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what mac mini to buy

N

nathan sz

Suspended
Original poster
Nov 9, 2007
19
0
my mid 07 iMac needs replacing.
the hard drive fried out about a year ago and i've been running it off an external.
i can hear that the fans are starting to go, the screen glitches out sometimes and the ports in the back are wobbly and things need to be plugged in "just right" to work.

i'm thinking of getting a mini but not sure if i should buy new or used and if used what to look for.

i don't do any "pro work" on my computer.

it's main use is to feed video to my lcd television.
(os 10.9 has been great for this. and i'm loving the dual monitor support but i don't really need it.)

i've read that some mini's with integrated graphics have a hard time feeding hdmi to televisions, not so much for the video files but the desktop, especially when it comes to text.

i'd like to be able to buy a mini that will mostly be used for watching video but will feed a good looking and usable desktop to my television on the rare occasions that i need that.

thanks in advance for suggestions and advice!
 
I would suggest looking for a 2011 Mac mini i5 with the AMD Radeon HD 6630M.

It doesn't have USB 3, but otherwise it's near perfect for your situation.


Get a SATA kit and install a 2nd HDD or SSD, a little extra RAM (8GB) and you're good to go!


*Edit:
Maybe wait a few days too; Apple is rumoured to be updating the mini sometime soon. Maybe the base 2013 model will be a better bet.
 
Last edited:
TVs make bad monitors. Any Intel Mac Mini should do for what you want to do. The 2011 Mini and after have the ability to Airplay Mirror, which is cool if you need that. Consider getting a seperate computer monitor and possibly Mirroring when you want to do video (Apple TV required). Unibody Mac Mini's are not that cheap on the used market and I would say buy new or refurb. The Haswell processor model should be out in the next couple months (could be any day now). Though it will have a better graphics processor for gaming, don't count on the desktop looking any better on the TV. Buy a $7000 4k resolution screen for that; or wait a few years.
 
I'd hold off for the update. And i'm pretty sure the HD4000 will outperform an old radeon 6630M (let alone Iris, that is likely to smoke my AMD 6750 in my MBP). It will at least be extremely close, and the new CPUs are stronger...
 
thanks for the responses everyone.
refurb prices are definitely attractive.
i suppose i will hold out though and see what the new minis have to offer as far as value for dollar goes


spatlese44 said:
TVs make bad monitors. Any Intel Mac Mini should do for what you want to do. The 2011 Mini and after have the ability to Airplay Mirror, which is cool if you need that. Consider getting a seperate computer monitor and possibly Mirroring when you want to do video (Apple TV required). Unibody Mac Mini's are not that cheap on the used market and I would say buy new or refurb. The Haswell processor model should be out in the next couple months (could be any day now). Though it will have a better graphics processor for gaming, don't count on the desktop looking any better on the TV. Buy a $7000 4k resolution screen for that; or wait a few years.
Click to expand...

desktop on my tv actually looks fine. just as good as it does on the iMac itself. especially running mavericks now it fits the screen properly.

i just want to be sure that whatever mini i get will give me results at least as good as i am currently getting.
 
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