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InsideTJ

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 18, 2012
114
13
I've been going round and round with some people on the blue iris forums about this topic, so I thought I'd ask for a sanity check on my thinking.

Blue iris is a great windows dvr security app. With multiple megapixel ip cams, the processor requirements are pretty hefty. I'm running BI currently on a 700w gaming rig, an amd x6 with very good benchmark ratings. I can run 6 1mp cams with about 20% processor utilization. It runs fine most of the time, but the 2 year old PC will randomly blue screen. I'm tired of trying to diagnose it, and I don't like the tower size, noise, firm factor, and power consumption.

My thought is to get a mini and bootcamp into win 7 for this headless dvr dedicated use. The mini i7 seems to have comparable benchmarks, and the i5 would probably work fine.

Most BI users think it is crazy to get a mini for a windows 'closet machine' for this use. But they are specing out $800+ home built machines to run theirs, to me, a mini would be perfect.

Am I crazy for thinking this way? It's about the same money for a Mac, is low power and small.
 
The I7 Mac Mini is $799. Parallels 8 is $80. A full blown Windows OS is $90 (use the system builder)

Sounds like $970 to me without a RAM upgrade...

You might look at B & H Photo - a I7 Mac Mini is $775 and they give you Parallels 8 for free (and AppleCare is like $54 if you buy it at the same time). Brings the price to $865...

Good luck!
 
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