Mac mini

Mac mini - top or flop?

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The eMac's graphics card is non-upgradable.

The Mac mini's memory being 'servicable at a service center' probably means users _can_ do it themselves. Some site out there will find the way to open the box cleanly, and then everything will be easy. Harddrive, memory, optical drive, AirPort card.

I'll get mine with BT/AirPort from Apple and add RAM and a bigger drive myself.
 
I've ordered a MacMini with 512mg RAM, basically I have a TiBook which is couple of years old and i do a lot of freelance illustration using Illustrator and Photoshop. Also use it for internet, mail, iLife so the MacMini is a perfect back up solution just in case. The processor is faster than my PowerBook and I think 512mg RAM will enough for my purposes. I have a 17" studio display and keyboard and mouse so this machine is spot on for me, thanks apple!
 
Zammy-Sam said:
Did anyone wonder if the Mac mini gonna support tigers 'Core Image'? Didn't this feature require at least 64mb graphic cards? It would be stupid to buy a Mac mini now and upgrade to tiger without the support of some nice features..
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Zammy, where did you get that 64 Mb minimum?, I can't find any reference to that. I got the impression from Apple's description that Core Image would actually make more efficient use of the GPU:


The Power of the GPU

Today’s video cards feature graphics processing units, or GPUs, that process an amazing amount of data — more than 6 billion pixels per second. This performance continues to grow at an amazing rate, doubling every six months.

Until now, harnessing the power of the GPU required in-depth knowledge of pixel-level programming. Core Image allows developers to easily leverage these programmable GPUs for blistering-fast image processing that can eliminate rendering time delays. Effects and transitions can be expressed with a few lines of code. Core Image handles the rest, optimizing the path to the GPU. The result is real-time, interactive responsiveness as you select and apply filters.

For computers without a programmable GPU, Core Image dynamically optimizes for the CPU, automatically tuning for Velocity Engine and multiple processors as appropriate.

From Core Image
 
Zammy's correct. The Mac mini, like the iBooks, won't be able to handle all of the eyecandy requirements for Tiger.
 
Theres a huge buzz about this on another forum I go to, a number of people are thinking of getting one of these and a KVM to use it along side their PC. I doubt it'll take long before they "switch".


Thinking about it, Apple should sell these with a KVM!
 
Randman said:
Zammy's correct. The Mac mini, like the iBooks, won't be able to handle all of the eyecandy requirements for Tiger.
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There used to be a list by the side of the Core Image features listing the supported GPUs. The Radeon 9200 wasn't on the list. However, now that they've removed that list, it makes me wonder if the Radeon 9200 is supported after all.

Reason for speculation? The Radeon 9200 is based on the RV280 core, which supports pixel shaders v1.4 and vertex shaders v1.1 (source). There's no reason other than marketing/politics that prevent the Radeon 8xxx (not the 7500) series and up from supporting Core Image.

Even if it isn't fully supported, all isn't lost. Stuff still will get emulated via Altivec if present (not so slow) or just by normal CPU instructions (very slow). We'll just have to wait and see. But I'm optimistic that the Radeon will be supported.

Update:
Found the list of supported video cards here. Looks like the list of cards are those that support pixel shader and vertex shaders v2.0 (these support more instructions and longer shader programs). Radeon 9200 may not be fully supported, but may still support some effects in hardware. The rest will be done by the CPU. This is reminiscent of the old Quartz vs Quartz Extreme issue.
 
its perfectly logical that the profit margins on iPod Shuffle are minimal.
its the only iPod that is cheaper than its competitors at the same range....

most 100dollar flash mp3 players come with 256 mb... of course they do have a screen....but i think the concept of shuffle and iTunes more than make up for it...

its only a shame this iPod wasnt released 6 months earlier...

but even now... i can see the iPod reaching 20 million shipments in 2005 :) :)
it would probably put the sonly walkman to shame :p probably will make its way into the Guiness Book of Records :p :p :p
 
what really impresses me is that for the first time in years... apple offers competitive prices in Europe as well :)

i will reward them :p
 
soulseek said:
what really impresses me is that for the first time in years... apple offers competitive prices in Europe as well :)

i will reward them :p
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Yeah, hardly worth thinking about importing one from the US or Asia.

All my colleagues are PC users, but they've all heard about the mini, and most are thinking about getting one because the prices are so good.
 
Thanks Viro, just found that list too.

Still get the impression that Core Image is more of a developer's tool than a must-have for certain graphic performance, like Open GL/Quartz Extreme, unless it is targeted mainly at gaming? In which case I can see why the mini wouldn't need to support it.
 
Not sure if this was covered before, but as soon as I saw the mini it reawakened my desire to have a little file server here at home, just for kicks. Seems like it would be the perfect little computer for such a thing - no? Maybe? On this same line, how would one run the mini "remotely" from my another Mac - I want to avoid getting another monitor/keyboard... and/or using monitor/keyboard switch boxes.
 
I know that! :) - just never ran a mac remotely before and don't know how it is done. I'll search or post on the sw forum.
 
karavite said:
Not sure if this was covered before, but as soon as I saw the mini it reawakened my desire to have a little file server here at home, just for kicks. Seems like it would be the perfect little computer for such a thing - no? Maybe? On this same line, how would one run the mini "remotely" from my another Mac - I want to avoid getting another monitor/keyboard... and/or using monitor/keyboard switch boxes.
Click to expand...


Would be the perfect Mac, but you'd have to look into Remote Desktop or something similar. I'd want one for exactly that, and another one for a media center type thing.
 
andychrist said:
Thanks Viro, just found that list too.

Still get the impression that Core Image is more of a developer's tool than a must-have for certain graphic performance, like Open GL/Quartz Extreme, unless it is targeted mainly at gaming? In which case I can see why the mini wouldn't need to support it.
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The min vid card use to be a Radeon 9600, but they have changed the Tiger pages around a lot since yesterday.

CoreVideo will be used by Quicktime 7 to do the live resizing and if you watched the keynote, you can see that they have changed how Quicktime goes to full screen. It live zooms the video to the full screen instead of fading black and then fading in the video.

All the effects in the Dashboard such as rotating widgets and the ripple effects are also going to require a good video card. That has more to do with Quartz 2D Extreme though I think.

So, someone get one, install Tiger and tell us if it all works! :D
 
My main reason for wanting the video to have 64MB of RAM would be for World of Warcraft ;) I play it now on my gaming PC, and surprisingly the frame rate there isn't too much more than my 12" iBook, but you can definitely tell when the video card is swapping in textures to its limited RAM space.

But that's okay; the PC will stay around for the games anyway. ;)
 
fryke said:
The eMac's graphics card is non-upgradable.

The Mac mini's memory being 'servicable at a service center' probably means users _can_ do it themselves. Some site out there will find the way to open the box cleanly, and then everything will be easy. Harddrive, memory, optical drive, AirPort card.

I'll get mine with BT/AirPort from Apple and add RAM and a bigger drive myself.
Click to expand...

Just foud this on MacInTouch:

The only significant issue we see so far is its use of a 2.5-inch hard drive, which limits disk performance to laptop levels, but a full analysis will take more time.
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One RAM slot and a 2.5" hard drive... so that's how they got it all to fit in that little box! It may be more pricey to upgrade the hard drive than we thought -- thank goodness for the firewire port!
 
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