Thought on the mac mini

[Serqet]

What do you guys think of the mac mini?

Seems like a mean little machine and i can't see what the downside of buying one of these would be. Cheaper than the imac and macbook.


R10,999.00

2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB memory
320GB hard drive
8x double-layer SuperDrive
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics

 

[bwana]

Had mine for years. First of the intel models. Love it.

 

[Serqet]

Had any problems with it?

 

[Serqet]

Damn by the looks of things nobody seems much interested in buying a mac mini.

 

[ToxicBunny]

They're damned expensive for what they are..

Thats the only reason I haven't bought one, even though i REALLY want one.

 

[Serqet]

But if you compare it to the imac and macbook it's definitely cheaper.

Same specs aren't they?

 

[ToxicBunny]

Not quite... they're a LIL bit inferior i think

 

[koffiejunkie]

It's pretty much a MacBook rolled into a small desktop body. It's not quite comparable to the iMac though (slower hard drive, at least - 5400rpm vs 7200rpm, but that's replaceable if you're brave enough to crack open the case).

I had a first generation Mac Mini - G4 model. Loved it. I only sold it because it fell out of use when I got my MacBook and I needed a bigger screen. I'm planning to buy a new one again to use as a home theatre system. Nice little machines, and if you take the trouble to replace the disc with a 7200rpm model and upgrade the memory to the max, you won't have any performance issues, especially now that they have nVidia graphics.

 

[Serqet]

That's what i plan on doing. Definitely need to upgrade it so it can perform to the max. Wont be using a mac monitor but that's more for the 'look' than anything else.

 

[Ou grote]

You can get one for R7999, if you take a 120 gig drive.
And use the R3000 to get an external drive.
http://www.digicape.co.za/storeview.php?product_id=9&tem_id=1

20 inch iMac goes for R14999, I'd rather go with that myself.

 

[bwana]

You can get one for R7999, if you take a 120 gig drive.
And use the R3000 to get an external drive.
http://www.digicape.co.za/storeview.php?product_id=9&tem_id=1

20 inch iMac goes for R14999, I'd rather go with that myself.

Yeah - FW800 drives are plenty fast enough (although my older mini only has 400's and they're plenty fast too) - you can even boot off them.

 

[Ou grote]

Yeah - FW800 drives are plenty fast enough (although my older mini only has 400's and they're plenty fast too) - you can even boot off them.

Yup, I forgot to mention firewire.
The R3000 will get you one of those, VMware or parallels, and some extra ram if you want.
Pretty much all you'll need to buy.

 

[bwana]

VMware or parallels, and some extra ram if you want.
Pretty much all you'll need to buy.

I've scrapped parallels and replaced it with sun's virtualbox. Considering its free I don't know why anyone would pay for those other two.

 

[Ou grote]

I've scrapped parallels and replaced it with sun's virtualbox. Considering its free I don't know why anyone would pay for those other two.

Haven't used that yet, shall try tmrw.

 

[Serqet]

You can get one for R7999, if you take a 120 gig drive.
And use the R3000 to get an external drive.
http://www.digicape.co.za/storeview.php?product_id=9&tem_id=1

20 inch iMac goes for R14999, I'd rather go with that myself.

The only thing that bugs me about an Imac is that the entire system is contained within the screen. If you have any problems you are pretty much stuffed.

 

[Ou grote]

The only thing that bugs me about an Imac is that the entire system is contained within the screen. If you have any problems you are pretty much stuffed.

That's also one of the advantages.

I have the 24" one.
I did have the hard drive crash on me, and had to take it in for repairs.
I was without it for 2 days, wasn't too bad.

 

[Serqet]

2 days isn't too bad i guess.