New Intel Mac mini

[Airforce]

Imagine being able to rip all your DVDs to a media center and have them all as video on demand...I think it would be pretty cool but maybe too expensive for the average user...

This sounds like the computer I'm currently on 😛 Just a bit over 600 movies on this machine 😀 Less than $1000 spent 😎

 

[jsw]

So what If I dont want it as a 'Digital Media Machine' and want it as a new computer to get rid of nasty little grey box running Windows.

It'll work fine.

I have no Word Processing software, as Appleworks has yet again vanished from the Intel upgrade.

TextEdit + 30-day-trial of Pages.

I have no decent graphics cards that will allow me to run any of the educational games that my children will play.

Intellimacs don't run most older games for children.

I might want to do some things in iMovie with some of the nice transitions, and effects, will the graphics card cope with this?

I would think so.

I might want to use Photoshop Elements 4, will it cope?

PE4 does not run on Intel.

Why do I need to buy Paired memory for the machine, why can I not just buy Single sticks. (My biggest problem with selling PowerMac G5's and selling them to newbies)

You can. Pairing is for performance. It isn't required.

In fact the only software it does come with is
Software
Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger (includes Spotlight, Dashboard, Mail, iChat AV, Safari, Address Book, QuickTime, iCal, DVD Player, Xcode Developer Tools)

iLife ’06 (includes iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD, iWeb, GarageBand),

Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Test Drive, iWork (30-day trial), Quicken 2006 for Macintosh(not for Euroland), Big Bang Board Games (Some need a GRAPHICS card to run them 😛), Comic Life, Omni Outliner, and Apple Hardware Test

Front Row

Um, yeah. That's "it". So shabby. 🙄

Oh dont have Broadband, yes people still dont have it, 'they dont use it enough' or cant get it, lose a USB port, you need it for youre USB modem.

Or get a wireless modem/router. If you need all four USB ports for other things.

And its SO-DIMM memory again, so not the full sized Memory chips, so no more excuses that they couldnt fit it in, oh and on the duel chip thing, the iMac doesnt do that, does that mean its not better.

So... don't buy one.

 

[HRC]

Tivo Killer?

Come now... You want a Tivo reduction plan that drives it down into a neat little package that can treated like an extension for Front Row. Perhaps purchased as a "Front Row Pro" add-on through your itms and Apple gets a little piece.

Perhaps it will talk to Tivo To Go Desktop or to your tivo box.

I don't think Apple wants to be everything. It's only in recent history that Jobs has transformed Apple to "play with" everything by making it the hub.

I think it was a great announcement. Two great products, good price points, both products are extending existing product lines significantly.

 

[bevo]

I was prepared to get back into the mac market with the intel mini. But after reading about its specs, I'm not so sure anymore.

A. it costs more, and I'm still in school (3rd year of professional school). Was planning on getting the 499 version and upping the ram. Now it seems like I'll just be able to get it, if I decide.

B. I louthe (spelling?) integrated graphics. I didn't expect an ati x1900x or whatever that latest video card. But ati does make low end new chipets like the x200 or x300 if possible.

They're not the greatest cards, but offer some flexibility in their uses.

The shared memory thing is awful. I'd rather have dedicated memory.

C. Gaming.

Everyone says its not a gaming machine, its not a gaming machine. The machine is whatever you want it to be.

Even when I had my lousy toshiba laptop with an old nvidia chipset and 16 megs of ram, I was able to kick back and play some not-so-demanding video games. I just dont believe that'll even be possible.

I'm not looking to play ut 2004 on it as a hard core gamer, but it would be nice if I could load it up to enjoy a game here and there. Something a X300 could better accomplish than this 950 crap.

D: Don't care for all the media center stuff. I have a studio. I own a tivo. I dont need bluetooth. I dont need digital audio in and out. I'm paying for stuff that I dont and wont use. Everyone can use a better graphics card. Just read all the complaints on this board.


I'm gonna try and see if they got an intel mini at a local apple store this weekend. I still might throw my money away on this, but right now I dont see why I should bother.

Increased cost with some lousy hardware choices makes me feel like I really am paying a premium for the apple name and nothing else.

 

[mazola]

Maybe Dvorak has the answer? 😀

Maybe Dvorak is an idiot?

 

[Daedalus]

And its SO-DIMM memory again, so not the full sized Memory chips, so no more excuses that they couldnt fit it in, oh and on the duel chip thing, the iMac doesnt do that, does that mean its not better.

The tech specs say DIMMS, not SO-DIMMS.

Just out of curiosity, where did you see that it uses SODIMMS?

 

[gnasher729]

If the mini came with X1300 and Core Duo for 659 Euros, I'd think about getting one.
Why X1300? It's not about gaming, it's about video playback. H.264 decoding needs a lot of power - either from the CPU or, better, from a dedicated chip or an optimized GPU such as the X1300.

That's why you have the Core Duo chip. Plenty of power for H.264 decoding. And plenty of power for H.264 encoding, so get yourself an external 300GB USB disk and feed that MacMini with your DVDs...

 

[ryaxnb]

I was actually going to order one of these but there is no way I'm taking an Intel GMA950. This is amongst the cheapest of the cheap in the PC world. I'm doubtful that this is actually faster than the Radeon 9200 from the original Mac mini!

I must say, the mini is not the most impressive computer i've seen come out of Apple. After the, IMHO, homerun that was the MacBook Pro (faster then the low-end PowerMac, most likely, AND innovation after innovation... I woulda accepted a 1.4" thick otherwise-exactly-the-same-as-G4 model if it came with a 2.16Ghz Core Duo) the mini seems kind of underwhelming. But it is a positive move, although I agree the price seems a wee high - a $499 model w/o wireless, or making only the $699 model and pricing it at $599. But seriously. The Mini is better then the old mini. It may not be 4 times faster like they claim, but I wager the 1.66ghz model could easily best the old G5 1.8Ghz. Or even tie the 2.1 Ghz G5 in the iMac G5.

Also the low end model has a Core Solo! I am astounded that anyone would ever use this chip. Other than the system bus this probably offers little gain over the G4 in the original model.

SPECmarks mean very little about overall performance, due to other factors, but as pure CPU performance benchmarks, they are quite good. I see no reason to doubt Apple's, which imply that 1.5Ghz Core Solo will be 2x faster and that actual tasks will go at about 1.25-1.5x previous models.(videogames, of course, will go slower due to the bad graphics chipset)

Even the price has gone up! Now PC users really do have a reason to insult us Mac users.

Faster HD, 2x-4x faster CPUs, AirPort and Bluetooth (which alone are worth about $60-70) and more USB ports (there goes the need for a $20 hub,) etc. Lots more stuff. Remote must cost about $10 to make. I agree it should have been less, but gee lots of new stuff.
[/QUOTE]

 

[DND82]

I like the 1.6 Mini until I read about the video card, could have give us a low end ATI or something. Also since its a intel graphics, maybe they gave them a deal on the processors for putting in the intel graphics chip? Just some crazy speculation on my part. Anyway I wonder why they couldn't just put a 1.5 Duo instead of the 'uno'? 😕

 

[plinden]

Whew. I was worried they were going to launch an Airport Express AV!

Well, when I heard about the new Mini my first thought was to buy this for the living room, but then I wised up and realised that $599 was a little too much for that, especially since I couldn't use it for anything else if it were hooked up permanently to the TV.

I want a basic airport express a/v streamer, with just the minimum specs to handle video and audio from my iMac.

If it had DVR software, I would be very tempted, like some others here, but even if I got Elgato's EyeTV, that's a minimum of another $150.

 

[stcanard]

People have been asking throghout this thread why this was a separate event? Simple, headlines like this are why:

Apple aims at the living room
The Globe and Mail - Technology News
Today, 12:18 PM
Company announces speakers for the iPod and a revamped Mac mini to send music, video and photos on home networks Read more…

Had they announced this with the the iMac/Mac Book changes the headline would have been "Apple announces its first Intel systems".

They want the buzz to announce they are aiming at the living room. Get people talking about Apple in the living room.

For that, they needed a separate event.

 

[millypede]

It'll work fine.TextEdit + 30-day-trial of Pages.Intellimacs don't run most older games for children.I would think so.PE4 does not run on Intel.You can. Pairing is for performance. It isn't required.Um, yeah. That's "it". So shabby. 🙄Or get a wireless modem/router. If you need all four USB ports for other things.
So... don't buy one.

Try telling a customer that, Im talking from a customer point of view, oh and try finding a affordable 56k Wireless router, that doesnt cost more than £129 from Apple, and PE4 yeah thanks Adobe just want we need, new software that doesnt work on new customer units, genius.

 

[ImAlwaysRight]

ROFL!!!

This needs to be repeated on every page of this thread...

 

[Oblivious]

So much for a "TiVo killer" DVR Mac mini.🙄

 

[Jon the Heretic]

Integrated graphics....puhleaze...

lame lame lame. I was thinking about getting an intel mini and keeping my ibook G4, but now I guess I'll be going for a 12" MPB (the goal being to use my ACD). Price increase and integrated graphics... no thanks.

And don't even get me started on that boombox... 🙁

The new Mac Mini is a real turd. A nice form factor for what is essentially a repackaged EMachines box with crap graphics. Apple is really milking the value of the "brand". I am still in shock. Apple deserves to get spanked for being this greedy. So much for a home media device---integrated graphics and a still too small, slow hard drive don't cut it for that.

On the other hand, the new iMac is looking real nice in comparison. And it has a better GPU than the older iMac G5---in fact, that's the main reason it beats the G5 in some real world testing. MacOS X gets a HUGE boast from high-bandwith video; the better, the faster. Too bad it doesn't run Classic. I need to run Mac apps on my Mac.

 

[Erendiox]

Yes but not the Mini.

I agree. For all you people out there that are looking for places to put feedback on the new mac mini that hasn't even reached anyone's home yet, don't. You don't own one. You haven't tried one. You're all complaining and yet have never even touched one. Feedback forums are for people who OWN THE PRODUCT. Mindlessly bombarding a product feedback forum with negative remarks is only going to accomplish killing sales for apple.

 

[JtheLemur]

Another part of the reason, I feel, is that Apple needed to introduce the Mac mini in time for the US academia orders that get placed in April/May but didn't want to jepodise sales of the iMac and (when it is introduced) the MacBook.

Actually, with more and more schools moving to laptops (as has been the trend over the past few years) I'm dying to see an updated iBook. We need to test software, see what works and what doesn't, get our infrastructure ready (for instance, swapping out old power adapters in 60-unit carts with the new MagSafe ones), and so forth.

And budget season is here, with buying season SOON. They really need to get the iBook out the door!

 

[Whotheheck]

bigger HD... 4 usb ports (up from 2)... digital out AND in (the old one had 3.5" out only)... frontrow with remote... dual-layer superdrive... not bad of an upgrade. I don't know why people are complaining. 😕

 

[millypede]

The tech specs say DIMMS, not SO-DIMMS.

Just out of curiosity, where did you see that it uses SODIMMS?

Sorry its 'Laptop Memory' its what all the new Intel Machines use, Laptop memory.

Buy a Mac mini and look at the image next to the memory upgrade.
Kingston part number is kta-MB667/512

 

[cwedl]

Before the specs where not that different between the mac mini models, but now, you only really want the duo processor not the single core! What a disappointment apple are really pushing themselves on this one!

 

[generik]

I'm sorry Apple I will not be purchasing the new Mac mini. I was waiting patiently to purchase an Intel Mac mini once they became available. I was going to use the Mac mini to replace an old Windows desktop, but after looking at these specs I think I'll have to keep waiting. It's not the processor that bugs me, it's not the price that bugs me, it's the Graphics Chip that I can't handle. When the original (PowerPC) Mac mini was released one of the main features of the system was dedicated GPU and VRAM. Intel Intergrated Graphics is a horrific solution at any level. I would not be writing this if Apple had thrown in even a modest graphics card, say a ATI Radeon 9550 with 64mb of VRAM, because even that would have been acceptable. 🙁

Jeez, and what are you guys really using your Mac Mini for?

This is one machine that I'm perfectly happy to get, boohoo, so you can't play 3D games, so what?! It's a Mac MINI. A dual core processor in a form factor so small, that's the deal for me.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

Well yes ... but what if it involved some compromise?

X1300 and a Pentium-M
or
GMA 950 and Core Solo

(Personally, I would rather the former)

GMA 950 and Core Duo. The Core Solo is basically the same as a Pentium-M Banias 1.5Ghz. There's very *very* little difference.

What you should be saying is:

X1300 and a Celeron-M
or
GMA 950 and Core Solo

 

[50548]

The new Mac Mini is a real turd. A nice form factor for what is essentially a repackaged EMachines box with crap graphics. Apple is really milking the value of the "brand". I am still in shock. Apple deserves to get spanked for being this greedy. So much for a home media device---integrated graphics and a still too small, slow hard drive don't cut it for that.

On the other hand, the new iMac is looking real nice in comparison. And it has a better GPU than the older iMac G5---in fact, that's the main reason it beats the G5 in some real world testing. MacOS X gets a HUGE boast from high-bandwith video; the better, the faster. Too bad it doesn't run Classic. I need to run Mac apps on my Mac.

Sorry, do you have evidence that this new IIG is much worse than a damn old Radeon 9200? If not, be quiet, please...besides, what you wanted for an HD? A 300Gb Raptor monster?

That little piece of "turd" has a dual-core now, more expansion capabilities and multimedia streaming built-in, isn't that what you were ALL asking for? So?

 

[ddrueckhammer]

This sounds like the computer I'm currently on 😛 Just a bit over 600 movies on this machine 😀 Less than $1000 spent 😎

I'm guessing that you compressed the movies that you ripped? What size is your hard drive? What machine are you using Powermac? I would like to do this but keep the quality on par with DVD. With a 250 Gb Hard drive you could fit about 30-50 full quality movies depending if you remove foreign languages and leaving a little buffer on the Hard Drive. Really cool still though!

 

[matticus008]

Sorry its 'Laptop Memory' its what all the new Intel Machines use, Laptop memory.

Buy a Mac mini and look at the image next to the memory upgrade.
Kingston part number is kta-MB667/512

No, it's not. The old and new Mac mini both use full-size DIMMs.