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Mac Mini Photos and Details

tubedogg said:
May be worth noting that while it ships with iLife '05 in the box, iLife '04 is pre-installed.
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Anybody have any theories as to why that might be? iLife '05 wasn't ready enough when they were making the disk image for the Mac mini? Some other reason, perhaps?
 
areyouwishing said:
First thing I do when i get mine is stick a 7200 RPM hard drive in it, and a 512 stick.
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That is the Mod!
The entire reason to create a new case is to house the larger drive. Its going to be great to see all the neat stuff some people will come up with!
(Looks at Duct Tape and old radio)

dejo said:
Anybody have any theories as to why that might be? iLife '05 wasn't ready enough when they were making the disk image for the Mac mini? Some other reason, perhaps?
Click to expand...

I'm thinking some people will be content with '04. Perhaps not even knowing the difference.
I wonder about the performance difference of the two.
 
I gotta side with anubis on this "extra connectors" herring. If anybody remembers the Cube, it also had an external power brick and connected via a mini-DIN.
 
dejo said:
Anybody have any theories as to why that might be? iLife '05 wasn't ready enough when they were making the disk image for the Mac mini? Some other reason, perhaps?
Click to expand...
I'd assume that's exactly the reason. AppleInsider says:
AppleInsider said:
Because a large number of minis were produced in December, prior to [iLife '05's] introduction, iLife '04 was pre-installed on the hard disks...
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dontmatter said:
you people who got mini's in the mail... did you order WAY early, or kinda early, or what?

Just trying to figure out what shipping times are. Of course, I don't know what to hope for-on the one hand, I desperatley want potential windows switchers not to encounter the incredibly delayed apple shipping we are used to, not in the least. On the other hand, apple has the capacity to make X computers, so if they can't keep up with demand, that means demand is super high, and it sure doesn't hurt hype to be behind demand...

Of course, it's probably all mac users who bought before actually seeing them, etc.... so who knows. lets hope demand is building, rather than just peaking initially, and slowly sagging (the usual mac cycle)
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I ordered mine the evening following the keynote, and Apple sent me a tracking number, confirming that they shipped this evening. When I track the package FedEx says it's due for delivery tomorrow!

I also ordered a Mac kb/mouse combo and a free-after-rebate Epson printer with the Mac Mini and they shipped separately and both were delivered a day after the shipment date. It turns out the peripherals were drop-shipped from somewhere in Tennessee to my work in Nashville. Here's hoping for a Friday delivery of my first Mac ever! This will be a fun weekend!
 
So envious of you Village...*sigh*

I ordered on the evening of 1/15 and mine's at "ships on or before 2/15".

It will be my first Mac in over 15 years.
 
Included Discs?

To those of you that recieved your Minis today, how many discs were included? I have the iLife '05 Disc. In another sleeve was OSX Install Disc 1 and the OS 9 install disc. Should there have also been an OSX Install Disc #2 included?
 
Ordered mine also on the evening of the keynote. FedEx tracking says I'll get it tomorrow at noon. 🙂
 
Hmmm...reading the appleinsider thing, even though it is possible to upgrade (ram, add airport/bt), it sounds like it'd turn some people off. oh well, im excited anyway.
 
Hmmm...reading the appleinsider thing, even though it is possible to upgrade (ram, add airport/bt), it sounds like it'd turn some people off. oh well, im excited anyway.
 
tubedogg said:
I'd assume that's exactly the reason. AppleInsider says:
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D'oh!

Announced in early January, shipping EARLY...so they HAVE to have been built in December, which'd be before iLife would be ready for pre-installation (but not for CD duping....)
 
areyouwishing said:
First thing I do when i get mine is stick a 7200 RPM hard drive in it, and a 512 stick.
Click to expand...
Wonder if there are any heat and noise issues with putting one of these puppies in the Mini. It's a crime that Apple went with a 4200 rpm drive. The least they could've done was put in a 5400 rpm drive. This is 2005 after all.

I'm waiting for someone to make a 6.5" x 6.5" firewire case (with 2 extra fw connectors) to match the Mini.
 
Noise?

To the proud new mini owners out there: what sounds does the mini make? It looks like it doesn't have a fan (correct me if I'm wrong), but I was wondering if it makes any other loud - or at least noticeable - sounds (such as the hard drive spinning). How does the noise level compare with the Cube?
 
dongmin said:
Wonder if there are any heat and noise issues with putting one of these puppies in the Mini. It's a crime that Apple went with a 4200 rpm drive. The least they could've done was put in a 5400 rpm drive. This is 2005 after all.

I'm waiting for someone to make a 6.5" x 6.5" firewire case (with 2 extra fw connectors) to match the Mini.
Click to expand...

The 2.5 7200 RPM hard drives are supposed to not be any hotter, or consumer any more battery life than 4200 drives.

Apple could have sacrificed 2 inches and given us a 3.5" HD and an extra RAM slot and probably saved enough money to include a keyboard and mouse, but nope, Apple is dumb.
 
anubis said:
I believe this to be peoples' imaginations running away with them. Let's examine this.

It's hard to tell how many pins there are for the power connector, but based on the pictures on apple's web site there appears to be as many as 10. One other person suggested 8. I'll go ahead and stick with the seemingly maximum number.

At least 1 pin will be used for grounding - connecting the jacket of the power cord to the chassis of the mini. It's possible that there may be a redundant pin for this (just to be safe. Very common in electronics today). So we'll say there are 2 pins used for jacket/chassis grounding. That leaves 8 pins.

Computers require two different voltage levels from the power supply. Most PCs use a +12 voltage rail and a reference ground for the motherboard, and a totally seperate +5 voltage rail and a different reference ground for the hard drive. Or it could be the other way around. Regardless, that would explain away a further 4 pins. I can hear people saying to me now, "but anubis!!!!111 my MAC is only plugged into the wall with 3 prongs!!!11 how can my puter have more than one voltage lol". Take a look inside any standard power supply (G4 for instance) and you'll notice about 20 wires coming out of the thing. Have you ever seen a motherboard power connector for a PC? It's got about 12-14 connectors on it. Power supplies for computers output a variety of voltages to accomodate various components. In this case, the power supply for the Mini is external and provides all of the voltages to the mini externally, requiring at least 4 pins for 2 different voltage levels. Additional voltages may be used, but I'll err on the side of caution.

We're now down to 2-4 extra pins for the power connector. It hadly seems enough to add or anticipate any extra features. Let me offer some less fantastic-but-more-realistic suggestions:

1. The extra pins may serve as a communications channel to the power supply for diagnostic purposes.
2. The mac mini requires more than the absolute minimum 2 voltage levels.
3. Additional grounding may be required.
4. The most likely explaination at this juncture: the extra pins are not used.

Think of it this way. There are many everyday connectors we use that have extra, unused pins. VGA only requires 11 pins, but standard VGA connectors are 15 pins.

I hate to burst everyone's bubble, but before the rumor sites run wild with the possibility of network your iPod over power lines, or something, I'd suggest that the extra pins are a non-story.
Click to expand...

Take it from an electrical engineer. He's right.

I bet apple just figured, lets build ALL of the PS into a brick (unlike laptops which still have to regulate down from the one DC voltage given to them). This just leaves fewer components to put into the actual case of the mini. Excuse me, have any of you seen it? Try smaller than a laptop.

BEN
 
tex210 said:
Stackable!
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Need more ports?

mini_hub.jpg

mini_hub_example.jpg
 
oingoboingo said:
No doubt this picture series will be but one of many as Mac minis start turning up in large numbers.
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Just be sure to tell them to upgrade their memory. Honestly whoever thought that having 256MB in a switcher system was a good idea was loopy. I hope to god the folks at the Apple store are STRESSING 512MB to those looking at the mini.
 
LaMerVipere said:
Think they might have it at the Apple Stores tomorrow too? I'd love to pick it up and play with it over the weekend.
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Not sure, I just checked my order status and it said it shipped. I don't have an Apple Store close enough to know.
 
areyouwishing said:
The 2.5 7200 RPM hard drives are supposed to not be any hotter, or consumer any more battery life than 4200 drives.
Click to expand...

And more expensive and less accessible in bulk. Apple IS expecting to roll out 100,000 systems a month. Alternatively, 7200 drives ARE excessive but 5400 drives are pretty much the norm. Probably the easiest way to provide a $500 system that and the more BTO options Apple provides the more it costs them in the long run.


Apple could have sacrificed 2 inches and given us a 3.5" HD and an extra RAM slot and probably saved enough money to include a keyboard and mouse, but nope, Apple is dumb.
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LOL. Did it ever occur to you how much heat a 3.5" drive puts out? So not only would they have to make room for the drive, there would also have to be space for air to flow across the drive and a more powerful fan to move that air out of the system. I suppose you would like to have a buzzing fan on the mini all the time.

When it comes to microelectronics and devices like the mini and laptops a manufacturer like Apple doesn’t do anything on a whim. Everything has a purpose and a justification and just because it isn't apparent to the consumer doesn't mean it isn't there.
 
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