Aperture & Mac Mini

Hi, I'm new to Mac and Aperture, at the moment I'm changing from Windows to all Mac. Space is important and the compact design of the Mac Mini looks good. I have a Macbook and want to use this with a desktop. My question is, will the latest Mac Mini run Aperture and if yes, how well does it perform.
Thanks in advance
Terry

It will run Aperture, but it's not the best machine for it. The Mac Mini has a cruddy graphics card, and Aperture likes a good graphics card.
If you're looking for a powerful machine with small footprint... maybe a 24" iMac? I mean, you'll always need a monitor

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I recently purchased a MacBook Pro. I would like to transfer Aperture from my Mac Mini to my new MP. How can I do this?

I recently purchased a MacBook Pro. I would like to transfer Aperture from my Mac Mini to my new MP. How can I do this?

Thanks, Sig. I think I should've been a little clearer. I've attempted to do the updates on my Mac, but I get a warning that it will erase everything except calenders, email, etc from the iPad. I've syned the iPad with the Mac with no problem, but get scary messages when I try to do the latest update.

I have Aperture 2 in CD and want to install it in new mac mini

Hi,
I have Aperture 2 in a CD which I installed in my old "white" mac book about 6 yeas ago.
I have now bought a new mac mini and I want to install Aperture again. Of course the new mac mini does not have a CD port.
Question is: how can I download Aperture 2 from the Store so that I enter the software serial number and buy the required upgrades on top of it.
thanks
ratoslibres

If it is new and is running Yosemite you cant run Aperture 2, it is not compatible and ill not run.
In addition Aperture 2 is not available anywhere as a download. If you what to run Aperture you will need to purchase Aperture 3 from the Mac App Store.
regards

Which Mac mini for home server, Aperture & HTPC

Hi,
I'm buying a Mac mini for:
- home / small business server
- Occasional HTPC usage (will be hooked to my TV via HDMI)
- Occasional Aperture / iPhoto usage (minimal iMovie)
Which one is most suitable for this?
I was planing to go for Server version (with bumped up RAM to 8GB), but now I read about video card and I'm not 100% anymore.
I will NOT use it for 3D - gaming or similar tasks!
Thak you all for help!
Vasja

I went for the non-server dual core i7 with AMD GPU and am very happy with it. Do quite a bit of Aperture work and it never misses a beat (so far). I'm not a fan of integrated Intel graphics and wouldn't trust it for HTPC duties.
I'm not sure how many/much of the 'server' functionality you're going to be using as it sounds more like file transfer and other tasks that could be accomplished through normal Lion.
Unless I'm missing something I assume the two hard drives in the Mini Server are just as much of a pain to replace as the one in the non-server Mini so I didn't see the point of having a two hard disc Mini.
For your requirements I would definitely look at how much of the server functionality you really need to utilise, and if the answer is 'not much' I'd recommend the i5 or i7 non-server Mini with AMD GPU and some sort of NAS, plus a sensible offsite backup plan for your data.

Moving from Aperture 2.14 on a laptop to Aperture 3 on a mac mini

I have Aperture 2.14 on my laptop (macbook pro) and recently bought a mac mini and Aperture 3. How can I move my photos with all of the image enhancements and information (ratings etc) to the new computer and new system?
Also, if I want to update Aperture 3 on the macbook pro do I have to buy Aperture 3 again for that computer?
Looking for advice,
Thanks
Lisa

Also, be aware, the upgrade from Aperture 2 to Aperture 3 requires a massive rearrangement of the Library and particularly your Master images. This is especially important if you have a Managed Library, as they will be totally rearranged. (In Aperture 3, the Thumb, Preview, and Master of a given image are in a single folder, in Aperture 3, all of the Thumbs are in one folder, Previews in another, and Masters in another.)
Remembering the blood bath of a few years ago, I strongly recommend performing the upgrade on a large, empty disk - one with at least twice as much free space as the size of your Library. Doesn't have to be that fast a disk, I used an external FW800, but depending on the size of your Library, you can expect the process to run for many hours. Best to let it run overnight. Doing this on a disk that does not have adequate free space is, at best slow and, at worst, likely to result in a crash.
After the upgrade, you may want to perform the "Bergsma Bash" and delete various cache and Pref files. This has greatly speeded up Aperture 3 performance for many of us.
Delete the following:
Hard Drive/Library/Caches
Hard Drive/System/Library/Caches
Hard Drive/Users/(Your user)/Library/Caches
Hard Drive/Users/(Your user)/Preferences/com.apple.aperture.plist
Reboot... It will take a little bit.
The upgrade is not hard, just be sure that your Aperture 2 installation works correctly and is fully backed up before you start.
Best wishes,
DiploStrat

Aperture and the new Mac Mini

I actually wonder if this new mac Mini could handle Aperture:
I currently have an iMac G5 2.1GHz and 128MB video card, with a firewire 400 external drive.
If I switch for the Mini with the 800 firewire connectivity and, say, the 256 MB shared graphics video , would I get an much better reactivity and speed ?

At the moment, the Aperture product page does not explicitly state that the software will run on the new mini with it's Nvidia integrated graphics system. It should, since while not highly recommended, it was capable of running on the Intel GMA950 of the prior model, but I think you'd need to check with the vendor (presumably Apple via phone or in-store) before purchase, just to be sure.
Assuming that it does run, you should find the system notably faster and more responsive than your current G5 iMac since the processor is a generation ahead in performance, and the system's bus speed etc are all faster. It would be wise to go for the highest RAM complement possible however, since that makes a considerable difference to operating speed as a whole.

Mac mini i5 good for aperture?

Is anybody using one of the new minis for aperture?
I currently have a 2.26 GHz C2D Mini (the last one with "cookie box" case) with 8GB RAM and a 7.2krpm HD and a 2.4 GHz MBP. Both run aperture3 o.k. but performance is not really snappy with 21 Megapixel RAWs. Would an upgrade to a new i5 mini be a real improvement? I recall something about aperture using the graphics card a lot for offloading and that with big Images you need a lot of VRAM. Are the 256 MB enough or do I need 512MB (which as far as I know is not possible in the mini). Unfortunately an iMac ist out of the question because I cannot stand glossy displays and I already have a 27" screen that ist better than the iMacs integrated screen.

I am using a Mac Mini to do all sorts of things in GB-2. I would recommend getting the 1.42Ghz model. I would also recommend the Firewire Solo as your input device. Because it is Firewire, it will not rob any of the valuable CPU resources.
Note also the the Mac Mini has a slow hard drive, but for two inputs, I doubt this will be a problem. Just be aware of it.

Aperture 1.1 on core duo mac mini...

Hi -
I'm wondering if anyone knows if the universal binary version of Aperture will run on the Core Duo mac mini with the Intel graphics chip...
Thanks,
Dan

Hi -
I'm wondering if anyone knows if the universal binary
version of Aperture will run on the Core Duo mac mini
with the Intel graphics chip...
I don't think it is supported, but some of us are going to try and see how it works. I'm not expecting much though as Aperture relies on the video card more than anything for performance, and the Mac mini video card is much weaker than the ones in the Macbook Pro or Intel iMac.

Mac mini and Aperture

Hi!
I would really like to work with RAW-files and Aperture, I have a Nikon d50 SLR.
Will my mac mini be able to handle Aperture? Will it run smooth?

Hi there Kickfoot
Notwithstanding the minimum specifications, my Mac mini does run "pro" level applications such as Adobe Photoshop CS2 and Final Cut Pro so there is a chance it will run Aperture - however it will NOT be a pleasant experience if my current system performance is anything to go by.
Working with PSD files with multiple layers and FCP rendering takes absolutely ages - you will get very accustomed to seeing the spinning beach ball!
If you can afford it you will need to stump up for a G5 and be wary of the graphics card requirements.
regards
Rafael

Do I upgrade my MacBook Pro, or get a Mac Mini?

Hello!
I'm am a University student (studying Graphics/Design).
At the moment, I have a MacBook Pro - although I bought it in April 2010, I believe it's the 2009 model? - The 13" 2.26Ghz, 2GB memory, and 160GB model.
The thing is, it's slow. I need to use bigger applications like Aperture - when I'm editing photos, I slide all the little sliders to how I want to edit the photo, yet it takes forever to show the changes on the photo which is no use.
Another thing, I work better on a desktop computer because of how I'm not looking down to look at the screen, and it's a much bigger, clearer screen! Like on the 21" iMacs at uni, in Photoshop, it's great because all the little windows/palettes you have open, you can just throw to one side of the screen, yet on a 13" screen, they're just annoying.
But the question is...
- Do I keep the MacBook Pro - upgrade it's memory, and get an external monitor/keyboard/mouse for it?
- Do I sell the MacBook Pro whilst I can get more money for it compared to if I sell it this time next year and get a Mac mini ?
I'm a first year Uni student and have never took my laptop into Uni at all.
It's just that some people are telling me to keep the MacBook because it's portable and if I needed to take it in to Uni, I could. Yet on the other hand, If I got a Mac mini, say I got around £600 for the Macbook, I'd have extra money after purchasing the Mini for a display etc, instead of losing out on money by buying an external monitor for the Macbook.
What do you think I should do? What's the more sensible option in terms of how long things will last and that?
Cheers!
P.S. Sorry for the essay of a question... and does anyone know how I can change my display name? I don't use that email anymore, but I'd rather it not be there!

What do you think I should do?
Get the Mac Pro.
The top-end iMac is a powerful machine by consumer and even professional standards, but a fully-upgraded Mac Pro is practically ostentatious in the amount of raw processing power it can wield. Professional consumers in areas like 3D rendering, video editing, and other extremely processor-intensive applications surely appreciate the much greater power the Mac Pro can afford them.
Customization:
The Mac Pro stomps the iMac in the customization department. Folding down the Mac Pro's side door gives you easy and almost instant access to its innards, and virtually every component is simple to swap out. Hard drives in particular are extraordinarily easy to swap in the Mac Pro.
Contrast that with the iMac, where the RAM is essentially the only user-serviceable component. Swapping out the hard drive on an iMac is a harrowing procedure that requires removing the entire front display -- not something you're going to want to do more than once, if ever.
I added cards to add more USB Ports, more FireWire Ports, Video inputs and a dual eSATA card.
I also like the 30 inch display.
(Sounding like Darth Vader.) "You don't know the POWER of the Mac Pro."

Mac Mini, Synology, Apple TV, iTunes - where to start

Hi Everyone,
I am new to the apple forum. To be honest I am new to the whole Apple thing, being a Windows bod I managed to resist the Apple gravy train for several years before giving in and falling inline.
Now I find myself with an iphone, ipod touch, ipad 2, mac mini and apple TV 4 although not all in use yet... This brings me to my question.
What is the best home setup for sharing?
let me set the scene.
3 years ago I modernised my house and put in cat5e structured cabling throughout, all back to a comm rack in the loft. at the time I set up a powerful quad core server. I used to run my own AD domain, Exchange server (don't ask). Now the server runs Windows 7 professional with 8 HDDs running raid 5 mainly running windows media centre and I was using my xbox 360s as extenders. The view was to use Xbox's around the house to access my media. Never quite got there and things have moved on again.
After running the big Windows beast 24x7 for about 18 months I wanted to scale down again, improve data resillience and provide a simple user interface for my other half.
So after doing some initial web trawling armed and dangerous with a very small amount of knowledge and realising that I already had an amount of Apple kit to contribute towards an iTunes based mulitroom solution. The red mist came down and with credit card in hand I did some retail therapy. Not the female handbag and shoes type but the proper male tech kind.
I already had
1 x ipod touch 64GB
1 x iphone 4 32GB
1 x ipad 2 64GB wifi
And to complement the set I now have;
1 x i5 2.7GHZ, 16GB RAM, 2TB HDD Mac mini (this is the latest version which I upgraded to 2 x 1TB internal drives)
1 x 4th gen apple TV
and non Apple kit
1 x Synology DS212+ with 8TB storage raid 0
1 x Onkyo TX-NR515 AV receiver
So now comes to the ask. How best to use all of this over my home wired network?
I'm thinking I will use iTunes, I want to have some form of data backup between the Synology and the Mac mini (I want to shut down my windows server)
I also want to be able to control it all from the ipad/ipod and push media (audio and video) around the house.
The mac mini is currently plugged into one of my TVs via the AV receiever and the thought was to use the apple TV in another room, and depending of how it goes buy another 1 or 2 for other rooms.
So I have all this kit and not sure where to start and I'm not a mac expert. I know I can't use the synology box on it's own as you need itunes for the apple TVs, I don't know whether to use the Synology or the local Mac storage for the primary itunes library and then to backup to the device is so how (time capsule thing).
I don't want itunes to organise my media as I don't like the way it shuffles files around, so thinking of keeping the media files in a folder structure I am familar with and pointing iTunes at that. I also have a large amount of video files that I will probably have to convert to be capatible with iTunes, but not sure of the best way to do this, if I need to at all.
Sorry for the long waffle. Would be interested in any views, suggestions, ideas or examples of your own set ups. In return, for what it is worth I will let you know how I get on.
many thanks for your input

Great thread all! I have been wrestling with this very topic for several months now. I've read every thread I could find on the topic, asked questions etc but still have not come to a final decision. But I am getting close ... I think.
First, a little background. I am starting from primarily pc household and converting to an all Apple infrastructure. From the Apple world, we already have 2 iPhones and 3 iPads. New iPhone 5 on order and ... today at last Apple has announced the new iMacs. Exactly what I have been waiting for and so my intent is to purchase one each of the smaller and larger as they come out next month and the month after. My router is beginning to show signs of age and so I would also like to move to an Airport Extreme. The PC hard drive housing my iTunes library is nearly full and so I need to move the library to a new location, preferable an external, networkable location and I've been looking at the Synology 1812 for this purpose. So, in the end I have or would like to soon have:
3 iPads
3 iPhones
2 iMacs
1 AppleTV 3 with a plan to one or two more. If they would only add the Amazon Prime app and RF remote capabilities it would be nearly perfect.
2 PS3s and 1 XBox360 but I much prefer the ATV interface for media. PS3 remains the place for the Amazon app because ATV doesn't provide.
1 Airport Extreme
House is already wired and homerunned with Cat-6
Plan to add Synology 1812 with 3 or 4 3TB drives to start and use the Synology Hybrid Raid
Open items or questions for me:
1. Will I have any issues if I purchase the Synology, move the iTunes library from my current PC to it and then remove the PC from the picture once I have an iMac in place? I understand that Apple does not utilize the same hard drive formatting structure as pc but I am not sure this would matter for an external device accessed over a network.
2. What am I going to serve with? I like iTunes and I am used to it. I would like something that works well with the ATV and it does that. Plex seems to have potential but would then make ATV useless unless hckd. All of my music is in iTunes now, including ripped, iTunes purchased and Amazon purchased. I have put many tv shows and some films into it as well, utilizing Handbrake to do so when needed.
3. Synology for storage, backup, redundancy etc but from where do I want to manage media / serve from? I realize I can do it from one or even both of the iMacs. I had been thinking that I wanted a low power, always on solution that would negate the need to have an IMac always on, something similar to the HP MediaSmart Server I've been using at home for a number of years, albeit clunkily. This is where I thought the Mac Mini might come in (once I learned that the Synology iTunes server was really not a true iTunes server). Low power, always on, can be running iTunes on it etc. But this thread and aschmid's comments have me rethinking this. Maybe I won't be shutting down my iMac all that much and maybe it isn't difficult to wake it so that it can address serving duties.
4. How would I address the storage of home videos vs films and tv shows? I don't want iTunes managing home videos ... do I? Still want them sitting on the Synology - right? Did you all create a separate folder on the Synology for home videos? I know there is a default videos folder. there. And are you serving via iPhoto, Aperture or something else?
5. How about photos? I would like my photo library housed on the Synology as well. Is that served via iPhoto or Aperture to the ATV? How are the mutiple entry points addressed? Everyone in the family is taking pictures, videos etc and all of iCloud turned on. How do I insure that a clean copy of every picture and video taken with any iPhone, iPad, digital camera, digital camcorder etc all ends up centrally located and accessible on the Synology without it becoming too manual a process?
Sorry about the long windedness of this. I got on a bit of a roll once I began typing. This has been on my mind for some time and I am happy to have come across this thread.

Mac Mini for Parents (photo editing)

Hello all and thank you in advance.
My parents (for reference in their mid 60s) have finally decided to come to the mac universe. They are asking for assistance in buying a computer. I was thinking of getting them a mac mini.
In regards to their needs, they are pretty light computer users. They like to facetime, make photo collages, web surf, email, etc. Though I should mention my dad needs to have a virtual PC to log into the VA (was going to use VirtualBox). Also they would like to start doing some photo editing, note that they are very much an amateurs and will not being running super complicated workflows (he has a Nikon D700 (12MP full frame) with a ton of RAW files he has never yet bothered with). In terms of photo software, I was thinking either Aperture or the upcoming Photos app and possibly Pixelmator.
Cost is a consideration, but if the performance increase is great enough it will also be weighted justly.
I am debating between a 2014 version vs a 2012 that I would upgrade myself (add a SDD to make a fusion drive and max out the ram). If I did go with a 2012, would the cost difference to get a i7 quad core be worth it, or would the dual core i5 be more than sufficient?
thanks!

Various points:
1. You can't really diy a fusion drive. You can build a logical volume that spans two physical drives, and HDD and SSD, but that doesn't make a fusion drive, so you don't get all the benefits. Also, be aware of the issues with TRIM on Yosemite with 3rd part SSDs (short version: Yosemite doesn't allow Trim Enabler etc to load the system extensions they need to work - Apple might change this in future, but who knows)
2. For software, I recommend Aperture (even though it's being replaced by Photos). It has two big benefits: it handles storing the pictures, with all kinds of tagging and search options so you can find them again; and it does non-destructive editing - if you make a change to a picture, you retain the original in case you change your mind or want a different version. Pixelmator is fantastic value too.
3. You can run a virtual machine fine on a 2013 mini (I do it - Windows 7 via Parallels). If all it is is some light online stuff, no issue. But it's true that the newer minis are somewhat slicker.
4. In general, provided you have the RAM (8GB), any mini will do - assuming they have a decent monitor with the right connections. If they want to get serious with photos, they absolutely need a decent monitor.

Mac mini (Late 2012): Dual- or Quad-Core?

I'm upgrading from a MacBook (2006) and - as a frequent iPad user - am thinking of just getting a Mac mini. I'm not sure though as wether to get the i5 dual-core or i7 quad-core version.
What I'll be using it for (none of these on a professional level, prosumer at most ;)):
Photo editing (iPhoto, thinking of switching to Aperture)
Web development (Coda, Espresso, local test server)
Designing (Sketch 2)
Full-HD video editing
Web, office, social media, ...
Can I expect a signifcant performance boost at these tasks from the quad-core model or will the differences be barely noticable (also considering most of these applications will be running simultaneously)?
I'll be maxing out RAM from a third party vendor in both cases, HDD capacity is not important and I'm not going to upgrade to SSD or Fusion Drive.
What do you think? Any thoughts appreciated!

Thanks for your insights! My inital goal was being cost-efficient; Fusion Drive is only an option on the quad-core model thus making it 1080 Euros were I live. That's almost an entire new Mac mini which I could buy in 2-3 years. I don't mind CPU intensive tasks taking longer (e.g. rendering final movie) as long as the actual "creative process" runs smoothly (e.g. cutting the movie).
As you both said finding out how/if apps take advantage of multiple cores is not that easy. I guess I'll have a closer look at all the benchmark tests and reviews that will be showing up in the coming weeks.
I think Fusion Drive on a dual-core might boost performance more than just going quad-core, unfortunately this is not an option for the lower end model. Also I want to wait a little to see if Fusion Drive is proprietary Apple hardware or just implemented software-wise (which would mean I could fix a broken drive myself after warranty has expired).
By the way, any guesses on Black Friday sale options (as far as I could find out the Mac mini wasn't included last year)?

Does the newest (2010) Mac Mini work with a Powerbook (Power PC) G4?

So, I still LOVE my 5 year old Powerbook G4 but with news of Apple not making it's new operating systems (Snow Leopard and so forth) and iLife's compatible with Power PC's, I'm left in Mac limbo.
I'm currently running OSX 10.5.8 (Leopard) but my iPhoto, iMovie, etc. are all 2005 versions. I would really like a newer version of iPhoto, or of some photo library software, but most new ones (Aperture, Lightroom 4) are only for Intel's too.
The only solution I have come to is to buy a Mac Mini or a new computer. Since my Powerbook is in great condition, I want to get as many years out of it as I can. Does anyone know how efficient Mac Mini's are with Powerbook's? Or if there are any known issues?
Thanks in advance!

Yes they can network together, and share data over Target Disk Mode with the Powerbook being in Target mode.
Migrating data from them can be a little tricky as this tip explains, but not impossible:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=435350&tstart=10
The only reason to buy a newer Mac, is if you need features that are only available to 10.6 and above, and you can afford to upgrade those applications not known to work in 10.5. See my other tip here as well:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2693045

Will new Mac Mini match/outperform my '04 PowerMac Dual G5/1.8?

Hello,
For the past couple of years I've run a small video editing business using Final Cut Studio and my trusty PowerMac G5 1.8. I'm about to get out of that business, but want to still be able to edit using Final Cut from time to time. I want to be able to do all of the consumerish word processing, web, photo (iPhoto or Aperture), etc. I also play Unreal Tournament sometimes, but I'm not a hard core gamer.
My G5 -- with 3 GB RAM and the ATI Radeon 9600 XT w/128MB DDR SDRAM video card -- has been fine for all this. My question is: would a new Mac Mini let me down for any of the activities above, relative to my G5? Would I be able to run all of my Final Cut Studio apps? And, would UT run at least as well?
Thanks!

Agreed the new macmini's especially with the new Nvidia cards blow the old macs out of the water when it comes to games!
"Even with just 1GB of RAM installed, the new Nvidia graphics performed much better than the Intel graphics of the previous Mac mini. The older Mac mini couldn’t even run our Call of Duty test, and struggled to get just 5.6 frames per second in our Quake 4 test. The new Mac minis, with 2GB of RAM installed, were able to push through nearly 7 times as many frames per second in that test.
http://www.macworld.com/article/139267/2009/03/macmini2009.html?t=109
Also here's a chart comparing just about every videocard ever made so you can see that the 9400 card is faster:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-gtx,2270-6.html
p.s. Just make sure you get yourself at least 2GB of ram with it
Message was edited by: davi angel

Aperture & Mac Mini

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