Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Mac Mini Should I Wait?

W

WonderMonkey

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 24, 2011
2
0
I desperately want to get a Mac mini and create a home entertainment center but have been waiting for potential upgrades. I was finally ready to pull the trigger when today the macbook received its refresh.

Am i being over cautious by waiting or should i take the plunge?

I know any advice will be pure speculation but I sure could use the advice.

Thanks in advance!!
 
I would wait if you can. Last year's update was a redesign and performance didn't change that much compared with the late 09 Mini. This year's update should provide a good performance boost. If intending to do stuff like watch live HD sport using EyeTV this should prove useful. Hopefully with the 2011 Mini you'll be able to watch HD sport with the best deinterlacing method (can't remember what it's called atm), but we'll have to wait and see.

The likely introduction of Thunderbolt to the Mac Mini is also a good reason to wait.
 
mdgm said:
I would wait if you can. Last year's update was a redesign and performance didn't change that much compared with the late 09 Mini. This year's update should provide a good performance boost. If intending to do stuff like watch live HD sport using EyeTV this should prove useful. Hopefully with the 2011 Mini you'll be able to watch HD sport with the best deinterlacing method (can't remember what it's called atm), but we'll have to wait and see.

The likely introduction of Thunderbolt to the Mac Mini is also a good reason to wait.
Click to expand...

i had thought about this after buying my mbp at the beginning of the month :eek:...then again, as a basic user of both my mbp and new mac mini (got rid of my 08 imac), i am happy with the purchases of both. the only thing i was really looking for on the mini was an hdmi port, and voila, it is there. now, i just gotta upgrade the RAM in it...
 
I do agree that the Minis are great, I have two of them. It's a great machine, but I do think that the benefits of the 2011 Mini should be worth waiting for, if you can. If you can't wait go ahead and buy a Mini. Bear in mind that the hard drive in the 2010 is very difficult to upgrade (hard drive in the 09 was easier to upgrade).
 
I would Wait

It is my opinion that you should wait for a few weeks, the intel "i" processors should come with the new upgrade in addition to better graphics, ThunderBolt port and SS Drives. When you buy one of these don't cheep out, get a loaded one which you will enjoy for years to come.
 
One more reason to wait (if you can): if the new Mini comes out and the new features don't impress you, you can then buy the 2010 model at a discount.

That's what I did when the 2009 MacPro came out; there were a number of things that didn't add up (for me), particularly the increased price, so I bought the 2008 model.
 
I am going to hold out as well... I intend on buying a Mini because I am getting angered that I can't do certain things on my G4 MDD (Doesn't mean it's not staying on my desk! To me it's still aesthetically pleasing). I just don't want to buy one and spend $700 only find out a new one debuts later this year.

This would actually be my first new Mac.... every Mac I've ever had was used.
 
Many Thanks

What a great forum!!!

Thank you for the great posts. It's exactly what I was thinking but was getting a serious itch. Better to deal for now and upgrade when the time is truly right.

Thanks for talking me off the ledge.
:D
 
Last years mini and mac pro 13" base were both about the same specs, so imagine what a new 2011 mini might be like if this is the same line apple takes.
 
Wait if you can. However it may be several months until a Mac Mini refresh.
 
What is the normal "refresh" time for Minis?

Has it been once a year? Or nothing that scheduled
 
player2 said:
What is the normal "refresh" time for Minis?

Has it been once a year? Or nothing that scheduled
Click to expand...
The current version came out 15th June last year. We may hear some info at the next Mac event or wait nearer end of April to see what happens.
 
Tunster said:
The current version came out 15th June last year. We may hear some info at the next Mac event or wait nearer end of April to see what happens.
Click to expand...

What was the time between the '09 mini update and the June 2010 update?
 
Fubar1977 said:
Agreed.
The 2011 Mini will (imo) be basically a desktop version of the 13" MBP.
Click to expand...

Rapscallion said:
Last years mini and mac pro 13" base were both about the same specs, so imagine what a new 2011 mini might be like if this is the same line apple takes.
Click to expand...

Ok, that sounds like logical thinking; however, do we want the Intel GPU that comes with the 13" MBP? It may not matter but should be considered as part of buy now vs wait discussion.

Cheers,
 
Agreed. Last year when they upgraded the Mini I was very unimpressed so I built a desktop Windows machine. I just couldn't get my mind around the fact (granted it was $1,600) that my MBP Early 2008 outperformed the 2010 Mini. It may be double the price but two years is a very long time for technology.

I hope to be purchasing a Mini at the next update. I am still itching to have a Mac desktop for storage of all my content (photos/music/movies). I currently use the Windows 7 desktop, it works but it's not OS X.
 
Definitely wait. The i3/i5 will be just the bump needed to really cut through 1080p mkv's like butter.

The core duo mac-mini's struggled with 1080p, the core 2 duo mac-minis handle 1080p well enough, but the intel i3/i5 is a proc that will truly leave you with an HTPC that can handle 1080p without breaking a sweat.
 
look at 2009 macmini scores



Mac mini (Early 2009)
Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 2.53 GHz (2 cores) 3534



Mac mini (Early 2009)
Intel Core 2 Duo P8800 2.66 GHz (2 cores) 3724

now look at 2010 mac mini scores


Mac mini (Early 2010)
Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4 GHz (2 cores) 3336


Mac mini (Early 2010)
Intel Core 2 Duo P8800 2.66 GHz (2 cores) 3650


these are pulled from this link

http://www.primatelabs.ca/geekbench/mac-benchmarks/



Now all hopes are that the 2011 mac mini will mirror the 2011 macbook pro 2011 scores the link above has scores up to oct 2010 but there are some 2011 macbook pro scores on the site.



http://browse.geekbench.ca/geekbench2/search?q=macbookpro8,1


they range from 5400 to 7617

now they are not averaged but they are so much faster then the current mac minis it is amazing. no one has tested a t-bolt raid0 ssd from lacie as a boot drive if possible you may get scores up to 8000. so waiting for the new mini is pretty much a no brainer.
 
thunng8 said:
Real world results do differ, especially in bootcamp where the 320M is 30-50% faster than the intel IGP:

http://www.macworld.com/article/157931/2011/03/early2011macbookpro.html
http://www.techyalert.com/2011/02/25/macbook-pro-2010-vs-macbook-pro-2011/
Click to expand...

Yes. Even notebookcheck shows a big difference in some games vs others. Probably down to how much the CPU is needed. Some games also see a large drop from low to med settings making a smooth game unplayable. Looks like the older 320m is the better gamer at the moment.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back