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Looking into the mini since I found out they existed lol

doobybiggs

doobybiggs

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 5, 2012
562
24
Well, if you have been over to the imac area recently you may have seen my post about those.

Soooo after a few days of talking over there, they have alerted me to the mini. Which I can buy a used like 2009 version for the same price as an imac 2006 version ... I like that a lot better lol.

What are some things I need to look for and look out for in the mini ... specifically a 2009 model (probably from ebay)


Thanks! :D
 
ya, I am trying to convert from a PC ;) ... hopefully this mini thing doesnt let me down lol
 
"What are some things I need to look for and look out for in the mini ... specifically a 2009 model (probably from ebay)"

What kind of money are you looking to spend?

Have you thought about checking here:
http://www.refurb.me/us/
 
Fishrrman said:
"What are some things I need to look for and look out for in the mini ... specifically a 2009 model (probably from ebay)"

What kind of money are you looking to spend?

Have you thought about checking here:
http://www.refurb.me/us/
Click to expand...


Looking at around $400ish ... it seems to be the going rate on ebay for a 2009 model.

I checked out that refurb me site but they are all out of stock on anything under 600.


I am also guessing these mac minis have integrated GPU's ... do they play movies well enough without lag? what about youtube clips and apple movie trailers?
 
I have a mini, circa 2009. Mine came with Snow Leopard which I upgraded to Lion. A little tip: if you're planning on using an older display which has a VGA type cable, then you might need to buy an adapter (I did). A 2009 mini has a... mini display port and comes with an adapter for DVI.

Re the lag on movies: no worries with SL or Lion. My mini plays movies with absolutely no delay or lag even when I'm running 2 virtual machines at a time in VBox and the hard disk is spinning like crazy.

Go on, have fun :)
 
my display is fine ... I have a year old 27" samsung display that still works amazingly ...
 
I used a mini for my first Mac desktop - I switched from an older Dell, and kept the keyboard, display, and mouse. It worked fine, and still runs. My wife switched to mac last year, dumping an ancient white box for a mini, kept display and mouse, but I bought her an apple keyboard.
 
this is sounding more and more like my next purchase ... now just need to find a nice deal on one ...
 
Where would one shop for a used mini? I hate shoppping craigslist or ebay for an item like this. For me, there's not a lot of $$ between used at $400 and new at $600.
 
camardelle said:
Where would one shop for a used mini? I hate shoppping craigslist or ebay for an item like this. For me, there's not a lot of $$ between used at $400 and new at $600.
Click to expand...

there are a lot of site apparently that sell used ones. This site has a trade section but new people cant see it. I got mine off a member here that was selling his and saw my thread.
 
doobybiggs said:
there are a lot of site apparently that sell used ones. This site has a trade section but new people cant see it. I got mine off a member here that was selling his and saw my thread.
Click to expand...

Yep, you are correct. I'm still a ways from the post requirement but I'll get there. LOL Thanks for the information. I'm seriously jonesing for a mini also!
 
camardelle said:
Yep, you are correct. I'm still a ways from the post requirement but I'll get there. LOL Thanks for the information. I'm seriously jonesing for a mini also!
Click to expand...

I looked around but could never find anything on it. What is the requirement to get into the FS section? :confused:
 
doobybiggs said:
I looked around but could never find anything on it. What is the requirement to get into the FS section? :confused:
Click to expand...

The following forums have a minimum post count requirement:

Marketplace
Politics, Religion, Social Issues
Only users with a history of 250 posts (user title 6502 or higher) and membership for at least 6 months can access the Marketplace forum. Only users with a history of 100 posts can post in the Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. If you start a "for sale" thread or political thread in another forum to avoid this rule, your thread will be deleted. Once you reach 100 or 250 posts, you may not immediately be able to post in these forums. The privilege is added automatically when the forum system does routine processing, so check again in a few hours. The delay is normal, so please do not contact us to report it as a problem on the same day that you reach 100 or 250 posts. When you first gain access to the Marketplace forum, you will see it in the Community section of the forums.
 
ah, ok thanks!

gotta be a member for 6 months before getting in the marketplace huh? I hate it and like it at the same time lol
 
if in fact you are getting a used 2009 you will need a adapter to hook it up to your monitor. if its used chances are it wont have the adapter with it. there is only a mini dvi port and a mini display port for a monitor hookup on the 2009. you need a mini dvi to dvi cable or a mini display port to dvi to connect to your monitor (assuming your monitor is dvi and not vga) that is.
 
dvi annoys me ... my monitor has dvi and HDMI connections. HDMI is so much easier to work with.
 
doobybiggs said:
Looking at around $400ish ... it seems to be the going rate on ebay for a 2009 model.

I checked out that refurb me site but they are all out of stock on anything under 600.
...
Click to expand...

Keep checking back at the refurb site.... it can be updated, on occasion, a couple of times a day. Why you don't see cheap Minis there is because they are scooped as soon as they are listed. So set up your Apple ID ahead of time - and then get obsessive about checking the refurb site often. There were Minis there yesterday for $519 CDN (despite the strong CDN $ our prices tend to be about 10% higher - so these should have been about $450 in the US).

The advantage of buying from Apple is that you get the full Apple warranty. Depending on which 3rd party you buy from otherwise you may need to get support from them. Or if it's used, have no support at all.

ps there is a single $519 CDN on the store as I write this.... pounce.
 
Acorn said:
if in fact you are getting a used 2009 you will need a adapter to hook it up to your monitor. if its used chances are it wont have the adapter with it. there is only a mini dvi port and a mini display port for a monitor hookup on the 2009. you need a mini dvi to dvi cable or a mini display port to dvi to connect to your monitor (assuming your monitor is dvi and not vga) that is.
Click to expand...

Also, since the OPs monitor is 27", it's probably 1440p which would require a dual-link DVI <-> mDP adaptor.
 
AdrianK said:
Also, since the OPs monitor is 27", it's probably 1440p which would require a dual-link DVI <-> mDP adaptor.
Click to expand...

More likely 1080P since he talks about HDMI and is interested in video. And 2560x1440 monitors will work with single link DVI. It's the 2560x1600 monitors (30") that need the dual link.
 
doobybiggs said:
Looking at around $400ish ... it seems to be the going rate on ebay for a 2009 model.

I checked out that refurb me site but they are all out of stock on anything under 600.
Click to expand...

Live near a military base? Got friends in the military? I bought my new Mac Mini base model for $589 last weekend from the base exchange and bought 8GB of memory at the local Best Buy for $50

Jerry
 
wow that is an awesome deal ... just wish I knew someone in the military :(
 
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