Proud Mac Mini owner!

[andrei.barbuta]

So I bought my new Mac Mini and I should get it tomorrow or the day after that.
I got the 2.53Ghz/4GB/320GB model. I will use it for iPhone game development and 3D animation for the game intros...obviously a little video post production also.
This is not exactly my first Mac, I had a MacBook Pro 2007 model from were I worked. But this is my own shinny new Mac and I think I will love it.
I thought I would get some advice from some veterans out there. So please any input is welcome.
I also got a UPS from APC because I have quite a few blackouts...here it is:
http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BE700G-GR&total_watts=200
...I found that is absolutely awesome and I'm really happy with it. I got it for around 100E.
I also am planning to get a G-Tech G-Drive 1TB to compensate for the slow 5400 Mac Mini HDD.

Waiting for all your opinions...

 

[Bacong]

So I bought my new Mac Mini and I should get it tomorrow or the day after that.
I got the 2.53Ghz/4GB/320GB model. I will use it for iPhone game development and 3D animation for the game intros...obviously a little video post production also.
This is not exactly my first Mac, I had a MacBook Pro 2007 model from were I worked. But this is my own shinny new Mac and I think I will love it.
I thought I would get some advice from some veterans out there. So please any input is welcome.
I also got a UPS from APC because I have quite a few blackouts...here it is:
http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BE700G-GR&total_watts=200
...I found that is absolutely awesome and I'm really happy with it. I got it for around 100E.
I also am planning to get a G-Tech G-Drive 1TB to compensate for the slow 5400 Mac Mini HDD.

Waiting for all your opinions...

Congrats! The mini is a perfectly capable and excellent desktop machine! I'm sure it will fulfill all your needs.

You're looking for advice on what?

As for opinions, the HDD in the mini is slow, but you should just keep it and wait for fall when new, faster SSDs come out and OS X will likely have TRIM support.

 

[IndustrialSpace]

You should've bought an i7. So much more bang for buck.

There's always next time, I suppose.

 

[RedReplicant]

You should've bought an i7. So much more bang for buck.

There's always next time, I suppose.

Hm, yes, spending four times as much for a computer is much more bang for the buck.
edit; wait, I just got trolled. lol.

 

[Bacong]

You should've bought an i7. So much more bang for buck.

There's always next time, I suppose.

Not everyone needs that kind of power (or has that kind of money)

 

[andrei.barbuta]

SSD in Mac Mini

An SSD would be nice but i read about the pros and cons of SSD and there are a lot of things that doesn't sound to good.
Things like Wear-leveling, limited lifetimes and taking into account that as the drive fills up the performance drops drastically.
Like I said an SSD would be nice for the performance enhancement but I haven't had any friends use one so I'm pretty reserved about getting one to be honest.

 

[IndustrialSpace]

Hm, yes, spending four times as much for a computer is much more bang for the buck.
edit; wait, I just got trolled. lol.

Not trolling. Just feel bad for those who can only go for the mini. If I were a rich person, I'd buy you an iMac if you couldn't afford one. The mini is just so low-end, thats all. Enjoy it though. Perhaps even a refurb iMac would be better.

 

[andrei.barbuta]

You should've bought an i7. So much more bang for buck.

There's always next time, I suppose.

Just quit my job, every last penny went into the Mac Mini which represents my future.
An i7 would be an overkill at the moment but I promise you if I would get a blockbuster game on the iPhone I will get a 2010 Mac Pro

 

[IndustrialSpace]

Just quit my job, every last penny went into the Mac Mini which represents my future.
An i7 would be an overkill at the moment but I promise you if I would get a blockbuster game on the iPhone I will get a 2010 Mac Pro

Every last penny for a Mini? Maybe you shouldn't have quit that job!

Nothing is ever overkill. Just rationalization.

I promise, if I ever become rich, I owe you a MacPro.

Good luck. Didn't mean to rain on your parade. I bet you get more use out of it than most who do have an i7.

 

[(L)]

An SSD would be nice but i read about the pros and cons of SSD and there are a lot of things that doesn't sound to good.
Things like Wear-leveling, limited lifetimes and taking into account that as the drive fills up the performance drops drastically.
Like I said an SSD would be nice for the performance enhancement but I haven't had any friends use one so I'm pretty reserved about getting one to be honest.

Aren't they still more durable than conventional hard drives? What's this about limited lifetimes???

 

[Bacong]

Not trolling. Just feel bad for those who can only go for the mini. If I were a rich person, I'd buy you an iMac if you couldn't afford one. The mini is just so low-end, thats all. Enjoy it though. Perhaps even a refurb iMac would be better.

What in the hell are you even talking about here? Your thinly veiled iMac ownership bragging isn't welcome in this thread.

Yeah, the Mac mini is so low end gimme a break. It's a very capable machine. Not everyone needs a 27 inch screen with a quad core i7 with everything maxed out.

 

[macchiato2009]

What in the hell are you even talking about here? Your thinly veiled iMac ownership bragging isn't welcome in this thread.

Yeah, the Mac mini is so low end gimme a break. It's a very capable machine. Not everyone needs a 27 inch screen with a quad core i7 with everything maxed out.

i totally agree with you

i previously had a high end macbook pro unibody, just sold it and got a mac mini 2.26 upgraded to 4 Gb of RAM & a Intel SSD

everything is amazingly fast, decoding HD videos is a piece of cake

and it's connected to an ACD 24"


when i will change to another machine a quite some time, i would have to change the mini only, not the whole unit like the imac...

but for the moment, no need to change, the mini is doing perfectly what i was doing with a MBP ! no noise, no heat...

 

[fa8362]

What in the hell are you even talking about here? Your thinly veiled iMac ownership bragging isn't welcome in this thread.

Yeah, the Mac mini is so low end gimme a break. It's a very capable machine. Not everyone needs a 27 inch screen with a quad core i7 with everything maxed out.

I agree completely.

 

[richmlow]

Long live the Mac Mini!!

I'm not sure why so many people keep saying that Mac Mini is 'under-powered'. In all honesty, how many people even begin to use a substantial portion of their computer's processing power?

I've found my Mac Mini to be rock-solid and very capable. It's used for web-browsing, word processing, web development, game playing, streaming of music and movies, Mathematica programming, LaTeX mathematical typesetting, and countless other things. =)


richmlow

Mac Mini
2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB RAM (soon to be upgraded to 4GB)
nVidia 9400M GPU
Mac OS X 10.6.3

 

[SnailMailFTW]

Congrats dude. The Mini is one sweet looking machine.

I'm considering buying one myself. Question, how easy is it to add extra RAM to it?

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

Cool, the 2.53 is a nice enough machine indeed and its small package gives it a lot of appeal. Plus it makes a excellent addition to a HDTV if one is incline to do so. Congrats and you may want to try the Magic mouse.

 

[andrei.barbuta]

Cool, the 2.53 is a nice enough machine indeed and its small package gives it a lot of appeal. Plus it makes a excellent addition to a HDTV if one is incline to do so. Congrats and you may want to try the Magic mouse.

That is exactly what i thought, in case I have the money and the need to upgrade then the Mini can be connected to a HDTV or just become the company's server since it's quite capable of it.

At first I was thinking at getting the 2.26 version but 4GB were necessary and I thought what the heck more Ghz, more RAM more HDD space...I'm getting it.

 

[nden]

I just got the same Mini as OP for about a week with new wireless and magic mouse. These things are really nice combo.

Heheee. I posted few photos

...

 

[ARF900]

Congrats on your purchase! Good luck with your iphone/ipad development. What kind of monitor are you planning to use with it?

Anyway, what kind of advice are you looking for? App advice? If so i would recommend Cinch, its basically windows aerosnap. You can purchase I think $5 licensee but I didnt. I dont mind looking at a window asking me to buy it for 5 seconds every 50 times I use it.

 

[Sir Cecil]

The Mac Mini is better value than some think. The Mackbook Pro 15-inch, 2.53GHz has the same specs as the Mini 2.53, but the mini has a larger hard drive. And that Mini, with the addition of a gorgeous 24" Cinema Display, costs the same as the laptop alone. For people who are happy with that level of performance (and many, many people are more than happy with the base 15" MBP), the choice is simply portability versus the 24" screen. I'd suggest a Mini+24" would be a fine choice, especially if one is planning to get an iPad at some stage, which might take care of many people's portable needs.

As for the negative comments of IndustrialWaste earlier, all should know by now that his only purpose here is to belittle and generate dissatisfaction, every day. Quite why the moderators allow this to continue is a puzzle. It's nothing to do with freedom of speech – it's more like freedom to troll. The original poster should ignore the wretched responses from that source.

 

[andrei.barbuta]

...

Well everybody has there opinion so I don't mind that they express it even if I do disagree. If they truly believe what they are saying then I am ok with it.
The Mac Mini will be connected to a Dell 24" 2407WPF-HC display which was the best investment by far I have ever done and I will tell you why.
I now have a PC desktop connected to it, a Wii and now a Mac Mini. I just switch the source from a push of a button.
And as for sound I have the all mighty Logitech Z5500 but have trouble finding an optical cable compatible with the mini. Those mini Toslink jack adapters are rare!
When I asked about opinions and stuff I ment about everything and you all have been great.
...I'll check out the Cinch app, sounds cool.

 

[srexy]

Well everybody has there opinion so I don't mind that they express it even if I do disagree. If they truly believe what they are saying then I am ok with it.
The Mac Mini will be connected to a Dell 24" 2407WPF-HC display which was the best investment by far I have ever done and I will tell you why.
I now have a PC desktop connected to it, a Wii and now a Mac Mini. I just switch the source from a push of a button.
And as for sound I have the all mighty Logitech Z5500 but have trouble finding an optical cable compatible with the mini. Those mini Toslink jack adapters are rare!
When I asked about opinions and stuff I ment about everything and you all have been great.
...I'll check out the Cinch app, sounds cool.

Don't know where you are located but Monoprice has them and they're cheap as chips.

 

[andrei.barbuta]

Don't know where you are located but Monoprice has them and they're cheap as chips.

Romania ...no monoprice.

 

[ADent]

Not trolling. Just feel bad for those who can only go for the mini. If I were a rich person, I'd buy you an iMac if you couldn't afford one. The mini is just so low-end, thats all. Enjoy it though. Perhaps even a refurb iMac would be better.

Sorry you can't afford a MacPro.

Some people don't want or like the all in one concept.

For just one example, see all the problems with iMac screens. When my screen went out I sent it in and pulled a spare from the basement - no need to worry about backing up and restoring to a replacement machine, no lost time, being without a computer, etc.

Yeah the mini doesn't have the i5/i7 options yet, but neither do the rest of the Mac line currently. I guess you don't think Apple should sell the C2D iMac anymore?

I would rather have a MacBook than an iMac. Because at least with a MacBook you can carry around your all in one machine and use it on the move and still dock it to a 24" screen when you want to be tied to a desk.

 

[Bacong]

Sorry you can't afford a MacPro.

Some people don't want or like the all in one concept.

For just one example, see all the problems with iMac screens. When my screen went out I sent it in and pulled a spare from the basement - no need to worry about backing up and restoring to a replacement machine, no lost time, being without a computer, etc.

Yeah the mini doesn't have the i5/i7 options yet, but neither do the rest of the Mac line currently. I guess you don't think Apple should sell the C2D iMac anymore?

I would rather have a MacBook than an iMac. Because at least with a MacBook you can carry around your all in one machine and use it on the move and still dock it to a 24" screen when you want to be tied to a desk.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of all in ones.