New Macmini 2011 ?

[applemike68]

Hi all,

I'm looking to buy the basic mac mini but have a few questions. The computer will be used mainly for pictures, imovie, web surfing, word, excell, no games

1. Will the base model work for the above?

2. Does it matter if I don't get an IPS monitor. Newegg has some good quality monitors that are not IPS. I just want the best picture I can get without haveing to spend 999 on the Apple one.

3. Should i upgrade to the 8 gb of ram on my own?

 

[lilsoccakid74]

Hi all,

I'm looking to buy the basic mac mini but have a few questions. The computer will be used mainly for pictures, imovie, web surfing, word, excell, no games

1. Will the base model work for the above?

2. Does it matter if I don't get an IPS monitor. Newegg has some good quality monitors that are not IPS. I just want the best picture I can get without haveing to spend 999 on the Apple one.

3. Should i upgrade to the 8 gb of ram on my own?

1.yes
2.no
3.yes (no brainer at 40-50 bucks, especially since that doubles as the ram for the hd 3000)

enjoy!

 

[GGJstudios]

Hi all,

I'm looking to buy the basic mac mini but have a few questions. The computer will be used mainly for pictures, imovie, web surfing, word, excell, no games

1. Will the base model work for the above?

2. Does it matter if I don't get an IPS monitor. Newegg has some good quality monitors that are not IPS. I just want the best picture I can get without haveing to spend 999 on the Apple one.

3. Should i upgrade to the 8 gb of ram on my own?

1. Any Mac model will be sufficient for your needs.
2. You can use any display you want, as long as you can connect it.
3. You would be fine with 4GB of RAM... you'll likely never use 8GB for the things you described.

 

[BlendedFrog]

Hi all,

I'm looking to buy the basic mac mini but have a few questions. The computer will be used mainly for pictures, imovie, web surfing, word, excell, no games

1. Will the base model work for the above?

2. Does it matter if I don't get an IPS monitor. Newegg has some good quality monitors that are not IPS. I just want the best picture I can get without haveing to spend 999 on the Apple one.

3. Should i upgrade to the 8 gb of ram on my own?

I have no idea where you live but if you are in the US and live near a Frys electronics store, they have a Kingston 8GB (2x4GB) kit on sale for $19.99 after $20 rebate. That is a deal that cannot be beat.

The link: http://www.frys.com/product/6695944?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Amazon's link: http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Valu...6GI6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325012854&sr=8-1

 

[LeandrodaFL]

1)MacMini will be great. Try Openoffice.org, so you dont have to buy office
2)Any LED monitor will be great. Popular brands are Samsung and Benq, feel free to choose others
3)You HAVE TO upgrade the 2GB, thats too little. 4GB is a good amount, but 8GB will be welcome. Since its only $45, there is no reason not to do it. Put 8GB and never worry about memory again.

You may check also macsales.com for memory modules.

 

[applemike68]

Thanks guys for all the responses

 

[Fishrrman]

A monitor to consider:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824014246

 

[applemike68]

here is the monitor I'm thinking of getting....Any negative thoughts?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236175

Also the memory upgrade

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231295

 

[donw35]

Both should work fine, I am using a Samsung 27" on HDMI with great picture quality. using HDMI you might have to go into the menu and change it from AV to PC.

The memory should be fine, I went with the Kingston that was on sale for $39.99 with a $20.00 rebate but Kingstone rebates are slow and in my experience they never show up.

Add a 120GB SSD to it and you have a solid machine

 

[philipma1957]

Both should work fine, I am using a Samsung 27" on HDMI with great picture quality. using HDMI you might have to go into the menu and change it from AV to PC.

The memory should be fine, I went with the Kingston that was on sale for $39.99 with a $20.00 rebate but Kingstone rebates are slow and in my experience they never show up.

Add a 120GB SSD to it and you have a solid machine

I have to say

a) kingston rebates are really hit or miss.

b) samsung ssd on sale

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147161 128gb for 149.99 is good.

c) I used a lot of the ram you purchased it works fine

d) I had a samsung lcd a few years back it was okay

 

[macbookguy]

here is the monitor I'm thinking of getting....Any negative thoughts?

Also the memory upgrade

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231295

I have that exact set in my mini and my macbook pro. It works like a dream

 

[applemike68]

I have that exact set in my mini and my macbook pro. It works like a dream

Thanks, Mine will be here next week, can't wait to install

 

[yamaredman]

I'm in the same boat as the OP.

Picked up the 2.3 Mini with 2GB... upgraded to 8GB and it's running flawlessly.

I really only use it for moderate web browsing, pictures, tv shows, and movies.

Hooked it up to my 60" LED TV and I don't think I can ever go back to a standard monitor now. LOL

 

[sunnyj]

I'm in the same boat as the OP.

Picked up the 2.3 Mini with 2GB... upgraded to 8GB and it's running flawlessly.

I really only use it for moderate web browsing, pictures, tv shows, and movies.

i picked up the same mini a few days ago. i have ordered a owc 60gb 6G sad, 8gb of ram and hope it have it all installed by this weekend.

 

[applemike68]

I'm still waiting for mac mini from New Egg, should be here by friday. Another question, how many leave their mini on all the time, unless you are going on vacation or business travel. Any issues with just leaving it on and letting it sleep when not in use?

 

[philipma1957]

I'm still waiting for mac mini from New Egg, should be here by friday. Another question, how many leave their mini on all the time, unless you are going on vacation or business travel. Any issues with just leaving it on and letting it sleep when not in use?

no problem in fact more often then not I sleep the display only and let the mini run on idle. here are my power saver settings

 

[applemike68]

mac mini arrived today, thanks for all the helpful responses.

A few more questions.

I purchased this monitor from newegg...http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236175

connection: what will give me the best look, comparable to the apply display, right now I have it connected from the mac mini display port into the monitor's HDMI connection. Is this the best connection?

Also, do i set the resolution to 1080P? Seems okay but I'm wondering what would be the best. Thanks again,

 

[theSeb]

mac mini arrived today, thanks for all the helpful responses.

A few more questions.

I purchased this monitor from newegg...http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236175

connection: what will give me the best look, comparable to the apply display, right now I have it connected from the mac mini display port into the monitor's HDMI connection. Is this the best connection?

Also, do i set the resolution to 1080P? Seems okay but I'm wondering what would be the best. Thanks again,

I am not sure what you mean by "best connection", but yes, connecting via HDMI is perfectly fine.

The maximum resolution of that monitor is 1920 x 1080 (1080p) so, again, yes, that is the resolution that you should be using unless you find it uncomfortable.

 

[philipma1957]

you can use hdmi to hdmi with a simple hdmi cable. I would set at 1080 p

 

[applemike68]

I guess I will have to save up and buy the apple display, it just doesn't look that good. Pictures are kinda of Blah...

Maybe i will get use to it since I've only had it for 1 hr...

 

[eutexian]

I may be breaking the LAW on this site.. but, apart from being very pretty. I don't rate the Apple display at all... one reason for buying the mini is not to be trapped into buying products like the Apple display. The only Apple add-on that I have bought has been the USB keyboard.

just one example.. the thunderbolt display has 16.7 million colours. The monitor i have has 1.07 BILLION. has a matt display so I don't have any problem with reflections and cost less than half the amount.

I'm the first to admit that the Apple display is beautiful though and may suit your needs whereas it definitely doesn't suit mine.

 

[theSeb]

I may be breaking the LAW on this site.. but, apart from being very pretty. I don't rate the Apple display at all... one reason for buying the mini is not to be trapped into buying products like the Apple display. The only Apple add-on that I have bought has been the USB keyboard.

just one example.. the thunderbolt display has 16.7 million colours. The monitor i have has 1.07 BILLION. has a matt display so I don't have any problem with reflections and cost less than half the amount.

I'm the first to admit that the Apple display is beautiful though and may suit your needs whereas it definitely doesn't suit mine.

lol. You're not breaking any laws. Not everyone here eats everything Apple makes. I prefer other monitors myself.

 

[applemike68]

I agree, I don't really want to spend the extra money for the display but pictures just seem to pop off the screen and mine seem flat...I'm sure I could tweak my settings to improve the picture.

 

[applemike68]

Another question

Now that i have my mini setup and everything is working great. My kids asked me the other day about their digital movies that we own. How do I install a digital movie when you buy a bluray? No disk drive? Thanks,

PS...The 8gb addition to the base mini is working perfect.

 

[Inconsequential]

I may be breaking the LAW on this site.. but, apart from being very pretty. I don't rate the Apple display at all... one reason for buying the mini is not to be trapped into buying products like the Apple display. The only Apple add-on that I have bought has been the USB keyboard.

just one example.. the thunderbolt display has 16.7 million colours. The monitor i have has 1.07 BILLION. has a matt display so I don't have any problem with reflections and cost less than half the amount.

I'm the first to admit that the Apple display is beautiful though and may suit your needs whereas it definitely doesn't suit mine.

What monitor do you have?

Reason being unless you have a true 10-bit monitor then I'm afraid that your still only getting 16.7 million colours, it's just it's using a clever technique to make it look like having billions of colours, the panel isn't itself capable of billions of colours.

To truly get 30-bit (2^30 colours) you need display port + 10-bit processing + 10-bit app + 10-bit panel.

You will NOT have got that for $500, unless you got a half price deal from someone. Period.

The panel used in the iMac and Cinema Display is used in a number of other monitors and is very, very highly rated.

So I recon whatever you bought isn't actually as good as the Apple panel. You've been suckered into a consumerism