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Is your Mac Mini your main computer?

Is your Mac Mini your main computer?

  • Total voters
    68
MacMini2009

MacMini2009

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Hi everyone. I'm just wondering if you own a Mac Mini, is it your main computer? Many people just have them as a media center, but I use mine as my main computer. I wonder who else uses their Mac Mini as their main computer. Also, what monitor or TV do you have it connected too?
 
Whilst I don't do this currently I did have a 1.4GHz G4 mini connected to a 17" acrylic studio display and I absolutely loved it.
 
got the upgraded mini and a dell 2709w monitor which is 27 inches and an old 4:3 19 inch monitor for reading the net and making this post while i watch movies on the bigger screen.
 
My main computer is my Early '08 Mac Pro. I use my Mac mini (1.83GHz C2D, GMA950) as a file server (it has two Drobos connected to it), iTunes server, and I have an X-Arcade joystick connected to it to play some MAME games.

Soon, I will try installing Windows under VMware Fusion and TVersity to transcode and stream videos to my Xbox 360. I hope it has enough horsepower to handle it. It sucks that the Xbox 360s' video codec support is so limited.
 
It depends on how you define "main"; I used to use the mini more than any other machine, so would that have fit the definition? I always thought my laptop was my main machine, but I always found myself using a desktop more often.
 
alphaod said:
It depends on how you define "main"; I used to use the mini more than any other machine, so would that have fit the definition? I always thought my laptop was my main machine, but I always found myself using a desktop more often.
Click to expand...

Yes, I would probably say your main computer is the one you spend the most time on or do everything on it.
 
I bought the rev.A Mac Mini when it first launched in early 2005, and I used it as my main computer for about two years untill I gave it to my mom.
Now I have it back, it's just sitting under the TV pretending to be a media center. (My PCH is far better)
 
My Mini was my main computer for the first two years after it was released. It was a 1.25GHz PPC, and it's still used by my sister today. It's a fantastically reliable (but slow) machine.
 
Mini is the main home server - NAS/BitTorrent/iTunes Server/EyeTV DVR/Living Room PC. I use my Air for everything else.
 
It is now. I use my 2006 13" MacBook for doing work at school or using it outside my dorm, but I do work on my mini and decided to move my music to it since I have my Z-5500's connected and I wont have to disconnect everytime I want to take my MacBook somewhere. 23" Acer helps a lot.
 
I seriously laugh when people say stuff like this. I too used the 1.25ghz version of the Mini, and it was a great main machine. The previous generation mini totally blows it out of the water, and the current one smokes it.
 
I've got a MM set up as a home theatre PC, but I would have no problem in using it as a main computer. For its size, it's surprisingly powerful.
 
I have been using mine as a tv unit for a while connected to a 26" Hisense cheapie tv.

But I will be using it in the office for a while attached to a 22" samsung using windows under bootcamp while I do some autocad work until I can get a small PC with as much grunt as the mini.

I was going to use it with VMware so that I could still have access to OSx but the vmware sessions run like an absolute dog on the mini. Not sure why. It used to run really nicely on my imac of less spec. Not sure whats going on there.
 
mikes63737 said:
My Mini was my main computer for the first two years after it was released. It was a 1.25GHz PPC, and it's still used by my sister today. It's a fantastically reliable (but slow) machine.
Click to expand...


Waiting for someone with a really old PPC mac to spruce it up with a SSD and tell us about the speed gains.

As to the topic, yes, my mini is now my main machine, though I have come to the wise conclusion to never own only one Mac. Too scary if you have downtime.
 
Since I sold my Macbook last year, my new 2009 mini is my main computer. I've got it souped up with 4gb of RAM and an SSD for the OS/Apps and it screams.

It's connected to a Dell 2209WA...very nice setup IMHO 🙂
 
my mini 2.0 c2d is my secondary to my early 08 MBP.
The mini is connected to a 20" Apple cinema display, and I use it to stream my icam, music and growl to my iphone.
Oh and I use the DVD drive on it too since the one in my MBP has died, and I am yet to get it fixed under warranty.
 
My 2009 2.0GHz Mini is my main machine. See my sig for the monitor to which it is attached. I use it to serve my primary iTunes library to two :apple:TV boxes. In conjunction with my iPhone, I use it as main web+email device. I opened the box up and upgraded the disk and ram myself (500gb, 4gb).

My main gripe is that the cpu is too underpowered than I had realized. It really labors when using Handbrake. And, I seriously doubt it'd be ok if I were to run a guest instance under vmware.

At some future date, I'd like to get a MP and drive two monitors, and use it for Mac plus run Linux and Windows under vmware. It's just occurred to me that I can probably get away with running vmware on my MBP. Hmm...

EVP
 
The mini in my sig is ONE of my main computers, I have it hooked up to a 19" Hannspree HF199H running at 1440x900. Hooked up to the same monitor, I also have a PC that I built. I switch between the two pretty regularly. You probably don't care about it since it's a PC but I spent about $400 total on it and it has an ASUS micro ATX Mobo, 2.5GHz Intel dual-core CPU, 4GB DDR2 RAM, nVidia GeForce 9500 GT 1GB DDR2 RAM @ 550MHz, 500GB Seagate Barracuda HDD and it's a dual boot running Windows 7 Ultimate and Ubuntu. Oh, and it's filled with bright green LEDs 🙄 lol.

I use my MacBook whenever I'm not near my desktops.
 
my mini runs as my home server/nas drobo and my media center hooked into a 46" bravia in my room. i use my iMac and my macbook more than anything.
the mac mini is definitely an overcapable machine for what i do. I'm hoping it'll last a good 5 years at the least.
 
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