mac mini question

[budugu]

Hi i am trying to decide between two mac minis. Both refurbs.

1) 1.25/40GB/256MB - 379$
2) 1.42/80GB/512MB/Airport/Bluetooth - 519$

the jump of 140$ seems to be a bit too much there.
the speed difference is not that much
if i replace the the RAM with 512 MB i can still use the 256 in a desktop
80GB is really huge space
Airport extreme is good.
Bluetooth since it is BT 1.0, i already have a BT dongle. I donot use it that much.

the real interest for me between the two are airport extreme (thinking of a dongle 19-50$) and the extra 40GB. Do you guys think it is worth the extra 140$-150$(with additional tax)?

 

[CanadaRAM]

Hi i am trying to decide between two mac minis. Both refurbs.
1) 1.25/40GB/256MB - 379$
2) 1.42/80GB/512MB/Airport/Bluetooth - 519$
the jump of 140$ seems to be a bit too much there. the speed difference is not that much if i replace the the RAM with 512 MB i can still use the 256 in a desktop 80GB is really huge space
Airport extreme is good.
Bluetooth since it is BT 1.0, i already have a BT dongle. I donot use it that much.
the real interest for me between the two are airport extreme (thinking of a dongle 19-50$) and the extra 40GB. Do you guys think it is worth the extra 140$-150$(with additional tax)?

If you want Airport then the 1.42 for sure - no question.

 

[clayj]

Go with #2... you're probably going to want to upgrade the RAM to 1 GB anyway, so that's not even a factor. But you'll appreciate the extra HD space, CPU speed, and the Airport and Bluetooth... they're certainly worth the extra $140 all told.

 

[pionata]

Depends what are your needs, but Im going to get a maxed out mini this week, 1 gig of ram and superdrive. I think its worth it, at the edu store here they install 3rd party ram about twice cheaper. 256 is realy not enough to run smoothly.

The apple processor are not like pentiums, I had my 800mhz Ibook loading levels faster in games than my 1.6ghz p4. So 200mhz on apple is comparable to the difference between a 1.6ghz and a 2ghz pentium. And with luck you'll get the 1.5ghz models.

+ airport, twice bigger hd for only a small fee.

 

[budugu]

Depends what are your needs, but Im going to get a maxed out mini this week, 1 gig of ram and superdrive. I think its worth it, at the edu store here they install 3rd party ram about twice cheaper. 256 is realy not enough to run smoothly.

The apple processor are not like pentiums, I had my 800mhz Ibook loading levels faster in games than my 1.6ghz p4. So 200mhz on apple is comparable to the difference between a 1.6ghz and a 2ghz pentium. And with luck you'll get the 1.5ghz models.

+ airport, twice bigger hd for only a small fee.

Thanks for your input. I was actually looking it as a cheap portable workstation. I keep running matlab and other simulations a lot on my powerbook (12") and it fairly quickly slows down (even with a Gig+ ram) and gets really hot fast. I was thinking of using this computer connected to powerbook (adhoc using ethernet/ firewire or Airport (preferable!)) and run those time consuming and large applications on it. So that i will have fast access to the machine ( use to use VPN + VNC etc ... but it is just too painful - connection /speed! and donot get good wireless at most of the places) And use the powerbook for the usual word/web/movies etc. So i was looking at it more as an accessory to my powerbook than a whole desktop in itself. I ruled out BT because it is just too slow a 10MB data file takes arround 6 mins!!

 

[russed]

i would say it is a bit of a no brainer, particuarly if you want airport - go for the faster one.

also, i dont think you can install JUST airport can you?

 

[barneygumble]

Get the xtra hard disk space whatever you do, i only have about 1.5GB left on the hard drive, i so have to put that music on an external drive, all the others are just bonuses