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The Cons of Mac Mini?

B

BlindSoul

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Hey.

I'm planning to buy a Mac Mini very soon. And i've been wondering what actually made you disappointed after you bought the Mac Mini. Like, Noisy , Bad Spec and etc...
I just wanna feel ready and not to be disappointed out of something. And i'm sure nothing you might say would make me change my discion on buying it.


Thank you 😀
 
The only cons I had with mine was the anemic integrated graphics processor and that it only supported one monitor (this one is not an issue on the new models)
 
The con I have a problem with is if you ever need to take it apart. Other then that, its a fantastic little tank. I use em at home and at work. 🙂
 
The spec you should know ahead of time before purchase. I have owned two minis and the only common complaint I have is access to the interior for RAM/HD upgrades. The new ones also have a non-upgradeable CPU, which is a little disappointing.
 
zmttoxics said:
The con I have a problem with is if you ever need to take it apart. Other then that, its a fantastic little tank. I use em at home and at work. 🙂
Click to expand...

The fact you can take it other places is a pro isn't it? I don't see any con here. XD
And is the Mac Mini getting dust fast? Is it noisy? Is it heavy?
 
BlindSoul said:
The fact you can take it other places is a pro isn't it? I don't see any con here. XD
And is the Mac Mini getting dust fast? Is it noisy? Is it heavy?
Click to expand...
It weighs about 3-4 pounds with power brick. In normal operation its extremely quiet. The DVD drive can be noisy as most slot loading drives are. The fans make a noise when its working hard but its still much quieter than most other computers. It only gets dust inside if your environment is dusty.
 
I can't think of one con to my Mini. Having said that, make sure you know it's going to serve the intended purpose before you buy it. Some complain that it can't do this or that, but a little research before hand would have made those issues extremely clear.
 
ncc1701d said:
Is it possible / wise to attach an external blueray drive to it to connect to a widescreen tv?
Click to expand...
Only if you intend to run Windows on it. OSX does not have BD playback. A separate BD player is probably better since they cost so little these days.
 
The new ones took out the major con's against my model ( with Intel GMA950 ) - the GPU and the single display output.

Now you've got a sort-of decent GPU ( that supports CUDA and Grand Central ), with two video outputs.

The only other con I can think of right now is the 2.5" hard drive. Slow slow slow. But you can get an external FireWire 800 case, and put a fast drive into that, and boot from that instead. Or do what I did, and run the SATA cable outside the box and plug a 3.5 " Hard drive in an external case for power. It's ugly but so much faster.
 
macbug said:
The new ones took out the major con's against my model ( with Intel GMA950 ) - the GPU and the single display output.

Now you've got a sort-of decent GPU ( that supports CUDA and Grand Central ), with two video outputs.

The only other con I can think of right now is the 2.5" hard drive. Slow slow slow. But you can get an external FireWire 800 case, and put a fast drive into that, and boot from that instead. Or do what I did, and run the SATA cable outside the box and plug a 3.5 " Hard drive in an external case for power. It's ugly but so much faster.
Click to expand...
Or use an SSD or a 7200RPM 2.5" drive.
 
Sorry for this question as i am new to macs and apple for that matter, but you cannot upgrade the HD or ram in the minis? Is this correct?

I thought it was easy/possible to open the mini to upgrade the ram and HD?

Please correct me if i am wrong here, thanks.
 
Yes, you can upgrade the HD and ram in the mini. It's easy to open the mini and it's a little more difficult to swap the HD and ram.
 
maf2k8 said:
Sorry for this question as i am new to macs and apple for that matter, but you cannot upgrade the HD or ram in the minis? Is this correct?

I thought it was easy/possible to open the mini to upgrade the ram and HD?

Please correct me if i am wrong here, thanks.
Click to expand...
The first time you open a mini can be a bit unnerving. The clips "crack" as they are unlocked with the putty knife. Subsequent intrusions are much easier on both the nerves and the putty knife. RAM is a max of 8GB (2X4GB) and HD is any SATA II 2.5" 9mm drive.
 
I personally can't think of many cons with my late 2009 mini. I likely wouldn't have it if I were into hardcore gaming but it runs my dual 24" montiors via HDMI cables beautifully. I couldn't be happier with the machine, particularly for the cost. I'd just load it with memory right away since they're tough to take apart. A non-upgradable processor is a non-issue IMHO as the vast majority of people wouldn't update the processor. Typically all the rest of the hardware (and bus) will be your bottleneck so upgrading a processor IMHO is really not very cost effective.
 
No cons from me -- I bought a Mini a couple of months ago that I intended to fill up with movies and leave connected to my TV. I haven't been able to do that though, as it instead remains connected to my 24" monitor and I use it everyday.
 
The new mini's are awesome. I've used mine to run Avid Media Composer 3.1.2 and edit dnxhd36 material over the FW800 port. The value for these machines especially if you buy refurbished can't be beat. Though I recommend buying base and upgrading ram and hard drive yourself.
 
Actually, the cons from my side:
- non upgradable CPU
- hard to reach (complicated) HDD/RAM placing (if you want to upgrade)
- slow components*
- Mac mini is not upgraded in the same manner (time-interval) as the MacBook

However what I like in it is this: small, quiet and has little energy consumption.

* Apple has saddly no desktop mac offering between Mac mini and Mac Pro, without a built-in monitor
 
I have a 24" iMac (Early 2008) at work and a 17" MBP (Early 2009) for mobile work and a Late 2009 Mini for home use.
The only thing I miss on the mini is the iSight camera and a Mic.
Apart from that it runs pretty good.
I did get the 2.53GHz with 4GB Ram so no need to pull apart and upgrade.
 
I've bought 2 this year. The first, the base model, I use as a media server and run Plex. It has been perfect for the task. The second, the server version, I use as a server. It's not really designed as a server -- I lose a lot of shared memory to the video card, which is just wasted. No need for two displays -- would be better if the space for the second port was a second gigabit Ethernet port. ESATA would have been great as well.
 
I have a new mini, but only took it to 3 GB's and it runs just fine as a HTPC 🙂 With the cost savings, I was able to buy a 7200 RPM HD 🙂
 
As far as not being upgradeable - does that mean even Apple wouldn't install more RAM if you took it in to the store?

A shame, but I haven't needed more than 2 GB either on the current base model. I've gotten a few beachballs but only once in a while, and there's no guarantee 4 GB would eliminate them all or make a big speed difference. Loving mine so far...
 
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