New Intel Mac mini

[stcanard]

Yeah right...

https://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=42080&d=1141157849

Ohh, I get it. If something is advertised as being able to do a feature, that means it was built, intended, and designed for it?

So the Toyota Yaris is built to be a race care. Can't wait to see it on the Indy Circuit.

 

[Abulia]

HDMI is still relatively new. The majority of TV's don't have it.

Sorry, that's not true. HDMI isn't that new and has already replaced DVI as the HDTV standard, by virtue of the anti-copying standard that comes with HDMI. Any "true" home theater machine is going to need to support HDMI, otherwise you can't do a 1080p output of a commerical movie; the copyright mechanism allows studios to "block" the 1080p signal and force a downgraded output signal.

mini a home theater computer? No, not even close.

 

[Maxiseller]

Just like to throw in my hat on the "This is a Joke" party.

The situation is this : When I purchased my rev A Mac Mini at £330 here in the UK it provided a great, portable computer that I could run my favorite game on and do my word processing and email tasks etc.

Now, although the processor is ok (needs to be running rosetta for petes sake) the GPU is shocking at best. Anyone here who thinks that the high end mini should actually be using integrated graphics is off their head - we should at LEAST be given options at the time of purchase. £600 odd quid for a computer that is crippled from birth is truly astonishing.

Now, you types who want to take the pi** at me being an over zealous "fanboy" who, to quote somebody 'stays up all night waiting for rumors' gets a big fat middle finger. This is about consumer satisfaction, and dammit, most of us here are not satisfied.

Who's up for marching up to their headquarters and showing Jobs that he's not invincible from scrutiny? A show of hands?

 

[mariner77]

too expensive

For $799, I expect more from Apple. At least it should have 1GB RAM, 100 GB HDD and a dedicated graphics card, then it'd be more reasonable. Spec this mini up and it quickly approaches $1000. 😱 That's way more than what I'm willing to spend on the lowest end mac. For $200 more you can get an iMac with faster chip, better graphics, bigger HDD AND a 17'' LCD. It doesn't make any sense to charge the mini this much. I'm waiting out on this one. 🙄

 

[Whistleway]

Do you guys think the old mac mini will be on sale at apple.com soon?

 

[p0intblank]

These new Intel Mac minis look great! Yes they have integrated graphics, but I wouldn't be getting a Mac mini for any kind of heavy duty tasks that require a lot of graphics horsepower. If I do get one, I'd be using it for my everyday tasks, Front Row and graphics work (no, not games... but maybe some).

I still don't know if I want this or the iMac...

 

[~Shard~]

I know you were winking, so perhaps you were just joking, but in case you weren't…

Why on earth would myself or any other PM user get rid of our PM's for the mini as a "stopgap machine" until the Intel PMs come out? 😕 We currently run every PowerPC or universal app faster than any Intel Mac user right now.

Like I said, I'm sure you were joking, but not sure what you were getting at. The only thing replacing my PM is an Intel PM!

Yes, I was just joking, but thanks for checking. Just thought I'd throw in that crazy theory for fun. 😉

Glad I put the wink on the end or imagine the repsonses that would have generated! 😱 😉 😀

 

[Yvan256]

[...]when the original mac mini came out didnt jobs say something like this isnt one of those cheap pc's with shared video memory?[...]

I also remember that part...

and what's with the price hike?

The higher price is a given, with all the specs it has (GPU aside).

to top it offf my apple stock tanked today

Hum... better not watch it for a few days...

 

[Abulia]

Yes, I was just joking, but thanks for checking. Just thought I'd throw in that crazy theory for fun. 😉

Glad I put the wink on the end or imagine the repsonses that would have generated! 😱 😉 😀

Don't play with fire, man! We're all testy today! 😀

 

[agentdavo]

Another thing. I would much prefer ATIs hardware decoding/idtc/deinterlacing/scaling/colour conversions etc for my media playback...

 

[Maxiseller]

Ohh, I get it. If something is advertised as being able to do a feature, that means it was built, intended, and designed for it?

So the Toyota Yaris is built to be a race care. Can't wait to see it on the Indy Circuit.

Well, your comment is flawed to say the least. Apples and oranges?

You cant advertise a feature (one of the keynote raved about features when mini was introduced) and then turn round and say "Meh, bugger them, let them struggle with their shared memory".

But, Apple can do no wrong, right? 🙄

 

[~Shard~]

Magic is gone? What, where you planning on marrying your computer? The new Intel Macs are very competitive machines. This thread is full of sour grapes, but besides the integrated graphics the Mini has very good specs.

I agree - I am not impressed with the whole integrated graphics thing, as I said earlier, but for most Joe-Schmo users they won't care/it won't matter, and the rest of the upgraded specs are definitely nice. It's that price tag though, Apple, why couldn't you leave your cheap machine cheap! 😱 😉

 

[aswitcher]

Sorry, that's not true. HDMI isn't that new and has already replaced DVI as the HDTV standard, by virtue of the anti-copying standard that comes with HDMI. Any "true" home theater machine is going to need to support HDMI, otherwise you can't do a 1080p output of a commerical movie; the copyright mechanism allows studios to "block" the 1080p signal and force a downgraded output signal.

mini a home theater computer? No, not even close.

I still have hope that we sill see the Mac Mini Media Centre - full sized components - sleek and flat - say 9-12" wide. Real graphics card. Real HDD speed and capacity. HDMI (with HDCP) in and out.

 

[~Shard~]

Don't play with fire, man! We're all testy today! 😀

Yeah, tell me about it - between this one and the iPod HiFi thread, MacRumors is experiencing quite the load today from unhappy Mac users! 😱

 

[ryannel2003]

I personally think the new Mac mini is a kick-ass deal! I mean 1.5GHz Core Solo or 1.66GHz Core Duo, up to 2GB RAM, New SATA HD's, and sleek and sexy form factor is still there! Yeah it has Intel GMA950 graphics, but so what? This wasn't meant to be a full blown gaming machine! Besides, my Dell has Intel GMA900 graphics and compared to my eMac which has ATI Radeon 9200 32MB graphics, the Dell actually has better performance in that area when playing Halo! I'm gonna start saving up now! 😀

 

[Lord Blackadder]

When Intel and Apple negotiated their original agreement, Intel would undoubtably have pushed for Apple to adopt more than just its CPUs - in case people haven't noticed lately Intel has relentlessly remarketed itself as a provider of whole chipsets and "solutions", like Centrino. Intel may have demanded the Apple use it's integrated graphics in at least one computer. Let's hope just one anyway.

Oh well, when benchmarks arrive showing the Mini getting spanked in games by the G4 Mini maybe some foreheads in Cupertino will be slapped and the rev. B Mini will show up with a Mobility Radeon X1300.

 

[adamcz]

Somebody please help me!

How will this new computer compare to my 1.25G4 tower with 64meg graphics? The only semi-intense thing I use my computer for is photoshop, but I'm not a graphics pro. Other than that, I surf the web, use Sibelius music notation, and Dreamweaver for my website.

Would there be any advantages or disadvantages for me switching?

 

[stcanard]

You cant advertise a feature (one of the keynote raved about features when mini was introduced) and then turn round and say "Meh, bugger them, let them struggle with their shared memory".

Of course you can, happens all the time on new model releases, especially when you're looking at the low end.

What matters is how the systems look when they're side-by-side. Do you think that when I sit down to watch my movies and use iPhoto to edit my photos, this system is going to respond slower than the old base mac-mini?

But, Apple can do no wrong, right? 🙄

Oh, they can do wrong alright. But why accuse them of doing wrong because a system that is not intended to play games can't play games 😕

 

[noel4r]

I still cant believe this was worthy of an Apple Special Event...

 

[AtariMac]

I think the sad part about this is that the handwriting is on the wall for the iBook. I'd imagine the same crummy graphics are headed our way. I'm glad my wife got the last of the 12" G4 models. I can at least play WOW on it whilst sitting on the couch. This new Mini is a disaster for even the casual gamer.

I hope that Apple gets the point that many of us want a small tower design with at least one slot to change our video cards. Charge $1000 for a Core Duo 1.6, 1 gig of ram and a decent video card that can be upgraded. I don't care if all other add ons need to be external.

Am I the only one who would buy one of these the moment it was available?

Pete

 

[kcmac]

I still cant believe this was worthy of an Apple Special Event...

Word!

 

[gekko513]

Does anyone think those benchmarks could be a driver issue?

If they aren't the Intel GMA950 really sucks, but it seems a bit strange that it should be so slow and sometimes not even work with some games when the theoretical specs really aren't that bad.

 

[iMeowbot]

Well, I'm getting a couple to play with. Graphics schmaphics, these look like wonderful successors in the microswerver role.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Somebody please help me!

How will this new computer compare to my 1.25G4 tower with 64meg graphics? The only semi-intense thing I use my computer for is photoshop, but I'm not a graphics pro. Other than that, I surf the web, use Sibelius music notation, and Dreamweaver for my website.

Would there be any advantages or disadvantages for me switching?

If you get a new Mini with 1GB+ RAM it will probably be noticably faster than your G4 tower. remember that most of the apps you refer to will run under Rosetta but even so since you don't need 3D acceleration you should see a performance boost with the new Mini. Plus it's a lot smaller and you get all the new software - Tiger, iLife '06 etc.

 

[Airforce]

Does anyone think those benchmarks could be a driver issue?

If they aren't the Intel GMA950 really sucks, but it seems a bit strange that it should be so slow and sometimes not even work with some games when the theoretical specs really aren't that bad.

It's not a driver issue....