Mac mini
- Thread starter bookem
- Start date
I will somewhat disagree with symphonix's thoughts about it being usable as a gaming machine. Maybe as an afterthought or for older games or the casual gamer, but the last thing I would call the Mac Mini is a gaming box. Any cheap PC with a decent graphics card would probably crush the Mac mini much as I hate to say it.
That's not to say it doesn't have great value. It absolutely does, including the other things symphonix mentioned.
This Mac mini has the wonderful magic of being so cool that many people seem to want one, who really don't even need one. Like me. It's price point is so reasonable that people are fabricating uses just for the heck of it. I'm thinking centralized family computer and music controller.
Can't wait for the day when they have a high end pro version of the Mac mini. As it is right now, it's almost as good as my 1 GHZ dual G4 tower, which is a space hog and noise machine. Still holding out for that 3 GHZ G5
That's not to say it doesn't have great value. It absolutely does, including the other things symphonix mentioned.
This Mac mini has the wonderful magic of being so cool that many people seem to want one, who really don't even need one. Like me. It's price point is so reasonable that people are fabricating uses just for the heck of it. I'm thinking centralized family computer and music controller.
Can't wait for the day when they have a high end pro version of the Mac mini. As it is right now, it's almost as good as my 1 GHZ dual G4 tower, which is a space hog and noise machine. Still holding out for that 3 GHZ G5
Ceroc Addict
Registered
:rofl:brianleahy said:
And that Chinese basketball player (he was the one actually using the 12" PB).
My image of how this would work:
Mini me and basket ball player get back to their respective homes after the plane trip (wheeling in luggage at the front door).
Mini me sits down to his G5 with 30" cinema display.
Basketball player sits down to his Mac mini (with a 20" display?)
Kap
brianleahy said:
I hear he's busy running around naked on The Surreal Life.
Ceroc Addict
Registered
Interesting realisation:
A Mac mini is a great way to split up your Mac G5 purchase.
i.e. You want to get a G5 + 23" Cinema Display, but you can't afford both.
But you can get a Mac mini + 23" Cinema Display and hold off on the G5 for a while, which is what I'm currently considering.
Kap
A Mac mini is a great way to split up your Mac G5 purchase.
i.e. You want to get a G5 + 23" Cinema Display, but you can't afford both.
But you can get a Mac mini + 23" Cinema Display and hold off on the G5 for a while, which is what I'm currently considering.
Kap
Oscar Castillo
Registered
chadwick said:
Never buy RAM from Apple. Unless they dropped RAM prices to match other online stores.
andychrist
devil's plaything
Actually in the case of a 512 MB Mac mini upgrade it pays to get it pre-installed from Apple for just an extra $75. It's the one gig Apple upgrade that will really kill you-- $425!!!
Prices still seems a bit high in Belgium, 519 Euros. That makes for 679 USD. Hmm, not too convinced on the fairness of that (I got the latest conversion 1 EUR = 1.31014 USD from xe.com).
Edit: Oh, in case somebody's wondering, I'm one of the people that voted flop. The lack of a decent video card makes this machine useless. No S-Video Out either. Inability to replace any kind of card and the lack of PCI/AGP slots make this box a total flop for me. I've always bought Powermacs next to Powerbooks cause the Powerbook will just get less powerful given time. The Powermac can be upgraded (for now I have upgraded the CPU, the GCard, the RAM, the HDs, 3 PCI-cards (I use ImageWriters, SCSI-scanner and a second Network card). If you want something small and low-powered, get an iBook for a bit more. If you want something decent, get a Powermac. Imho.
I figured I would buy this box as a DVD player then again I figured I already used my Powerbook for it so ...
Edit: Oh, in case somebody's wondering, I'm one of the people that voted flop. The lack of a decent video card makes this machine useless. No S-Video Out either. Inability to replace any kind of card and the lack of PCI/AGP slots make this box a total flop for me. I've always bought Powermacs next to Powerbooks cause the Powerbook will just get less powerful given time. The Powermac can be upgraded (for now I have upgraded the CPU, the GCard, the RAM, the HDs, 3 PCI-cards (I use ImageWriters, SCSI-scanner and a second Network card). If you want something small and low-powered, get an iBook for a bit more. If you want something decent, get a Powermac. Imho.
I figured I would buy this box as a DVD player then again I figured I already used my Powerbook for it so ...
Or a more extensive answer...
Imagine you buy a Mac mini now. Say the 1.42 GHz model. You also buy a decent display and keyboard and mouse. When the machine gets 'slow', as you're putting it, you can simply replace the Mac mini (and give the old one to family, friends or a buyer...) with a newer one, which'll still be cheap enough. With the iMac, for example, you can't. And the iMac isn't sooooooo much more powerful, you see. At least not over time. And much more expensive to replace, since you'll have to also get a new display.
The PowerMac's not the right comparison, you see, since it's more powerful, more upgradeable and more expensive. You get more, but you also pay more. However: The mini _will_ probably eat into the iMac's market for the reasons in the second paragraph.
Imagine you buy a Mac mini now. Say the 1.42 GHz model. You also buy a decent display and keyboard and mouse. When the machine gets 'slow', as you're putting it, you can simply replace the Mac mini (and give the old one to family, friends or a buyer...) with a newer one, which'll still be cheap enough. With the iMac, for example, you can't. And the iMac isn't sooooooo much more powerful, you see. At least not over time. And much more expensive to replace, since you'll have to also get a new display.
The PowerMac's not the right comparison, you see, since it's more powerful, more upgradeable and more expensive. You get more, but you also pay more. However: The mini _will_ probably eat into the iMac's market for the reasons in the second paragraph.
fryke said:
Very true, but I for one don't see the point of buying 3 Mac Mini's where one G5 would suffice, and even give you over double the amount of power. Given the complicated architecture of the Mini I doubt we'll be seeing upgrades fast enough for this to work. And at what price would you sell your old one when the new one is also 500 USD ...
For users who don't need a lot of power, this machine is great, especially if you find the new iMac design too bulky and want a cheap machine with a seperate screen.
Come to think of it I might buy one and sell it after 2 months for 2/3 the price. Which will mean I rented the machine for 2 months at 300 dollars
.fryke said:
In the long term, buying one G5 is as expensive as buying a 3 Minis, roughly. And after 3 Minis the G5 will most likely still be the more powerful one. Comparison seems valid since, in the long range, you pay the same, and get less of a machine. All you do is try to close the gap but the Powermac will stay more powerful. Not even to mention you can upgrade the G5 to make it even more powerful, for less money than a Mini.
Edit:
Randman said:
For me, it most definitely is. I'm not saying it won't be a success though, if you want an overpriced design miniserver with a slow HD to stick behind a closet, this is what you want.
symphonix
Scratch & Sniff Committee
anerki said:
First of all, there is an S-Video out adapter for the Mac Mini (its the same one used for the DVI ports on PowerMac and PowerBook.
Secondly, a few people have commented that the video card is not "decent". At the same time, its graphic set is comparable to the graphic set of the PS2 and better than the graphic chip used in the XBox, both of which are considered by thousands of buyers around the world to be "decent" machines.
As for AGP or PCI, who do you think will buy the Mac mini? Game clanners, creative professionals, power users and so on are all going to look at higher-end computers. This is for that part of the market that actually wants to get something useful and powerful for a very small price.
I think USB and Firewire add-ons offer enough expansion options in this day and age. If you need multiple audio inputs, surround sound or anything like that you'd get it as an external component, making it easier and cheaper to fit them onto other machines later on. With PCI components, there is a pretty good chance that these will not be supported by your next machine, and will simply be money wasted.
Just adding PCI and AGP slots would double the size of the machine and triple the cost, and would only be an advantage to maybe 5% of the users for whom this was designed. Enough said.
Ah, didn't know that, I always assumed it wasn't compatible, ADC connection being something of the odd one among connections, and that a S-Video was something special in the way data was transported. I have an S-Video on my Powerbook, so I don't have that adapter ...symphonix said:
You call the graphics on a PS2 or an XBox decent? Compare them to any PC/Mac with a decent graphics card and I can assure you the graphics are seriously lacking.
There are no non-power users in Belgium who use Mac. Or close to none. Contrary to perhaps the US, market share of Apple in Belgium is pathetic. I've been able to subvert all of my close friends to Macintosh just by showing them how my Powerbook is, after over 2 years of service. Still, all those users know what a Mac is and does, and most use it semi-professionally (Final Cut Pro and the likes mostly). One of the reasons for this is that there is no (none, nada) Apple advertisment in Belgium. No, not even for the iPod (tho that sells like chocolate).
Very true.
Yes, and the fact that there's one store in Ghent (that sells Apple), thought a lot that sell iPods. And that only this one store sells Apple software, and a pathetic, truly pathetic selection at that shows how big the market is for that.
Of course then again I had to wait 3 months for my Powerbook to arrive just because I wanted a QWERTY keyboard (shows how good support here is too, at least was).
Of course then again I had to wait 3 months for my Powerbook to arrive just because I wanted a QWERTY keyboard (shows how good support here is too, at least was).