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

[Artful Dodger]

My local Apple Store claims they'll have them on the 3rd. If so, there's a good chance I'll have one on the 3rd. 80%, say. Still deciding solo vs duo.

I'd really like to add one to my living room for DVD viewing and couch surfing, and I'll likely have it serve up my home web stuff and files as well. The integrated graphics don't bother me. My Intellimac, PowerMac, and PowerBook can handle that sort of stuff just fine already.


Ditto.

I am, however, curious to see how it performs with the "slower" Core chips... the 3.6GHz Pentium in the DTK was pretty slick.

My girlfriend is thinking about getting the Core Duo and selling her iBook as this would serve her very well. She could get a nice 17" lcd of her choice and all the extras that her iBook doesn't have without it breaking the bank Of course I'd love to take it for a run from time to time, just to make sure it's doing it's job (surfing, listening to iTunes, using Word)

 

[ChrisFromCanada]

Dual 1.66 here CTO 1GB.

Ordered from Canadian Apple Online Store. Estimated ship - March 3. It was March 2 but then I re-orderd to go for the extra RAM.


1,000 Posts!!!!!

 

[xterm]

I ordered my core duo mini from the Australian store at 10:08AM, got a shipment notification at 2:50PM, not bad!

Would it be shipping from China, or from an Australian Warehouse?

 

[coot]

Hi,

Just ordered a duo with 512Mb and will pick up some more memory later on.
Have an iMac G5 at work, a matching one in the home office and think the mini will work well at home to watch some media on the DLP goggle box.

Also handy for running some slideshows ( I do a bit of photography ) and web access for the familly.

The upgrade to iLife '06 ( have '05 on the other two ) is handy too.

All in all looking forward to it.

Hopefully shipping tomorrow so might get lucky and have it by the weekend....

Cheers,

Pete.

 

[BWhaler]

I bought the Duo with 120gig HD and 2gig memory.

It's for my wife, and she is going to love it. While I agree about the integrated graphics, my wife will never notice nor care. She'll just know how fast iLife is now and how much she can get done.

 

[tjwett]

I bought the Duo with 120gig HD and 2gig memory.

It's for my wife, and she is going to love it. While I agree about the integrated graphics, my wife will never notice nor care. She'll just know how fast iLife is now and how much she can get done.

awesome gift. and here we were just talking about how girls always get our hand-me-down computers. way to make us look bad.

 

[tjwett]

I ordered my core duo mini from the Australian store at 10:08AM, got a shipment notification at 2:50PM, not bad!

Would it be shipping from China, or from an Australian Warehouse?

damn i ordered right after the event and mine still hasn't shipped. did you get it all stock or did you add any CTO options? i think mine is taking so long because of the extra RAM i added.

 

[MacTruck]

I don't know about the mac min intel version. I mean whats the point? I already have a slow mac mini PPC why get another slow intel mac mini? Its an entry level (crappy) machine after all and the whole point is that its supposed to be cheap but when it hits $800 then I'm like "meh". Now had it had a DVR capability with a tv card I'd a left my house running without my pants on to get one but then itunes wouldn't make as much money if people could record shows.

Thank GOD for eyeTV!

 

[bevo]

after much debate with myself, I decided to plunk down the cash for a intel core solo

this will be my first mac since I was forced to sell my ibook g3 500 a few years ago for school.

I'm not thrilled about the integrated graphics gpu, but in the end I dont think it would be anyworse than the ati 9200 gpu which didn't even support all of the os x graphics features.

because of the higher cost, I was forced to delay upgrading the ram on it.
I would have prefered a version without the bluetooth and wireless standard. I dont have a need for those, so I'm buying this *upgrade* for no reason. But its the way of things to come.


So I'm going with the default core solo mini and when I can afford a ram upgrade, I'll go at least 1 gig. More if the chips are cheaper then. Looking at newegg for ram, seems there aren't alot of DDR2 SO-DIMMs that run at pc5300?

so the market is no where close to what I would expect. Hopefully with the introduction of these minis and other computers, the manufacturing and cost of these chips will drop some.

est ship date of march 1, delivery by march 8th (prob a bit sooner if it was like the last thing I bought).

*update* just checked my order status on apple.com, it had a tracking # available there. I haven't received an email yet. So when I clicked track the package, fedex had a delivery notification of this friday! 2 day shipping? I only got the free ground shipping...

 

[tjwett]

I don't know about the mac min intel version. I mean whats the point? I already have a slow mac mini PPC why get another slow intel mac mini? Its an entry level (crappy) machine after all and the whole point is that its supposed to be cheap but when it hits $800 then I'm like "meh". Now had it had a DVR capability with a tv card I'd a left my house running without my pants on to get one but then itunes wouldn't make as much money if people could record shows.

Thank GOD for eyeTV!

i don't know if id call it slow. especially in comparison to the PPC mini. it's got a 667mhz system bus, compared to 167mhz on the PPC version. and the Intel Core processor is arguably a more modern and advanced chip that the G4. the ability to add 2 GB of RAM ain't bad either. yes, it has shared graphics. and that's all anyone knows since no one has tried one yet.

 

[MacTruck]

i don't know if id call it slow. especially in comparison to the PPC mini. it's got a 667mhz system bus, compared to 167mhz on the PPC version. and the Intel Core processor is arguably a more modern and advanced chip that the G4. the ability to add 2 GB of RAM ain't bad either. yes, it has shared graphics. and that's all anyone knows since no one has tried one yet.

I am willing to bet you won't be impressed despite what you will post. These are meant to be slow, speed is in the desktops and notebooks, nothing else.

I have a loaded PPC mini and a PPC laptop. Specs are very close. Powerbook spanks the living hell out of the mini ten times over. WHY? Its the same architecture, I don't get it. Yeah the hd is slower and the graphics card sucks and the processors are 250mhz diff but to spank it as bad as it does is insane.

Mini = engineered to be slow as crap. But for $499 not bad.

By the way, I have used many computers with shared graphics before. You are in for a let down.

 

[DougTheImpaler]

ahh, how well we treat our ladies. i do the same thing. something new out? well, i can always give the old one to the girlfriend! nothing says i love you like hand-me-downs.

I did the same thing with my wife, and she LOVES her Mac. No matter what, the handmedown is still faster than the previous handmedown, right?

 

[tjwett]

I am willing to bet you won't be impressed despite what you will post. These are meant to be slow, speed is in the desktops and notebooks, nothing else.

I have a loaded PPC mini and a PPC laptop. Specs are very close. Powerbook spanks the living hell out of the mini ten times over. WHY? Its the same architecture, I don't get it. Yeah the hd is slower and the graphics card sucks and the processors are 250mhz diff but to spank it as bad as it does is insane.

Mini = engineered to be slow as crap. But for $499 not bad.

i'll be impressed if it does what it is intended to do; iLife and OS X. and i will post whatever i see. just because i bought one doesn't mean i need to fudge the results to justify my purchase. i am a Mac consultant for a living and i need to know if i can recommend stuff to clients.

 

[TBi]

<snip>

I don't give a flying rat's arse about the integrated graphics malarky, this is not a gaming machine, it's for people to type documents, surf the internet do email and watch movies on.
<snip>

I do give a flying rat's arse. I have a nice big 20" screen, apple wireless keyboard and a nice mouse that i could set up the Mini with. I don't expect anything major from the entry mini but the higher end one could have at least had the option for something better. I'm not looking for something awe inspiring, just something that is faster than integrated and nearly everything is.

I'd rather not have to get an iMac since i already have a screen although with DVI out i could hook my dell up to a 17" iMac and get all the benefits including dual screen.

I have a G4 mini though and i absolutely love the form factor and size and the new one would have been perfect with a better graphics card. I'd have happily paid for it.

 

[admanimal]

I am willing to bet you won't be impressed despite what you will post. These are meant to be slow, speed is in the desktops and notebooks, nothing else.

I have a loaded PPC mini and a PPC laptop. Specs are very close. Powerbook spanks the living hell out of the mini ten times over. WHY? Its the same architecture, I don't get it. Yeah the hd is slower and the graphics card sucks and the processors are 250mhz diff but to spank it as bad as it does is insane.

Mini = engineered to be slow as crap. But for $499 not bad.

By the way, I have used many computers with shared graphics before. You are in for a let down.

Actually, your Mini and powerbook's architectures are NOT the same. The G4 Mini I believe had a 167 MHz system bus, whereas the PB has a 667 MHz bus. This does actually make a difference performance-wise when everything else is equal (or as you pointed out, when the mini also has a slower HD and graphics.) The Intel Mini now does have a 667 MHz bus and supports DDR RAM, which is going to put it closer to if not beyond your PB (that will depend on the graphics and HD).

 

[Artful Dodger]

tjwett

i'll be impressed if it does what it is intended to do; iLife and OS X. and i will post whatever i see. just because i bought one doesn't mean i need to fudge the results to justify my purchase. i am a Mac consultant for a living and i need to know if i can recommend stuff to clients.

I'll be waiting for your feedback on the Mac Mini, as stated before my gf really would like one and doesn't need super graphics for her stuff but something better than her G4 would be nice After using my 20" Intel iMac she really likes the larger screen, a 17" lcd would be great for her and would fit just right in her roll top desk along with the Mini

 

[Diatribe]

The questions are the following:

1. Will a Core Solo be enough to run 1080p decently?
2. Will the graphics card be enough to run 1080p decently?
2. Does EyeTV rely more on the processor or on the graphics card and will it be enough to run it smoothly at full screen?

If those three answers are yes, I retract my statement regarding the integrated graphics. Although it would have been nice to play the occasional game on it. But I realize that this is not the target market.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

The questions are the following:

1. Will a Core Solo be enough to run 1080p decently?
2. Will the graphics card be enough to run 1080p decently?
2. Does EyeTV rely more on the processor or on the graphics card and will it be enough to run it smoothly at full screen?

If those three answers are yes, I retract my statement regarding the integrated graphics. Although it would have been nice to play the occasional game on it. But I realize that this is not the target market.

1. Probably not without stuttering. The core Duo should do without a problem unless Microsoft are better at writing software than Apple.
2. I don't think even the X1600 currently supports hardware accelerated decoding for 1080p so this isn't really a factor. As long as the card supports 2d acceleration it should all simply be down to the processor.
3. Processor. Unless for some crazy reason it uses 3d acceleration. 2D acceleration stagnated years ago. This is CPU stuff now.

My P-M 1700Mhz Dell 8600 can run 1080p. It does stutter though and isn't completely smooth. That's a 3 year old processor two generations older than the Core Solo/Duos. If the Core Duo can't run 1080p smoothly then Apple need to get out of the software industry and leave it to Microsoft. The Core Solo *might* be able to run 1080p smoothly with a serious amount of optimisation but this leaves to be seen.

 

[munkees]

Actually, your Mini and powerbook's architectures are NOT the same. The G4 Mini I believe had a 167 MHz system bus, whereas the PB has a 667 MHz bus. This does actually make a difference performance-wise when everything else is equal (or as you pointed out, when the mini also has a slower HD and graphics.) The Intel Mini now does have a 667 MHz bus and supports DDR RAM, which is going to put it closer to if not beyond your PB (that will depend on the graphics and HD).

Both the PPC mini and the PPC PowerBooks have 167Mhz bus Both CPU have 512K L2 cache

I believe that the Mac Intel Mini will be great as long as you have more than 1GB ram, that means the shared memory will be running at 667Mhz for both GPU and CPU, this is great, I believe much faster than the prior GPU buses in the older models. Plus both the 1.5 Solo and the 1.67 Dual cores have 2MB cache this make though put performance even better.

See my proposed network, I have most of the items but buy summer It shall be complete. The Mac mini fills a spot in my house, with front row, eyetv HD, it's a good family machine. I will replace my aging no FLAT tv 21" with a 24" HD TV, in the future, i will replace the mini, with another much more powerful, and the LCD, and retire these to be a server (like 3 years from the time I buy it) I can get a 24" about $400, which specs very well.

With stream video from with iTunes I can now watch my iTune videos from a central server (one of my iMacs, which I have 2 external drives on the back, one for media, one for backup). All computer in the house can play and watch videos, and that is great.

http://www.planetresearch.com/Network Layout.html

 

[admanimal]

Both the PPC mini and the PPC PowerBooks have 167Mhz bus Both CPU have 512K L2 cache

Whoops...you're right.

In other news, my Mini shipped this morning via FedEx ground, and it is due for delivery tomorrow. I am in Connecticut, so it must be shipping from somewhere in the northeast, which means Apple had these distributed around the country probably prior to the announcement.

 

[tjwett]

...In other news, my Mini shipped this morning via FedEx ground, and it is due for delivery tomorrow. I am in Connecticut, so it must be shipping from somewhere in the northeast, which means Apple had these distributed around the country probably prior to the announcement.

damn, i'm in NY and i ordered minutes after the event and mine still hasn't shipped. did you get the stock config? i added RAM, i wonder if that is what's holding it up.

 

[MacTruck]

Actually, your Mini and powerbook's architectures are NOT the same. The G4 Mini I believe had a 167 MHz system bus, whereas the PB has a 667 MHz bus. This does actually make a difference performance-wise when everything else is equal (or as you pointed out, when the mini also has a slower HD and graphics.) The Intel Mini now does have a 667 MHz bus and supports DDR RAM, which is going to put it closer to if not beyond your PB (that will depend on the graphics and HD).

Wrong.

 

[risc]

I'd like one but not with the current graphics configuration. I need something powerful enough to power a HDTV and this isn't it. Hopefully the Rev B includes REAL support for HD. The stuff like networked Front Row is absolutely great, if it has networked EyeTV support even better, but like I said until it has a graphics solution that has enough power to do HD I'll wait.

 

[MacSA]

Whoops...you're right.

In other news, my Mini shipped this morning via FedEx ground, and it is due for delivery tomorrow. I am in Connecticut, so it must be shipping from somewhere in the northeast, which means Apple had these distributed around the country probably prior to the announcement.

You'll have to tell us all about it when it arrives.

 

[jsw]

Got it...

I am now sitting here, looking at the box for the mini duo I just bought at the local Apple Store.

Part of me wants to leave it unopened, wait for reviews, and maybe return it.

Part of me wants to open it, takes some geek-porn pics, and use it.

Damn.