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Is it worth buying a Mac Mini?

L

LondonGooner

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 14, 2006
264
5
Basically my budget for a computer is £300-£400, so the mac mini is an ideal choice for me (i already have a monitor, keyboard & mouse).
I only need it for light use like going on the net & playing WoW.

However i read that the Mac Mini will most likely be discontinued in the near future. If so is apple likely to release a new computer in the same price range or none at all? If they wont be releasing a similarly priced one, then ill get the mac mini but otherwise id rather wait for the new thing. Any idea whats the best route for me to take?
Im not desperate to buy one now, because my macbook is great so i can wait a few months or even till the end of the year...
 
LondonGooner said:
If they wont be releasing a similarly priced one, then ill get the mac mini but otherwise id rather wait for the new thing.
Click to expand...

I think you answered your own question. I'm in the same boat. I've been wanting a mac mini for my living room for a while but it's way behind on updates. For now I'm waiting on an announcement one way or the other. If they discontinue it I'll buy one. If they replace it I'll decide based on what they replace it with. Also, if they do replace it the mac mini prices should drop too.

802.11n and 1GB Ram would please me. Processor upgrade would also be likely if they continue making them. Updated graphics would be icing. My impression of the mac mini is that it uses the left-over processors from the macbook/pro line. I would guess that as the Core Duo stock runs out and after they finish phasing in the Santa Rosa platform to the laptops, we may see a mac mini refresh with Core2 Duo.

My 2 cents.
 
Hi,

I'm definitely happy with the mac mini that we have. I got it for a nice discount and added the memory and wireless n, for a very low price. I also know upgrading the processor will be just as easy. It's just great knowing that it easy to upgrade these things.

get one if you can for a discounted price!
 
if all you wanted it for was word processing, and web surfing, emails.. sure go for it. i wouldnt curently buy it atm. it looks nice and is fairly powerful, but is just not powerful enuf for a lot of peoples needs 2day, especially with dvd ripping and HD videos and stuff..might take just that bit longer
 
Honestly, I'd just buy now.

The mini sounds perfect for your needs as it is right now and really, what's more waiting going to get you? a .2 GHz processor bump maybe? 20 GB bigger HD? (Externals are great for this) It's not worth it for taking the risk that they might be discontinued and you might not be able to find one.

I really hate how people underestimate the mini. It does Photoshop CS3 fine with the stock 512 MB of RAM. I play Halo and other games just fine. Give the mini a chance.[/minirant]

Our motto here at MR is "Buy Now, Think Later":)
 
I don't know much about this stuff, but the mac mini is really a great machine.

You can upgrade the processor to a core 2 duo, which may be a nice boost for leopard and other applications down the road.

The external hard drive route is nice too, I have over 600gb connected to the mac mini, and the size of it is by far the biggest advantage. Heck, you can carry it anywhere with you if you'd like to share your photos, music, etc.

There is no question that a mac mini would suit your needs, but the question is the price factor. You'd get a nice machine either way!!
 
Cassie said:
Honestly, I'd just buy now.

The mini sounds perfect for your needs as it is right now and really, what's more waiting going to get you? a .2 GHz processor bump maybe? 20 GB bigger HD? (Externals are great for this) It's not worth it for taking the risk that they might be discontinued and you might not be able to find one.

I really hate how people underestimate the mini. It does Photoshop CS3 fine with the stock 512 MB of RAM. I play Halo and other games just fine. Give the mini a chance.[/minirant]

Our motto here at MR is "Buy Now, Think Later":)
Click to expand...

5400 RPM HDD is what is stopping me. All my desktops are running 10,000 RPM Raptors, so my first Mac has to have at least 7200 RPM and a graphics card. I'd like to run Aperture, but i-Photo might be enough at first, so it's really all about the 5400 HDD. ;) Just my 2 pennys.
 
LondonGooner said:
Basically my budget for a computer is £300-£400, so the mac mini is an ideal choice for me (i already have a monitor, keyboard & mouse).

If they wont be releasing a similarly priced one, then ill get the mac mini but otherwise id rather wait for the new thing. Any idea whats the best route for me to take?
Click to expand...

Well I heard of rumors that they might discontinue the mini-mac, and if that happened, and you bought one, the question is could you live with that fact?
 
Cheffy Dave said:
5400 RPM HDD is what is stopping me. All my desktops are running 10,000 RPM Raptors, so my first Mac has to have at least 7200 RPM and a graphics card. I'd like to run Aperture, but i-Photo might be enough at first, so it's really all about the 5400 HDD. ;) Just my 2 pennys.
Click to expand...

It's really not bad. You can copy a 200 MB file to the HDD in less then 10 seconds, which is pretty good.
 
I don't think the mini is configurable with a Core Duo 2 chip.

I've had two of these machines for work; They've fine for non-graphic intensive tasks (Office related apps, Internet, E-mail, etc), but the graphics abilities are very slow and the max ram is 1 gig.

They are easy to overdrive, instructions online a few places, but in my experience it's not worth it since the increased processor heat keeps the fan on all the time (thus making an otherwise quiet machine a little noisy).

Keep in mind that since an update is long overdue, that this is likely to be discontinued this year -- maybe when the iMacs get their next refresh predicted this fall.
 
brasscat said:
I don't think the mini is configurable with a Core Duo 2 chip.


Keep in mind that since an update is long overdue, that this is likely to be discontinued this year -- maybe when the iMacs get their next refresh predicted this fall.
Click to expand...

You know if they do get discontinued, that will be too bad as they are a great way to get your feet wet buying a mac. They make great starter computers that are Apple.
 
I want one but not until 10.5 is ready. I can't see the point of being this close to release and then spending another $129. If the mini isn't for sale then, well.....
 
I bought my daughter a Mini a year ago. It's awesome for the price. We already had an extra monitor so we didn't have to buy one for the Mini.

Perhaps the success of the iPod and the hopes pinned on the iPhone have made the need for a cheap Mac model to entice switchers a moot point.

Still, I hope Apple offers another entry-level option if they truly do away with Minis, because it's a great little machine. It's great for kids.
 
blankleader said:
I bought my daughter a Mini a year ago. It's awesome for the price.
Click to expand...

It might have been great value a year ago, but now it's a total waste of money, ancient hardware at an extortionate price and even the software is going to updated in a few months. I'd rather buy a Dell PC than one of the current Mac Mini's.
 
Cheffy Dave said:
5400 RPM HDD is what is stopping me.
Click to expand...
Running Bittorrent slows the machine considerably. As BT is constantly writing to the drive, the 5400rpm looks suspect.
MacSA said:
I'd rather buy a Dell PC than one of the current Mac Mini's.
Click to expand...
I bought the $600 mini a few days ago as an upgrade to my g3 pismo ... and so much for the core duo alleviating the UI problems (navigating tabs in firefox is not instantaneous, switching apps sometimes takes seconds, cursor morphs into beachballs willy nilly). So I thought to myself what I'd need to upgrade it to make it a decent machine:
$120 for a 100gb 7200 HDD
$100 for 2x 1gb ram
$140 for a Core 2 Duo (I'm also thinking ahead to 10.5 & 64 bit here)
But then you can get a similarly speced 17" iMac at roughly the same price - and you don't have to void your warranty to upgrade. I'm going to run all those programs that won't run on my Pismo, basically to see what all the intel fuss is about, and then it's going back to the apple store right before the 14 day return period is up.
 
minton said:
Running Bittorrent slows the machine considerably. As BT is constantly writing to the drive, the 5400rpm looks suspect.

I bought the $600 mini a few days ago as an upgrade to my g3 pismo ... and so much for the core duo alleviating the UI problems (navigating tabs in firefox is not instantaneous, switching apps sometimes takes seconds, cursor morphs into beachballs willy nilly). So I thought to myself what I'd need to upgrade it to make it a decent machine:
$120 for a 100gb 7200 HDD
$100 for 2x 1gb ram
$140 for a Core 2 Duo (I'm also thinking ahead to 10.5 & 64 bit here)
But then you can get a similarly speced 17" iMac at roughly the same price - and you don't have to void your warranty to upgrade. I'm going to run all those programs that won't run on my Pismo, basically to see what all the intel fuss is about, and then it's going back to the apple store right before the 14 day return period is up.
Click to expand...

I have to wonder how much memory you put in it. With 512MB it is a bit of a pig. But I've got a Core Solo now upgraded to 2GB and it is a speedy little box.
 
Mini works great for me.
As many people have gripped about, there is an inherent problem when you can purchase a basic imac (with keyboard and mouse) for little more than the cost of a stock mini or slightly upgraded mini. I would imagine that Apple would want to phase either the mini or imac (read mini) out, as they are too close in price.
 
Cassie said:
It does Photoshop CS3 fine with the stock 512 MB of RAM. I play Halo and other games just fine.
Click to expand...

HUh. You managed to play Halo on a mini with the Intel 950 graphics!? Yikes! I am shocked. I guess you play on all lowest settings or something??
 
I bought the Mini last month, amid the discontinuation rumors. I knew from the get-go that it is not the best for games, but I've been able to run many games well, including Quake 3, OpenArena, Armagetron Advanced, Elite Force, OttoMatic, Deimos Rising, Unreal Tournament 2004 under Rosetta (plan to upgrade to UB when I have access to use http://lowetechlabs.com/UT2004-WIN2OSX/ from my CDs , Halo under Rosetta, I plan on buying Halo UB soon. It's not as limited as you'd think, but it's not meant to be a gaming machin e FYI.
 
FrankHahn said:
I learned one thing from this pretty old thread: The Mac Mini was already rumored to be discontinued in 2007! We can see how tough the life of the Mac Mini was! The story of the Mac Mini indicates that it indeed represents one of the directions the desktop computers will head into.
Click to expand...

That would be really dumb of Apple to discontinue a MacMini ever.....

The smallness of this desktop low profile computer was the only reason going with Apple. Its small, can be put just about anywhere and save lots of room for other stuff or just neatness, not to mention it has a lower price giving those that never had an Apple before a chance to have one. And its actually fast for most of our needs.

Would be again a dumb idea for Apple to even consider discontinuing the Mac Mini but improve on it for years to come, and will be my next system to buy in a year or two depending on any upgrades to the current. ;)
 
SR45 said:
That would be really dumb of Apple to discontinue a MacMini ever.....

The smallness of this desktop low profile computer was the only reason going with Apple. Its small, can be put just about anywhere and save lots of room for other stuff or just neatness, not to mention it has a lower price giving those that never had an Apple before a chance to have one. And its actually fast for most of our needs.

Would be again a dumb idea for Apple to even consider discontinuing the Mac Mini but improve on it for years to come, and will be my next system to buy in a year or two depending on any upgrades to the current. ;)
Click to expand...

High-five for bumping a four year old topic. Don't even know how you found this post, but congratulations, you won.
 
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