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Is the Mac Mini right for me?

mjschabow

mjschabow

macrumors 603
Original poster
Dec 25, 2013
5,564
7,735
Hi all,

I'm looking for some advice here. I'm currently looking to ditch my stupid Windows laptop for a Mac. It makes sense since I'm already invested in the iPad and iPhone, but I'm having a hard time deciding on which kind to go with. So to those of you who have invested in Apple products, any help would be much appreciated. Here's some information about my needs:

- I probably wouldn't need another Apple product to leave the house with, so portability isn't a huge issue.

- I mostly use my Windows laptop to manage my movie collection on my Plex server. The one thing that's interesting about the Mac Mini is that I may be able to even bypass the Plex server and just plug the Mini into the TV and watch my media that way. Any information on how the Mac Mini plugs into the TV and if it's a painless experience would help.

- I'm not a spec guy but I did notice that the affordability of this product compared to the MacBook's seems like a steal! For about $500 less I can pretty much get similar specs and 1TB of storage. I guess my question here is "What's the catch?". If the only catch is the lack of a monitor, then I would think this is a steal since I could plug it into my TV's.



Thanks again for any info you can provide. This is a very informative community so this is my first stop for advice. :)
 
Mini has HDMI like most modern systems. Apple Remote works directly on it. It works good as an HTPC.

Yes the $500 unit compares very favorably to the current MacBook Airs. It uses the same kind of low voltage CPU so it is pretty underpowered for a desktop computer IMO but if you are mainly just using it as an HTPC and not running complicated apps or games, that is a non-issue.
 
mjschabow said:
Hi all,

I'm looking for some advice here. I'm currently looking to ditch my stupid Windows laptop for a Mac. It makes sense since I'm already invested in the iPad and iPhone, but I'm having a hard time deciding on which kind to go with. So to those of you who have invested in Apple products, any help would be much appreciated. Here's some information about my needs:

- I probably wouldn't need another Apple product to leave the house with, so portability isn't a huge issue.

- I mostly use my Windows laptop to manage my movie collection on my Plex server. The one thing that's interesting about the Mac Mini is that I may be able to even bypass the Plex server and just plug the Mini into the TV and watch my media that way. Any information on how the Mac Mini plugs into the TV and if it's a painless experience would help.

- I'm not a spec guy but I did notice that the affordability of this product compared to the MacBook's seems like a steal! For about $500 less I can pretty much get similar specs and 1TB of storage. I guess my question here is "What's the catch?". If the only catch is the lack of a monitor, then I would think this is a steal since I could plug it into my TV's.



Thanks again for any info you can provide. This is a very informative community so this is my first stop for advice. :)
Click to expand...

The catch may be with regard to transcoding on the low end MacMini. How may (if any) streams would need to be transcoded or are they all direct streams?

You can plug the MacMini directly into the TV and run both Plex Media Server and Plex Home Theatre at the same time. Should work well.
 
stridemat said:
The catch may be with regard to transcoding on the low end MacMini. How may (if any) streams would need to be transcoded or are they all direct streams?

You can plug the MacMini directly into the TV and run both Plex Media Server and Plex Home Theatre at the same time. Should work well.
Click to expand...

Thanks! Yeah, I'm not entirely sure how the Plex server runs but I had thought instead of using a Plex server, I could probably store the 500gb of movies on the Mac Mini and just use it as my media player. I was thinking I was going to go with the 2014 version with 8gb RAM that's going for about $700 on Best Buy, so I'm not sure if that's considered low end or not.

----------
Algus said:
Mini has HDMI like most modern systems. Apple Remote works directly on it. It works good as an HTPC.

Yes the $500 unit compares very favorably to the current MacBook Airs. It uses the same kind of low voltage CPU so it is pretty underpowered for a desktop computer IMO but if you are mainly just using it as an HTPC and not running complicated apps or games, that is a non-issue.
Click to expand...

Thanks! Yeah, it would be for pretty simple use. I may think about diving into Garage Band at some point since I'm a guitar player but that would probably be the item that uses the most power.
 
My brother's introduction to the Apple world was a Mac Mini which he hooked up to his large screen TV via HDMI. He's still using it (2010 with 8GB RAM) as his main computer & media server. --And as happens, now has a MacBook Air, iPad & iPhone... He also got the blue tooth keyboard & mouse at the same time. He used to have a large Dell desktop but ditched it soon after getting the Mini.

Considering he's an engineer who always trash-talked Apple and talked me out of getting a Mac initially, and who is super-picky, I think it speaks volumes that a Mac Mini works for him for the past 5 years.
 
I've been dreaming of a mac mini 4 my next setup as well

portable + my good friend basically gave me a tv for me to hdmi the ****
perfect size 4 my peripheral

how do y'all feel ab the middle of the road $699 option vs the $999

----------

the most rigorous work it would be putting in would prolly be running apple logic with something like an mpc/maschine
 
ameriMacka said:
I've been dreaming of a mac mini 4 my next setup as well



portable + my good friend basically gave me a tv for me to hdmi the ****

perfect size 4 my peripheral



how do y'all feel ab the middle of the road $699 option vs the $999

----------

the most rigorous work it would be putting in would prolly be running apple logic with something like an mpc/maschine
Click to expand...


I'm curious of the difference as well. I'm thinking the mid version will suit my needs.
 
Hdd/SSD/FD

mjschabow said:
...I guess my question here is "What's the catch?"

:)
Click to expand...

Perhaps the only real difference is the storage. The mini gives you a choice between storage options. How much internal storage do you want? That mid-range mini seems like a good deal either way.
 
Celerondon said:
Perhaps the only real difference is the storage. The mini gives you a choice between storage options. How much internal storage do you want? That mid-range mini seems like a good deal either way.
Click to expand...


Yeah. I like the 1TB. That should be enough for my media collection.
 
word.

its also 2.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 vs 2.8GHz dual-core Intel Core i5

:apple: whatever that means :apple:

----------

o ya and the mid is 1TB and the high is 1TB "Fusion"
 
ameriMacka said:
word.

its also 2.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 vs 2.8GHz dual-core Intel Core i5

:apple: whatever that means :apple:

----------

o ya and the mid is 1TB and the high is 1TB "Fusion"
Click to expand...

Yeah, not sure if the Fusion compared to regulary hard drive is worth the extra $300. I'm pretty sure I"m going to pick up the mid range model this weekend. I think the only remaining concern I have is if my 51" Samsung Plasma TV will work in the long run as a monitor, or if I should look for other options down the road. I will admit that the portability of a Macbook Air is attractive, but the price of the mid tier Mac Mini along with what appears to be better specs than the MacBook Air is hard to beat.
 
OP wrote above:
[[ I'm pretty sure I"m going to pick up the mid range model this weekend. ]]

Good choice, DO NOT buy the "low-end" Mini. If you do, you may find yourself "unhappy with the speeds" before very long.

Spend the extra $$$ for the fusion drive (even the 1tb fusion drive).
It will run circles around the same unit that is not equipped with one.

You'll find the midrange Mini w/fusion to be a VERY capable little "box"....
 
Fishrrman said:
OP wrote above:
[[ I'm pretty sure I"m going to pick up the mid range model this weekend. ]]

Good choice, DO NOT buy the "low-end" Mini. If you do, you may find yourself "unhappy with the speeds" before very long.

Spend the extra $$$ for the fusion drive (even the 1tb fusion drive).
It will run circles around the same unit that is not equipped with one.

You'll find the midrange Mini w/fusion to be a VERY capable little "box"....
Click to expand...

Thanks! I'll probably pass on the fusion drive just because $999 is out of my price range but the $699 is much better.
 
You should really put some thought into the SSD, it really makes a difference.

The mid level model is $699 plus $200 for the SSD. If you use the Edu discount it takes $40 off on Apples website, totaling $859 for a pretty awesome machine.
 
CrickettGrrrl said:
My brother's introduction to the Apple world was a Mac Mini which he hooked up to his large screen TV via HDMI. He's still using it (2010 with 8GB RAM) as his main computer & media server. --And as happens, now has a MacBook Air, iPad & iPhone... He also got the blue tooth keyboard & mouse at the same time. He used to have a large Dell desktop but ditched it soon after getting the Mini.

Considering he's an engineer who always trash-talked Apple and talked me out of getting a Mac initially, and who is super-picky, I think it speaks volumes that a Mac Mini works for him for the past 5 years.
Click to expand...

This sounds exactly like me. I'm an engineer who pretty-much exclusively used windows & linux (redhat then ubuntu) for many years, mainly for running CAD. I saw macs as graphics design toys. I bought a little 11" 2011 macbook air mainly for my husband, as he's not terribly computer literate and was having virus issues with windows.

I played with that for a bit, saw how quick and powerful it was, bought a 27" apple thunderbolt display, and got hooked. Now we've got the air, and 2014 minis, and when it was time to upgrade my Dell work notebook I bought a 15" rMBP. I still use windows for running CAD software, but within a virtual machine on my various OS X computers.

I can't see ever going back to (especially) Dell machines. Plasticky, hot rubbish compared to apples. And OS X is _so_ much better than windows (& linux).
 
Ask one of the very knowledgeable Apple Sales Associates that work at the Apple store.
 
What Do You Think Of This Deal

mjschabow said:
Yeah. I'm trying to watch the budget unfortunately.

Speaking of budget what do you think of this deal?

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=321645824605
Click to expand...

That one is five years old and used.

This one on the other hand...
Screen Shot 2015-02-06 at 8.16.03 PM.png
 
Celerondon said:
That one is five years old and used.



This one on the other hand...

View attachment 528560
Click to expand...


Yeah I'm starting to think I might be fine with the entry level. I only need it to be my media server. I don't do a lot of multitasking either. From the perspective of having a crappy HP laptop right now, my hunch is that this Mac Mini will blow it out of the water.
 
mjschabow said:
Yeah I'm starting to think I might be fine with the entry level. I only need it to be my media server. I don't do a lot of multitasking either. From the perspective of having a crappy HP laptop right now, my hunch is that this Mac Mini will blow it out of the water.
Click to expand...

Have you looked at the Apple Refurb store for your country? Have to get in quick sometimes, but they are sold at a discount.
 
So I went to best buy today to get the mid range 2014 model and they actually still had a 2012 i7 model 2.3ghz 4gb RAM 1TB for $750 song pulled the trigger right away. I'll probably upgrade the RAM down the road too if I feel like I need it.
 
mjschabow said:
So I went to best buy today to get the mid range 2014 model and they actually still had a 2012 i7 model 2.3ghz 4gb RAM 1TB for $750 song pulled the trigger right away. I'll probably upgrade the RAM down the road too if I feel like I need it.
Click to expand...

That's mine!

It's full time as a HTPC now.

If you're going to use it that way, make sure you get the apple remote, then BetterTouchTool to program it (free).

I have it so where the "play" button takes me into xbmc...then I have all my programs on there...

The hard drive is kind of useless as everything is streamed for me now.

Works very well....
 
David58117 said:
That's mine!



It's full time as a HTPC now.



If you're going to use it that way, make sure you get the apple remote, then BetterTouchTool to program it (free).



I have it so where the "play" button takes me into xbmc...then I have all my programs on there...



The hard drive is kind of useless as everything is streamed for me now.



Works very well....
Click to expand...


Nice! Thanks for the advice. This is my first Mac. It looks gorgeous on my 51" Samsung TV. :)
 
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