1.25 vs 1.42 Mac Mini

[AtHomeBoy_2000]

I am looking into getting a Mac Mini sometime this fall. I have been doing a lot of reading on here and reviews from other sources about the Mini. but I wondered your thoughts on this.... Which would you suggest I go with?

Both minis have the same specs except the 1.25 has a 40G HD and the 1.42 has a 80Gig HD. It is my understanding that the 80Gig has a slightly slower RPM. Will that make a big differance? There is a $100 differance between the two and every dollar I can save is always good (I was looking to put that extra money towards an extenal HD to store photos and music). I want to use the Mini for basic document typing, internet searching, and some LIGHT photo editing with Photoshop elements.

Your thoughts?

 

[pulsewidth947]

the 1.42 will be slightly faster, but from what you intend to use the mini for, a 1.25 should be good. Personally, i'd save the money and spend the difference on a nice stick of ram from crucial..

Incidentally, i impulse bought a 1.25 mini yesterday. Bought it new on ebay because i couldnt wait for 2 weeks for it to come from apple 🙂 i bought ram from crucial on Wed, and it was sent the next day, and i had it in my hands friday! After watching a video on installing the ram i'm very confident.

i'm mostly going to use it for downloading and surfing the internet. i use my PC for any grunt work in photoshop, as its Athlon 3200, with 1 GB Dual Channel ram, and 300 GB of hard drive space. BUT its a PC so downloading on the internet is risky 🙂

Today i suddenly thought "if i had just spent another £50 i could have got the 1.42 with 80gb" :O, but i've got enough Hd space, and the money i save is going towards a 15" Powerbook 🙂

 

[redeye be]

You could overclock the 1.25 to 1.5 for free...
to lazy to do the search for you, but it definitely is possible.

 

[pulsewidth947]

Incidentally, the postie dropped of my mini this morning at 8:15 am 🙂

I'm still using the built in 256 ram, as all my putty knives were a bit rusty/too big. To be honest, it isnt as painful as i thought it would be - i've been using msn mesesenger, and safari while updating software and its been perfectly usable.

God damn i love it 🙂 only thing is i didnt have time to order a white mac keyboard so i'm using a cheap usb pc keyboard and its quite confusing.

 

[monoguy54]

1st mac, mini 1.42

Pulled the trigger on a 1.42 mini on last Monday, 1st ever mac. Got the 512 ram & superdrive also. After a month of "researching" decided on the mini and would continue to shop around for an lcd monitor. Sort of a 'penny-pinching' approach to mac since I will have 3 in college next year. Main motivation for move to mac was managing photos, making slideshows & burning DVDs since there were many positive comments about the included ilife suite. Also was looking forward to the OS X stability.

Bought an apple key board & love it; still use my old wireless, optical, 2-button wheel mouse; connected to my linksys 802.11b router both wired and wireless, works seamlessly either way.

Still getting used to OS X and the new interface, find myself right-clicking too much (windows reflex); had to purchase a new printer because my (college kid's) Lexmark X73 wouldn't work (not listed as compatible with OS X 10.3.x); it seems like the longer the machine is on the slower it gets(?), I see more of the "beach balls" than I anticipated (i.e. waiting). Rebooted machine this a.m. to switch monitors - bringing up photos in iphoto is now quick, late last night after machine was on all day it took noticably longer. still trying to figure out why. Any experienced users have any ideas?

Also, looking to buy a new lcd monitor. Strongly considering a Dell 17" or 19" ultrasharp (for dvi connectivity). Although Dell specs show as only PC compatible. Other threads on this forum indicate people are using Dell monitors. Any reason why I should think they wouldn't work?

 

[plinden]

Also, looking to buy a new lcd monitor. Strongly considering a Dell 17" or 19" ultrasharp (for dvi connectivity). Although Dell specs show as only PC compatible. Other threads on this forum indicate people are using Dell monitors. Any reason why I should think they wouldn't work?

Abolutely none.

 

[debroglie]

Also, looking to buy a new lcd monitor. Strongly considering a Dell 17" or 19" ultrasharp (for dvi connectivity). Although Dell specs show as only PC compatible. Other threads on this forum indicate people are using Dell monitors. Any reason why I should think they wouldn't work?

I bought the 20" widescreen Dell LCD, and they definitely work with the mini. Great deals, especially if you find coupons! (techdeals.net)

 

[monoguy54]

Still getting used to OS X and the new interface, find myself right-clicking too much (windows reflex); had to purchase a new printer because my (college kid's) Lexmark X73 wouldn't work (not listed as compatible with OS X 10.3.x); it seems like the longer the machine is on the slower it gets(?), I see more of the "beach balls" than I anticipated (i.e. waiting). Rebooted machine this a.m. to switch monitors - bringing up photos in iphoto is now quick, late last night after machine was on all day it took noticably longer. still trying to figure out why. Any experienced users have any ideas?

?

Update, I think the forum solved the problem; suggested on another thread that I watch the acitvity monitor; turns out that there was a lexmark process running that kept chewing up more processor resource over time. killed the lexmark process and everything is working much better. Once i saw what was happening I recalled reading about the same problem in a post 5 days earlier and that pretty much confirmed it. The mac mini is running smooth now and it is truly enjoyable.
these forums are a great resource.
thanks to all

 

[Tom Morello]

Just wondering, I don't know much about computers, but can you buy sticks of RAM from places like www.scan.co.uk and have them work on Macs? Or is there a difference between RAM for Macs/Windows?

 

[Blue Velvet]

Just wondering, I don't know much about computers, but can you buy sticks of RAM from places like www.scan.co.uk and have them work on Macs? Or is there a difference between RAM for Macs/Windows?

Yes you can buy extra RAM from third-party vendors. Some Macs can be a bit picky about RAM which is why I use Crucial UK. They have a useful memory selector which will take the guesswork out of selecting the right RAM for your Mac -- I've never had any problem with them for the machines at work and at home... the choice of RAM suppliers is far more limited here than in the U.S.

 

[Tom Morello]

Cheers

 

[minimax]

The dell screens flat-out curse with the mini or any mac for that matter! If you like the quality of the screen go for a LG or Philips TFT as they are the suppliers of the Dell screens in the first place. Of course it's all subjective, but damn... dell is just plain U.G.L.Y!