Apple Mini

adsl3g

adsl3g

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Hi, I would like your thoughts on the Apple mini with the Core Duo Intel chip. I am considering it as my first Apple PC - I am not going to get rid of my Intel PC or Laptop but thought this would look nice next to my LCD Panel in the lounge to pipe iTunes music through the hi fi as well as surf the internet on a 40 inch LCD.

Also, just to get an idea of the speed of the Core Duo 1.66Ghz (noted it's not the Core 2 Duo) how does it match up to a P4 HT 3Ghz with 1024 cache. I did get hold of a comparison chart and it appears to be a bit faster?? (the Apple).:eek:

Comments and advice will be appreciated.
 
adsl3g said:
Hi, I would like your thoughts on the Apple mini with the Core Duo Intel chip. I am considering it as my first Apple PC - I am not going to get rid of my Intel PC or Laptop but thought this would look nice next to my LCD Panel in the lounge to pipe iTunes music through the hi fi as well as surf the internet on a 40 inch LCD.

Also, just to get an idea of the speed of the Core Duo 1.66Ghz (noted it's not the Core 2 Duo) how does it match up to a P4 HT 3Ghz with 1024 cache. I did get hold of a comparison chart and it appears to be a bit faster?? (the Apple).:eek:

Comments and advice will be appreciated.
Click to expand...
I'm getting mine in the next couple of weeks so I'll wait until then to formulate an opinion. I'm going to have mine attached to my plasma in the tv room with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse and I'm putting in 2gb of ram just for the sake of it. I've currently got an ancient powerbook fulfilling the same functions and as old as it is it works great. I'm also planning on dropping in a Core 2 Duo in the next year or so if needs be.
 
I have the Mac Mini G4, and I am constantly impressed by the performance. And the new Intel Mac Mini is even faster.
Add in OSX, and you have some great reasons to get it
 
bwana v.18 said:
I'm getting mine in the next couple of weeks so I'll wait until then to formulate an opinion. I'm going to have mine attached to my plasma in the tv room with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse and I'm putting in 2gb of ram just for the sake of it. I've currently got an ancient powerbook fulfilling the same functions and as old as it is it works great. I'm also planning on dropping in a Core 2 Duo in the next year or so if needs be.
Click to expand...

My idea precisly - just a question, those wireless mouses for windows with the USB dongle, do they work on a Mac (mini) - I already have a b/tooth k/board for my Nokia so that should work. (it works on the Pocket PC and my laptop)
 
adsl3g said:
My idea precisly - just a question, those wireless mouses for windows with the USB dongle, do they work on a Mac (mini) - I already have a b/tooth k/board for my Nokia so that should work. (it works on the Pocket PC and my laptop)
Click to expand...
Not sure if it will work - what model is it?

Got to say I'm loving the wireless mighty mouse.
 
Busy putting the mini thru its paces... will let y'all know how it goes once its had a day or two to crunch thru some setiboinc data... can see right off the bat that I'm gonna have to crank up the RAM to 2Gb from the piddling 512Mb.
 
bwana v.18 : I have the wired mighty mouse. It really is amazing, but the wire is starting to bug me. Is it worth the price to get the wireless version, or should I just wait until it out?
 
bwana v.18 said:
Not sure if it will work - what model is it?

Got to say I'm loving the wireless mighty mouse.
Click to expand...

Its the Logitech mini cordless - I see from the website it will work with MAC so thats settled :) ... must phone look and listen to see what they price the Mac mini for today still.
 
JStrike said:
bwana v.18 : I have the wired mighty mouse. It really is amazing, but the wire is starting to bug me. Is it worth the price to get the wireless version, or should I just wait until it out?
Click to expand...
Never had the wired one so I dont really have a basis for comparison. The main difference to me would be it is laser and not optical like the wired model - that and the lack of a tail. :)

Range is good and you can use it with either one or two batteries in the bay - its up to you. I like it heavier so use both.
 
User experience report

Okay, so I've had the 1.83 intel mac mini for a couple of nights now, and here are some of first impressions for those of you that care:cool:

Setup: stock 1.83 mini, wireless apple keyboard, wireless might mouse, Samsung 400P LCD via DVI, Yamaha 800 sound bar...

Graphics are great... native resolution is fine for viewing purposes from about 3.5m away, no eye-strain on the forum and web text.
Ripped DVD's via front row are surprisingly good. I rip to max 640 pixels wide... same res as the apple store and its very close to the same quality as the dvd... 720p hd video will look amazing.

Niggle... with a optical cable linking the mini audio out to the 5.1 sound bar amp you loose the ability to control system volume using the keyboard controls. THis may be peculiar to the yamaha, but its a pain... you gotta use the amp remote to change volume:(

512 RAM is not enough... all macs hould ship with min. 1GB standard... I'll be upgrading this little box to 2GB the first chance I get.

Airport: range and signal is excellent... full signal even through closed doors. Minor stuttering on streaming video playback that can be attributed to the router taking strain. Bluetooth works as if the devices were tethered.

Potential irritant is the fan noise... significantly louder than the G4 mini, fan seems to be running all the time:( . Sounds like about 25-27db, but not as loud as the crickets outside the window... barely noticeable during movie playback.... perceptable during movies when at full tilt, sounds like about 29-31db?

Windows in a parallels VM installed first time no problems. Full screen performance was passable, but extra ram is going to be needed if you going to load lots of apps in OS X and MS at the same time.

Speed increase over the G4 1.5 mac mini feels like about 2x, performance feels about 0.8-0.9x the MBP 2.16 15" based on setiboinc and dvd ripping performance.

Overall: Definite buy. You can't go wrong with this box as a multi-media unit if you don't care to wait for the iTV. 4.5 out of 5
 
Thanks for the review. :)

I've got a mini waiting to come over and have already ordered the additional ram. Surprised to hear about the fan noise though.
 
Thanks for the review also - sounds good, does the Mac mini take normal stock ram - I assume its normal laptop memory.
Will be pricing them this week but I suppose the best price is going to be ZASTORE.
 
RAM for almost all the intel macs is 200 pin ddr2 667 PC2 5300 sodimms (notebook ram). The spec is on the apple page.

ZASTORE is usually not the cheapest for RAM... I found some at digital planet, though I don't buy from them any longer, and this site which I have no experience of.

Make sure you are explicit when talking to the sales people since most of them will say yeah we've got it and promplty order the desktop memory sticks.:)

The usual disclaimers apply.
 
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