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Mac Mini End Of Life?

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Mactracker Benchmark Scores for Mini!

Download Mactracker 4.3.1 if you haven't already and check out the Performance Scores of a lot of modern Macs.
http://mactracker.ca
The first G4 Mini got scores in the 700-768 range, the newest Mini scores 2473-2668!
The last Power Mac G5 late 2005 (Motorola PowerPC before switching to Intel) with dual 2.0/2.3/2.5 GHz had scores of 1818/2108/3284.

I just don't get how people can say any Mini is not powerful enough for the price. I'm getting my 1.83GHz soon!

If there are complaints about performance and graphics cards get a Dual 3GHz Mac Pro 8-core to game on... or maybe a PS3 to save a few $$$.
 
Right now I honestly don't have the cash to drop on another system and it might be awhile before I do. However, with this new job I might be getting soon then I hope there is sure to be a bit more cash in my wallet and when Apple does give us a new mini I might be tempted to go ahead and buy it if I have the cash. I know I tell others to not wait and go ahead and buy but honestly if I was going to buy I would want the higher-end mini and right now I just can't afford it. I really don't need a desktop since I can use this MacBook as a great desktop system, but it would be a cool multimedia machine or even a small server.
 
Mekgek said:
Mac mini integrated in a keyboard would be kinda cool, but also weird...
Click to expand...

Not a new idea. But doable, sure. It worked for the Commodore 64 (and others, including some early Apples of course). The C64 still stands as the best selling computer of all time.
 
What will signal the end of the Mini?

Will the Mini disappear from the Apple online store first? I bought my 14" iBook G4 1.42GHz the day the Mac Books hit the Apple Store shelves. I just wanted the last of the PowerPC models and I liked the 14" shape and size compared to the new Mac Books that replaced it. I went in and asked if they had any iBooks left and they said there are some "in the back" and they went and got me one... full retail of course -$1299,SuperDrive,Bluetooth etc. I just wonder if the day the current Mini's go away or are replaced with AppleTV/Mini/media center etc. will I be able to go in the Apple Store and have them grab me a 1.83GHz from "the back?"
 
iCube said:
I just don't get how people can say any Mini is not powerful enough for the price.
Click to expand...

If you're solely considering within the overpriced, underperforming (despite those much-touted elegant disseminations - I mean benchmarks - that Apple used to crank out for the PPC's) previous Apple world - maybe. Doesn't stack up compared to the competition.

There's a good reason why I jumped back on the OS X with the Core Duo - and that's because the PPC's were dogs. A few years ago Intel also lost the plot with their desktop chips so I moved to Opteron / Athlon, but seeing promising results with the Cores / 5100-series Xeons, I moved back and at the same time made a move to OS X.

You don't buy a Mini for the performance - especially as a carefully specced Dell e.g. Vostro for the same money as a higher-spec (i.e. usable) Mini will blow the doors off it for performance, flexibility and support.

You buy it because of several reasons, including it being the cheapest entry point to OSX (but not good value as a PC), but I don't think performance beyond the usual small business / home entertainment hub (minus gaming) is required for the Mini.
 
Sesshi said:
You buy it because of several reasons
Click to expand...

Tiny. Silent. Stable. Low power. Gorgeous form factor.

As I have gown somewhat tired of pointing out, these elements have value. I completely understand if people don't place these specific elements highly enough on the list to counter the price/specification issues, but it irritates me that those same people can't or won't acknowledge the reverse argument.

Bah!

Jim
 
Sesshi said:
Silent? The G4 was quiet. Nothing silent about the current incarnation - but yes, there are indeed good reasons within the Apple ecosystem to buy a Mini.
Click to expand...
What are you running on the mini?

It's silent in the office until you break 3000 RPM. I only run the fan that fast when I run Folding@Home.
 
OllyW said:
My 2.0GHz C2D is virtually silent, you have to lean down right next to it to hear anything :confused:
Click to expand...

It depends on what you call virtually silent, and what you can compare it to. It's not a loud computer for sure.

Eidorian said:
What are you running on the mini?

It's silent in the office until you break 3000 RPM. I only run the fan that fast when I run Folding@Home.
Click to expand...

By the same token, it does become rather noisy when you do subject it to some minor stress for sure. I believe our project Minis were noticeably audible in the enclosed space they were in, even with forced cooling within the enclosure. For that use it was not a big deal at all. As for my own evaluation, just the usual - Front Row, EyeTV, things like that. As I said, it would depend on what you call virtually silent. My main HTPC is actually virtually silent according to my own parameters - which may be considered exacting - but the current Mini in a normal-power-use situation in ambients of the mid-to-low 20's (centigrade) is not a spectacularly quiet computer given the sum of it's parts.
 
Sesshi said:
It depends on what you call virtually silent, and what you can compare it to. It's not a loud computer for sure.
Click to expand...

It is placed 4 feet from where I am sitting and I honestly can't hear anything from it in normal use, it always surprises me when the fans do speed up when it's working hard.

I know all about loud, I once had a MDD PowerMac G4 :eek:
 
Sesshi said:
If you're solely considering within the overpriced, underperforming (despite those much-touted elegant disseminations - I mean benchmarks - that Apple used to crank out for the PPC's) previous Apple world - maybe. Doesn't stack up compared to the competition.

You don't buy a Mini for the performance - especially as a carefully specced Dell e.g. Vostro for the same money as a higher-spec (i.e. usable) Mini will blow the doors off it for performance, flexibility and support.

You buy it because of several reasons, including it being the cheapest entry point to OSX (but not good value as a PC), but I don't think performance beyond the usual small business / home entertainment hub (minus gaming) is required for the Mini.
Click to expand...

Whoa, first off I would never EVER compare a PC to any Mac, and would never EVER use Windoze over OS X!
Not to argue, I just wouldn't use or own a PC if you gave me one or paid me to use one. I never mentioned any competition. I brought up the performance scores for $599.

But thanks for the great info!
 
FJ218700 said:
I'd be all over a consumer tower, but just don't see it happening.

I suspect a smaller form factor or a merge of the Apple-TV / mini.
Click to expand...

Yeah, they need a mid-sized tower to go either between mini and iMac or between iMac and Pro...

but they gotta keep the mini. something has to fill that void; "something" needs to be more than the Apple TV... the mini and :apple:TV fill two different voids.
 
ingenious said:
Yeah, they need a mid-sized tower to go either between mini and iMac or between iMac and Pro...

but they gotta keep the mini. something has to fill that void; "something" needs to be more than the Apple TV... the mini and :apple:TV fill two different voids.
Click to expand...

If Apple released a product between the Mini and the iMac, they would have a complete desktop offering. They have both kinds of notebooks, and they have strong desktop offerings.

But I think a corporation would seriously consider putting Apple systems in their environment next to HP/Dell/Lenovo if they were more powerful than the Mini yet could use the displays that the company already owns. Displays don't need to be replaced every few years. Especially when a company has moved over to 17-20" LCD displays.

If I had spaces from Leopard when I was in tech support, I would have been in heaven. Ok, I was still in tech support, so I would have been in hell, but I would have been in the section with all the hot actresses instead of the hell of supporting Windows 3.1...

Anyway, spaces in the corporate environment, as an option, would have been so wonderful. Full size call tracking database. Full size browser or two. Full size email/communication suite. Full size parts and service tools. Holy crap that would have ruled. The whole thing could have run on OSX. We ran Windows stuff, but didn't NEED to run Windows stuff since most of it was abstracted out by using browsers and Unix terminal clients.
 
As I've said many many many times before (And I'll never get tired of saying it) The mini is an extremely capable machine. As my main computer, it does my music, videos, gaming, internet, email and many other things. Sure an iMac could do this, and probably better. But like what has been said, you probably don't buy the mini for it's power. You buy buy it because it is portable (depending on your definition of that word, like the Apple IIc was called portable) and small. Because of it's design and overall cuteness. I bought it because it was the 2nd cheapest Mac I could buy. I don't think Apple can justify selling the mini.
 
OdduWon said:
What, we can't have different levels of Mini? There is a MPB option for a 2.2 and a 128gpu, for $2000. why not have a HEADLESS unit with the specs in the form of the Mini? Is that asking too much, to have an apple desktop that is not a im, or MP, that is of current standards? Do "desktops" even come without graphics cards now :confused: if the Mini got a new GPU, it would sell like waffles.
Click to expand...

I think you mean hotcakes. :p
 
Sesshi said:
Silent? The G4 was quiet. Nothing silent about the current incarnation - but yes, there are indeed good reasons within the Apple ecosystem to buy a Mini.
Click to expand...

I dunno, maybe people with the hearing of a pipistrelle bat can hear the fan or the HDD running in the C2D Mini, or maybe I'm just old and going deaf ...

Our Mini sits underneath our TV, doing TIVO/timeshift duties, playing back DVD rips (and actual DVDs) and housing our music collection. We don't hear it. Ever.

YMMV, I suppose.

Cheers!

Jim
 
Sesshi said:
but yes, there are indeed good reasons within the Apple ecosystem to buy a Mini.
Click to expand...

That sums it up for me exactly!

The rumor has always been that Apple produced the Mini under pressure from stockholders to sell a sub-$800 desktop system.
 
Now what?

I was heading out today to do some shopping and decided I would buy a 1.83MHz Mini from my local Apple store.:) Before leaving home, I stumbled upon some news about 2.5" Seagate SATA drives (made in China) in new Mac Books and possibly Mini's that are mechanically flawed and can cause severe damage to the HD.:mad:

http://www.macworld.co.uk/mac/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=19574

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1226254&tstart=0

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/warning/seagate-25+inch-hard-drive-flaw-affecting-macbooks-316350.php

Then, I started to wonder if the new Mini would work with my 1 yr old 22" Samsung SyncMaster 225BW widescreen LCD that I use with my Power Mac G4 533MHz Digital Audio using an ATI Pro 9000 AGP Mac Edition 128 VRAM.
I read a few forums regarding monitor/Mini compatibility. I never got a clear answer if my Samsung is compatible. But, when I found that the Mini won't even run Apple's 22" DVI Cinema Display I lost all motivation.:eek:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300652

I never even pulled into the mall parking lot while I was out today...

I was even going to buy 2 iPod Touch's with the Mini today.:(
 
iCube said:
I was heading out today to do some shopping and decided I would buy a 1.83MHz Mini from my local Apple store.:) Before leaving home, I stumbled upon some news about 2.5" Seagate SATA drives (made in China) in new Mac Books and possibly Mini's that are mechanically flawed and can cause severe damage to the HD.:mad:

http://www.macworld.co.uk/mac/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=19574

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1226254&tstart=0

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/warning/seagate-25+inch-hard-drive-flaw-affecting-macbooks-316350.php

Then, I started to wonder if the new Mini would work with my 1 yr old 22" Samsung SyncMaster 225BW widescreen LCD that I use with my Power Mac G4 533MHz Digital Audio using an ATI Pro 9000 AGP Mac Edition 128 VRAM.
I read a few forums regarding monitor/Mini compatibility. I never got a clear answer if my Samsung is compatible. But, when I found that the Mini won't even run Apple's 22" DVI Cinema Display I lost all motivation.:eek:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300652

I never even pulled into the mall parking lot while I was out today...

I was even going to buy 2 iPod Touch's with the Mini today.:(
Click to expand...

I am typing this reply on a G4 Mini with a 24" Samsung 245BW. Your monitor will work perfectly. The 22" doesn't work because it has an ADC connector, so as your link said, you use the ADC converter. But that's not material since you don't have an Apple, you have a Samsung. It will work perfectly.

On hard drives, some fail. Some don't. I don't have to read the links to know how this one is going to go down. If Seagate has a batch of bad drives, all OEMs that sold them in their systems are beating them with a stick right now. Apple actually has the ability to know precisely which systems have the potentially defective drives since they control the entire process. This means that if there is indeed a problem with the drive, Apple can recall all systems from their stores (and customers) that have the drives with the potential problem. But even further, they will tell Seagate to give them a test that they can run remotely. If your system ends up with the potential of a drive failure, you'll have a way to find out very easily.
 
Decrepit said:
I am typing this reply on a G4 Mini with a 24" Samsung 245BW. Your monitor will work perfectly. The 22" doesn't work because it has an ADC connector, so as your link said, you use the ADC converter. But that's not material since you don't have an Apple, you have a Samsung.
Click to expand...

Great thanks!! I do feel better now about using my Samsung with my future Mini!

Scroll down to the second half of the Apple link, their 22" is DVI not ADC.
You should check the bad HD links...very interesting!
 
iCube said:
Great thanks!! I do feel better now about using my Samsung with my future Mini!

Scroll down to the second half of the Apple link, their 22" is DVI not ADC.
You should check the bad HD links...very interesting!
Click to expand...

I see what you mean about the Apples further down that list. That is really weird that it would not be compatible. I can't imagine what Apple did to that display to make it not conform to the DVI standard. But the 24" Samsung sure looks wonderful with my Mini.

I am avoiding the HDD links for now. In a former life, I used to work for one of the biggest computer companies on the planet, and got to manage mass HDD replacements for corporate customers. We're talking 100's to 1000's of drives per site. So, I've had my fill. But I know a little about how these things work too. :)
 
for iCube

iCube, FWIW
I have two mini's, the G4, and a brand new C2D/2.0/120
both of them have run fine on a 26 inch lcd, and a 37 inch LCD (yes, 37 inches) LOL (it's in my bedrom!!) I have never had ANY problems with either one, and have never had to configure anything....just plug it up (DVI) and it works great!
Don't know if that helps you any, but thought I would share my experience with my mini's.
(both are HDTV, and one for a fact has built in tuner, (can't remember if the 26' one does or not but don't think so, just HD ready on that one) again, fwiw)
 
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