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mac mini .. should i consider it?

bearbo

bearbo

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 20, 2006
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okay.. i'm recycling thread

so i somehow want to get a mac mini.. and just now i suddenly realized that i might not need it as much as i think i do

if i get it, that will replace a IBM T40P running XP pro.. of course, i'll still keep that

that mac mini will be used to do some web browsing, MS office, perhaps photoshoping

i dont know if the mac mini (PPC version, most likely, unless you can convince me otherwise) will be able to handle them smoothly.. i don't want to be able to feel that it's significantly slower than my MBP at those tasks. especially when those apps are not native to MBP but native to PPC
will i be satisfied with the speed of Office and light photoshop?

i'm sure itunes will be just fine on a mac mini

also will leopard be able to run on that nicely?

i'll be also using that as a server, so even if i take my mbp out, i can still access my data on my harddrives at home


does the PPC mac mini have dial up port?

okay.. give me some advice on your experience with the mac mini.. and if you think i should possibly consider another machine?

thanks a bunch!


here's the original question.. if you are curious what the first few responses are for

how upgrade is those original PPC G4 mac minis?
i'm looking for to get a inexpensive one..
i dont care if that means i will void the applecare (if there's any left)...
can i upgrade the RAM (how high can i go?) and hard drive?
also can G4 be of decent speed with apps such as MS office 2004?
what about light photoshop?
thanks for any input, especially appreciate those who are using the PPC G4 mac minis
can i add superdrive if it doesn't ahve it already?
what about gb ethernet?
Click to expand...

here's more questions
 
You can add a superdrive, and 1 stick of 1GB RAM. There are some ways of overclocking the G4 Mini's, through soldering. My gf has a 1.25Ghz Mini with the full 1GB of RAM, and Office flies on it. Don't really know about Photoshop on it, sorry. It's quite snappy on the whole, though.

As for ethernet, you've got 10/100Base-T on it, and that's non-upgradeable. No upgrade slots, I'm afraid, and it's all built-in to the motherboard.
 
Office can be productively used on an original Pentium, and photoshop work is still done by some on 1998 original G3's. Use that to put some perspective on your own questions, and you'll have your own answers.
 
so i recycled my thread... updated the first post, any help will be greatly appreciated!

oh yeah... does mac mini run aperture?
 
bearbo said:
so i recycled my thread... updated the first post, any help will be greatly appreciated!

oh yeah... does mac mini run aperture?
Click to expand...

no - you could figure that out for yourself, though, with a bit of searching on Apple's website...:rolleyes: (was it you who got mad at someone for not searching earlier...or am I mistaken???)

EDIT: It was :)
 
AvSRoCkCO1067 said:
no - you could figure that out for yourself, though, with a bit of searching on Apple's website...:rolleyes: (was it you who got mad at someone for not searching earlier...or am I mistaken???)

EDIT: It was :)
Click to expand...

well, haha... i'm sorry my question wasn't clear... i did found on apple's website that mac mini intel can do aperture, but i wondered whether the inability of mini PPC to do aperture is because it's not recommended, or there's something underlying preventing it from doing it..

and i didn't get mad at him, he got mad at me for point it out.
 
The early versions of the PPC Mini had a modem port, the high-end ones later did not. You'll just have to check on the one you want to get that it has a modem.

I love my Mini, and actually got it since I was so impressed by my girlfriends PPC Mini. They're very capable machines, even more so if you already have a monitor and are on a budget.
 
do it. :)

I love my Mac Mini.

It's not the newest, latest, fastest thing on Earth, but it's still faster than my mom's PC. I'm a senior in high school and use Office on it daily to do assignments for school. The only drawback is (as mentioned) the limited ability to expand.

Photoshop works fine on it, too.
 
Can the mini realistically support two monitors? I've seen the DVI and VGA outs on the back, does it let you get away with the dual hookup, does it yell at you to pick one, or does the whole thing slow to nothing and you end up plugging in one?
 
almightyshoe said:
Can the mini realistically support two monitors? I've seen the DVI and VGA outs on the back, does it let you get away with the dual hookup, does it yell at you to pick one, or does the whole thing slow to nothing and you end up plugging in one?
Click to expand...

i believe since the graphic card doesn't really support it... if you split the signal, you'll get mirrored on the 2 screens
 
almightyshoe said:
Can the mini realistically support two monitors? I've seen the DVI and VGA outs on the back, does it let you get away with the dual hookup, does it yell at you to pick one, or does the whole thing slow to nothing and you end up plugging in one?
Click to expand...

The Mini only has a single DVI-output, that's it. It comes with a DVI-VGA adapter, though. You can hook up two monitors with a signal splitter as mentioned above, and that'll make it think it has one big monitor stretched across two. It doesn't look that great, and is only doable with VGA, which makes it look worse. Your best bet is simply to go with the biggest single monitor it can handle (1920x1200 resolution).
 
iW00t said:
You won't be very pleased with its performance. It is fairly slow on even my Macbook Pro (2.33), I never even tried running it on my Mini.
Click to expand...

i know... it's just above satisfaction on my MBP... i dont know who is supposed to be able to run it good..
 
bearbo said:
so i recycled my thread... updated the first post, any help will be greatly appreciated!

oh yeah... does mac mini run aperture?
Click to expand...


My new Intel Mac Mini CD will quite happily run Photoshop CS2 and Aperture 1.5 (universal binary) I haven't encountered any problems.

The Mini has only one video out ........ DVI.
Although it comes with a DVI to Analogue (15 pin D plug) converter

Although I mainly use a 2 Ghz G5 PowerMac, I frequently use the Mac Mini for Photoshop tasks. A great little machine.

Regards from Ireland

Dave :)
 
If you already have a monitor, a keyboard and a mouse and especially if you have several other computers around the house, I think that it's an ideal addition.
 
I'm confused as to what you're asking, buttttt....

I'm using a G4 mini. When I render movies in iMovie, I go to bed. But I use it to surf the web, I used to use it for some light photoshop work and it was alright if I wasn't doing much else with it. It has a modem, and well, I have the base G4. I upgraded the ram to 512 and gave it bt/AP (yes it only had 256mb RAM and bt/ap were add ons once upon a time) and it's still going strong for me. I plan on upgrading from Panther to Leopard when it gets released, but for what I use it for it's fine.

P.S. I just tried applying a bas relief filter to a 4mp picture, and it took about 6 seconds. I was also rendering a movie in iMovie too though... so yeah it's pretty usable. if you're using it for smaller images (ie website design, or just cropping and whatnot) you'll be fine with a G4. Ram is good though.
 
Irish Dave said:
My new Intel Mac Mini CD will quite happily run Photoshop CS2 and Aperture 1.5 (universal binary) I haven't encountered any problems.
Click to expand...

How many GB of ram you have on the mini ?
Working on large files the 5400 rpm hardrive of the mini is a problem in PS ?

I'm wodering if I can fit with a mini + 2GB of ram for work with PS2 and lightroom ( canon eos 5d files ).

have you tryed lightroom ?
 
Irish Dave said:
My new Intel Mac Mini CD will quite happily run Photoshop CS2 and Aperture 1.5 (universal binary) I haven't encountered any problems.
Click to expand...
wow... i was barely satisfied with my MBP's ability to run Aperture... and not even that satisfied with photoshop
 
Hummin said:
How many GB of ram you have on the mini ?
Working on large files the 5400 rpm hardrive of the mini is a problem in PS ?

I'm wodering if I can fit with a mini + 2GB of ram for work with PS2 and lightroom ( canon eos 5d files ).

have you tryed lightroom ?
Click to expand...

Hi 2 Gb of ram in the Intel Core Duo Mini ...... Goes great. I originally had one of the first Mac Mini's, it was not great with Photoshop but the New Intel version is much faster

My Camera is the EOS 350D (Rebel XT) and I don't use Raw files.

Sorry haven't tried Lightroom, perhaps I'll download the Beta and give it a try.

Cheers
Dave :)
 
Irish Dave said:
Hi Sorry, I should have made it clear ....... I don't have both running at the same time. One or the other.

Intel core duo Mac Mini with 2 Gb of ram.

Dave :)
Click to expand...

i know, not have them at the same time

does it work like... never give you spin wheels and always very fast?
 
livingfortoday said:
The Mini only has a single DVI-output, that's it. It comes with a DVI-VGA adapter, though. You can hook up two monitors with a signal splitter as mentioned above, and that'll make it think it has one big monitor stretched across two. It doesn't look that great, and is only doable with VGA, which makes it look worse. Your best bet is simply to go with the biggest single monitor it can handle (1920x1200 resolution).
Click to expand...

Thanks. I don't even have a mini, I saw an image on the back of a box and was just curious.
 
I think the performance of Office and Photoshop will be quite subjective.

Some say it is as good as PPC speeds, but I try to avoid running anything non universal (like Office) on my 2.33Ghz MBP if I can help it, it just feels too sluggish for me, especially Excel with a decently large spreadsheet open.

Bootcamp is still the way to go to get native speeds for some productivity apps until they go universal next year.
 
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