The New Mini and a 23" ACD

[Sox]

I was really excited for the updates this morning, as the most logical update to the Mac Mini was to improve the graphics card/VRAM. Well, that didn't happen.

I have a 23" ACD that I was planning on hooking my 12" PB to in the dorm this fall at college. After living with such a setup this spring and summer, I've realized that it would almost be better to have two seperate systems - the Book for classes, notes, and travel, and a Mini as the home base.

Now that the Mini's have been "updated," I'll save about $170 as compared to yesterday. However, the lack of a VRAM update has me hesitant. Will the mini as it stands drive a 23" ACD at full resolution adequately? I'm not a gamer or anything, so it will mostly be used for webpages, email, MSWord and various text files. I know that Apple says that the mini will drive the 23 incher, but I was wondering if anyone had any real-life testimonials/advice.

Should I just stick with the sole powerbook? Or take the plunge with this new mini?

One, last, final, stupid neophyte question: if I get the mini and want to transfer my settings from my PBook at startup, what kind of FW400 cable do I need? That is, how many pins? Six? Nine?

Thanks.

 

[CanadaRAM]

The 32 Mb VRAM is immaterial to the display support.

1920 x 1200 = 2,304,000 bits, x 24 bits per pixel for millions of colours / 8 bits per byte = 6,912,000 bytes, or somewhat less than 7 Mb of VRAM is the minimum required to light up a 23" screen in full colour.

http://www.apple.com/macmini/specs.html
"DVI video output for digital resolutions up to 1920 x 1200 pixels; supports 20-inch Apple Cinema display and 23-inch Apple Cinema HD display"

 

[lfielder06]

Just curious why you would want a less powerfull machine as your home desktop machine? Maybe just me, but your powerbook is a great machine and would beat the mini at anything. (i think) I would stick with the powerbook and the monitor. Unless you have a reason for wanting the mini other than how small it is. The powerbook is a great set up.

 

[Over Achiever]

Personally I would hook up your laptop to the 23" ACD, and use monitor spanning ... I mean why not? Altho' using it closed isn't bad either.

In college, it's easier to use just one system ... easier to find/organize your files etc. Only thing I recommend is weekly/monthly backups ... you never know if your laptop HD may fail. I learned that last month with my powerbook, altho' then again my powerbook was over 2 years old.