Mac minimise 2007 - useful or not?

[aartoodeetoo]

Hi,

I've been offered a Mac mini, mid 2007, 1.83ghz core 2 duo, 1gb ram. My question is 'is it any use for anything?' I'm assuming it won't run the most recent software, but I've a 2012 imac for that. Can I use this Mac mini for anything useful or is it just not worth the hassle?

Thanks

 

[paulrbeers]

Hi,

I've been offered a Mac mini, mid 2007, 1.83ghz core 2 duo, 1gb ram. My question is 'is it any use for anything?' I'm assuming it won't run the most recent software, but I've a 2012 imac for that. Can I use this Mac mini for anything useful or is it just not worth the hassle?

Thanks

The last officially supported OS was Lion (more or less the Vista of OSX). Most run Snow Leopard on them (that's what I did/do). You can max it out with 3GB of RAM (okay if you put in 4GB, you can get 3.3GB). The GPU being the Intel 950 is probably its biggest weakness.

As a Server for all your media, it could be decent. It can still run the newest iTunes (as long as you go to 10.7.5). That's really about the best use for it. However, unless you are buying it super cheap, I wouldn't want to spend a lot of money on a computer that is 8 years old.

 

[catzilla]

I just the equivalent with a 64GB SSD, a Snow Leopard retail disk, and a remote for $100. I plan on using it for a home server with Time Machine backups.

 

[jamesdmc]

As the two previous posters said, it'll work for server duty. I use my 2007 2GHz Core 2 Duo simply for serving up iTunes media to the Apple TV. It's sluggish when accessing it via screen sharing, but otherwise it works well for the task. I wouldn't try to use it for much of anything else though.

 

[Richdmoore]

As the two previous posters said, it'll work for server duty. I use my 2007 2GHz Core 2 Duo simply for serving up iTunes media to the Apple TV. It's sluggish when accessing it via screen sharing, but otherwise it works well for the task. I wouldn't try to use it for much of anything else though.

I think this may help your sluggish Screen sharing on a "headless" Mac mini.

http://www.tristanbettany.com/2013/06/17/slow-screen-sharing-in-osx-vnc-performance-issues/

Owc also sells a dongle, at least for display port.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer+Technology/CBLMDPHEAD/

 

[aartoodeetoo]

Ok - thanks team. I think I'll give it a miss - I already use a seagate NAS as a media server of sorts, so there doesn't seem much point in duplicating that!

Thanks for your replies!

 

[jamesdmc]

I think this may help your sluggish Screen sharing on a "headless" Mac mini.

http://www.tristanbettany.com/2013/06/17/slow-screen-sharing-in-osx-vnc-performance-issues/

Owc also sells a dongle, at least for display port.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer+Technology/CBLMDPHEAD/

Interesting. I didn't know that about the graphics driver shutting down on headless macs. Besides, the 2007 mini only has a DVI connector, not mini display. In the end, it doesn't matter, because...well...I'm looking for a reason to get another mini and this is my excuse!