What do you think of MacMinis?

Perseus · #1 February 14th, 2006, 04:07 PM

Since I cannot afford a laptop or desktop, and need a new mac, I think a macmini would be best for me right now. Does it hold up? Are there frequent technical problems? Does it travel easy without damage?

But most importantly: will Apple continue to support MacMinis?

Lt Major Burns · #2 February 14th, 2006, 04:39 PM

the mac mini will be supported for about 4-5 years, which is plenty of time. there are no major technical faults known about these machines, and they are, by all accounts, very good little computers. not the fasted on the block, but they do everything that a high-end powermac will do, just slower, really. internet, msn, word processing, email, iLife, all run quite happily without problem. well worth it for the money.

andyhargreaves · #3 February 14th, 2006, 04:55 PM

Mine's excellent. The iWork and iLife packages work fantastically, as does MS Office (if you're that way inclined!). I've used some pro apps too, but clearly they're not so fast as a dual G5 PowerMac or something.

Most limiting factor for me is RAM. I got 512Mb, and Activity Monitor shows a maximum of 33% free at any time. I've got Firefox, Pages, iTunes and Adium going at the moment, and the RAM is just about maxed out. A good chunk is 'inactive', though, so we haven't ground to a halt yet.

I've only moved my mini a few times, but it's handled the journey really well. It integrated into my work network when I took it in a couple of times (only to show off, I must admit!), and it survived a house (and ISP) move with no difficulties. It is deceptively heavy though - remember all those components densely packed into the little box!

I've had mine over a year, pretty much since they launched, and I'm really impressed. It's only ever crashed (completely frozen and become unresponsive) twice at the absolute most in that time, and that's probably because I've being trying to install some open source stuff and struggling with dependencies and other vaguaries. I've also reinstalled the OS once, but only to upgrade to Tiger! Compare those stats to any Windows machine....

Andy

**fryke** · #4 February 14th, 2006, 05:07 PM

What they _won't_ do, or at least it seems that way to me, is support the highend software Apple will sell in, say, two years. If Aperture is any sign, it looks as if Apple will more clearly aim their professional software at users of their professional hardware, i.e. you need a decent graphics card for Aperture. iBooks, the Mac mini and the eMac lack that, for example. The question really is what you intend to do with it. What the Lt. and andy said works really well on a Mac mini. No problems. Give it enough RAM, and you're set.

Perseus · #5 February 14th, 2006, 08:21 PM

Thanks for the info! I am thinking this will be a transitional computer for me (I am a design student; currently have a 5 yr old graphite G4 desktop) until I have the dough for a laptop..and I figure by then the Intel machines should be fine.

fjdouse · #6 February 15th, 2006, 05:51 AM

I love my mini, people make it out to be slow and lacking a bit, not for me. I love it, I'm able to listen to music while working in Lightwave 3D, I run big apps simultaneously. The only issue I have is it has 512MB which means the spinning ball makes an appearance from time-to-time when switching between big apps (like After Effects, Final Cut, Soundtrack, Photoshop etc.), that would be sorted with 1GB of RAM, also an external USB2.0 hard disk is critical for me.

I did think of it as a 'transition' machine, but now I'm settled on it, I've an upgrade path clear in my mind: 1GB RAM, a 200+GB USB HD, an external DVD writer, all of which I'll pace over the next year or so. When I physically cannot run applications anymore, THEN I think I'll switch to Intel (unless circumstances change and my partner leases some Macs via the company). If companies make software which purposefully shuts me out, then **** em, basically. I'll use an alternative, it's not an issue at all.

It's a great computer, the best I've ever had and I come from a Solaris SPARC and Linux/BSD PC background. It has opened a whole new world for me in terms of creativity, making music (me? making music??), rendering movies and graphics.. (me??? making graphics??????) it blows my mind every day, it's a miracle in a box and a real joy to own. I can't give objective results but I can tell you this, I can rip a CD in iTunes like lightning, compared to my partner's Athlon 64 bla bla PC box, good enough for me.

It's been on virtually constantly since we got it early last year, only sleeping when not in use, never had any problems, it's completely reliable and trustworthy.

I love it, really. :-)

Canada-Man · #7 March 2nd, 2006, 05:41 PM

Which one is the best? These prices are in canadian currency and I have the student rebates.

With no options: iMac (intel) $1399
Mac Mini (intel) $680

Sounds much cheaper, but the iMac is faster (1.5 GHz Mac Mini and 1.83 GHz iMac), already has an LCD 17" monitor, 160 GB HD compared with 60 GB for the mini, an Apple keyboard/mouse, and the iMac comes with a SuperDrive to burn DVDs.

With options:

iMac (intel) $1735 -> That is only for 2 GB of RAM. The $55 modem was not selected.

Mac mini (intel) $1395 -> 2 GB RAM, 120 GB HD, wired keyboard & mouse, SuperDrive. Note that the USB modem costs $59 when you buy the Mac Mini. It's the same thing though!

So basically, if you want the cheapest computer, and do not care much about speed, RAM, hard drive space, and you already have a keyboard, a mouse, a monitor, the Mac mini will make you save some money ($719 in this case, basic). If you select options, the difference will melt. For a slower, less efficient computer, there was a difference of only $340, and you still have to get a monitor.

The Mac Mini is a pretty good computer, but if you want it more powerful, it's won't cost you a lot more to buy an iMac.

It's kinda like buying a Chevrolet Cobalt for $12,000 and putting all the options so that it will cost you $20,000, or buy a Chevrolet Malibu that will be as equipped as the Cobalt, and will better, for the same price. If you want to make a small machine like a big machine, it'll cost you more than buying the big one in the first place.

**fryke** · #8 March 2nd, 2006, 10:31 PM

I guess it really depends on how short-sighted one is or how much hardware a person's already got...

If you already _have_ a USB-keyboard and mouse as well as a display, I'd certainly go with the highend Mac mini right now, if I were in for a desktop Mac.

The iMac makes sense _only_ if you intend to not upgrade the CPU for 3 or 4 years. Because if you want to do it earlier, you'll have to either buy another iMac, then, since you can't really keep the TFT for another computer, or buy a complete desktop along with a monitor.

Since you'll _eventually_ buy external FW harddrives anyway, I'd start with the Mac mini right away and buy such a drive to use as the _main_ drive. (Faster than the internal.) There are nice ones which double as a FW/USB hub and fit right under the Mac mini.