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What do you guys think of the Mac Mini (Late 2009)

K

Kobe24Life

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 15, 2010
19
0
I just got one yesterday, what do you guys think about it?

Specs 2gb ram
2.26GHz prcessor


It it really that bad at gaming?


How is it compared to the imac?
 
You are supposed to ask that question before you buy it!

A better question now is what do *you* think of it.
 
talmy said:
You are supposed to ask that question before you buy it!

A better question now is what do *you* think of it.
Click to expand...

Well I haven't found a good game to play on it yet.


I just want opinions of people who know better than I do.
 
from Gizmodo...

Mac Mini

Apple's no-frills desktop just got a spec increase and added a server model in late October. It shouldn't be getting any more updates any time soon, which is a shame, because it's still not a very competitive product for the price. Check out the Acer AspireRevo R3610 as a more than viable alternative. Recommendation: DON'T BUY unless you insist on Apple, even when it flies in the face of all logic
 
TBH, I wish Apple would do a lot more with the Mac mini. It's a shame that the fastest one is only 2.66Ghz Core 2 Duo and 4GB ram is the max and no options for a better GPU with dedicated memory. A Mac mini is a nice option for someone that wants to do basic computing on a nice large flat screen but it's just not enough Mac for the rest of us. This is the one area I certainly wish Apple would do more in for the customer, not just the way they want it.
 
I found Halflife 2 (o.k it's a few years old) ran fine on bootcamp/xp. It could do with a bit of a speed/processor/disk bump, but i'm happy with mine. Works fine with Photoshop and Lightroom so that's my apps covered :)
 
HLdan said:
TBH, I wish Apple would do a lot more with the Mac mini. It's a shame that the fastest one is only 2.66Ghz Core 2 Duo and 4GB ram is the max and no options for a better GPU with dedicated memory. A Mac mini is a nice option for someone that wants to do basic computing on a nice large flat screen but it's just not enough Mac for the rest of us. This is the one area I certainly wish Apple would do more in for the customer, not just the way they want it.
Click to expand...

4GB RAM is the "stated" max....they'll support more....google around.
 
If you're a hard-core gamer, you made the wrong choice.

If you are anyone else, you have a nice, quiet, highly-useful machine.

I'm on my third mini, I think they're great.

A.
 
...you might want to take it back and get the mid model = $799 gets you a faster CPU, 4GB RAM and a 320GB HDD...

With RAM pricing on the rise and HDD's pricing not falling that much any more right now = apples upgraded price is basically what you'd pay to DIY and you aren't risking breaking anything preforming the upgrades to your "base model"...its all also covered under applecare if you get the extended warranty...
 
I use mine with plex for a htpc

I use my mini with my 50 inch plasma and it makes an awesome htpc.

It plays all my bluray rips at 1080p.

I control it all with my harmony remote. It even sleeps the mini when I switch activities on the remote.
 
archipellago said:
Check out the Acer
Click to expand...
Stopped reading right there.

Mini isn't really what you want for major gaming though, no. I'm getting one largely due to the fact that the latest Macbook has taught me that LED screens make my head explode, but the specs are just fine for pretty much everything I'd want to do anyway. Can only really afford the base model, but it's still a step up from a bunch of 1.6Ghz-ish Duo laptops with comparable graphics cards and fans like a launching aircraft that choke at the mere thought of a 1080p video.
 
Gizmodo said:
Mac Mini

Apple's no-frills desktop just got a spec increase and added a server model in late October. It shouldn't be getting any more updates any time soon, which is a shame, because it's still not a very competitive product for the price. Check out the Acer AspireRevo R3610 as a more than viable alternative. Recommendation: DON'T BUY unless you insist on Apple, even when it flies in the face of all logic
Click to expand...

I own both a Mac Mini and an Acer Aspire Revo R3610 and I can tell everyone that the Mini is a massively better performer than the Revo. The Revo has a weedy little 1.6ghz Atom chip and can barely handle playing back flash files, even with the beta 10.1 flash that has hardware acceleration it still struggles every so often.

I have no idea where they get this 'more than viable alternative' description from as the Mac Mini outperforms the Revo in every single task i've thrown at it.
 
JimKirk said:
I use my mini with my 50 inch plasma and it makes an awesome htpc.

It plays all my bluray rips at 1080p.

I control it all with my harmony remote. It even sleeps the mini when I switch activities on the remote.
Click to expand...

EXACTLY !!!!!!!!!

I have mine hooked up to a 40 inch Sony, and am using the DLNA hookup, just for fun, and I could not be happier. Got a Harmony One remote and life is good. I hooked up a 1TB WD drive to it as I was too lazy to open up the Mini and stick in a new HD but I might do this one day soon. Once the 1TB 2.5 prices come down just a bit it will be, "paging Dr. Mini". :)
 
I spent some time looking at various different options and I've just bought the middle-range Mac Mini to replace the six year old family PC. It's a decision I'm happy with. They don't play any recent games and the Windows ones they do play will work perfectly in a Parallels VM (I proved this using my laptop). My daughter plays Sims 3 and there's an OS X native version of that which again will work perfectly on the mini.
 
Yeah, I'm thinking of upgrading to 4GB of ram, would I notice a difference?


I'm downloading Bioshock demo right now, I hope I can play it.
 
Kobe24Life said:
Yeah, I'm thinking of upgrading to 4GB of ram, would I notice a difference?

I'm downloading Bioshock demo right now, I hope I can play it.
Click to expand...

If you are at all thinking of running Windows as a virtual machine under Parallels or VMware Fusion then you really want to consider 4GB of RAM. If you are going to use Bootcamp to boot directly into Windows, then it isn't as big of a deal. I'm still happy to have 4GB of RAM in mine even when I'm not using Fusion, but since I upgraded it right away I don't have a feel for what its speed would have been with only 1 GB of RAM (what they came with in early 2009). My old 2006 mini ran fine with 2 GB of RAM as long as I didn't use Fusion to do too much with a Windows virtual machine.
 
jzuena said:
If you are at all thinking of running Windows as a virtual machine under Parallels or VMware Fusion then you really want to consider 4GB of RAM. If you are going to use Bootcamp to boot directly into Windows, then it isn't as big of a deal. I'm still happy to have 4GB of RAM in mine even when I'm not using Fusion, but since I upgraded it right away I don't have a feel for what its speed would have been with only 1 GB of RAM (what they came with in early 2009). My old 2006 mini ran fine with 2 GB of RAM as long as I didn't use Fusion to do too much with a Windows virtual machine.
Click to expand...

Well I do play some games time to time, downloaded the warhammer demo, and the mini played it but really low FPS and choppy, starting to be really disappointed. I'm thinking of upgrading to 4GB, just don't know where I could get it and how much.
 
I moved up from a 10 yr. old G3, so to me it is awesome, but I do very little with a computer these days, some banking, surfing and buying online, send a few emails and store some photos so it is just right for me but if one is running a business, does spreadsheets or heavy File Maker use it may not be what your want, or maybe it will do all this with no problem I don't know and have no need to find out.
 
Kobe24Life said:
Well I do play some games time to time, downloaded the warhammer demo, and the mini played it but really low FPS and choppy, starting to be really disappointed. I'm thinking of upgrading to 4GB, just don't know where I could get it and how much.
Click to expand...

I don't believe adding more ram will improve your low FPS ... thats a video issue.

Got my 1st one new from Apple online last November and I like it ...

2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB memory - 1066MHz frontside bus
160GB hard drive1
8x double-layer SuperDrive
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics
Mac OS X Snow Leopard + iLife 09

In fact, I liked it so much I purchased a used one last weekend ...

1.83Ghz Core Duo
80GB Hard Drive
2GB Ram
Airport
Bluetooth
Superdrive
Intel GMA950

I took it apart and swapped out the hdd for a 320GB all is running well with SL and iLife 09.

I did discover however that whoever opened it up before me forgot to put the 4 M2 screws that hold it together inside ... Need to find where to get these screws.
 
mac mini

wicked bit of kit got the 663 pound model with 4gb ram and 320gb hard drive two days ago with the 24inch apple display amazing!! in my opinion the tiny size of the mac mini and the screen separate is just as nice as the imacs...
 
archipellago said:
Mac Mini

Apple's no-frills desktop just got a spec increase and added a server model in late October. It shouldn't be getting any more updates any time soon, which is a shame, because it's still not a very competitive product for the price. Check out the Acer AspireRevo R3610 as a more than viable alternative. Recommendation: DON'T BUY unless you insist on Apple, even when it flies in the face of all logic
Click to expand...

I do not find the specs , or features not competitive...
Basic Mac Mini and unibody Macbook ( both 2.26 GHz cpu, 1066 MHz frontside bus, 4 GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SO-DIMM max memory official or 8 GB third party such as OWC )

Middle Mac Mini specs 2.53 GHz optional 2.66 GHz same as 13", 15" Macbook Pro unless you order 2.8 GHz in 15" .

The way I see it is that a Mac Mini is basically same performance as most Macbooks but in desk top form...

Dan
 
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