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Seems pretty likely to me that there will be a minor mini upgrade quite soon, just so it doesn't become any more glaringly overpriced than it already has, but this will not satisfy the OP: Like many others, I expect C2Ds for sure, and probably some minor rearrangement of specs and prices to make it just a bit less of a ripoff, but nothing else until there's a major change in Apple's consumer-end headless plans. An earlier post correctly observed that the current minis (like most macs) were a good deal when they came out, but time moves on, stuff gets better, prices drop, and yesterday's great deal is todays white elephant...so it goes.
 
As said so many times before, the mac mini has its place. What you want is a headless iMac AKA:G4 Cube II this WILL NOT happen, or at leaqst no one ever knows what ol McSteve has in his bag of tricks.

The Cube is an old acquaintance which has not been forgot... ;-)
 
Photoshop ran like crap because the current version of Photoshop was only ever designed to run on PowerPC processors. Apple implemented an emulation layer that translates the PowerPC instructions from the application into Intel instructions for the system. All this translation to and from the hardware means there is a significant performance hit (less with more RAM) but in all fairness I think it's amazing something so complex as Photoshop or Office:mac can run at the speed they do on a system they were never designed for in the first place.

Adobe Creative Suite 3 and Office:mac 2008 will both be out this year and will be Universal binaries. Then you'll see just how much faster that Core Duo Mac mini is than the old G4 mini.

Where is an upgrade to 1GB of RAM on the apple.com online store that costs $300?

The Mac mini comes with 512MB (2x256MB) standard, to upgrade to 1GB (2x512MB) costs US$75 and to upgrade to 2GB (2x1GB) will cost $250 so yes you can save money by buying 2 of those $86 1GB sticks but then you have to open the case yourself and hope to hell that cheap RAM isn't "cheap" RAM.

Or you could buy just one 1GB stick and upgrade to 1.25GB - you'll lose dual-channel but the extra RAM would negate the extra system speed.
Yeah its $75 Dollars to 1Gb so i would get that. but i still think $250 Is to much for 2gb Because a little while ago they had Kingston Ram For 86$ (After Rebate) But of course Vista brought it back up so i guess 250 isnt so bad anymore (Still about 50$ Extra but worth it not to have to break into it.

My problem with the GMA was my relization that after it was all said and done i would Pay about $1200 (Superdrive Mini + 2Gigs + Wireles KeyBoard and Mouse + HD Enclosure for a 7200 RPM drive) So i had problems knowing that i would still have Integrated graphics..

Also i was just in a bad mood yesterday because i lost my ipod (It was under a CD Case) And was in a REAL bad mood (Why didnt i look where it would be obvious...)

Edit: Santa Rosa is looking Good. I just hope the x3000 Is ok. But it really doesnt bother me anymore.
 
The GMA 3000 isnt going to be much more then a slight step up from a Gma 950. Add the shaders and ability to use the new graphic capabilities but its still not going to match a real GPU. Those waiting for this next integrated graphics from Intel & Apple are going to be dissappointed if they think its going to vastly improve the graphic situation on Mini. Im talking 3d now not 2d that no one measures or cares about. Integrated graphics are what they are. A cheap way to run your display.
 
The GMA 3000 isnt going to be much more then a slight step up from a Gma 950. Add the shaders and ability to use the new graphic capabilities but its still not going to match a real GPU. Those waiting for this next integrated graphics from Intel & Apple are going to be dissappointed if they think its going to vastly improve the graphic situation on Mini. Im talking 3d now not 2d that no one measures or cares about. Integrated graphics are what they are. A cheap way to run your display.

I have no doubt it won't match dedicated graphics cards, but with the hardware T&L and significant speed boost, it should be a fair bit of an upgrade as far as gaming (considering the very, very low bar the 950 sets). It should certainly make WoW prettier and smoother. Yes, it's an older game, but the only one I care about. :D
 
My statement about the kustompcs forum was a straight 'oh look i recognise you' no malice intended, though gordys suspect response does make me wonder what he is hiding ;)

Gordy as for directing the user to Dell.....have you read the thread? The OP keeps going on about not wanting an iMac as he wants a Dell monitor! If you read my post i was not sending him to Dell! People reading a thread properly before posting would go down a treat on this forum.
 
My statement about the kustompcs forum was a straight 'oh look i recognise you' no malice intended, though gordys suspect response does make me wonder what he is hiding ;)

Gordy as for directing the user to Dell.....have you read the thread? The OP keeps going on about not wanting an iMac as he wants a Dell monitor! If you read my post i was not sending him to Dell! People reading a thread properly before posting would go down a treat on this forum.

If you would care to read the two people's post who I quoted re the dell links again you yourself might learn something...

Why bother posting something about me being a member on kustompcs as follows: "ohhhh look its Gordy from KustomPcs Forum....." If it was because you recognized me from their why not just say that?

And then you follow it with trying to make a point I have something to hide seriously whats the heck is your point?


Back on topic:

It's not just about 3d performance in games that require the better graphics in the mini. The 2d quality is no where near as good with the mini's graphics. Its no where near as clean or crisp as the say the x1600 in the macbook pro.
 
ohhhh look its Gordy from KustomPcs Forum.....
To the OP, i can't understand your issue with the iMac built in screen. As the owner of a 24" iMac which also powers a Dell 20" widescreen i can tell you now the Apple panel craps on the Dell. IMHO the iMac would be better for you than the Mini. If your that bothered about a Dell monitor get one of those as well!

Is that right? iMac screens must have improved greatly since I got my G5 (which of course is entirely possible). But there are good reasons for wanting to keep your CPU and screen separate, and the Dell does provide a few more features -- multiple inputs, PiP, USB ports... if you're into that sort of thing.
 
Has anyone really heard otherwise? Last I checked Santa Rosa was delayed from April to end of summer.

If that is the case it will still be interesting to see what Apple does since neither the iMac or Mini can wait that long for some sort of revision. Likewise it would be unrealistic that the MacBook goes that long too. However there really are no new chips or speeds available. Will Apple put 2.33 Meroms in the iMacs standard and bump the MacBook to 2.16 and 2.33s just to have a slight update as well as finally dropping 2.0 C2Ds into the Mini. The next five weeks will prove interesting. It is doubtful Apple will go through February by doing nothing more than shipping :apple:TV and the Airport Extreme. And I don't think an event to announce Leopard and iLife features and ship dates will do either. Something in the way of computer hardware has to be in the pipeline. Though MacPros are now the oldest and 8-core machines are virtually a lock. That could get Apple through to late March or early April before updating the consumer lines.

...then again, 8-core MacPros, iLife and Leopard, iPhone, and one more thing... the MacPro Jr. could let Apple skate by till a September Santa Rosa and November Penryns for the iMacs and notebooks!
 
If you would care to read the two people's post who I quoted re the dell links again you yourself might learn something...

Why bother posting something about me being a member on kustompcs as follows: "ohhhh look its Gordy from KustomPcs Forum....." If it was because you recognized me from their why not just say that?

And then you follow it with trying to make a point I have something to hide seriously whats the heck is your point?


Back on topic:

It's not just about 3d performance in games that require the better graphics in the mini. The 2d quality is no where near as good with the mini's graphics. Its no where near as clean or crisp as the say the x1600 in the macbook pro.

I did read them Gordy i also saw that they followed the OPs whine that he wanted a Dell monitor! So to be honest they had a point! Well at leat the first one did, didn't need a second link.

Why you getting so heated Gordy....both your responses have been snappy and rude! If you noticed there was a 'winky' emicon after my 'something to hide' comment it was a joke in reference to your previous snappy post.

So please feel free to spit my head out and hand it back....

Is that right? iMac screens must have improved greatly since I got my G5 (which of course is entirely possible). But there are good reasons for wanting to keep your CPU and screen separate, and the Dell does provide a few more features -- multiple inputs, PiP, USB ports... if you're into that sort of thing.

Well i think that is correct of the 24" iMac, i have used 17" G5s where i would say my Dell is better. Also at the end of the day my post was trying to say that the iMac has the hardware he wants and he can still output to a Dell monitor if he wants....even if the iMac screen croaked it.
 
Has anyone really heard otherwise? Last I checked Santa Rosa was delayed from April to end of summer.

Is that so? Hadn't heard. Got a link?

If so, that would be a shame... it is a long time to wait, both for me and for Apple. On the other hand, I don't need it to have too much more power... I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping that the next revision supports at least one type of high-def DVDs.
 
Is that so? Hadn't heard. Got a link?

If so, that would be a shame... it is a long time to wait, both for me and for Apple. On the other hand, I don't need it to have too much more power... I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping that the next revision supports at least one type of high-def DVDs.

link

Although we expected Intel to launch Santa Rosa by Q2 of this year, it appears that the new Centrino Pro platform will only be launched in the second half of this year. The launch date has been tentatively said to be around the middle of the second half, putting it around September or October 2007.

As of this moment, Intel has yet to decide the components that are necessary to qualify for the Centrino brand, but here are some juicy facts about the upcoming platform upgrade.

There may have been other articles but that is what I could find so far. It may or may not be reliable.
 

Agreed.
Im not pecific to having a dell monitor (Ive considered others)But i seriously dont wanna be stuck with the same monitor until i buy a new computor. Especially because if you saw CES videos you would know about the new Screen technology coming. 1,000,000:1 Contrast :drools:
I mean think about if you had a CRT Emac before LCD's Got big.Still stuck with that screen.I just dont want that.

Mayby i will just get a Macbook... (And a LCD)
 
Out of curiosity, other than games, do you have any other examples of OS X consumer programs that would fit your comment above?

AFAIK,

Coverflow in iTunes
All of OS X's core image eye-candy
HD movies from apple.com/trailers
(and even though not a consumer application) Photoshop

all run well enough on the mini/MacBooks integrated graphics.

And oddly enough, so does the Aero eye-candy feature of Vista, something that quite a few of dedicated Windows graphics cards can't pull off.
Are yous sure about CoverFlow in iTunes leveraging the GPU? I have an iBook G3/500mhz and CoverFlow in iTunes works for me. OK, it's a little slow, but it does work (unlike the ripple effect, etc.).

Or maybe I misunderstood your post.

ft
 
While I disagree with some of the original post, I think you guys piled on a bit much.

More ram? Definitely needs it, apple shouldn't ship any machine with 512. Max of 4 gigs (if not more) would be nice as well.

DVD burner? Absolutely, they're dirt cheap. At least make it a $50 option on the cheaper model.

The mini also needs at least one config with C2D. Faster, and apps and OS are starting to go 64 bit.

And what about faster wifi? The mini is the only mac without N wifi right now, by not upgrading it they're going to shut out many potential AppleTV buyers (like myself - I'd love one, but not without a faster wireless on my computer).

Keyboard/mouse? Silly complaint, buy generic and get dirt cheap ones.

GPU? Don't need it, the mini isn't a gaming machine and it has zero effect on things like photoshop.

Overall, the mini is a great box, but the current rev is long in the tooth, I'd totally wait for the next update.


That said, where are the cheap PC's that are supposed to be better bang for the buck than the mini? I was pricing lately, and couldn't find any CD or C2D machines that were competitive with the mini. Any suggestions?
 
While I disagree with some of the original post, I think you guys piled on a bit much.

More ram? Definitely needs it, apple shouldn't ship any machine with 512. Max of 4 gigs (if not more) would be nice as well.

DVD burner? Absolutely, they're dirt cheap. At least make it a $50 option on the cheaper model.

The mini also needs at least one config with C2D. Faster, and apps and OS are starting to go 64 bit.

And what about faster wifi? The mini is the only mac without N wifi right now, by not upgrading it they're going to shut out many potential AppleTV buyers (like myself - I'd love one, but not without a faster wireless on my computer).

Keyboard/mouse? Silly complaint, buy generic and get dirt cheap ones.

GPU? Don't need it, the mini isn't a gaming machine and it has zero effect on things like photoshop.

Overall, the mini is a great box, but the current rev is long in the tooth, I'd totally wait for the next update.


That said, where are the cheap PC's that are supposed to be better bang for the buck than the mini? I was pricing lately, and couldn't find any CD or C2D machines that were competitive with the mini. Any suggestions?
I also agree with you. more ram would be awesome and no modern machine should be without Dvd Burning. The price difference is like 6$.
I guess i could get Generic mice but i like apples keyboard. soso about the mouse (2nd button is kinda flaky..)But mice are so cheap these days it should just be included. Definately not 80Bucks..
Also you can get a Dvd burner for less than 50 bucks these days(Local Target Sells Externals for 80..)
 
More ram? Definitely needs it, apple shouldn't ship any machine with 512. Max of 4 gigs (if not more) would be nice as well.

That has nothing to do with Apple. The Intel motherboard cannot address more than 3GB of RAM. Until Santa Rosa or some other mobile chipset is available that can deal with that much RAM, only the Mac Pro will have that option. And I don't know any notebook out there that has more than two RAM slots anyway.

You can't put a desktop solution in the Mini or the iMac with those form factors and control the heat that a desktop CPU produces.
 
Are yous sure about CoverFlow in iTunes leveraging the GPU? I have an iBook G3/500mhz and CoverFlow in iTunes works for me.
Actually, it was the OP who made the statement that CoverFlow in iTunes for Windows leverages the GPU, and lags on machines. I was just commenting that even with on-board graphics, the mini and MacBook don't have any problem with it. At least not my mini or MacBook.

Overall, the mini is a great box, but the current rev is long in the tooth, I'd totally wait for the next update.
Same here. That's when I'd expect to see the 802.11n and perhaps 1GB RAM standard on the more expensive one.

But i seriously dont wanna be stuck with the same monitor until i buy a new computor. Especially because if you saw CES videos you would know about the new Screen technology coming. 1,000,000:1 Contrast :drools:
I mean think about if you had a CRT Emac before LCD's Got big.Still stuck with that screen.I just dont want that.

Mayby i will just get a Macbook... (And a LCD)
Respectfully, if you're upset about the price of the mini and the Apple mouse, by the time the new screen technology you saw at CES is in your price range, whatever mini or MacBook that you bought today will be very outdated.
 
Respectfully, if you're upset about the price of the mini and the Apple mouse, by the time the new screen technology you saw at CES is in your price range, whatever mini or MacBook that you bought today will be very outdated.
Not really. Another upside to it is that its cheaper to make then LCD.
The price doesnt bothe me too much its just it overall.(All the little stuff added up.. 80$ Mice 512Ram (gotta upgrade), How hard it is to upgrade., Combo Drive even being availible, GMA_950 , Core Duo (not C2D) , Ect.
I just think its time for a update.
 
I guess i could get Generic mice but i like apples keyboard. soso about the mouse (2nd button is kinda flaky..)But mice are so cheap these days it should just be included. Definately not 80Bucks..

The apple keyboard is $29. You can get a nice optical for dirt cheap, if apple was going to include a free mouse they'd probably make it a cheap one you wouldn't want anyway. Just go to the store and pick out the mouse you want. Even with apple keyboard, you can get keyboard and mouse for way less than 80 bucks.

That has nothing to do with Apple. The Intel motherboard cannot address more than 3GB of RAM. Until Santa Rosa or some other mobile chipset is available that can deal with that much RAM, only the Mac Pro will have that option. And I don't know any notebook out there that has more than two RAM slots anyway.

You can't put a desktop solution in the Mini or the iMac with those form factors and control the heat that a desktop CPU produces.

Then they should at least get it up to 3 gigs. And they need to push intel for chipsets that support more. Aren't there other windows laptops that support more than 3 gigs of ram?
 
Then they should at least get it up to 3 gigs. And they need to push intel for chipsets that support more. Aren't there other windows laptops that support more than 3 gigs of ram?

Who is Apple to push Intel? We all know Apple buys millions upon millions of processor like Dell.... NOT.

Name a PC laptop that supports more than 3 gb of ram?
 
Who is Apple to push Intel? We all know Apple buys millions upon millions of processor like Dell.... NOT.

Name a PC laptop that supports more than 3 gb of ram?

Dell XPS. And since that's a C2D machine, I guess apple doesn't need to push anyone, they just need to use the better chipset in the minis AND in the laptops. 3 gigs is ok, but 4+ would be better.
 
Dell XPS. And since that's a C2D machine, I guess apple doesn't need to push anyone, they just need to use the better chipset in the minis AND in the laptops. 3 gigs is ok, but 4+ would be better.
Looks pretty affordable to get one of the 12" XPS with 4GB of memory. LOL
 

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Looks pretty affordable to get one of the 12" XPS with 4GB of memory. LOL

There are people who need it and can afford it. Expensive is better than impossible. Not to mention that ram prices drop, it would be nice to put in 2 now and upgrade to 4 in the future when it's cheaper.
 
There are people who need it and can afford it. Expensive is better than impossible. Not to mention that ram prices drop, it would be nice to put in 2 now and upgrade to 4 in the future when it's cheaper.
Oh, I totally agree.

Speaking of being able to afford what's needed, I just thought it was funny to see a $1600 memory upgrade mentioned in a thread where the OP was upset that the $600 mini couldn't burn DVDs. :D
 
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