Hi, reassurance needed...... and a couple of questions.

[willyhunt]

Okay I have finally decided to buy my first Mac in ages (have been using PC's for a while now). Anyway i have decided to go for the Mac mini after originally intending to buy an iMac. I think what swung it was the fact that its not an AIO system. I realise the mini is not going to be as quick as the iMac in general but I believe for everyday tasks it will do me fine (Browsing the net, email and web design basically - with the odd bit of video work every now and again).

Okay the plan is to keep the mini until tiger and then upgrade again with the next revision. And then just upgrade every year. Hence why I thought the mini and not the iMac. Just keep the monitor I have bought. (Samsung 172X - Very good, I highly recommend).

Anyway questions,
1. Am I Doing the right thing?
2. Is it quick enough?
3. Should I have just buy the iMac and sell the monitor on eBay?
4. Is the mini going to be a regular Apple product or another cube?

Also a quick note to say I generally upgrade once a year.

Any advice would be good, or have I answered my own questions? Thanks.

[stoid]

1. If you plan on upgrading computers every year, the Mac mini, being the cheapest seems to be the best solution.
2. The Mac mini should easily handle everything you want to throw at it. The low end is roughly comparable to my PowerBook 15 inch, except slower video card. I have done extensive video and web design and of course any computer can handle word processing and e-mail. Just upgrade the RAM to at least 512, or maybe 1GB if you can afford it.
3. If you plan on upgrading every year, I think that having to buy essentially a new monitor every year as well is going to be a waste of money, especially if you already have one that you like.
4. Indications are that the mini is going to be an overwhelming success unlike the Cube, so I would expect that it will stick around in some incarnation for many years to come.

[Blue Velvet]

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. No
4. Confident it will be regular. This ain't no cube...

[wdlove]

Welcome to MacRumors and as a new switcher. Sounds as though your are just the customer that Steve intended when he designed and offered the Mac mini. From the tasks that you are intending the Mac mini should fit your situation very well. Since you upgrade every year, at your next upgrade you could consider the iMac. That is if you see the need for a faster Mac.

[numediaman]

Originally Posted by willyhunt

Anyway questions,
1. Am I Doing the right thing?
2. Is it quick enough?
3. Should I have just buy the iMac and sell the monitor on eBay?
4. Is the mini going to be a regular Apple product or another cube?

Also a quick note to say I generally upgrade once a year.

Any advice would be good, or have I answered my own questions? Thanks.

1. Yes
2. Yes. Add RAM, though.
3. LOL . . . good one.
4. Yes, no, maybe.

[James Craner]

Originally Posted by willyhunt

Okay I have finally decided to buy my first Mac in ages (have been using PC's for a while now). Anyway i have decided to go for the Mac mini after originally intending to buy an iMac. I think what swung it was the fact that its not an AIO system. I realise the mini is not going to be as quick as the iMac in general but I believe for everyday tasks it will do me fine (Browsing the net, email and web design basically - with the odd bit of video work every now and again).

Okay the plan is to keep the mini until tiger and then upgrade again with the next revision. And then just upgrade every year. Hence why I thought the mini and not the iMac. Just keep the monitor I have bought. (Samsung 172X - Very good, I highly recommend).

Anyway questions,
1. Am I Doing the right thing?
2. Is it quick enough?
3. Should I have just buy the iMac and sell the monitor on eBay?
4. Is the mini going to be a regular Apple product or another cube?

Also a quick note to say I generally upgrade once a year.

Any advice would be good, or have I answered my own questions? Thanks.

For what your requirements the Mini would be perfect, the 1.42GHz has broadly the same power as a 1.5GHz Powerbook, so the I think the machine will be quick enough for your needs. Make sure you upgrade the RAM to 512MB to get a significant performance boost.

[emw]

First of all, glad to hear you're coming back to the Mac. From what I can tell from your needs, the mini will suit you fine from a speed standpoint (I do all of those things and more on a 1GHz G4 PowerBook).

I don't know if the mini will continue to be a viable product year after year, but does it really matter? If you upgrade once a year, you don't need to worry about that. The mini itself isn't upgradable. If you want something that is (meaning upgrade without replacement) consider the single processor G5 tower, which is comparably priced to an iMac.

[vtprinz]

Judging by the fact that the mini has grossly overrun Apple's expectations, it should be here to stay for quite some time.

[willyhunt]

Hi, thanks to all those who have answered. I have today placed my order for a Mac mini (1.25ghz, 256mb Ram, 80gb HD, Super-Drive and a keyboard). I am going to replace the Ram myself with a 1GB stick when the unit arrives (3-4 weeks).
I have read on the forums it takes standard 184 pinn dimms so I am assuming anything works?

Once again thanks for all you help. Hopefully when the unit arrives I can take a more active role in the forums, rather than just being a lurker who just couldn't decide what to buy. Cheers

[MadMacs44]

First off, yes its a sound choice you have made, welcome back to MAC!

Secondly, if you personally install the RAM, you VOID your warranty! So make sure you bring it into an AASP and have them do it. They will probably charge a small fee for this service. In my shop I would charge probably $20-$25 to do this.

Apple considers installing RAM in this unit, a NON customer serviceable job.

Hope that helps

[James Craner]

Originally Posted by willyhunt

I have read on the forums it takes standard 184 pinn dimms so I am assuming anything works?

I would be careful, although the memory may work, Macs can be very choosy about the memory they will work with, you don't have to buy from Apple but I would buy from someone who certifies that their memory is compatible with the Mac that you are buying. I made the mistake of buying generic memory that matched the spec listed in my Powerbook manual, but after two separate lots of generic memory did not work, I purchased from www.crucial.com and it worked no problems.

[daveL]

Originally Posted by willyhunt

Also a quick note to say I generally upgrade once a year.

Why? You must like wasting your money, particularly since next year's machine won't do the tasks you've outlined any better than this year's machine. Macs are notorious for being much longer lived than PCs. To each his own.

[willyhunt]

Originally Posted by daveL

Why? You must like wasting your money, particularly since next year's machine won't do the tasks you've outlined any better than this year's machine. Macs are notorious for being much longer lived than PCs. To each his own.

I dont really see it as wasting money. I can normally sell what I have bought the previous year on eBay (God bless it) for a good return so its not really the money side of things. I guess with each new year you get slightly newer hardware and an upgrade so its just something I personally choose to do.

While I dont doubt that last years model can do what I am doing now - I have just bought a mini so not really cutting edge (I would have bought a Dual G5 if I wanted that). I dont know just like upgrading every year. Less to pay once a year than every 3-4 years.

Also with regards to the memory I have checked out all the videos and the Apple PDF thing about opening the mini and I feel pretty confident about opening it up to change the memory. I have built numerous PC's in the past so I reckon I should be okay with it

[anubis]

I think the mac mini is pretty sweet. I wish I had ANY reason.. any reason at ALL to buy a mac mini, but alas, I do not. (Already have a dual 1.8 G5).

I think you should go for it, unless you plan on upgrading the mini itself every year. Pretty much the only upgradable thing on the mini is the RAM, and even then there is only 1 RAM slot. However, I think the mini should last at least 3 years as far as having enough power to run the latest Mac OS X updates.

If you want a computer that will last you a long time, I'd recommend getting a single processor 1.8GHz G5 powermac. It will give you upgrade options that should make it last for 5 years at least (user upgradable video card, ram, hard drive, optical drive, pci slots, etc).

[virividox]

hmm imnot too sure if you would want to upgrade with every revision. assuming there are 2 in a year then it might be costly

plus installing ram isnt the easiest thing. but good luck

welcome

[KershMan]

My wife actually just decided about the same thing. We went into the Clarendon Apple Store on Friday with every intention to buy a 17" iMac. She wanted to replace her 12" iBook and wanted a desktop this time.

She didn't really like the looks of the iMac. Low and behold right next to it was a mini with a 20" Apple Cinema Display. She feel in love with the display and mini seemed plenty fast for her.

So, we went home and ordered 1.42Ghz mini, 512MB RAM, SuperDrive and a 20" display. The display will arrive Wednesday. The mini not for 3 or 4 weeks.

Overall I think it will be a great purchase. In 6-12 months if an appreciable faster mini comes out, I will take the first one to hook up to our TV with an EyeTv and buy a new one for the monitor.

At $500 it is not a bad deal to upgrade yearly. I used to spend that at least on PC parts alone every 6-12 months.

[PCMacUser]

Originally Posted by KershMan

So, we went home and ordered 1.42Ghz mini, 512MB RAM, SuperDrive and a 20" display. The display will arrive Wednesday. The mini not for 3 or 4 weeks.

I'm green with envy!