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Author Topic: Would you buy the MacMini?  (Read 2979 times)
adsfx
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Join Date: Dec, 2002


« Reply #125 on: January 21, 2005, 06:28:59 PM »

quote:

Originally posted by: OurFord
Hey dirge, yeah i might get my student friend to buy me one...on the other hand i have a mate who works for renaissance, so he might be able to get me one cheapish. - gotta wait till they come in stock = torture!

Offtopic: 11 mini-ish earthquakes here in wellington NZ in the last 4 days. Sheesh...I'm getting a little worried...biggest one was 5.5


Maybe you can get one at cost, now that would be sweet!

As for those earthquakes, I live in Palmerston and felt one the other day. Little worried about you guys, living on a fault line and all. The Asian tsunami was a wake up call.
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Fox7cf
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« Reply #126 on: January 21, 2005, 10:56:10 PM »

I'm drooling all over your system xbob1 ^¬^
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gwimby
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« Reply #127 on: January 22, 2005, 12:06:10 AM »

Bummer -

I just noticed that for the other apple products (imac + powermac) that adding a
BT module and wireless K/M adds like $90, as a kit, but for the mini its all seperate, so
a BT module plus wireless K/M costs almost $150.
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lvzardoz
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« Reply #128 on: January 22, 2005, 06:02:02 AM »

I know it is not Apple's style, but I sure would like to see them make something like the AMD PIC ( http://tinyurl.com/5zsv7 http://www.amdboard.com/pic.html ) with the following additions (1) Runs OS/X (2) Can add software (3) upgradeable RAM (4) firewire port (5) 1GHz CPU.  The PIC does not need any fan.   An OS/X PIC might make a great portable music production box.

A 10GB drive (or even 5GB flash drive for no moving parts) should be plenty for basic core software.  External fireware or USB2.0 drives could be used when/if you need them.

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vickster
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« Reply #129 on: January 22, 2005, 07:27:21 PM »

Rule #1 (at least for me)...

Never buy a first revision of any Apple product.  I'll wait for Apple to work out the bugs, plus I'd like a speed bump, larger HD and improved gpu.  I'd love one of these paired up with my P4 game rig via a KVM switch.  Every time I so something besides gaming on that beast (and on XP), I'm reminded how wonderful an operating system OSX is.

However, I can be patient...

- vickster

EDIT:  By the way, Ackattack, I must say I love the Ray Lamontagne icon.  I just discovered "Trouble," it may very well be my favorite album of '04...
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HappyShopper
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« Reply #130 on: January 22, 2005, 08:11:04 PM »

This machine definitly caught my attention with the low price point and small size (would still prefer an iBook for placing in a draw when not in use).

I've been interested in trying an Apple OS, but I was reluctant to buy a tradional Mac as it wouldn't be able to replace my Windows system and for the cost could become a under used spare.  

As I've reduced my games time a small sized, quiet, low power usage machine seems logical as browsing the web and P2P doesn't require the specification.  Only drawback being the limited hard disk size and optical writer without paying over the odds for time of purchase upgrades.  Sure I could get external devices which then starts to defeat the looks and reason for buying the system to begin with.

I informed a friend of its release as I imagine it would be able to handle MAME arcade emulation fine, and as they don't use their PC for regular games playing they wouldn't miss most of the other software as equivalents can be found on Mac format.

So far this has been the greatest temption to try a Mac, simply because of low price.  I've just got to figure if I would want to use a KVM switch so when bored of browsing I can game on Shuttle.  Or simply remain with one system that does all my needs while drawing more power than needed for browsing webpages.
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savagesteve13
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« Reply #131 on: January 22, 2005, 09:16:19 PM »

You are thinking of the PowerPC970.   The PowerPC970FX is a 90nm process chip that puts out less than half the wattage of the 970.

It hasn't been heat thats kept IBM from attaining 3Ghz, its the same glass ceiling that intel and amd are both hitting with their chips.   Shrinking the die hasn't made them any faster.  I expect IBM to go dual core as well.  We may be seeing Apples with 4 CPUs soon.
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xbob1
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« Reply #132 on: January 23, 2005, 03:06:20 PM »

Thanks Fox, I am pretty pleased with it so far.
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fall-apart
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« Reply #133 on: January 24, 2005, 12:44:27 PM »

Someone bought a bunch...
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stebesplace
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« Reply #134 on: January 24, 2005, 01:40:58 PM »

I have a question...

I was going to get a powerbook 17" but am starting to think...

Perhaps this mac mini would be my best option for two reasons. 1) size, and 2) Screen...

Where the 2nd reason would result in me getting a 23" display which would yeild some good real estate for my web design and other work. Since I don't play games, and don't do much video stuff other than what iDVD would offer...I think this might be a better route. My concern is with applications like Photoshop...

So after dropping in 1 gig of ram, and having the 1.4 system, would it be fine for working with photoshop and a few other applications at once? I have an external Firewire sound card, so not having the built in 5.1 is fine for me. I don't need gig ethernet either, but I would add the wireless bluetooth and airport express. Photoshop is my most heavily used program, and having that work fast is what I'm all about.

Thanks,

-- Stebes
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bluebomberx
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« Reply #135 on: January 24, 2005, 02:19:55 PM »

Certainly not much worse the the 1.5GHz PowerBook - it's only 80Mhz slower.
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Ackatack
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« Reply #136 on: January 24, 2005, 02:28:06 PM »

stebesplace,

You'll have no problem running two bigger applications like Photoshop and Illustrator at the same time.
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jsares
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« Reply #137 on: January 24, 2005, 02:39:43 PM »

It compares well to the 17" Powerbook but you might also want to consider the 20" G5 iMac.

For more information checkout my blog.
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stebesplace
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« Reply #138 on: January 24, 2005, 04:58:41 PM »

That is some good news for my behalf. I am reall considering doing this mini thing, with a 23". I like the 20" imac, but the all in one system, I have never really been a fan of. Its also to white for me. But thats just my opinion. I did work with one for awhile not to long ago, and while it was really nice, it just seemed chunky. I dig the look though. Its ashame right now on apples site they say 3-4 week ship for the mini.

Here is another thought I had. I know alot of people avoid first gen things for obvious reasons, but isn't this basically the imac pedestal model previous to the current imac, in a smaller box, or even the same space, with out the screen? and the bubble shape? That being said, there shouldn't be any real problems with this mini compared to a completely new release. I might be shooting myself in the foot on that one, but just a thought.

-- Stebes
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gwimby
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« Reply #139 on: January 24, 2005, 05:33:09 PM »

I think the mini is the bastard child of a torrid affair between an emac and a ibook.

The "conservative" specs of the mini could be an effort by apple not to push the envelope,

and get the first-gen monkey off their backs?
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stebesplace
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« Reply #140 on: January 24, 2005, 06:07:24 PM »

I suppose that is possible. Its not an angle I normally see. While watching the highlights of the macworld, it seemed that TIGER was the main attraction, while the minimac seemed to just last 5 minutes and that was it. I find it interesting.
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CrystalCowboy
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« Reply #141 on: January 26, 2005, 05:38:12 PM »

quote:

Originally posted by: gwimby
I think the mini is the bastard child of a torrid affair between an emac and a ibook.
The "conservative" specs of the mini could be an effort by apple not to push the envelope,
and get the first-gen monkey off their backs?

I would suspect Apple also didn't want it to eat their more expensive product lines. If so, those looking ahead to version 2 will likely be disappointed.

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SandboxTiger
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« Reply #142 on: January 28, 2005, 05:13:12 PM »

Since they canceled the G4s are they going to be upgrading the mac minis to G5's soon? Anyone run any games on it yet how do they look and how many fps you guys getting with like halo2 doom etc
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stebesplace
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« Reply #143 on: January 28, 2005, 06:47:19 PM »

I just put the order in for my mini. I'm excited. I played with one at the store today with only 256 ram and the 1.4. It was supprisingly peppy. I opened 4 safari windows, two of which had multiple tabs open. I then opened garage band, and a few other medium apps. Then some text editor windows. With a total of about 8-10 windows opened, I started to play around with expose. I was supprised how well it all worked. Not exactly smooooooooth, but pretty darn close. Putting in a gig of ram would make that much better. I just figure for the cost, and the expandability with different displays compared to the imac g5, this was the best route. I could have gone for a g5 tower, but that will be another day when I have more money. This will fit the bill for me. Keep in mind I doubt this would be good for games. So I would not recommend it. but for everything else, INCLUDING video editing, IMHO, this will work especially with 1 gig of ram.

-- Stebes
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flir67
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« Reply #144 on: January 28, 2005, 11:11:13 PM »

the mini sucks.. only till you get one your realize you have been ripped off. no where is the bus speed mentioned ... no whwere.... wonder why.. its only 167mhz bus speed. compared to the 400mhz and 533+ computers of today. 3 second delay with everything.



no I mean 167 not 167X2 = 333

be warned...

I bought one and havel already sold it because its so slow.

stick with shuttles or solteks............
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bluebomberx
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« Reply #145 on: January 28, 2005, 11:37:43 PM »

quote:

Originally posted by: flir67
the mini sucks.. only till you get one your realize you have been ripped off. no where is the bus speed mentioned ... no whwere.... wonder why.. its only 167mhz bus speed. compared to the 400mhz and 533+ computers of today. 3 second delay with everything.



no I mean 167 not 167X2 = 333

be warned...

I bought one and havel already sold it because its so slow.

stick with shuttles or solteks............


It is a 333MHz bus numbnuts. The same bus speed as most Barton CPUs. A 400MHz bus is 200MHzx2 all the same as a 333MHz bus is 167MHzx2. Why do you think it uses DDR PC2700. Thats what Double Data Rate means. You never bought one... you're just stirring the pot.
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xbob1
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« Reply #146 on: January 28, 2005, 11:40:42 PM »

bluebomber is right, you are full of it, while not a barn burner the mini can hardly be called slow. Thanks for trolling though.
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JhuFrank
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« Reply #147 on: January 29, 2005, 07:20:36 AM »

Ahh, the wonderful smell of troll in the house... nothing like it


As someone who still drives a very peppy, OSX.3.7 running, digital audio 733, methinks you be full of poop!
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Sam Mayes
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« Reply #148 on: January 29, 2005, 10:33:53 AM »

obviously he didnt buy one or he wouldnt be selling it. unless he expected it to be as fast as a g5 tower.  This little box will handle anything 90% of the net population wants it to do.
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stebesplace
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« Reply #149 on: January 29, 2005, 11:56:30 AM »

Right on Sam, and others that replied.

I worked with three computers as I mentioned, all with 256 or 512 ram. The imac g5 17", the mini 1.4, and the dual 2.0 g5 tower. The way OSX handles itself on "slower machines" and by slower i'm only talking about the type of processor and its clock, OSX handles slower machines far better than putting XP on say...a 200 MHz PC. Talk about slow!!! I don't know why someone would come on and talk shit about this that bad. If you have constructive comments, say them, don't immediatly bash someone, or some product based on false information.

The people who buy the mini are not hard core shuttle modders, albeit they might mod this, they are not PC shuttle modders pro-quo mac. So with that being said, and though I do own a shuttle as well, and alot of people here own both, the mac mini is simple a jumping start for people getting into mac, in addition, its a good second or third computer that works QUITE well. For example, I will be using this only for web design, flash, content, photoshop, etc. Its a perfect system for just that. One more item that I will mention. My 3 GHz shuttle, with 1 gig of ram, seemed to act, and by act, i'm talking about working with the OS, and some basic programs, not hard core video editing etc, much like that speeds witnessed with the mini. My FSP is 800, 3 GHz p4ht, gig ram, 9700pro, etc. I find that amazing. Thats all I have to say.

No I am not justifying it to myself in getting the mac, so don't flame for that either. I got it because I needed a mac. This fit the price range.

-- Stebes
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