Gradual Mac Mini Updates?

[frocha]

Cool.
I can finally get rid of this 500 MHz iMac G3 and get me a Mac mini to use with my 20 inch monitor. Good thing I held until after I got my financial aid money this week, but that's as long as I can wait. It's kind of aggravating running Tiger with this iMac, the beach balls kill me sometimes. Anyway, it has served me well in the 4+ years I've had it.
Can't wait 'till I get my mini!

 

[phairphan]

New Mac Mini

Hi all-
Long-time reader; first-time poster. I ordered a Mini last week (1.42, stock, combo drive), received it on Friday, and just got around to setting it up. I think it's the new model. The system profiler reports the following:

the CPU as 1.5 GHz; Bluetooth HCI version is 3, firmware version 3.1965 (2.0+EDR?); the drive is an 80 GB Segate Momentus 5400.2 (ST9808211A); the video card still appears to be a Radeon 9200 (RV280), but the VRAM is being reported as 64 MB.

Did I strike gold? I'd be happy to provide more details.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

I expect they will also be upgrading the graphics to something like a FX5200 or R9550 so it can properly support core graphics.

Lets hope. With the D/L SDD upgrade it give some us the chance to make a media center Mac that Jobs feels there is no demand for - if I read the brief blurb in the Wash Post right.

 

[powerbook911]

Hi all-
Long-time reader; first-time poster. I ordered a Mini last week (1.42, stock, combo drive), received it on Friday, and just got around to setting it up. I think it's the new model. The system profiler reports the following:

the CPU as 1.5 GHz; Bluetooth HCI version is 3, firmware version 3.1965 (2.0+EDR?); the drive is an 80 GB Segate Momentus 5400.2 (ST9808211A); the video card still appears to be a Radeon 9200 (RV280), but the VRAM is being reported as 64 MB.

Did I strike gold? I'd be happy to provide more details.

Wow. You may be *very* lucky! Sweet. Open a widget and see, if you get the droplet effect. If you do, you have something very sweet indeed. Congratulations.

 

[Kobushi]

I'm glad to hear they are doing there best to keep this little honey updated. I'm expecting one this Christmas, and I keep hearing all these people complaining about the specs.. Maybe I'm jaded from computers from the early 90s, but the Mini seems to be quite a nice little price/performance unit.

Everybody who is complaining about the specs should go and check what kind of a G4 PowerMac they can get for $500. It's not much.
I checked a popular used Mac website, and I can get a

Certified Used PowerMac AGP G4/400, 256M RAM, 20G HDD, DVD-RAM, Zip, ATI Rage 128, Keyboard & Mouse. $469.00 ........

Wow, I sold that exact same model to a guy at work for $100 back in february. I so should have eBay'd it.

 

[Jschultz]

Hi all-
Long-time reader; first-time poster. I ordered a Mini last week (1.42, stock, combo drive), received it on Friday, and just got around to setting it up. I think it's the new model. The system profiler reports the following:

the CPU as 1.5 GHz; Bluetooth HCI version is 3, firmware version 3.1965 (2.0+EDR?); the drive is an 80 GB Segate Momentus 5400.2 (ST9808211A); the video card still appears to be a Radeon 9200 (RV280), but the VRAM is being reported as 64 MB.

Did I strike gold? I'd be happy to provide more details.

Seriously, no lie? Looks like you have lucked out, good sir.

I hate my damn 4200 rpm drive. I can really tell the difference between 4200 on the mini, and 5400 on my old powerbook. bah.

 

[screensaver400]

or is it 3.5" Any ways, this is a standard hard drive that is found in desktop computers.

Yes... I've only seen a 5.25" hard drive once, in a circa 1995 machine. Today, the standard is 3.5" for desktops, 2.5" for portables. But in a small form factor machine like the mini, a 2.5" is used.

In general, 5400 rpm is standard for 3.5" hard drives. 7200 rpm might be considered "prosumer", and 10000 rpm would definitely be considered "professional" (although most pro machines would use 7200 because of capacity limitations with 10000). 4200 rpm drives exist as 3.5" drives, but aren't too common these days.

As for 2.5" drives, 4200 rpm is the norm (used in the iBook and current Mac mini, and was standard on Rev. C and prior Alu. Powerbook G4s). 5400 rpm is the higher end, and is standard in the current Powerbook. 7200 rpm laptop drives exist, but are less common on manufactured machines. They have been user-replaced in Powerbooks, though.

 

[hyperpasta]

Ripple?

Seriously, no lie? Looks like you have lucked out, good sir.

I hate my damn 4200 rpm drive. I can really tell the difference between 4200 on the mini, and 5400 on my old powerbook. bah.

Do Widgets Ripple when you open them? Please be yes.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

I'm glad to hear they are doing there best to keep this little honey updated. I'm expecting one this Christmas, and I keep hearing all these people complaining about the specs.. Maybe I'm jaded from computers from the early 90s, but the Mini seems to be quite a nice little price/performance unit.

Everybody who is complaining about the specs should go and check what kind of a G4 PowerMac they can get for $500. It's not much.
I checked a popular used Mac website, and I can get a

Certified Used PowerMac AGP G4/400, 256M RAM, 20G HDD, DVD-RAM, Zip, ATI Rage 128, Keyboard & Mouse. $469.00
--or--
New Mac Mini G4/1330, 512M RAM, 40G HDD, Combo, ATI Radeon 9200. $499.00

Granted the PowerMac is a different machine from the Mini, but just looking at the specs, I don't know who can complain that they can buy a computer that is closely priced to tech from 2000, and kills. Sure it would be nice if it worked with Core, but it would also be nice if I won the lotto.

The issue is not for Apple suers looking for a new machine for the Mac mini, but more for switchers. To that end Apple needs to address the low end needs of Mac users, while making the Mac mini attractive spec and performance wise to some of the Dell/Intel offerings.

Not quite sure how the Mac mini would stack up against this Dell offering:

Dimension 3000
Super Savings!
Intel® Celeron® D Processor 320 (2.40GHz, 533 FSB)
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
512MB DDR SDRAM at 400MHz
80GB1 Ultra ATA/100 7200RPM Hard Drive
Single Drive: 48x CD-RW / DVD-ROM Combo Drive
17 inch E173FP Analog Flat Panel

I would hope for something more from Apple.

 

[phairphan]

I'm not seeing any rippling. Should this happen when I open a widget while in Dashboard? Sorry for the moronic question, my other Mac is an old Powerbook TI running Panther, so this is the first time I've used Tiger. The System Profiler says that Core Image is not supported. I thought you needed a 9600 or higher.

 

[lickily]

Hi all-
Long-time reader; first-time poster. I ordered a Mini last week (1.42, stock, combo drive), received it on Friday, and just got around to setting it up. I think it's the new model. The system profiler reports the following:

the CPU as 1.5 GHz; Bluetooth HCI version is 3, firmware version 3.1965 (2.0+EDR?); the drive is an 80 GB Segate Momentus 5400.2 (ST9808211A); the video card still appears to be a Radeon 9200 (RV280), but the VRAM is being reported as 64 MB.

Did I strike gold? I'd be happy to provide more details.

Nice, I wonder if that just slipped by or this is also part of Apple's move to deemphasize the importance of these incremental upgrades, you know upgrade the model and just quietly announce it after the fact. Maybe they'll even do away with introducing new part numbers.

The 64Mb would be nice, although the whole Core-Image compatibility thing remains a gray zone to me. Was it the 32mb that kept the 9200 from being compatible or the lack of support for certain graphics effects in the card itself?

 

[Kobushi]

Hi all-
Long-time reader; first-time poster. I ordered a Mini last week (1.42, stock, combo drive), received it on Friday, and just got around to setting it up. I think it's the new model. The system profiler reports the following:

the CPU as 1.5 GHz; Bluetooth HCI version is 3, firmware version 3.1965 (2.0+EDR?); the drive is an 80 GB Segate Momentus 5400.2 (ST9808211A); the video card still appears to be a Radeon 9200 (RV280), but the VRAM is being reported as 64 MB.

Did I strike gold? I'd be happy to provide more details.

You've got to be friggin' kidding me! How can apple do that without putting a 64MB video card and 5400rpm drive in their ibooks? (besides the obvious reason that it would make them even more like the PB's) Seriously, if the ibook had those in it, I'd be typing on one right now.

The issue is not for Apple suers looking for a new machine for the Mac mini, but more for switchers. To that end Apple needs to address the low end needs of Mac users, while making the Mac mini attractive spec and performance wise to some of the Dell/Intel offerings....

Lol, there seem to be more and more of those these days.

 

[Mac_Freak]

You've got to be friggin' kidding me! How can apple do that without putting a 64MB video card and 5400rpm drive in their ibooks? (besides the obvious reason that it would make them even more like the PB's) Seriously, if the ibook had those in it, I'd be typing on one right now.

Perhaps video cards in iBooks have gotten upgraded as well as HDs.
They do have 1-3 days shipping delays.

 

[phairphan]

Just took a look at the video of Dashboard on the Apple site. I'm definitely not seeing that ripple effect.

 

[Chundles]

I'm not seeing any rippling. Should this happen when I open a widget while in Dashboard? Sorry for the moronic question, my other Mac is an old Powerbook TI running Panther, so this is the first time I've used Tiger. The System Profiler says that Core Image is not supported. I thought you needed a 9600 or higher.

The 9200 won't display the ripple no matter how much VRAM it has, would you mind posting a screen grab of your system profiler window - would be cool to see what else it has to say.

64MB VRAM would help running those big screens a hell of a lot, the mini struggles on anything above a 20", it'd work nicely plugged into a 23' display with 64MB.

 

[Chrispy]

If the graphics card did get upgraded to 64MB then that is good... just makes you wonder why the iBook didn't.... oh yeah it is because the 12" powerbook uses an ancient graphics card and a 64MB 9550 would whoop its booty haha.

 

[powerbook911]

Yeah, this upgrade sounds unbelievable.

Powerbook performance, for $1000 less. Yes, I know it isn't totally mobile, but that is a *very* capable machine, for the price.

This is wild. Now we're expecting/hoping for:

Power Macs
Powerbooks
and Mac Minis

Imagine if they gave us updates to all three next week?

 

[MrSugar]

The 9200 won't display the ripple no matter how much VRAM it has, would you mind posting a screen grab of your system profiler window - would be cool to see what else it has to say.

64MB VRAM would help running those big screens a hell of a lot, the mini struggles on anything above a 20", it'd work nicely plugged into a 23' display with 64MB.

Very good point. I run dual 23" off of a 64meg 9600 and they run just fine. As for core image, that sucks that the mini doesn't support it yet. On the other hand, it's great to see more frequent updates on the Mac Mini line.

Now only if they would update the lines that REALLY need it!

 

[2nyRiggz]

well any update is good...i guess. powerbooks will soon become the underpowerbooks at the rate of the mini & ibook upgardes.

 

[pagartimun]

Does that mean there'shope yet for upgreaded PB?

 

[Kobushi]

Does that mean there'shope yet for upgreaded PB?

Prolly not. Apple seems dead set on disappointing me this year. In fact, I think it's in their mission statement somewhere "...to have as many events as we can without a powerbook upgrade merely to smite Kobushi...."

 

[Chrispy]

Hey phairphan. That is a nice system you ended up getting there. Would you be able to take a screen capture of your system profiler? I would love to see that

 

[phairphan]

I have attached a text file of the System Profiler output. I've removed serial numbers, MAC addresses, etc. I can post a few screenshots, but not all 20-odd screens.

 

[Chrispy]

I have attached a text file of the System Profiler output. I've removed serial numbers, MAC addresses, etc. I can post a few screenshots, but not all 20-odd screens.

Thanks If you wanted to post just the few main screens that would be fun to see as well... man this is tempting me to buy lol

 

[Mac_Freak]

I have attached a text file of the System Profiler output. I've removed serial numbers, MAC addresses, etc. I can post a few screenshots, but not all 20-odd screens.

It is funny that you have Tiger 10.4.2 build 4D40 while i have 10.4.2 build 4C46.

Can any one check their builds and try to explain why he has a later built of Tiger.