Mac Mini... any problem to look out for?

[Zoowatch]

I've heard many horrible stories about MBP etc. etc...

Are there any well-known problems associated with the Mac Mini?

Heat problem? Loud fan? Beeping / chirping noise?

I am intending to run Windows XP on it with 1 GB RAM.... will that be reasonably fast on a 1.66 Ghz machine?

Besides, this is going to be used mainly for MS Office / WWW / Mail / iPhoto + iTunes.

To all Mac Mini users out there, please share your experience here.

Thank you.

 

[MacSA]

If you want to run windows XP.. just by a PC with Windows XP lol

..And I dont think there are many problems with the Mini.... there were a fair few people complaining about wireless reception at first though, havent heard much more about that for months, maybe Apple fixed it.

 

[livingfortoday]

I've had no problems with my Solo. I've run XP on it, and it runs great when you boot into it with BootCamp, but it's pretty slow and choppy under Parallels. I would recommend getting more RAM, the stock 512MB really hinders performance. Other than that, it's a great machine!

 

[balamw]

Besides, this is going to be used mainly for MS Office / WWW / Mail / iPhoto + iTunes.

First, note that the 1.66 GHz machine is a Core Duo, so it should be compared to single core machines in the 3 GHz range... My 1.83 GHz iMac smokes my 2.8 GHz P4 Dell.

Second, consider giving OS X a chance. Unless you have veryspecific needs in the areas you highlighted above you'll be very happy with the perfromance of your box under OS X. XP will be fine too, but why bother? Wait ofr Crossover Office and you'll be able to run WIndows apps without the hassle of rebooting or firing up Parallels....

The wireless issues reported with the earliest mini's do seem ot have died down, and that was the only issue I was aware of too.

B

 

[dmw007]

No, I have not heard of any real problems associated with the Mac Minis. A Mac Mini with a 1.66GHz Core Duo is a very fast machine for almost every task that you throw at it (besides things such as gaming due to the integrated graphics).

 

[ricgnzlzcr]

The only issue I've heard of is that the video connection (for example to a TV for a media center) is not as good as the G4 mini's. Apart from that the mini's look like a great bargain for all the power they have!

 

[bowens]

I have the dual core mini and I love it. I have had no problems with it. I can't even hear it when it's running. The only time I hear it is if I put a cd in. You can hear the spin every once in a while but it's not loud at all. Go for it. You'll enjoy it.

 

[steamboat26]

I love my mac mini, except that whenever you put a disk in the optical drive, it sounds really weird (like the disk is scraping against the sides of the optical drive case or something)

 

[4God]

I think you'll be very happy, and since you indicated using Mail/iPhoto & iTunes,
I would guess that you will be dabbling in OSX as well. You'll find
that OSX is sleeker and IMHO easier to use. I love my Macs and OSX.
I might use windows from time to time but will never stop using the Mac OS.

 

[Zoowatch]

thank you for your replies

i think i will be getting a mini core duo with 1GB RAM

don't worry, I'm already hooked to Mac OS X and I will teach my mom (who's going to use this mini) all the basics about OS X (she's from the Windows world)

however, I need to get M$ Windows for her still because she might want to run certain apps in Windows...

first i will get her to familiarise with Front Row / iTunes and know how to listen my Mp3s from there... then probably iPhoto, Safari, Quicktime, DVD Players and Mail later... also i'm getting an isight for the mini but i will only introduce iChat to her only when she's already comfortable with Mac OS X.

 

[BAspecialCake]

The mini is a great Media Center option also...

Very fast.

 

[bowens]

I've even done some video editing on my mini. Not real fast but it gets the job done. I'm sure performance would improve if I would upgrade the ram but it's good enough for me right now.