Cheers,

Ray
 

Micky Do

macrumors 68020
Aug 31, 2012
2,203
3,145
a South Pacific island
Hello,

Wait for the next update, as had been said, if you can. I have an early 2009 mini and I'm waiting as patiently as I can for Haswell.

Can I ask what OS you're running? Has mountain lion eating all your 2gb of ram?

I personally would avoid an imac, as after 5 years your left with a nice screen and a dead end computer. Nature of all in ones, I guess.

Cheers,

Ray

A good point, for sure.....

"But the Mini comes without a monitor, mouse and keyboard," some say.

To me that is an advantage.

The monitor and speakers I bought in 2005 are doing just fine. I have replaced my first keyboard (Apple) with one that better suits my needs (a small wired Apple one), and a mouse that wore out (dunno what brand) with a wired Logitech one.

The Mountain Lion requires at least 2 GB of RAM, though it is reckoned to go better with at least 4 or 5 GB. I have never run it with less than 5.
 

LucasLand

macrumors 6502a
Mar 6, 2002
756
92
New England
check buyers guide

take a look at macrumors buyers guide tab. they tell you if you should buy or not. the current mini came out a little over 3 months ago, so i would buy right now. I don't see new minis coming out till next october or later.

do you really want to torture yourself for 10 months?
 

Paskell

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 30, 2013
50
0
But the iMac CPU is better, and the gtx 680 2gb is far superior an would put last the rest of the components also the 27" can upgrade ram to 16/32 gb my problem is the hdd if it dies no way to get at it and with fusion your only left with ssd I guess external ?
 

CausticPuppy

macrumors 68000
May 1, 2012
1,536
68
If I get the base model 2012 Mac mini & add 16gb , how many years will I be able to get out of it before it starts getting slow with new mac software ?

Depends on what you're doing, but consider that my 5-year old Mac Mini is still perfectly fine for internet + word process + other basic stuff... you can expect the same usable lifespan out of the current generation. I think the computer market in general has matured to the point where you don't need to upgrade every 2 years just to be able to run current software.
 

Razzerman II

macrumors member
Dec 13, 2011
58
0
Scunthorpe - yes, that place
But the iMac CPU is better, and the gtx 680 2gb is far superior an would put last the rest of the components also the 27" can upgrade ram to 16/32 gb my problem is the hdd if it dies no way to get at it and with fusion your only left with ssd I guess external ?

All true, I know. And only you can decide. I always ask myself 'am I prepared to throw away the whole computer if the screen conks out, or be happy to pay to repair said screen'. The answer, for me, is 'no, I'm not'.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Cheers,

Ray
 

Paskell

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 30, 2013
50
0
Yeah I now realize its a long wait but I just find that to get a good monitor plus the Mac mini it's basically same price as iMac and not as good.. And not as big of screen and once again the killer is the intel hd 4000 graphics are not really all that great for high demand programs/ games. Can it even run a game like wow on high settings..
 

Woyzeck

macrumors 6502
Nov 2, 2012
440
498
A (do-it-yourself) maxed out Mini will cost you some 900-1000 USD. A very good 27" screen (Dell 2711, actually better than that of the iMac) will cost you 600-700 USD. It's still not top-notch, but even usable for graphics design and printing.

And as others have said: the iMac is a feature-stripped AIO with a single disk. If anything breaks you have to throw away the whole unit. If it gets too slow for you then you have to throw away the whole unit, even if the display might still be good enou for you. There's no feasible way to swap out anything but the RAM.

In my opinion the new iMac is the most stupid desktop machine that Apple has ever offered.
 

Mike Valmike

macrumors 6502a
Feb 27, 2012
551
0
Chandler, Arizona
Yeah I now realize its a long wait but I just find that to get a good monitor plus the Mac mini it's basically same price as iMac and not as good.. And not as big of screen and once again the killer is the intel hd 4000 graphics are not really all that great for high demand programs/ games. Can it even run a game like wow on high settings..

The Mini isn't a gaming computer. Buy the iMac already.
 

Paskell

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 30, 2013
50
0
If only they would slap a decent gpu in there I wouldn't hesitate to get the Mac mini. Thanks for the advice probably end up with mini or wait it out and upgrade ram on 09 Mbp
 

Mr. Retrofire

macrumors 603
Mar 2, 2010
5,064
518
www.emiliana.cl/en
But the iMac CPU is better...
Not much:

The 2.6 GHz Ivy Bridge 2012 Mac mini has a i7-3720QM, and the 3.4 GHz Ivy Bridge 2012 iMac has a i7-3770:
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-3720QM+@+2.60GHz

The difference between the iMac (9475 points) and the Mac mini (8463 points) is not really big.

(100 / 8463) * (9475 - 8463) ≈ 12 % faster

So the iMac CPU is only ≈ 12 % faster than the CPU in the Mac mini, and probably much less in multicore-applications, because each processor has only a limited memory bus bandwidth. More active cores = less memory bus bandwidth for each core.

----------

All true, I know.
No, it is NOT “all true”.
 

David58117

macrumors 65816
Jan 24, 2013
1,237
523
Why don't you go to Best Buy, buy the mini, if it doesn't suit your needs return it? Their return policy is very nice and all you'll likely be asked is - "Is there anything wrong with it?"

Anyway, there are plenty of youtube videos of people playing games on the mini - Skyrim, Dirt 2, Arma 2, Crysis....just youtube "mac mini 2012 gaming" and they will come up. On mine, all I've been somewhat interested in installing was Civ 4 - no problems with it whatsoever.

Fans will come on, the casing will get hot - that's its purpose, don't freak out about it - it's normal.

The HD4000 is definitely not a dedicated GPU, but it's no slouch either. And the nice thing about the mini is - in a few years when you upgrade, you've got yourself a very nice HTPC (The apple remote + remote buddy app is pretty nice..).
 

Serban

Suspended
Jan 8, 2013
5,159
928
i think the problem will be resolved if you wait for the mac mini refresh with haswell and HD 5100 i think....and there is a difference
 

slomo86

macrumors member
Jul 30, 2008
91
0
Turkey
I have a early 2009 Mini I maxed out the RAM at 8GB and threw a OZC Vertex 4 SSD in it, but I use it as my entertainment center and even with the SSD it drops frames when I watch 1080p video... SUPER annoying. With that said I am waiting it out until the new Mini is released, and I hate waiting for things.
 

ioannis2005gr

macrumors 6502
Aug 10, 2013
495
0
Europe
Yeah I now realize its a long wait but I just find that to get a good monitor plus the Mac mini it's basically same price as iMac and not as good.. And not as big of screen and once again the killer is the intel hd 4000 graphics are not really all that great for high demand programs/ games. Can it even run a game like wow on high settings..

Graphics HD4000 is going to be upgraded with Haswell update...I mean new graphics might be HD5000/5100 series (or ...IRIS PRO 5200). Imagine an i7 Haswell+IRIS Pro 5200 graphics in your new Mac mini! Also Wi-Fi AC and PCIe SSD+HDD Fusion along with 8GB standard RAM....wouldn't it be great in late 2013? :rolleyes:
 

mvmanolov

macrumors 6502a
Aug 27, 2013
858
5
Graphics HD4000 is going to be upgraded with Haswell update...I mean new graphics might be HD5000/5100 series (or ...IRIS PRO 5200). Imagine an i7 Haswell+IRIS Pro 5200 graphics in your new Mac mini! Also Wi-Fi AC and PCIe SSD+HDD Fusion along with 8GB standard RAM....wouldn't it be great in late 2013? :rolleyes:

haha, sounds like the dream machine we've all been waiting for.....
hurry it up apple...:D
 

Cape Dave

Contributor
Nov 16, 2012
2,270
1,509
Northeast
I would at least wait until after the 10th. On the very very slim chance that they would also announce a new mini. I know, very slim :)
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.