Is the 2.0 GHZ Mac Mini powerful enough if I do not game at all?

[docprego]

I was thinking about picking up a new 2.0 GHZ Mac Mini for a desktop setup. I do not game at all, literally never. My uses would be web surfing, word processing, light photo editing and manipulation, possibly some light video editing, and basic other types of computer use. One thing I really like to do is run my Miglia TV Micro TV tuner while I use the computer. On my iMac it works well with no apparent system performance degradation.

Can the Mini handle all of this? Will I see any slowdown in other apps while the TV tuner is running? What disadvantage would the Mini have compared to an iMac other than gaming? What about Leopard running on the Mini?

Thanks.

 

[Father Jack]

Yes .. absolutely no problem. I've used mine for video editing although rendering can be a tad slow ..

 

[PShot07]

I guess the only performance hit would be in graphics (which Leopard will probably use)... Integrated vs. Not Integrated Graphics

I don't think that would be a big deal though. I think a mini could handle those tasks just fine.

 

[HLdan]

The mini is actually the perfect solution for even power apps as long as those apps don't rely on the GPU soley. At this point speed is not an issue when in terms of the Macintosh and if you're not looking for a gaming machine then the Mac mini is definitely a great solution as it's hardly considered bottom of the barrel. Just remember RAM RAM RAM. If you can max it out go for it.

My only qualm about Apple in regards to the mini is at this point a keyboard and mouse should be included in the price. As much as I love the mini it sits at a price that should include even bluetooth keyboard and mouse.

 

[docprego]

This is all very encouraging, but no one has specifically addressed the issue of the TV tuner running all the time simultaneously while using the computer. Does anyone have actual experience running a TV tuner on OSX while using the computer? If so what is your hardware configuration, TV tuner type and what has been your experience?

Any other Mac Mini experiences would be appreciated (especially the new C2D machines).

 

[HLdan]

This is all very encouraging, but no one has specifically addressed the issue of the TV tuner running all the time simultaneously while using the computer. Does anyone have actual experience running a TV tuner on OSX while using the computer? If so what is your hardware configuration, TV tuner type and what has been your experience?

Any other Mac Mini experiences would be appreciated (especially the new C2D machines).

I just sold my dual processor Power Mac G5 2.3 Ghz in favor of my new iMac which is on it's way. So weird to say that the 2.0 Ghz mini's CPU is more powerful than my G5 as the Intel chips are just more efficient.
That being said, I dumped all of my TV's in the house and am now using Mac computers as the TV.
I have the Elgato EyeTV Hybrid and it ran beautifully on my dualie G5. I watched TV while doing editing in iMovie and while burning DVD's and not a hitch of performance loss.
The EyeTV Hybrid relies on the CPU for HD tuning and I have never had a problem in terms of performance loss while multitasking.
You should be perfectly fine with the mini as a full home entertainment multimedia machine.

 

[docprego]

Your mention of dual processors got me thinking, isn't the Core 2 Duo like having 2 processors? How does the mac delegate duties to each core? Would the TV tuner get its own and say a web browser another? What if more than 2 apps are running?

 

[Cave Man]

This is all very encouraging, but no one has specifically addressed the issue of the TV tuner running all the time simultaneously while using the computer. Does anyone have actual experience running a TV tuner on OSX while using the computer? If so what is your hardware configuration, TV tuner type and what has been your experience?

Any other Mac Mini experiences would be appreciated (especially the new C2D machines).

I have the EyeTV Hybrid and use this Mini for my home theater - a Core Duo 1.66 gHz connected to a Toshiba projector, Onkyo A/V receiver (DD 5.1) by way of optical cable, and a 10 foot-wide screen (see link in my sig). (We are 50 miles from Denver and get most of the stations most of the time using a RadShack omni disc antenna.) You should be in good shape, but as suggested above, get 2 gigs of RAM. Most of my Eye TV Hybrid content is in 720 HD and I have it set to automatically transcode the recordings to MP4, which then get sent to iTunes for the Apple TV and our measly, paltry 32" TV.

My other Mini (same spec) is used quite intensively for manipulating RAW images from my EOS 30D using Aperture and Photoshop CS3. It's a fabulous machine so long as you only need to do 2D imaging (e.g., photos and video). Even still, it plays Quake very, very well.

The Mini is one kick-@$$ machine.

 

[docprego]

I have the EyeTV Hybrid and use this Mini for my home theater - a Core Duo 1.66 gHz connected to a Toshiba projector, Onkyo A/V receiver (DD 5.1) by way of optical cable, and a 10 foot-wide screen (see link in my sig). (We are 50 miles from Denver and get most of the stations most of the time using a RadShack omni disc antenna.) You should be in good shape, but as suggested above, get 2 gigs of RAM. Most of my Eye TV Hybrid content is in 720 HD and I have it set to automatically transcode the recordings to MP4, which then get sent to iTunes for the Apple TV and our measly, paltry 32" TV.

My other Mini (same spec) is used quite intensively for manipulating RAW images from my EOS 30D using Aperture and Photoshop CS3. It's a fabulous machine so long as you only need to do 2D imaging (e.g., photos and video). Even still, it plays Quake very, very well.

The Mini is one kick-@$$ machine.

The only thing I use my TV tuner for is to tune in channel 4. I do not use the DVR functions because I do not use the card for tuning. I fed my digital cable box output into the mac TV tuner via coaxial cable. In this way I can use my digital cable box to do the tuning and see all of my digital cable channels in the window on the Mac.

I am just concerned that I will see slowdown while tuning channel 4. My iMac has no slow down at all but it is a 2.4ghz with dedicated GPU. On my current windows PC any app slows down the tv TV tuner performance-even scrolling a web page caused it to get really choppy..

 

[HLdan]

I am just concerned that I will see slowdown while tuning channel 4. My iMac has no slow down at all but it is a 2.4ghz with dedicated GPU. On my current windows PC any app slows down the tv TV tuner performance-even scrolling a web page caused it to get really choppy..

See, this happens all the time with people using Windows. They always compare it to the Mac. Don't ever compare performance or features between the two, please! New Mac users coming from Windows always wonder why you can simply drag an unwanted program to the trash without all the complicated uninstalling like Windows. Reason being there's no registry in Mac OS X like Windows. See, they are different so don't compare how Windows handles TV tuning against the Mac.

An earlier poster already gave you extreme conditions how he uses his Mac mini. That should convince you enough how well it performs for TV viewing and multitasking. How much more convincing do you need? If posters telling you that you will be fine with the mini isn't enough then you need to just take the plunge and see for yourself.

 

[docprego]

See, this happens all the time with people using Windows. They always compare it to the Mac. Don't ever compare performance or features between the two, please! New Mac users coming from Windows always wonder why you can simply drag an unwanted program to the trash without all the complicated uninstalling like Windows. Reason being there's no registry in Mac OS X like Windows. See, they are different so don't compare how Windows handles TV tuning against the Mac.

An earlier poster already gave you extreme conditions how he uses his Mac mini. That should convince you enough how well it performs for TV viewing and multitasking. How much more convincing do you need? If posters telling you that you will be fine with the mini isn't enough then you need to just take the plunge and see for yourself.

I am not a new user, I have an iMac. I just wonder if the Mini will hold up as well, that's all.