Mac Mini Released

[ohcomenow]

@ macworld

Here's what I learned from checking the mini out at macworld today:

Very small, very good looking.
Big rope of cables out the back, especially with the studio display's multiple connections, ethernet, etc.
Runs a 20" studio display beautifully for work stuff and simple (included with system) games
Will not run a 30" display. You must have the huge video card with dual DVI for that.
Very quiet. One small fan. CPU not too hot, small but quite hot power brick.
Internal speaker quite unremarkable
2.5" Toshiba hard drive (I'm ABSOLUTELY SURE) (apple system profiler is very handy )
No screws or visible tabs for opening on bottom, only rectangular cooling vents around the perimeter, no indication what so ever of how it is opened.
When lifted, roted face down, back up to 90˚+, immedietly goes into display sleep mode, returns immedietly when replaced (??)
Rubber bottom, aluminum over plastic sides, glossy white top
Pretty fast, nice, capable (from my ten minutes of usage there)

Other than that, I think it is all documented on the apple website.

H.

 

[LimitedEdition]

Here's what I learned from checking the mini out at macworld today:
...

Thanks for the info. The 2.5" HD is a surprise. I knew it was small, but I had assumed it would be a 3.5"

 

[macidiot]

i am thinking about purchusing this configuration:
• 512MB DDR333 SDRAM - 1 DIMM
• 80GB Ultra ATA drive
• Combo Drive
• Internal Bluetooth + AirPort Extreme Card
• 56K v.92 Modem
• Mac OS X - U.S. English
• 1.42GHz PowerPC G4



Estimated Ship:
3-4 weeks
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Subtotal $803.00


i will occaionsanly play games like knights of the old republic and im wondering if this is nice enough to play kotr at a decent speed. i really wish it had at least a 64 mb video card. is it maybe nice enough to play even world of warcraft? im not to worried though, because i dont play too many games but it would be nice if i could play kotr or wow at decent speeds.

I dunno, but I have a dual 1Ghz, over a gig of ram and the 9800 card I wouldn't want to run kotor on anything less. It runs fine, but I get slowdowns in the cantina(common) and lose frames occasionally. Even so, I still don't run all the eye candy and my gpu is at least 2 times more powerful, if not more.

The mini is way cool. But remember, despite the looks and formfactor, this is bottom of the line stuff. Basic computing: email, surfing, Office, music...not much more. It wasn't designed for games or gamers. A pc at this price point would have a tough time handling games too.

 

[maya]

From Footnote @: http://www.apple.com/macmini/design.html
"Mac mini stacked by professional Photoshop artist. Do not attempt to stack Mac mini at home. You can place Mac mini on other objects, but please do not stack anything on top of Mac mini. Mac mini thanks you."

I guess Apple doesn't recommend stacking anything on the mini.

This is an "iffy" question why?

You can stack something of equal size on top of the mini maybe even larger. However not smaller since it could crack the plastic under the pressure. However if the weight is spread onto the metal areas and past it it will be fine.

Apple doesn't recommend many thing, like ONLY buying ram and such and such from them however that is only to profit their pockets.

I have stacked an iMac G5 on a LaCie d2 case it took the weight no problem. However when the HDD was in use it got hot since I left no space from the table to the HDD.

Use your best judgment.

 

[macidiot]

This is an "iffy" question why?

You can stack something of equal size on top of the mini maybe even larger. However not smaller since it could crack the plastic under the pressure. However if the weight is spread onto the metal areas and past it it will be fine.

Apple doesn't recommend many thing, like ONLY buying ram and such and such from them however that is only to profit their pockets.

I have stacked an iMac G5 on a LaCie d2 case it took the weight no problem. However when the HDD was in use it got hot since I left no space from the table to the HDD.

Use your best judgment.

Could be that the top of the mini needs to be exposed for heat reasons?

 

[maya]

Could be that the top of the mini needs to be exposed for heat reasons?

Its a plastic top like the iMac G5. The bottom and back of the Mac mini have vents.

And this is false advertising by Apple, since they show the Mac mini stacked on they web page. Why am I not surprised?

 

[macidiot]

It would be like Mercedes coming out with a neon type car tomorrow!

Mercedes does make one. Its called the A-class, I think. Been out for years. Also, Mercedes is just ultra-luxe in the US. All US mercedes are loaded and get the biggest engines. They make taxi's in the rest of the world. Think E-class with a tiny 4 cylinder engine.

 

[macidiot]

Its a plastic top like the iMac G5. The bottom and back of the Mac mini have vents.

And this is false advertising by Apple, since they show the Mac mini stacked on they web page. Why am I not surprised?

No vents, but heat still goes up. So maybe it needs free space above to radiate? I dunno, just speculating here.

 

[maya]

No vents, but heat still goes up. So maybe it needs free space above to radiate? I dunno, just speculating here.

It does have a heat shield at the top of the case under the plastic from what I see in the pics. You could be right.

Still false advertising by Apple.

 

[Piarco]

Just been looking around the web to see if any reviews are up yet (there are only "previews") mainly to see if anyone has tried to open it up themselves. Did come across this interesting statement from Ars Technica...

"The ATI Radeon 9200 with 32MB does not support the forthcoming buzzword feature from Tiger, Core Image, which means wavy Dashboard effects get done by the CPU or not at all. But does the Radeon 9200 really not support Core Image? Until the day of the Keynote the Core Image preview page for Tiger listed video cards that supported Core Image, and the least powerful card capable was the GeForce with 64MB RAM, but now the list is gone.

To that end, I asked every single person having anything to do with either the Mac Mini or Tiger, even ones who folded brochures, and the answer was definitive: no one knows. Could the spec for Core Image be changing? While Quartz Extreme preferred 32MB VRAM when it came out, it ran on 16MB, so maybe, just maybe, the Mac Mini might actually do Core Image. Wave effects for everyone!"

Interesting.... very interesting if true!

 

[Evangelion]

Mercedes does make one. Its called the A-class, I think. Been out for years. Also, Mercedes is just ultra-luxe in the US. All US mercedes are loaded and get the biggest engines. They make taxi's in the rest of the world. Think E-class with a tiny 4 cylinder engine.

Al-class is luxury in a sense. It does cost more than comparable car of "lesser" brand would cost. In USA people seem to think that "luxury" automatically means big car. But in Europe there are "luxurious" cars that are quite small. Cars like Audi A3, Merc A-class, BMW 1-series and the sort. Those are about the same size as Ford Focus or Toyota Corolla, but they are more luxurious than either of those (and therefore more expensive).

Merc is luxury, even here (Finland). Yes, large number of our taxis are Mercs, but we just have very fine taxis

 

[Platform]

Any chance of a PowerBook mini?

9" LCD screen (1024x768)
40GB 1.5" harddrive
Combo drive
Ethernet
Modem
2 USB 1 FW ports
Chiclet KB
Integrated Airport Extreme in MB
2 lbs.

I think it's possible. Would make a great email and internet computer.

Dont think that it would have the name Power in front if it were ever to come "i" in front insted, the "Power" is for power users not small internet computers

 

[BillHarrison]

Its a plastic top like the iMac G5. The bottom and back of the Mac mini have vents.

And this is false advertising by Apple, since they show the Mac mini stacked on they web page. Why am I not surprised?

How is this false advertising? Why is today's public so "stupid" that they expect everything they see to be true? I believe the "IMage" you refer too is the one where they are comparing the size side by side of the Mini and a standard PC desktop. They stack mini's to show how much smaller it truly is.

Just sit and watch a handful of tv commercials. Does the product ACTUALLY do what half of them advertise? Come on, give these guys some creative license here! Just because they SHOW them stacked, does not mean they can run that way. And I think it would be a REAL stretch to call that false advertising. I have seen plenty of car commercials with cars doing things that the model you can go buy at the showroom cannot do... but are car manufacturers being sued left and right? No, I think MOST people have enough common sense to realize its JUST a commercial. As is the pic of minis "Stacking up" against a rival PC tower. ITS JUST a commercial.

You can call off your lawyers now

 

[BillHarrison]

Here's what I learned from checking the mini out at macworld today:

Very small, very good looking.
Big rope of cables out the back, especially with the studio display's multiple connections, ethernet, etc.
Runs a 20" studio display beautifully for work stuff and simple (included with system) games
Will not run a 30" display. You must have the huge video card with dual DVI for that.
Very quiet. One small fan. CPU not too hot, small but quite hot power brick.
Internal speaker quite unremarkable
2.5" Toshiba hard drive (I'm ABSOLUTELY SURE) (apple system profiler is very handy )
No screws or visible tabs for opening on bottom, only rectangular cooling vents around the perimeter, no indication what so ever of how it is opened.
When lifted, roted face down, back up to 90˚+, immedietly goes into display sleep mode, returns immedietly when replaced (??)
Rubber bottom, aluminum over plastic sides, glossy white top
Pretty fast, nice, capable (from my ten minutes of usage there)

Other than that, I think it is all documented on the apple website.

H.

Thanks for all the info, but I think its pretty obvious how its opened.

Thanks!

Bill

 

[BillHarrison]

Hey, I am a PC user but will definitely be buying one of these mini's after Tiger is released. However, I want to be able to switch seamlessly between my PC and the mini using my existing keyboard, mouse and DVI LCD.

I can't seem to find any economical and reliable solutions for doing this. Does anyone have any suggestions.

I do, but it would be dependant upon you running Windows XP Pro. Microsoft offers a remote desktop client for OS X. I use it frequently to use my home pc at work, and it works admirably over a high speed internet connection, even capable of playing music remotely. I have never used it "locally" as in on a LAN, but I would dare say it would scream at 100mbps. It allows you to redirect any system resources (IE, harddrives, etc from you mac will show up as hd's on the PC you are connecting too) giving you easy drag and drop file transfers etc.

Video is unuseable over the internet, its a slideshow, but I am guessing on a LAN, it may be more useable. But as far as USING the pc, it works very well, and the mac can play back any video you would need. Gaming would be a no go, so this may not be a solution for you if you are a gamer.

Basically, its like virtual PC, opening the pc in a window on your mac, the difference being your mac is not EMULATING the pc, its your REAL pc running which you are using through the mac in OS X.

Note, this is free from microsoft, and only requires XP Pro.

Thanks

Bill

 

[georgec]

I currently have a loaded Dell. I've got 2 LCD monitors hooked up to it. A Mac mini will fit perfectly right under one of the monitors. That monitor is hooked up to my Dell by VGA. So, I'll hook the mini up to that monitor's DVI port. There is a little button on the front that switches between VGA and DVI.

This raises an interesting question for me. I currently have a 466MHz G4 Digital Audio connected to a 17" LG Flatron display via VGA. I have been considering getting a Mac Mini instead of upgrading my G4 tower, as I could benefit from running two computers at once. As Hoffer suggests, I could connect the Mac Mini to the DVI port on the monitor, and use the "Source" button to switch between inputs. This will work, right?

Next, I wonder if there is such a thing as a KM switch (i.e. just USB keyboard and mouse, no monitor)? It would be perfect if I could share both between the two computers, swapping control with a dedicated key combo. Can someone point me to a cheap USB KM switch if they do exist (possibly with audio outs from each computer - that would be useful too).

Thanks

 

[devman]

Its a plastic top like the iMac G5. The bottom and back of the Mac mini have vents.

And this is false advertising by Apple, since they show the Mac mini stacked on they web page. Why am I not surprised?

wow! putting the anal into analysis

it's to show the size of the thing. geez.

 

[swissqueso]

This raises an interesting question for me. I currently have a 466MHz G4 Digital Audio connected to a 17" LG Flatron display via VGA. I have been considering getting a Mac Mini instead of upgrading my G4 tower, as I could benefit from running two computers at once. As Hoffer suggests, I could connect the Mac Mini to the DVI port on the monitor, and use the "Source" button to switch between inputs. This will work, right?

Next, I wonder if there is such a thing as a KM switch (i.e. just USB keyboard and mouse, no monitor)? It would be perfect if I could share both between the two computers, swapping control with a dedicated key combo. Can someone point me to a cheap USB KM switch if they do exist (possibly with audio outs from each computer - that would be useful too).

Thanks

We have switches here in my office that allow us to share mouse/keyboard/monitor between two PCs (swaps at the touch of a button)... only problem is that they are PS/2 based.

Someone MUST have a product out there like this:
http://www.computerplug.com/d-oc12.htm but for USB.

Anyone want to make some money? There is an instant market...

 

[swissqueso]

We have switches here in my office that allow us to share mouse/keyboard/monitor between two PCs (swaps at the touch of a button)... only problem is that they are PS/2 based.

Someone MUST have a product out there like this:
http://www.computerplug.com/d-oc12.htm but for USB.

Anyone want to make some money? There is an instant market...

Here's something that looks handy for switchers: http://www.bixnet.com/2porusbkvswi.html

Only $69

 

[Platform]

We have switches here in my office that allow us to share mouse/keyboard/monitor between two PCs (swaps at the touch of a button)... only problem is that they are PS/2 based.

Someone MUST have a product out there like this:
http://www.computerplug.com/d-oc12.htm but for USB.

Anyone want to make some money? There is an instant market...

How about this
http://www.computerplug.com/dcs-104u.htm
Not very beautiful but maby it can work

 

[takao]

Here's something that looks handy for switchers: http://www.bixnet.com/2porusbkvswi.html

Only $69

or you could check out the small belkin usb versions

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatSectionView.process?IWAction=Load&Merchant_Id=&Section_Id=201725

the bottom one has even support for speakers
personally i'm considering that one not very nice on the desktop but i guess it will do the job (the one without audio is 45 € here... the one with audio is 10 € more including taxes)

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

If you ever tried shopping around for any of those tiny notebooks with 10inch or smaller LCDs, like the Sony ones or the Toshiba Portege, they are frighteningly more expensive than normal notebooks. Anyway, with those specs you might as well get a 12inch pbook or ibook. It wouldn't be much bigger than a theoretical 9inch notebook

I agree, but as I mentioned in another thread this would allow for better separation of the iBook and PB lines at the 12" end.

 

[Charlesb1]

Some interesting things to note for PC users wishing to use their PC keyboard and mouse with the Mac Mini:

* PS2 mice/trackballs and Keyboards can be used with $15 or less PS2 to USB converter. It includes two connecters allowing a keyboard and mouse to share one USB port.
* USB compatible mice/trackballs can be used without additional software, though features beyond the left/right mouse buttons generally do not work without a specific OS X driver. Many USB Mice/trackballs offer mac drivers these days it seems. Their is also shareware software available that will allow oner full use of more advanced mice/trackballs.
* I tried a cheap USB PC keyboard I had lying around with a 15" powerbook and discovered that it will work with a few key differences. The Windows key seems to work a substitute for the command key found a Mac keyboards. Some more advanced multimedia keyboards apparently do provide OS X drivers, such a some Microsoft keyboards which allows you to use special hot-keys they provide. I would guess that trying to use a really old PC keyboard without the windows key would prove problematic. But cheap keyboards with the windows key can be had for a little as $5 these days. Note that since PC keyboards generally do not have volume or CD eject keys you would need to use the finder for such functions.

For those wanting a fully Mac compatible keyboard, mouse, and display, I estimated the additional cost to be about $145. That includes a 17" CRT ($99), optical two button mouse ($15), and a basic Mac compatible keyboard ($30). THE total system cost would be about $650, which is still $150 less then the comparable eMac.

 

[iMeowbot]

There's just no way Apple was gonna do an ultra-cheap ugly box - maybe they should, I don't know. I do know Porsche tried that with the 914. What a flop, and embarrassment to the emblem.

I was under the impression that they only tried that in the US. Everywhere else it got the VW logo, didn't it?

It would be like Mercedes coming out with a neon type car tomorrow!

Daimler were so hot for Neon, they bought the company

 

[lobsterpup]

mac mini

this is great i can do my christmas shopping early and get the whole family to switch to a mac at the same time......thanks to APPLE....



MARK