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Why would one buy a mac mini?

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Man In Black

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 23, 2005
56
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California
I dont see why a person would buy a Mac Mini unless they were buying it because it is so small. By the time you upgrade the RAM and such so that it even has the recommended requirements for iLife, you could just about buy a eMac, that has a screen already.
IMO, the only reason Id buy a Mac Mini is because its nifty having all that in such a tiny package. Otherwise, nah, id put that toward a Mac thats more easily upgradable and comes with its own screen.
Your opinions? Am I grossly misinformed? :confused:
 
I wouldn't want an eMac cause I can't stand looking at CRT monitors. And if you already have a decent LCD it makes sense. How is an eMac or iMac more easily upgradable? A mini makes good sense for people like my parents who have a PC right now.
 
Well, yeah, I guess theres that. I just checked, a 1.42ghz Mac Mini with 1Gb Ram, Airport+Bluetooth, and wireless kb/mouse is over $1000. But, I guess if you have your own screen, its not a bad way to go. For people without a screen though, I dont see why they would buy it. Unless of course, they could afford to buy a screen, by which time you could almost buy a base iMac, lol.
 
Man In Black said:
Well, yeah, I guess theres that. I just checked, a 1.42ghz Mac Mini with 1Gb Ram, Airport+Bluetooth, and wireless kb/mouse is over $1000. But, I guess if you have your own screen, its not a bad way to go. For people without a screen though, I dont see why they would buy it. Unless of course, they could afford to buy a screen, by which time you could almost buy a base iMac, lol.
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Why can't you see why people without a screen would buy it? A 20" screen isn't enough for everyone, and even if it was, the 20" screen on the iMac isn't top quality.
 
Capt Underpants said:
Why can't you see why people without a screen would buy it? A 20" screen isn't enough for everyone, and even if it was, the 20" screen on the iMac isn't top quality.
Click to expand...
That's true, also, the iMac is NOT silent-- supposedly, the Mac mini is. That is really important to some people, and some people might not need the computing power of the iMac and may be completely content w/ the stock specs of a mini.
 
Im pretty happy with my stock 1.25 mini. I picked it up on a total impulse buy when my pc was pissing me off with viruses. I intend to upgrade ram eventually but the whole appeal of the mini is a tiny, near silent package and a relatively cheap way to try out Mac OSX for people interested in switching. Incidentally the day i bought my mac mini, my pc died and wouldnt boot at all that night. I think it died of jealousy. Very timely purchase as it were.
 
Well if you think about it, it is almost stupid NOT to have a mac mini.
How can you be a computer company and only offer a standard desktop computer that starts at $2000. $2000!!

If someone wants to buy a regular Mac desktop, they dont exactly always wanna drop over 2 grand on it.
Apple MUST offer a regular desktop (not including a screen) that is somewhat affordable and not a professional model.
Think about other computer companies. What do you think their sales would be like if they offerd desktops starting at $2000. They would be out of bussiness pretty fast.
In my opinion the Mac Mini isnt just a good product, Its a good product that is mandatory.
 
When we got a Mac for my father-in-law some months ago, all he had was a printer and a USB-hub. So we got him the Mac mini with 512 MB BTP, an cheap (but surprisingly good) 17" LCD, Apple keyboard and a cheap two-button scroll wheel mouse. The price was about the same as the (on that time not updated) eMac with the same RAM upgrade, but instead of a large bulky CRT he got one of the smallest computers there is, with a flat space conserving LCD, that does anything he wants a computer to do. Safe to say he couldn't be happier... :)

I don't think he would have liked the eMac just as well as his "office" is a small desk on his bedroom, and the eMac would (more or less) have covered the entire desk... ;)
 
I guess I'm what Apple intended when they thought of the Mini:

I bought mine as I already owned a custom built PC that was the dogs danglies. I knew I wanted a Mac, but I was only working part time so there was no way I could afford one. The Mac Mini came out, I bought one out of interest, used my PC monitor/keyboard/mouse. Got used to OSX, bought a Powerbook to go with it.

They really are wonderful machines, yes they are virtually silent. Unnervingly silent after using a 4 fan PC for months!
 
Mac mini's and eMacs both start with a 1.42 ghz G4, 256 Ram, 80 gig HD, and a combo drive.

The eMac comes with a 17" screen and a graphics card for $200 more.
 
Perfect little machine

I bought a Mac Mini for my mother for her birthday only a week after they were released. See, she's always been a Mac user at heart, but has been forced into using PCs ever since she and my father split and she remarried a die-hard Windows guy. From talking to her, I could tell that the one real source of stress in her life was being forced to use a crappy computer that breaks down on a weekly basis, is used by careless teenagers (crumbs and sticky stuff always on keyboard and mouse), and she has no privacy on. She used to have her own computer (an oldschool Performa tower), but she gave that to my sister when she went to college.

All she would ever use a computer for is organising photos, listening to music, checking email, bidding on eBay items, and typing Word documents. No games, no hardcore processor usage, nothing that one would want a high-end machine for. Holding a degree in Fine Arts, she appreciates style and wanted a computer that would take up only a little space while still complementing her home office. Quietness is also a big deal to her because she does a lot of work in her office. I bought her a Mac Mini because it was something I could afford to get her, which suited her needs beyond perfectly. It was well worth the money and now she's happier and more carefree than ever.

My question is: Why wouldn't one buy a Mac Mini?
 
the mini is cheap and headless. i think only old-school-die-hard mac fans really love the idea of an all in one computer. i have a PB and an external monitor. if i wanted i could buy a mini to hook to my monitor for less than half the price of an iMac. i could also get a powermac and hook it up to the same monitor, or throw down for an exensive DVI KVM and have a couple minis and a powermac all on the same monitor. cant do that with an all in one device can you? and i think a huge part of the market apple is going for with the mini is switchers who already have a nice monitor at home that is just hooked up to a crappy dell or something. i really want to buy a mini to run as a cheap file server. but seeing that i am a college student even $500 is hard for me to come up with. . . so one of these days ill find the money, or if a cool in upgrade for the mini comes out then maybe ill be forced onto the street corner with a little cardboard sign "pour colage studnt wil wurk 4 mac mini"
 
Mitthrawnuruodo said:
The mini has a graphics card, too... :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

ok i couldn't help but laugh at that

if i ever had the need for a tiny computer (tiny as in powerwise) then i would surely get the mini, cause i have a dell 2005 coming :p
 
if I would buy a mac mini it would not be because of the price... it would be to use it as home entertaintment system wich is small to put next to a tv...

get the mac mini, BT keyb/mouse, radioshark and you can use it for radio, showing dvd's on the tv, iTunes, some minor surfing and maybe when I have too much money buy some tvtuner for it so I can record from tv (wich I don't do now, so I don't see why I would with the mini) or when I decide to go 'home cinema' with a beamer (wich allso doesn't have a tuner...)

and to have a slow backup system to work on in case my G5 has a bad day and needs fixing???

fileserver?? 40/80GB internal won't do the trick... for me at least ;-)

edit

PS: something typicall apple: when you make the system you like there allways (except for the 2x2.7G5) is a better system with a little less options for the same price :p
 
Man In Black said:
Well, yeah, I guess theres that. I just checked, a 1.42ghz Mac Mini with 1Gb Ram, Airport+Bluetooth, and wireless kb/mouse is over $1000. But, I guess if you have your own screen, its not a bad way to go. For people without a screen though, I dont see why they would buy it. Unless of course, they could afford to buy a screen, by which time you could almost buy a base iMac, lol.
Click to expand...

Not everyone needs 1GB RAM, or 802.11g or Bluetooth or wireless keyboard/mouse. I really don't get why you people always keep saying "the Mac mini isn't cheap once you max out every possible option available!"

The only upgrades I did to my Mac mini is the 1GB RAM and 80GB/5400RPM HD (aside from the M9-DX). I don't care if there's an ethernet wire, there was already one for my PC (which the Mac mini replaced). I don't need Bluetooth, I don't have a PDA or cellphone. I also don't want a wireless keyboard or mouse (there's already enough crap requiring batteries).

As for the M9-DX, I've put the old 80GB/4200RPM HD inside it. The fan is set to auto/low, but in all honesty I think it never spins up (the heat inside the M9-DX comes from the Radeon 9200 of the Mac mini, not the 2.5" HD).
 
Theman2290 said:
People say that if you play Microsoft's CDs backwards, you hear satanic things, but that's nothing, because if you play them forwards, they install Windows.
Click to expand...

ROTFLOL! I hope I'll be able to remember that one! :D
 
Jay42 said:
Mac mini's and eMacs both start with a 1.42 ghz G4, 256 Ram, 80 gig HD, and a combo drive.

The eMac comes with a 17" screen and a graphics card for $200 more.
Click to expand...

I think you meant "a better graphics card", but when the Mac mini was released the eMac had the exact same thing (Radeon 9200/32MB). The CPU of the eMac wasn't 1.42GHz either (it was 1.25GHz, I think).

And the price difference, BTW, is 300$US, not 200$US.
 
Apple needs to offer 512MB RAM standard in the Mac Mini, and then I'd absolutely consider buying one to pair with my Samsung 19" CRT that's just laying around.
 
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