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Is the Mac Mini worth buying now...

J

jander108

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 18, 2012
2
0
Hi everyone,
Im a Mac enthusiast and have just purchased a 24" Samsung HD monitor for my Macbook... However, was looking to upgrade my dated model (2007) and was wondering what everyone thinks about purchasing the Mac Mini now, or if anyone knows of news of a new release in the near future?

Thanks all! :)
 
ok then thank-you for both your posts! They have both been useful to me! (Y)
 
I am about to take the plunge myself. I was planning on getting the base model then upgrading memory to 8GB and use it as an HTPC (iTunes Server/Data storage)

I know someone (MR member) selling a brand-new unopened current model for 550$ shipped to cont US, I was going to buy it but I think it'd still be cheaper to buy from a local apple store after I paid for shipping and what not. PM me if your interested.
 
I've been thinking of picking one up too. I really don't care if Apple comes out with a new one tomorrow, the Mini meets the requirements I need it for.
 
Very much worth buying now. The processors they're offering for their "low end" Mac are pretty nice for most people, and the features are not lacking at all.

I'm using the Mini Server in my sig as a dedicated music machine, and it's surprisingly fast. Not too bad for $900 out the door (refurb Mini Server + $50 OWC 8GB RAM upgrade). Sure beats the $2000+ price tag of a refurbished 2009 model Mac Pro, and still does everything I need it to do. :)
 
jamesryanbell said:
Very much worth buying now. The processors they're offering for their "low end" Mac are pretty nice for most people, and the features are not lacking at all.

I'm using the Mini Server in my sig as a dedicated music machine, and it's surprisingly fast. Not too bad for $900 out the door (refurb Mini Server + $50 OWC 8GB RAM upgrade). Sure beats the $2000+ price tag of a refurbished 2009 model Mac Pro, and still does everything I need it to do. :)
Click to expand...

Other then the processor upgrade is there any difference from the regular models running lion?

I am going to buy the base model then upgrade to 8gb ram I was thinking about getting lion server to test it out because I'll be doing the exact same thing as you. What would you say is better about running server os over the norm?
 
Dhelsdon said:
Other then the processor upgrade is there any difference from the regular models running lion?

I am going to buy the base model then upgrade to 8gb ram I was thinking about getting lion server to test it out because I'll be doing the exact same thing as you. What would you say is better about running server os over the norm?
Click to expand...

In all honesty, nothing. It's a great server OS (have many friends that run it), but I bought the server solely for the processor. For running tons of plug-ins, bouncing sessions, running lots of tracks, etc, you gotta have a lot of RAM and a nice processor. The quad-core i7 in the server is really nice, and the benchmarks I've seen show it to be substantially faster than the dual-core processors offered on the non-servers (for multi-threaded tasks). The $50 OWC 8GB RAM upgrade is a no-brainer. 4GB would be fine most of the time, but in the grand scheme of things, it's fifty dollars to double the RAM. Why not? 16GB is too expensive right now. 8GB should be fine for most.
 
Sounds like you've got it doing a lot more then I thought. I'll literally be using it for iTunes library host, AirVideo server (via WD TV Live) and that's about it.

What do you mean by bouncing sessions and tracks?

How would that be useful? (I am an IT student, just curious)
 
Dhelsdon said:
Sounds like you've got it doing a lot more then I thought. I'll literally be using it for iTunes library host, AirVideo server (via WD TV Live) and that's about it.

What do you mean by bouncing sessions and tracks?

How would that be useful? (I am an IT student, just curious)
Click to expand...

I'm using it for my home studio main computer. Everything from recording high-quality audio tracks, playing back tons of tracks at the same time, running lots of plug-ins for audio tracks (effects, etc)....

It just requires a lot. If you're using it for those things you mentioned, any of them will be just fine! :)
 
jamesryanbell said:
I'm using it for my home studio main computer. Everything from recording high-quality audio tracks, playing back tons of tracks at the same time, running lots of plug-ins for audio tracks (effects, etc)....

It just requires a lot. If you're using it for those things you mentioned, any of them will be just fine! :)
Click to expand...

Any solution for Blu-Ray? Internal or External. You have almost sold me on one.
 
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