Official "I Ordered an Intel Mac Mini" Thread...

[tjwett]

What are people getting Mac Minis for. I have thought about this a lot and can't see any advantage of the thing.
Is it just for poor people who want a mac and have a beat up ugly old monitor and grubby keyboard to attach to it?

advantage over what? mine's running my business at the moment, making me a decent amount of money too. running FileMaker Pro Advanced, BBEdit, Daylite, Script Debugger, iLife. i've also been using GarageBand quite a bit while i wait for Ableton Live and SoundTrack Pro to become Universal. this machine is fast. and it's hooked up to an Apple Cinema Display with Apple keyboard and Mighty Mouse. i don't really understand your point. it's a computer. what would you expect people to be using it for?

 

[raster]

advantage over what? mine's running my business at the moment, making me a decent amount of money too. running FileMaker Pro Advanced, BBEdit, Daylite, Script Debugger, iLife. i've also been using GarageBand quite a bit while i wait for Ableton Live and SoundTrack Pro to become Universal. this machine is fast. and it's hooked up to an Apple Cinema Display with Apple keyboard and Mighty Mouse. i don't really understand your point. it's a computer. what would you expect people to be using it for?

OK, I see.I understand its a fine computer. I guess my question had to do with what you get for 7or8 hundred dollars.
You still need to add all keyboard and mouse.
An iMac is more powerful and is all inclusive. But if you already have the monitor etc. it makes since to get the mini if it has what you need.

 

[miniConvert]

OK, I see.I understand its a fine computer. I guess my question had to do with what you get for 7or8 hundred dollars.
You still need to add all keyboard and mouse.
An iMac is more powerful and is all inclusive. But if you already have the monitor etc. it makes since to get the mini if it has what you need.

1) The Mac mini has a tiny, sexy form factor.
2) I don't like converged monitor/computer setups.
3) It's my first Mac, I'm not going to throw thousands at a PowerMac right off the bat.
4) It has just enough power to be an affordable multimedia hub, with everything I need and nothing more.
5) I bought a brand new kb/mouse/monitor to go with mine - but if I were to end up getting a PowerMac then I could reuse them and just swap out the mini. Though I probably wouldn't, because as I mentioned the mini is just too tempting as a media hub.

There are probably more reasons why people are buying the mini's. If you think it's popular because it's a poor mans Mac then, even if there is some truth to it, you're largely mistaken.

 

[DeathChill]

I'll be ordering my Core Solo Mini once I can sell my G4 Mac Mini (1.42 GHz), but I can't sell it until I can get 100 posts so I can post about it.

 

[iflipper]

What are people getting Mac Minis for. I have thought about this a lot and can't see any advantage of the thing.
Is it just for poor people who want a mac and have a beat up ugly old monitor and grubby keyboard to attach to it?

Already have a monitor, keyboard etc and don't have enough cash to afford an imac. Mine is here! hurrah! and my hubby told me it needs to warm up before I switch it on cos it was so cold when it came through the door. Waaah!

 

[iflipper]

Already have a monitor, keyboard etc and don't have enough cash to afford an imac. Mine is here! hurrah! and my hubby told me it needs to warm up before I switch it on cos it was so cold when it came through the door. Waaah!

Switched on, updates installed, synced with my ibook, now I guess I use it! No obvious problems with the wireless either

 

[liketom]

Ok, so you do your computing from your sofa etc... or is it a hi end DVD player and picture viewer.
I'm not joking, just wondered how they are being used.

it's my media center my proper Mac is upstairs (dual 1.8 G5 3gb ram yadda yadda)

so the mini is just there for ripping my DVD's and playing them back in Front Row

and a dam fine job it is doing as well

 

[liketom]

I'll be ordering my Core Solo Mini once I can sell my G4 Mac Mini (1.42 GHz), but I can't sell it until I can get 100 posts so I can post about it.

At 0.23 posts per day , it might take you some time like 200 days or so

stick it on ebay and have done with it

 

[Arcus]

What are people getting Mac Minis for. I have thought about this a lot and can't see any advantage of the thing.
Is it just for poor people who want a mac and have a beat up ugly old monitor and grubby keyboard to attach to it?

Why is everything that is on the lower end of a price range for poor people?

I suppose you buy the $12.00 tube of toothpaste? I mean, whats the point of buying Crest?

 

[Protoplasm]

My Core Duo arrived last Friday, just as Spanky's and liketom's... it sounds like we're all very happy with our purchases!

The only piece of advice I'd offer up is that I don't think the 512mb cuts it if you plan to use it as a desktop machine (which I am). It's fine until you've got a few apps open at once but after that you lose some responsiveness. Personally I can't wait til my extra memory (I went for 2gb) arrives as I have no problem with opening it up (though, yes, I might cry if my putty knife leaves even the barest of scratches). For those who want a mini as a desktop machine... others might disagree but I say, "get a gig!"

@raster: I was a Windows user, and can't escape from being such, as my day job requires me to own one, but I wanted a desktop mac after "testing the water" with a Powerbook G4 and deciding that the grass really was greener on the other side.

I have a 17" TFT that I want to upgrade but, if I'm gonna go for an upgrade, I don't want anything that's not HD ready, and that rules out the 20" iMac. While while I can pass on my current monitor when it reaches its end of life, I couldn't pass on an iMac monitor, as I'd lose the good stuff that went with it.

Plus, whenever I decide my mini starts to flag too much when running the latest applications I can just downgrade it to mini-server status. It's small and quiet and will handle all I'll likely want it to do (Apache, PHP, rarely more than one concurrent connection etc.) Another area the iMac isn't suited to.

I'm not a rich man, not by any stretch, but like many here it's not just about what I can afford, it's about what is right for my setup when everything's taken into account. If an iMac is for you, that's great, but it's not for everyone.

For me it was always going to be between a Mac Mini and a Powermac (or Pro Mac, or whatever the hell they'll call them) but the Mini wins on price and timeline.

 

[Hugh]

Core Dual or Core Solo?

Okay I had (sold it week ago) G4 QuickSilver upgraded to 1.2Mhz with GeForce MX 2 32mb.

I'm looking at the Mini CoreSolo because that's what I can afford at the moment. How much speed lose will I see by getting the Solo vs Dual?

I do very limited video editing, mostly web,email,watching video files (non-HD) and a few games.

Games: C&C, Warcraft III, EliteForce 2, Video Game Emulator (MAME), StarCraft, Unreal.

All these games ran fine on my G4, so I would think they would run fine on the CoreSolo?

Oh and how bad is World of Warcraft on the Mini Solo? I am thinking about buying it.

Hugh

 

[DeathChill]

At 0.23 posts per day , it might take you some time like 200 days or so

stick it on ebay and have done with it

eBay is a pain to use. I don't have a credit card so registering doesn't work out all that well.

I'm trying to get my posts up, but if anyone wants to help out with selling I'd love it o.o

 

[nepatsfan1@mac.]

I recieved mine yesterday. It shipped from China on Saturday and got here on Monday. That's fast service via Fedex. I have no had much time to fool around with it, but I was able to install PPC drivers for my M-Audio MobilePre USB and it worked. I love Front Row, but Garageband still takes forever to load, but is much faster and I can have more than 5 tracks without it being sluggish. BTW I ordered the Core Duo with 1gb of Ram. I am so far happy with my purchase.

 

[tjwett]

I recieved mine yesterday. It shipped from China on Saturday and got here on Monday. That's fast service via Fedex. I have no had much time to fool around with it, but I was able to install PPC drivers for my M-Audio MobilePre USB and it worked. I love Front Row, but Garageband still takes forever to load, but is much faster and I can have more than 5 tracks without it being sluggish. BTW I ordered the Core Duo with 1gb of Ram. I am so far happy with my purchase.

i've got the same machine as you. the GarageBand performance i'm seeing is really impressive. i've had over 30 tracks going at once with 40% cpu usage. have you done any recording with your soundcard and the PPC driver yet? i see m-audio has beta drivers for the Intels out.

 

[nepatsfan1@mac.]

i've got the same machine as you. the GarageBand performance i'm seeing is really impressive. i've had over 30 tracks going at once with 40% cpu usage. have you done any recording with your soundcard and the PPC driver yet? i see m-audio has beta drivers for the Intels out.

I have just done a few scratch tracks through the mobile-pre and I get no lag from the device, unlike my old imac G4 800 FP.

 

[miniConvert]

It came! I woke up this morning, wondered downstairs and checked my order status. As I rubbed my eyes I noticed the status had been updated to "Out for delivery" (thanks for the heads-up Apple...). Surely enough, I looked out the window and there was the UPS van.

Unwrapping it all was fantastic. I'm not going to post my pictures of opening it up because I think you should wait to see it for yourself But here, at long last, is my setup (see attached).

WoW works, and it's ok, but it's not too smooth at times. I think this is due to the 23" HD ACD the mini is driving which, to be fair, is asking a lot from an Intel graphics chip. 1080p HD also plays ok, but again isn't too smooth every now and then. (Core Duo 2GB RAM).

Now, the CD drive - thats the only thing I'm not too happy with. The noise! Damn, I don't know what they've done, but it's far louder than my friends G4. Will see how it goes - I didn't notice it when I was watching a DVD so I guess it doesn't really matter.

Anyway, I've got to go and push the MENU button on my Front Row remote a few more times... the animation is beautiful, I challenge anyone not to go "WOW!" when they see it for the first time.

Note: Sorry about the quality of the picture... I'm not very good with iPhoto yet!

 

[tjwett]

I have just done a few scratch tracks through the mobile-pre and I get no lag from the device, unlike my old imac G4 800 FP.

good to know. i'm looking at the Presonus stuff but i'm getting desperate, maybe go with m-audio since they seem to be rolling out the Universals before everyone else.

 

[nepatsfan1@mac.]

good to know. i'm looking at the Presonus stuff but i'm getting desperate, maybe go with m-audio since they seem to be rolling out the Universals before everyone else.

I would really like to get a Mark of the Unicorn 828mkII, but I do not have the money for that. I am still amazed the PPC driver worked on the Intel platform. The only thing that does not work is the the pref's pane. I am still loving my Mini

 

[DeathChill]

I would really like to get a Mark of the Unicorn 828mkII, but I do not have the money for that. I am still amazed the PPC driver worked on the Intel platform. The only thing that does not work is the the pref's pane. I am still loving my Mini

Uh PowerPC drivers do NOT work for Intel stuff. Obviously the driver he downloaded was a Universal one as PowerPC drivers do not work at all with Rosetta as that deals with hardware level stuff.

 

[dr_lha]

What are people getting Mac Minis for. I have thought about this a lot and can't see any advantage of the thing.
Is it just for poor people who want a mac and have a beat up ugly old monitor and grubby keyboard to attach to it?

Not sure why buying a "cheap" (mine cost $700, so not that cheap) computer is for poor people? The reason I ordered one is that I wanted a test machine for the Intel switch, my work is going to move to Macs later 2006, so it will all be Intel and I want to make sure that all our software can be ported to Intel OK.

I already have a very nice widescreen 20" LCD and Apple Keyboard that I'm using with my Powerbook when I need a big screen at home, so the mini will be the great attached that that setup.

My guess is that when my work buys me a MacBook Pro later in the year, I will most likely stick the mini under the TV where it can be a media/file server.

Given the way I use computers (mostly laptops), an iMac doesn't make sense to for me, but the mini is a perfect home computer for me.

Well hopefully anyway, its still on its way!

 

[nepatsfan1@mac.]

Uh PowerPC drivers do NOT work for Intel stuff. Obviously the driver he downloaded was a Universal one as PowerPC drivers do not work at all with Rosetta as that deals with hardware level stuff.

The driver I downloaded was not universal. The driver description was Mac OS 10.4.4 PowerPc. Obviously you are wrong!!

 

[miniConvert]

Mac mini Core Duo No.2 officially ordered! Ship date expected to be 5th (ahem, way more than 6 days Apple), delivery 7th. Here's to better luck this time around, and hopefully finally joining the Mac community for longer than 2 days.

 

[NatronB]

MacMini and DVI, TOSLink, et al.

I ordered my mini (Core Solo, 1 GB RAM) last week and it ships out on Thursday (delivery on the 6th).

In preparing for its arrival I thought I should probably do a few things. First off, I think I'm going to need a DVI cable. I also think I need an optical audio cable and an optical "splitter" (my receiver only has one optical in).

Will this result in a degraded signal quality (it shouldn't, should it?)?

Lastly, is there any maintenance I should do to my PB G4 Rev. A? How should I transfer my files, iTunes library, etc...?

Thanks,

-N

 

[dr_lha]

Don't know about the TOSLINK stuff, but as for transferring files, you can use the Migration Assistant to transfer anything you need, the only requirement is that you have a firewire cable that allows you to hook the mini and the PB together.

It works great, I did it with my 12" PB to Mini Core Solo over the weekend.

 

[NatronB]

one last thing....

Thanks for the help, one last question...

I bought a MicroNet Mini Mate external hard drive/ hub. Should I run OS X off this guy? It's a 7200 RPM drive, but I suppose the limiting factor could be the Firewire bus.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

-N