Mac Mini Released

[amberashby]

Which Mac mini to order

I think I've made up my mind, but before I order just thought I'd run it by you guys.

I already have a Dual 2.0 G5 and a iBook G4 800. The Mac mini would be set up in my living room hooked up to an old 15 inch LCD I have. I'm thinking of going with the $499 option only adding 512K memory and bluetooth/airport card. Since I already have a Superdrive on my Powermac I see no use in getting it on the mini. Also, I'm thinking the 40GB drive should be fine too. I'll probably mostly use the computer for websurfing/email/music and can always hook up an external drive if needed. What about the processor speed increase from the $499 to $599. Would that even be noticeable?

Am I missing anything here or does the cheaper model seem the best fit for me?

Thanks.

 

[dicklacara]

I think I've made up my mind, but before I order just thought I'd run it by you guys.

I already have a Dual 2.0 G5 and a iBook G4 800. The Mac mini would be set up in my living room hooked up to an old 15 inch LCD I have. I'm thinking of going with the $499 option only adding 512K memory and bluetooth/airport card. Since I already have a Superdrive on my Powermac I see no use in getting it on the mini. Also, I'm thinking the 40GB drive should be fine too. I'll probably mostly use the computer for websurfing/email/music and can always hook up an external drive if needed. What about the processor speed increase from the $499 to $599. Would that even be noticeable?

Am I missing anything here or does the cheaper model seem the best fit for me?

Thanks.

You may want to rethink the superdrive! See my earlier post-- the mini superdrive supports more formats than other Apple drives I have seen

Dick

 

[the_derbys]

XGrid question

Would Xgrid allow me to basically upgrade my 867 Quicksilver for iMovie, FC Express, and garageband? Is it wise to consider?

 

[amberashby]

You may want to rethink the superdrive! See my earlier post-- the mini superdrive supports more formats than other Apple drives I have seen

Dick

Doesn't it just support more formats because of iLife 05? I believe I remember Steve saying in the Keynote that the new iLife would support all those other formats. So my G5 Powermac should support them also as soon as I upgrade to iLife 05.

 

[FoxyKaye]

Ya' know, we are sitting here with an original Blueberry and a snow iMac. I can't justify keeping them.

Can they be recycled to charity, schools, etc.--- or would they be better served with Mac minis too?

I'm always a big fan of passing on the Karma. The two MacMinis we bought at work cost about $1200 including tax (free shipping) - this is a *lot* of money to a community organization with a budget of $100,000 or less, but wasn't so much for us b/c we're bigger then that. Even so, we've hung on to our iMacs for years. You might want to post something on the Craigslist in your area ("free to nonprofit...") or see if there's a small organization that just needs a couple solid workstations. If you bump up the memory in the older iMacs, they're fine for basic email, word-processing, Web surfing and so forth. If they're in good order, I'm sure they'll be used and appreciated somewhere.

Thanks for thinking of your community. It's one of my pet peeves on MR when someone says, "well, I've had this PCI G4 tower in my closet forever that works fine but is just collecting dust..."

Happy day!

 

[ScubaDuc]

You're asking the wrong question. If this is your intent you should be asking if the mini is the right computer 4 u. Seems like an iMac or G5 would better meet your needs - or your gonna need to get a firewire hub!! But adding all the things u need is gonna get you to the price point of an iMac or G5 1.8. The mini is targeted at the most basic user.

I made clear in the original post that I understand that an i-mac is more suited for dv editing but it is an "all in one" and I do not subscribe to that philosophy, even if it comes from Apple. Price is not everything...You should note that any hub shares the same controller although I doubt it would add to the price since I already have one...

Also, I am a most basic user. I only use the Mac for iLife apps as regretfully some of my equipment, like the dive computer, can only be synched on a PC. I would not bother changing the G4 if it wasn't for the fact that it is so noisy I cannot hear myself think!

 

[ScubaDuc]

I think I've made up my mind, but before I order just thought I'd run it by you guys.

I already have a Dual 2.0 G5 and a iBook G4 800. The Mac mini would be set up in my living room hooked up to an old 15 inch LCD I have. I'm thinking of going with the $499 option only adding 512K memory and bluetooth/airport card. Since I already have a Superdrive on my Powermac I see no use in getting it on the mini. Also, I'm thinking the 40GB drive should be fine too. I'll probably mostly use the computer for websurfing/email/music and can always hook up an external drive if needed. What about the processor speed increase from the $499 to $599. Would that even be noticeable?

Am I missing anything here or does the cheaper model seem the best fit for me?

Thanks.

You can also patch an external DVD burner...even a dual layer one. I have tried under X.3.7 and it supports burning from iDVD 4. However, there is no assurance that the patch will work in future releases. The "gurus" on this forum can probably tell you more

 

[weldon]

You may want to rethink the superdrive! See my earlier post-- the mini superdrive supports more formats than other Apple drives I have seen

I don't remember the details but sometime last year Apple switched suppliers for the DVD-R drives. I think they went from Pioneer to Sony. The Sony supports more formats, but this support wasn't enabled in the drivers. I suspect that they are continuing to use the same drives, only with support for the other formats in iLife. They might never support those formats on older coputers with SuperDrives because some have the updated drives and some don't. If you buy a third-party external drive, you should be OK though.

 

[feffer37]

Mac-in-Car

FINALLY!!!!

I can now buy a inexpensive component based Mac with great "average user" specs AND a small form factor that will allow me to make my dream come true: A dedicated Apple Computer for my car!

No more eyeing eBay longingly for a Cube (although I still want one)!

Think about it!

2 inches X 6.5 inches X 6.5 inches: This means I can mount this puppy anywhere in the car with some extra space! Hell, I could even mount it under (or inside!) the dashboard of my '89 Lincoln Towncar! You could put it next to the amp under my rear seats of my Jeep!

All the ports are located convienently on the backside, allowing me to string all the cables from one location!

It's Bluetooth ready! Sweet! Get an Apple Bluetooth Keyboard and Mouse and I've got two less device cables to string and clutter the car!

It's Airport ready! I can swoop in low next to a coffee shop or office building to grab my email!

Oh, and with all of the monitor options (DVI, VGA, S-Video), I'll have no problem popping in a monitor of my choice!

And hell, for the price, I could afford to throw in 3 or 4 of them in the car so both the driver and all three passangers could have access to a computer! Just throw in monitors in the dash and in the Headrests or back of the front seats, and I'm good to go

You laugh, but thanks to Steve Jobs, my dream will finally become a reality! Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

5.0 Liter V8
G4 1.42 Ghz
18 inch Rims
Superdrive
The Mac-In-Car is ready to Roll!

 

[yoak]

I´ve been planning to buy an external DVD burner for my ibook.
But now I realized that if I wait for the release of Tiger, then buy a Mac Mini with a superdrive; I´ll get A burner, Tiger, iLife5 AND a new Mac for only a fraction more than the cost of buying a LaCie DVD burner and the software seperatly.
(I realize that the LaCie is a faster and better burner though, but still!!)
Guess i just have to wait for a few months

 

[aswitcher]

I´ve been planning to buy an external DVD burner for my ibook.
But now I realized that if I wait for the release of Tiger, then buy a Mac Mini with a superdrive; I´ll get A burner, Tiger, iLife5 AND a new Mac for only a fraction more than the cost of buying a LaCie DVD burner and the software seperatly.
(I realize that the LaCie is a faster and better burner though, but still!!)
Guess i just have to wait for a few months

Yeah, I dont think you are alone in this. Its just too good to wait a few months and save a fair chunk of cash - as well as the hassle of upgrading the OS.

 

[3Memos]

You may want to rethink the superdrive! See my earlier post-- the mini superdrive supports more formats than other Apple drives I have seen

Dick

DVD-RW and DVD+RW is supported on the Superdrives of the latest version of the dual G5s.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

The Mac mini super drive has more capability than the iMac G5---

I wonder why?

Here's the iMac G5

SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW): writes DVD-R discs at up to 4x speed, reads DVDs at up to 8x speed, writes CD-R discs at up to 16x speed, writes CD-RW discs at up to 8x speed, reads CDs at up to 24x speed

Here's the Mac mini

Optional SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW): writes DVD-R discs at up to 4x speed, writes DVD-RW discs at up to 2x speed, writes DVD+R discs at up to 4x speed, writes DVD+RW discs at up to 2.4x speed, reads DVDs at up to 8x speed, writes CD-R discs at up to 16x speed, writes CD-RW discs at up to 8x speed, reads CDs at up to 24x speed

Could be that this is the new direction for Apple and the SDD. We'll know for sure when the next revisions of other systems hit in the next month or so.

 

[TranceClubMusic]

Here is an Interesting Review

http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/hardware/mac-mini.ars

If, as Apple states when they consign rumor sites to the ninth plane of legal hell, innovation is the DNA of the company, then it must be fossilized. Low-margin, low-tech, white box, red state PCs have been around since before Michael Dell first declared Apple doomed, so what is the big deal about Apple finally doing what most PC manufacturers have been busy losing money at for years?

GPU


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.........

 

[aswitcher]

GPU


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.........

I think your right with this. It makes a lot of sense given Apple would look like dopes if new switchers from their Mac Mini campaign were then bitter with Tiger features not working on their new Macs.

 

[elgruga]

I was hoping my reference to Nazis might kill the mini mac as well as this thread.
Didnt work.

Anyway, I have decided to buy a mini mac - I really need a desktop with a slow HD and a 2 year old processor and a 5 year old video card, all in a tiny cute box. And only $500.
I can hardly control myself, I am so excited.
Even better, it WONT run parts of Tiger.

I am going to sell my Toyota and buy a Morris Minor from 1957, and maybe a 1948 VW beetle as well.

I could get to work much more slowly, but I will look cool.

I have removed one of the 512 ram chips from my G4 pbook, so it goes slower, and I am putting a 10 gig drive in it to replace the 60 gig I have now.

I have taped off the screen so I can only see 640 x 480.

Oh, I just was in my local retailer and they have some 1.25 gig lampshade iMacs for only $999 CAD, thats just $370 more than the mini mac. ($629 CAD)
Faster machine, with a screen, and a real HD.
But who could want that?

 

[gotmac1]

edit edit edit edit edit


kid you are truly a sleeper. i have some advice for you. start your own company and run it how you want. to use such harsh words on a man that has done nothing but go after HIS dream (not yours, get it?) and attack him by saying he caused his illness and if he would just listen to you all would be well with the universe including his health?....


sorry im sure your normally a well adjusted person but your post was really thoughtless.

Well said...

 

[Agathon]

Are you going to take a pill too?

edit: @ elg

 

[TranceClubMusic]

MacMini VS Build Your Own PeeCee

1.25GHz PowerPC G4
256MB of PC2700 (333MHz) DDR SRAM
ATI Radeon 9200 with 32MB of DDR SDRAM
40GB Ultra ATA
Slot-loading Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
One FireWire 400 port; two USB 2.0 ports; DVI output; VGA output (adapter included)
Built-in 10/100BASE-T Ethernet and 56K V.92 modem
Mac OS X version 10.3 “Panther
iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD and GarageBand), AppleWorks, Quicken 2005 for Mac, Nanosaur 2, Marble Blast Gold

Price: $499

--

Here are the specs of a comparably equipped DIY PC

Intel Pentium 4 2Ghz CPU................$145
P4S800 (SiS 648FX) Series P4 Motherboard................$63
256MB of PC2700 (333MHz) DDR SRAM................$51
ATI Radeon 9200................$90
40GB Ultra ATA................$56
DVD-ROM/CD-RW................$60
Case/PSU................$40
Windows XP Professional................$199
Adobe Photoshop album (Compares with iPhoto)................$50
Windows Movie Maker (Compares to iMovie)................$0
Ulead DVD MovieFactory (Compares with iDVD)................$40
Fruity Loops (Compares with Garage Band)................$80
Microsoft Works (Compares with Apple Works................$50
Quicken 2004................$60
Nanosaur 2................$15
Marble Blast Gold................$15

Hardware Price: $505
Hardware and Software price: $1,022

 

[purell16]

I have decided to get a Mac Mini, but i cant decide which one. Should I go with the $499 one and upgrade to 512mb RAM, or go with the $599 and stay with the 256mb RAM??

 

[aswitcher]

I have decided to get a Mac Mini, but i cant decide which one. Should I go with the $499 one and upgrade to 512mb RAM, or go with the $599 and stay with the 256mb RAM??

I wouldn't want to run a Mac with anything less than 512mb...but the 80 gig HDD can be pretty useful.

What are your needs/uses for the Mac Mini?

 

[purell16]

Just Web Surfing....Stuff for school like documents..and playing around with iLife (no major video editing or anything)

 

[Platform]

When you install more and more hardware on a pc it starts to go slower as well with time it goes slower

But how about the mac's and their OS does it have these "factors" hope not

 

[Platform]

Yeah, I dont think you are alone in this. Its just too good to wait a few months and save a fair chunk of cash - as well as the hassle of upgrading the OS.

So the Mac mini will have an upgrade within a few months then it will have what: more ram and Tiger or will you also be able to have Tiger as an up to date free piece of software like they do with some iMac G5 with iLife 05, and will the greaphics be upgraded(might be a problem with the heat, so they need a new enclousure = 9200 will be core image compatible hope so coz then i can buy one in the near future )

 

[Danger! Will]

IMHO 1948 VW beetle looks a lot better that most toyota's on the road today and is probably just as reliable.


I'm going to by my first new Apple Computer. It's is going to be the Mac Mini.

I can no longer say hey I can't afford it, it costs too much. I can't use the flat panel monitor I allready have. I'm out of excuses.

It has PROVEN hardware.