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Need a "One Trick Pony"

D

drglenn

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 6, 2009
6
0
Middle-of-Nowhere, VA
My entire office runs on Mac. Currently, I have been using an old 700 MHz iMac flat panel as a server for the database that runs my office. Obviously, it is SLOW. The DB needs Leopard to run, and I have tricked the old iMac into accepting 10.5.x. But the machine is old and tired, and what I need is a machine with at least USB 2.0, a Superdrive, gigabit ethernet and a reasonably speedy processor. What I don't need is expansion capabilities, mobility, and lots of storage space. What I really want is a "one trick pony" machine that just runs the database - but runs it well. The machine will be required to just do this one task, and backup efficiently. The current machine doesn't seem to be able to handle backups or TimeMachine very well without overloading. TimeMachine won't complete at all - fresh install, freshly initialized disk.

Any cost-effective ideas? If not, I'll wait for the next iMac...

Thanks!
 
drglenn said:
My entire office runs on Mac. Currently, I have been using an old 700 MHz iMac flat panel as a server for the database that runs my office. Obviously, it is SLOW. The DB needs Leopard to run, and I have tricked the old iMac into accepting 10.5.x. But the machine is old and tired, and what I need is a machine with at least USB 2.0, a Superdrive, gigabit ethernet and a reasonably speedy processor. What I don't need is expansion capabilities, mobility, and lots of storage space. What I really want is a "one trick pony" machine that just runs the database - but runs it well. The machine will be required to just do this one task, and backup efficiently. The current machine doesn't seem to be able to handle backups or TimeMachine very well without overloading. TimeMachine won't complete at all - fresh install, freshly initialized disk.

Any cost-effective ideas? If not, I'll wait for the next iMac...

Thanks!
Click to expand...

How about a Mini? A dual-core mini with maxed RAM might be a good option.
 
Any intel mac would be much faster.

You can do it with Mac Mini, but ideally mac Pro
you can get refurb sometimes but they come and go.
(or a used PowerMac if you test them)
 
drglenn said:
My entire office runs on Mac. Currently, I have been using an old 700 MHz iMac flat panel as a server for the database that runs my office. Obviously, it is SLOW. The DB needs Leopard to run, and I have tricked the old iMac into accepting 10.5.x. But the machine is old and tired, and what I need is a machine with at least USB 2.0, a Superdrive, gigabit ethernet and a reasonably speedy processor. What I don't need is expansion capabilities, mobility, and lots of storage space. What I really want is a "one trick pony" machine that just runs the database - but runs it well. The machine will be required to just do this one task, and backup efficiently. The current machine doesn't seem to be able to handle backups or TimeMachine very well without overloading. TimeMachine won't complete at all - fresh install, freshly initialized disk.

Any cost-effective ideas? If not, I'll wait for the next iMac...

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I would advise against the mini, since this will be running a DB, and doing a lot of disk i/o, and the mini has a laptop HDD.

Is it just a MySQL database, or is it in filemaker or something? If it's mysql, you could just build a linux box, and that would work fine.
 
mwpeters8182 said:
I would advise against the mini, since this will be running a DB, and doing a lot of disk i/o, and the mini has a laptop HDD.
Click to expand...

The OP could just plug a FireWire external into the mini and use that for primary storage. It would be faster than the internal drive, too.
 
Consultant said:
Any intel mac would be much faster.

You can do it with Mac Mini, but ideally mac Pro
Click to expand...

Surely a mac pro is overkill. The OP wont even need the pro's graphic capabilities or that much processor power! The OP also mentioned it had to be cost effective. A pro would only be cost effective if it was to be in use for at least 6 or more years

People have been talking about the 2.5 drive in the mini being a problem, the OP could replace it with a 7200rpm drive instead, or as someone else suggested, plug in a firewire external.
 
Or a used iMac (although the 1 year warranty that comes with refurbs is hard to beat).

Another plus for the iMac is that in an absolute emergency, it could function as a replacement if you needed an additional workstation.
 
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