New Mac Mini Question

[Chris Rogers]

So I'm thinking about replacing my Apple TV w/ the low end new Mac Mini.

I see that the graphics cards are different between both Mini models. My question is plain and simple: what's the difference? I'm concerned since I will be playing movies on my TV.

Would I need more RAM? I have 1GB from an iMac floating around here somewhere.

 

[p.luik]

I will be playing movies on my TV.

What resolution is your tv?

 

[iParis]

What? They both have the same graphics:
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics (straight from the Apple website).
1GB should be fine, especially since it's DDR3 and it has a better processor than the previous Mac mini.
Although, if you have the money, you should go for 2GB or 4GB in case you want to watch HD or something like that.
Which Mac mini were you going to get? High or low end?

 

[samh004]

A weekend article on Apple Insider mentioned that replacing the RAM module in the new low-end mini with a higher capacity DIMM resulted in the graphics automatically upgrading to 256MB. So assuming Apple doesn't get petty, a simple RAM upgrade could make all the difference.

 

[p.luik]

What? They both have the same graphics:
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics (straight from the Apple website).

Yes, same processor, different memory. 128 v. 256 MB.

 

[iParis]

Yes, same processor, different memory. 128 v. 256 MB.

Ah, well that can be easily changed.
As samh004 stated.

 

[samh004]

This article:

The technicians found their $599 mini shipped with a single 1GB memory chip, which had 128 MB allocated automatically to the NVIDIA 9400M graphics processor. When they tried installing a second chip in the machine, totaling 2GB, the 9400M automatically doubled the graphics memory to 256 MB.

 

[Chris Rogers]

What resolution is your tv?

720P

 

[Chris Rogers]

This article:

That's awesome. Wonder if I can use iMac ram? I'm on the train now so it's hard to look up.

Thanks guys!

 

[eXan]

You can only use DDR3 1066 MHz RAM, and your iMac has DDR2, so no.