Last night I ordered a base 2011 Mac mini and also order 8 gb of ram of amazon. I will be using his as a htpc, no gaming at all. With be used for iTunes, handbrake and torrents, Photo editing using aperture and some light video exiting using Pro X and recording tv with an eyetv. Did I make a mistake not getting he next model ip with dedicated graphics? I was trying to make the most economical choice based on my usage and I thought 8gb of ram was more a necessity than the dedicated card since I am not gaming.
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Yes I will. Out of all the things I listed above, video editing will be done the least, if at all.
I will be doing alot of handbrake, but $400 more is not in the budget. FWIW, I have been doing handbrake on my 2010 MBP 13 and it works fine just takes an hour, but I usually have it run when I go to bed.
On that note, two hand brake questions: first, what is the best preset to use when copying, I have been using Apple TV2 because that is what I play my content on, but I have been wondering if any of them would be a better quality rip for not too much more disk space.
Also handbrake vs. ripit?
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You'll be totally fine. Then integrated graphics card isn't great for gaming, but you shouldn't have an issue with other applications.
Yes, the server is faster for handbrake, but the 2.3 i5 is no slouch either. You'll see a definite improvement over your old computer.
For ATV2 I just use the default setting on Handbrake, it seems to work fine and doesn't take up much space.
You'll be totally fine. Then integrated graphics card isn't great for gaming, but you shouldn't have an issue with other applications.
Yes, the server is faster for handbrake, but the 2.3 i5 is no slouch either. You'll see a definite improvement over your old computer.
For ATV2 I just use the default setting on Handbrake, it seems to work fine and doesn't take up much space.
These new mini chips are all sandy bridge cpus. I think you will be pleasantly surprised as long as your expectations are realistic. That and the extra ram should carry you a long ways away from a 2010 mbp.
Besides that, you're smart and good looking.
Besides that, you're smart and good looking.
IMO you are the perfect user of a 2.3 mini add the ram and do handbrake. the machine will do a 22 minute encode done on a mini 2.66 c2d in 14 min. I have tested both. Cash wise you did well. A lot of improvement for low cash = good!