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vim147

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 14, 2011
236
1
Am looking at either the 2009 or 2010 mini as the 2011 is out of my budget at the moment. But which has the dedicated graphics card?

I've checked on wikipedia for the previous minis spec and 2009 and 2010 both have integrated graphics ??
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I know, only the 2011 mac mini has dedicated graphics. (the 1 that starts from £699).
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I know, only the 2011 mac mini has dedicated graphics. (the 1 that starts from £699).
Well, only the 2.5GHz i5 and 2.7GHz i7 2011's have dedicated cards (the servers don't). Earlier models had the GMA 950, 9400M, then 320M.
 
I personally went for the 2.7GHz i7, with the other options as standard. Then I stuck 8GB of RAM in it, and I'm in love! :D

The mini was rather expensive, but it was worth it!. When I ordered it, I was also planning on getting a SSD to stick in it, but it runs so well without it, I haven't bothered. :D

If you want a mini, and don't need a dvd drive straight away (beings the 2011 minis don't have 1), I'd save up and get the £699 version mini, and then get a dvd drive later on. (you can also remotely use the dvd drive from a pc, if you need to install anything meanwhile).
 
I personally went for the 2.7GHz i7, with the other options as standard. Then I stuck 8GB of RAM in it, and I'm in love! :D

The mini was rather expensive, but it was worth it!. When I ordered it, I was also planning on getting a SSD to stick in it, but it runs so well without it, I haven't bothered. :D

If you want a mini, and don't need a dvd drive straight away (beings the 2011 minis don't have 1), I'd save up and get the £699 version mini, and then get a dvd drive later on. (you can also remotely use the dvd drive from a pc, if you need to install anything meanwhile).

How much the 8gb cost you?
 
I personally went for the 2.7GHz i7, with the other options as standard. Then I stuck 8GB of RAM in it, and I'm in love! :D

The mini was rather expensive, but it was worth it!. When I ordered it, I was also planning on getting a SSD to stick in it, but it runs so well without it, I haven't bothered. :D

If you want a mini, and don't need a dvd drive straight away (beings the 2011 minis don't have 1), I'd save up and get the £699 version mini, and then get a dvd drive later on. (you can also remotely use the dvd drive from a pc, if you need to install anything meanwhile).

what speed of RAM did you purchase? 1333? 1600? or 1866?

thanks
 
Sorry for the late reply!, anyway I bought my RAM from Amazon --> LINK

Its DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) SODIMM 204pin. It costs £34.47, and it works great :)

*edited the link to the version I bought, theres other RAM on there exactly the same but £37 lol*
 
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Only the middle option in the new gen has dedicated graphics. Unless you're using it for games, or want to daisy chain two TB displays, I'd recommend getting the low end and upgrade it's ram and get an SSD, or get the Server. Either way, get the new gen. Processors are MUCH faster, and a processor can't be upgraded in the Minis, other things can.
 
How much the 8gb cost you?

You can get it on Crucial.com for $45.99 for the 8GB Kit (2X4GB Sticks at 1333)

I just bought one for my 2011 Base Mini, which outside of Lion I love the speeds, and I am ok with not having the Superdrive, I just wish it was easier to add a secondary drive, so I decided not to take it apart use the internal as Boot and Apps only, and run itunes off of an External Seagate 1.5TB

Works pretty good so far, the only thing I hate is if I want to run Windows in BootCamp, I have to dump my Vista or XP and purchase Windows 7 which I refuse to do spending more $ on microsoft crud.
 
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