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Apple Announces New Mac Mini Starting at $499

tdale said:
The new Mini will be fine at playing HD video?

Is there a way to get the Mini to replace a media player such as my WDTV Live, using a remote? Or remote app?
Click to expand...

Yes, you can install Plex, XBMC or any other type of Home Entertainment type software. The Apple Remote controls worked for the Mac Mini's I've had with no problem but I use a Logitech Harmony so I don't need to keep up with multiple remotes.

Also, I used a 2008 and '09 Mini as a HomeMedia Player with Plex back when it started and those C2D machines played HD just fine. The new i5DualCore performance is way ahead of those old chips. You can't look at clock speed and try to compare the performance.

And my 1.3GHz MacBook Air plays HD videos just fine as well, there's no reason a Mac Mini would not.

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justkev said:
I can't believe that 1TB is the largest storage capacity :(

I was looking to upgrade my 2.5Ghz i5, 4GB, 500GB Mac Mini to something with 2TB of storage!

Might have to look at a NAS device, can anyone recommend one that will work with iTunes?

Thanks in advance, so disappointed :mad:
Click to expand...

You could keep you're current machine and install 2-1TB HDD's.
 
justkev said:
I can't believe that 1TB is the largest storage capacity :(

I was looking to upgrade my 2.5Ghz i5, 4GB, 500GB Mac Mini to something with 2TB of storage!

Might have to look at a NAS device, can anyone recommend one that will work with iTunes?

Thanks in advance, so disappointed :mad:
Click to expand...

Synology, Promise, Drobo....they all work fine with iTunes. Though Drobo hasn't updated their dashboard software for Yosemite yet. Maybe soon. I use the Promise thunderbolt RAID. Works great.
 
Ugh, they pulled the faux cheapo model that uses a ULV chip again.

The middle model is good enough, we finally have a 2014 mini with Iris Graphics - finally.

But no quad-core model anymore tho, Apple really deserves a beating sometimes.
 
Lack of quad core's a bummer. I just want to know if DisplayPort 1.2's enabled so one could daisy-chain 3 1980x1200 screens off 1 Thunderbolt display. Specs on Apple's site are vague:

Thunderbolt digital video output

Native Mini DisplayPort output
DVI output using Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter (sold separately)
VGA output using Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter (sold separately)
Dual-link DVI output using Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter (sold separately)
HDMI video output

Support for 1080p resolution at up to 60Hz
Support for 3840-by-2160 resolution at 30Hz
Support for 4096-by-2160 resolution at 24Hz
DVI output using HDMI to DVI Adapter (sold separately)

Let's hope Mac mini refreshes with quad core Haswell CPUs next year.
 
Anyone who was considering upgrading from a 2009 Mac Mini (which is similar to my 2008 Core2 Duo Aluminum MacBook) should just buy a used 2012 Mac Mini with the quad-core i7.

It is hugely faster than the Core2 Duo, and probably at least matches the high-end of the new models. For most of using Minis, graphics is not a priority.
 
syan48306 said:
No matter how good the Haswell dual cores are, it wont beat a 3.6Ghz quad core ivy. There's no IPC improvement between the generations that can overcome the transcoding benefits from the two extra cores!
Click to expand...

His quote was most likely in references to people saying 'my Core 2 Duo is clocked at 2.66GHz so why would I upgrade to a 2.5 or 2.6GHz Mac Mini?'

It's like comparing the Core2Quad to todays Quad i7's.

There is a rather large performance increase from a 2008 chip to a 2013-2014 chip.
 
justkev said:
I can't believe that 1TB is the largest storage capacity :(

I was looking to upgrade my 2.5Ghz i5, 4GB, 500GB Mac Mini to something with 2TB of storage!

Might have to look at a NAS device, can anyone recommend one that will work with iTunes?

Thanks in advance, so disappointed :mad:
Click to expand...

Plug in an external drive and get over it.
 
crsh1976 said:
Ugh, they pulled the faux cheapo model that uses a ULV chip again.

The middle model is good enough, we finally have a 2014 mini with Iris Graphics - finally.

But no quad-core model anymore tho, Apple really deserves a beating sometimes.
Click to expand...

Anything that reduces the heat in a machine that seems aimed towards family use is probably a good thing in a machine that still has rotating platter hard drives.
 
jtara said:
Anyone who was considering upgrading from a 2009 Mac Mini (which is similar to my 2008 Core2 Duo Aluminum MacBook) should just buy a used 2012 Mac Mini with the quad-core i7.

It is hugely faster than the Core2 Duo, and probably at least matches the high-end of the new models. For most of using Minis, graphics is not a priority.
Click to expand...

Also, for the time being you can still get new ones. Get them while you can!
 
justkev said:
I can't believe that 1TB is the largest storage capacity :(

I was looking to upgrade my 2.5Ghz i5, 4GB, 500GB Mac Mini to something with 2TB of storage!

Might have to look at a NAS device, can anyone recommend one that will work with iTunes?

Thanks in advance, so disappointed :mad:
Click to expand...

I have the 2012 mini. The only things on the boot drive are OS X and applications. I use this for my 4 3-TB drives:

http://oyendigital.com/hard-drives/store/RS-M4T.html

I have over 24,000 songs in iTunes, and I can scroll through the albums and all the artwork populates instantly. I also have 50,000 photos (most are raw images) that I use in Aperture and Lightroom -- no lag at all. This enclosure is high quality, small footprint (5 inches wide, 8 inches deep and tall). I pass through my thunderbolt display and everything works. This is a great enclosure (it can be RAID, but I use it as JBOD -- first is all my data (photos, music, etc.); second is a super duper backup (daily); third backs up the boot drive; last drive is time machine).

Hope this helps...
 
jtara said:
Anyone who was considering upgrading from a 2009 Mac Mini (which is similar to my 2008 Core2 Duo Aluminum MacBook) should just buy a used 2012 Mac Mini with the quad-core i7.

It is hugely faster than the Core2 Duo, and probably at least matches the high-end of the new models. For most of using Minis, graphics is not a priority.
Click to expand...

For CPU crunching, my 2012 Mac Mini Quad i7 is pretty close in performance to my Quad i7 4771 Mac.
I just can't see the 2014 DualCore coming anywhere near the performance of the 2012 Quad Core i7 in terms of just Raw CPU Power.
 
DudeDad said:
I have the 2012 mini. The only things on the boot drive are OS X and applications. I use this for my 4 3-TB drives:

http://oyendigital.com/hard-drives/store/RS-M4T.html

I have over 24,000 songs in iTunes, and I can scroll through the albums and all the artwork populates instantly. I also have 50,000 photos (most are raw images) that I use in Aperture and Lightroom -- no lag at all. This enclosure is high quality, small footprint (5 inches wide, 8 inches deep and tall). I pass through my thunderbolt display and everything works. This is a great enclosure (it can be RAID, but I use it as JBOD -- first is all my data (photos, music, etc.); second is a super duper backup (daily); third backs up the boot drive; last drive is time machine).

Hope this helps...
Click to expand...

Very helpful indeed, I'll investigate!

Thank you.
 
kwikdeth said:
no quad core option
no user-upgradable ram
low-end model ridiculously crippled

i'll bet anything the internal changes to allow for the PCIe Flash storage also means you cant put two drives inside of it anymore

another mac line ruined.

no thanks

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yeah, you're right. he actually gave apple too much credit by assuming they'd put an SSD in the low-end machine. 1.4ghz and a 5400rpm drive? what is this, 2005?
Click to expand...

My 2005 Mac Mini is 1.5 GHZ :D :D :D

This is just a sad update. SSD should be standard, quad core should be available and ram should be upgradable. But nope, this is the best product pipeline ever... lolz. Officially the worst Apple Event ever.
 
Steve121178 said:
You have got to be kidding? You really hoped the CD drive would make a comeback?

Still laughing...
Click to expand...

Probably you did not get his classy sarcasam there, going from Quad to Duo so why not bring CD drive also back in fold. Thank god he did not mention floppy drives :)
 
Worth the Wait

MacMini2014.jpg
 
cgc said:
Nope...you are mistaken...dual-core ONLY. Apple is officially dead to me. I'm tired of being let down over and over by Apple over promising and under delvering. (ref to "best product pipeline in 25 years" comment then only iMac is impressive).
Click to expand...

But you'll still buy their products. Maybe not the Mac mini, but you will others.
 
No real reason to buy the $999 model for such a small speed bump. If you want the Fusion Drive just buy the $699 model and add it for $200. Save $100
I think I prefer the 256 Mb Flash drive since I believe it will be faster than the Fusion Drive and I don't need the space.
The real question is-is it worth it to increase the RAM to 16Gb?
That will put the $699 Model price up to $1100
 
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