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Mac Mini, why do you like it?

Kevster89

Kevster89

macrumors regular
Original poster
I am considering getting the new (fingers crossed!) Mac Mini. However, I've never really used one before.

For those of you that are long time Mac Mini supporters, what attracts you most to your mac mini. That is, what about the mac mini makes you excited about the possibility of a new one coming out soon this year? 🙄

Thanks! 😀
 
It is easy to customize since you pick your own Display, Keyboard and mouse. It is very small and it is the lowest cost Mac you can buy.
 
seattle said:
It is easy to customize since you pick your own Display, Keyboard and mouse. It is very small and it is the lowest cost Mac you can buy.
Click to expand...

All great points, and a few that have attracted me to the possibility of buying the new (once again, fingers crossed!) Mac Mini that is expected in early '09.
 
- cheapest Mac, so if you want the Apple design quality and OS X but cant spend much, its perfect. even better if you have your own display, keyboard and mouse.
- just like every Mac its ready to go after the first boot and entering in your details. no drivers or programs to install.
- very tiny and so can in unobstrusive. im thinking of getting my parents one in the future as they dont need a huge bulkly tower for email and internet browsing and the integrated graphics will suit them fine.

but i would say hold off a bit as new Minis might be released on the 5th.
 
richthomas said:
- very tiny and so can in unobstrusive. im thinking of getting my parents one in the future as they dont need a huge bulkly tower for email and internet browsing and the integrated graphics will suit them fine.
Click to expand...

Exactly. For its target, the mini can be a very versatile machine 😉
 
I like my monitors separate. Plus I wanted a 24" monitor. A 24" iMac is way more expensive than a mini.

If the mini goes away, I would get a MacBook and use it closed.
 
Like it cos of it's small compact size. Sits nicely in my TV cabinate and runs as a Media Server. It's compact size, it's silent running and it's unobtrusive looks were it's whole reasons for purchase.
 
The mini is essential for any photographer or graphic designer who doesn't want a shiny screen, and doesn't want to pay out for a Mac Pro.

With faster laptop hard drives, and the performance of Intel's Core 2 Duo, the speed of the mini is very good indeed - ample for a lot of photography and Photoshop work.

Personally, I wish Apple would create a medium sized desktop machine, with space for 2 full sized hard drives. The Mac Pro is too big for my taste, and the use of a laptop hard drive is the one biggest limiting feature of the mini.

Hopefully Apple will upgrade the mini range on the 6th. I'm also hoping that they won't ditch Firewire when they do this!
 
I like my Mac Mini because I bought it second hand for a very low price. 😀

The Mini has no real benefits for me over an iMac, but I ended up buying my Mac Mini for ~$250 instead of an iMac just for the price. 😀
 
firestarter said:
Personally, I wish Apple would create a medium sized desktop machine, with space for 2 full sized hard drives. The Mac Pro is too big for my taste, and the use of a laptop hard drive is the one biggest limiting feature of the mini.

Hopefully Apple will upgrade the mini range on the 6th. I'm also hoping that they won't ditch Firewire when they do this!
Click to expand...
Agree with the need for a medium sized desktop. Also, the limit of just over 3 Gigs of RAM, single internal laptop drive and built in video.

I got the mini expecting to need to run a virtualized Windows environment for work. It turns out, I've been able to do everything I need with straight OSX applications.

I also love that it's nearly silent. I can't even hear it over my PC's across the room until I put my head down next to it.
 
Cheap HTPC. Way more flexible than an AppleTV, with conversion and processing power 🙂 Doubles as a backup computer if my MBP is ever in the shop with a dud graphics card.
 
- Cheap
- Small
- Good Looking
- BYODKM (google it)
- A Mac (not a PC)
- Just works
- Cheap

I'm well aware that 'cheap' has been mentioned twice, this is because it is twice as more important than all the other reasons.
 
After I got my macbook, I connected my powerbook to my Monitor and retired my PC. I bought a 22" HDTV to replace my Monitor and started to really love using a Mac Desktop. I found someone who wanted to trade me a Mini for my Powerbook. Done deal. I basically use it for a media center, but also just as a desktop computer. I didn't want an iMac because I don't have room on my desk for my TV and the iMac.
 
I had an iMac but brought it back in favor of a Mini. Why?

1. Mildly disappointing display - I love my 24" Samsung!
2. I do not like and couldn't get used to the Apple keyboard & mouse. I prefer more ergonomic & functional designs.
3. The iMac was obnoxiously large, given display size. Yes, I know that bezel is holding an entire computer behind it, but I still prefer a more modern looking thin bezel with the computer tucked away somewhere else. By comparison, my 24" Samsung mounted to the wall looks very nice.
4. My Samsung can also serve as a display for game systems, TV, etc. and of course, I can keep it when I need to upgrade the computer.
5. The Mini does everything I need it to do, even now. I don't play games on it (I have a 360, PS3, and Wii for that) and I don't use anything that has to have discrete graphics. With a Core Duo and 2GB of ram, I edit our home movies, pictures, etc without issue.

If an update comes out, I might upgrade. Do I need to? No, but I'm easily distracted by shiny objects!

😀
 
Its cheaper and fits me, I see no need to pay for a display on my iMac, which I don't need(my ACD is just perfect!)


Opening it up and adding new hardware is also possible...and not nearly as hard as the iMac(I've done the Mac Mini, not the iMac but the guides make it look very hard!)

Form Factor is a plus also, it looks great.
 
Mac Mini is a great system

Here is my setup:

Mac Mini
1.5 GHz PowerPC G4
Mac OS X 10.4.11
1 GB RAM
ATI 9200 GPU (64 MB VRAM)
75 GB Hard Drive
SuperDrive
Airport Wireless Card (with Bluetooth)

My Mac Mini system is rock-solid and very reliable....I couldn't be happier. Good points (in no particular order) include:

1. Compact form factor
2. Air-cooled (so it's essentially silent under most conditions)
3. Inexpensive
4. Modular (monitor, keyboard, etc. can be replaced easily)
5. Reliable

Some may say that it is obsolete and serves no real useful purpose, in light of faster, more powerful Mac systems which are currently available...but I say "Hmppph". Personally, I think that most people just want the 'newest and fastest' just for bragging rights.....really, how many computing cycles of a 2.0 GHZ Quad Core Intel chip are you actually using in a typical computing session? Are you even utilizing 10% of all of that computing power during the lifetime of the computer? On my modest system, I send email, surf the Internet, design webpages, play games, play music, typeset mathematics research articles, use Mathematica for research, etc....

Of course, having said all of that...if indeed the upcoming MacWorld Expo (2009) brings the rumored update to the Mac Mini, I'll be one of the first in line to upgrade to an Intel Mac Mini! =)

Long live the Mac Mini platform!!!


Mathguy
 
richmlow said:
2. Air-cooled (so it's essentially silent under most conditions)
Click to expand...



I know the Intel Mac Minis have fans......but it is pretty silent!(other then when I forgot to plug the fan controller back in, and the fan was on full blast, thing CAN be quite loud)
 
Switching from PC, I bought a second-hand top-spec Mini for about £350, because I already had nice shiny 22" Samsung monitor, quality mouse, and external HD to use. Also, I didn't want to trade these in for half the price.

It's small, silent and doing everything the PC did, but with style! PC only switched on now to test Windows Server web sites.

I have it running Adobe CS4 fine. Noticeable drops in performance when having all apps open, but that's rare.

I even have it connected to my Xbox 360 now, streaming vids, pics etc.

A MBP doesn't do it for me due to the restriction in monitor size. I know I could link to external monitor, but again the price of the MBP puts me off.

Tempted by the iMac due to gains in performance, but I'm not sure I can justify the difference between a 2Ghz Core Duo Mini and a 3Ghz iMac and the potential £1000 price hike.

Bottom line? Until the Mini fails, or cannot keep up with day-to-day workload (playing!), it's the winner for me.
 
People have not mentioned the ability to use it at a Media Center. This truly shows the versatility. Without the attached screen, you can hook it up to a TV and run movies and music off of it. That is what I use mine for.

I actually have been very impressed with the machine. I use it solely for media. I have it hooked up to 2 external hard drives and access everything wirelessly to watch media on my 52" plasma. It works flawlessly! It can even run HD movies! And mine runs all day long. Either ripping my DVD's (I had a large collection) downloading media, uploading pics from my camera. I have actually made it the center piece of my technology. I have taken a lot off my macbook and kept it on the mini, b/c it is stationary. My GF can also use it with her macbook.

In all, I think that the versatility is the reason that it is one of the best devices around. It does a lot for a small price.... and can be hooked up to anything!

I can't wait to see the new revision!

BEEF
 
Smallest component in my home theater rack, and probably gets more use than anything else (save my amps 😀)
 
So I'm another one of the multitude considering finally leaving my old PowerMac behind for one of these rumored new Mac Minis. My current machine is a dual core 2.0 Ghz with 2.5 GB RAM and it's tolerably fast, but it's pretty loud and probably won't be able to run Snow Leopard when it's out. It also seems to guzzle power, although to be honest I haven't researched this.

My main concern is the mini's laptop drive. Am I going to take a big performance hit from the OS being on this drive? I figure I'll have to use an external disk for all my media (I have about 200 GB now and growing)-- will this be a lot slower to access than my current internal SATA full-size drive?

Any comments would be welcome!

Doug
 
dougmckee said:
So I'm another one of the multitude considering finally leaving my old PowerMac behind for one of these rumored new Mac Minis. My current machine is a dual core 2.0 Ghz with 2.5 GB RAM and it's tolerably fast, but it's pretty loud and probably won't be able to run Snow Leopard when it's out. It also seems to guzzle power, although to be honest I haven't researched this.

My main concern is the mini's laptop drive. Am I going to take a big performance hit from the OS being on this drive? I figure I'll have to use an external disk for all my media (I have about 200 GB now and growing)-- will this be a lot slower to access than my current internal SATA full-size drive?

Any comments would be welcome!

Doug
Click to expand...

I play h264 1080p Blu-ray backups (using Plex) via usb connection to a Drobo without a problem.

Don't get hung up on the internal vs external drive issue for media playback.
 
dougmckee said:
So I'm another one of the multitude considering finally leaving my old PowerMac behind for one of these rumored new Mac Minis. My current machine is a dual core 2.0 Ghz with 2.5 GB RAM and it's tolerably fast, but it's pretty loud and probably won't be able to run Snow Leopard when it's out. It also seems to guzzle power, although to be honest I haven't researched this.

My main concern is the mini's laptop drive. Am I going to take a big performance hit from the OS being on this drive? I figure I'll have to use an external disk for all my media (I have about 200 GB now and growing)-- will this be a lot slower to access than my current internal SATA full-size drive?

Any comments would be welcome!

Doug
Click to expand...

Eh, there will be a noticeable slow down, but not much. It may take a few seconds more to load some medium sized files, but it's not unbearable.

Why do I love my mini?

1.Tiny. This thing can fit anywhere, and I mean literally. If you have a space some 6x6x2 it will fit there.

2.Power. This is something a lot of people overlook, but the mini is a powerful machine. Great for photography, light video editing, light gaming and Internet tasks. A great family machine.

3. Choice of monitors. Need I say more?

And finally, it's darn cheap for a Mac. 🙂
 
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