Well in 3 years it won't be outdated. Not at all. Toss 4GB of ram in it and it will run like a charm, and will support Snow Leopard as well.
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Did you choose a 2.0GHz or 2.26GHz Mac Mini?
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Well in 3 years it won't be outdated. Not at all. Toss 4GB of ram in it and it will run like a charm, and will support Snow Leopard as well.
I plan to upgrade to 4GB of RAM and a 320GB Scorpio Black so it will last me quite a long time
I usually go with the - wait till you really need it, and get the best you can - computer buying philosophy . But with the Mac Mini its a second computer for: the web, DVDs, looking at photo slide shows, basic emailing and letters. I don't need it to be 'top end', and the Mac Mini with a 2GHz processor and an upgraded 4GB or RAM and 500GB WD Blue will do everything I want of it - minimum cost and the speed bump will not be seen with my use, but the saved money for the upgrades will.
For what you have explained? Yes. It won't play many games, but it will handle everything else just fine.
I'm going to buy a Mini after the summer, and I'm going with the 2.0GHz version and upgrade it to 4GB RAM and an SSD. I expect that to work perfectly fine with my use, which is occasional Photoshop when drawing web graphics, programming and general web development.
Actually plays Titan's Quest, AOE3 and Company of Heroes on Medium. So not a bad little machine under bootcamp -- and that's using Vista. I imagine XP or Windows 7 would do even better.
Cheers,
I'm thinking about that too, but I might wait another year for the SSD prices to cut themselves in half before doing so.
I went with the 2.0Ghz and spent the money I saved on 4Gb of ram and a FW800 enclosure for the 1.5Tb drive I had in my previous Linux workstation. Its a great setup and I use handbrake all the time to encode for the 
TV and iPod. Its more than fast enough for my needs and its nice to have my desktop actually be on my desk and its silent. Love it.
PS - And its the first computer I have to use a putty knife to get into
TV and iPod. Its more than fast enough for my needs and its nice to have my desktop actually be on my desk and its silent. Love it.PS - And its the first computer I have to use a putty knife to get into
I got the 2.0 baseline refurb, and then got a better HDD and RAM.
The 2.26 would have been $250 more because it was not available as a refurb model, and it was not worth it. With the 4GB and a dense 7200 HDD, it runs more than fast enough for my media center wants.
The 2.26 would have been $250 more because it was not available as a refurb model, and it was not worth it. With the 4GB and a dense 7200 HDD, it runs more than fast enough for my media center wants.
Does anyone have benchmarks for the 2.0GHz with 4GB of RAM vs a 2.26 GHz with 4GB of RAM? Both with the same speed/space hard drive?
I know I'm a bit late on this but...
My mid-'07 mini runs everything I throw at it perfectly. I am using Safari, iChat, Mail, and iTunes all day and no chokes. I can do all this with an iDVD menu rendering, too.
About a year ago, before I got my Studio 540, I installed Vista on my mini and installed Sim City 4 and Flight Simulator X on an external drive. I ran SC4 on full settings and only slowed when I moved around the city. FSX was a bit choppy, but manageable.
I've got a mid-'07 2.0 GHz with 2 GB RAM and 120 GB HDD.
I'm going to get a 2.26 for my home entertainment system since that 13% or whatever it is will help in the long run with ripping all of my DVD's onto the 500GB HDD I'm going to upgrade to. I would NEVER do an Apple Upgrade on ram. I got the high end MBP in October and it came with 4 gigs and lots of other nice things, otherwise I would always upgrade it myself. It's extremely easy.
I got a 2.0GHz base model ($550US with education discount, wheeee) as soon as the local Apple Store had them in stock, and haven't regretted it since. It's a wonderful little machine; I bought it to be and use it as my main desktop. Spent the $50 I saved to bump it to 4gigs of RAM, and it absolutely flies with anything I hand it.
My philosophy is usually to stay behind the curve by a year or two; staying a bit behind is generally a good way to avoid Apple's occasional missteps, get to pick from the cream of the crop, and get machines a bit cheaper to boot. I also tend to keep my machines around forever; I don't replace them until I absolutely need to. For example, my main laptop is still a 12" 1.5GHz PowerBook G4, and I expect it to last me at least the next two years before I think about replacement. I know, I know, it won't run Snow Leopard, but that doesn't mean it won't run Leopard just as beautifully as it does today. As another example, the machine that the mini replaced this March as my main desktop was a dual 500MHz Power Mac G4 - from 2000. The only reason I'd replaced it was because it was becoming atrociously slow at video work in the modern day and it wasn't handling youtube overly well anymore. Given that it had given nine straight years of good service, five if which were under me, I'd say I got my money's worth
So yes, the 2.0GHz Mac mini is a more than decent computer. I expect to be using mine as my main machine for years to come
My philosophy is usually to stay behind the curve by a year or two; staying a bit behind is generally a good way to avoid Apple's occasional missteps, get to pick from the cream of the crop, and get machines a bit cheaper to boot. I also tend to keep my machines around forever; I don't replace them until I absolutely need to. For example, my main laptop is still a 12" 1.5GHz PowerBook G4, and I expect it to last me at least the next two years before I think about replacement. I know, I know, it won't run Snow Leopard, but that doesn't mean it won't run Leopard just as beautifully as it does today. As another example, the machine that the mini replaced this March as my main desktop was a dual 500MHz Power Mac G4 - from 2000. The only reason I'd replaced it was because it was becoming atrociously slow at video work in the modern day and it wasn't handling youtube overly well anymore. Given that it had given nine straight years of good service, five if which were under me, I'd say I got my money's worth
So yes, the 2.0GHz Mac mini is a more than decent computer. I expect to be using mine as my main machine for years to come
Mac Minin 2.26. Rationale: the technology is moving so fast, why start out behind the curve right away? For a measely $150 I'm ahead of the curve, even if it could be argued the curve difference is not all that significant. But it was still worth it to me for that minimal cost.
I have a 20" Cinema Display (1680x1050) on the Mini-DVI port, and an older Samsung LCD (1280x1024) on the Mini-DisplayPort. They work beautifully; the CPU speed doesn't enter into it. As with any other computer, the more RAM, the happier it'll be
I have a 20" Cinema Display (1680x1050) on the Mini-DVI port, and an older Samsung LCD (1280x1024) on the Mini-DisplayPort. They work beautifully; the CPU speed doesn't enter into it. As with any other computer, the more RAM, the happier it'll be
Bingo, the more RAM the better it is. Really, minor CPU bumps these days are not nearly as important as RAM.
And my Mini (2.0GHz) is able to handle a 1080p display and a 1680x1050 at the same time, or two 1680x1050's at the same time with no problem. It doesn't use the CPU.
Perfect - I have two dell 2209wa's that are dying for some Mini lovin.
Thanks for the responses.