How good is the mac mini

hello
I am planning to buy a mac
How goof is a mac mini with 2gh processor/ 2gb ram
for applications and leopard os or any future os ?
also will it work well with a full hd 24 inch display?
I think of a mac mini , i wanted an imac
but maybe better a mac mini / a full hd 24 inch screen
and a playstation 3 with the screen on the top
for gaming and blue ray ... i am thinking
so if mac mini would work well with photo editing etc
and leopard would run fast and smooth on it , i would go for my trio
mthx
Message was edited by: anteros27
Message was edited by: anteros27

In a broad sense it's probably best to think of the mini as a full desktop computer, simply shrunk down to a small size - that way you'll get the idea of how good it is rather than risk the impression that it's small size is in any real way indicative of it's performance. It isn't.
The new 2.0GHz mini is very close in performance to the original dual processor G5 computer (advertised as the fastest desktop on earth when it was released in 2003). Leaving aside the advertising hype, it was (and remains) an incredibly powerful system in very extensive use in video, image and publishing industries. Given the mini has as much raw power, just a slower hard drive and no internal expansion options, you can see that it is, in it's own right, a very capable system.
Just how capable depends a lot on the specific uses you have in mind for it of course. It'll cope well with all the normal computing tasks people typically run - word processing, internet, email, photos, etc, and would be suited to a lot of far more intensive tasks, including image editing work. Gaming is a bit suspect though, with the limitations of the on-board video sub-system making some games run well and others less so.
There should be absolutely no problem with Leopard when it is released, though of course it isn't possible to give a definitive statement on it since as yet Leopard is still in development. However, at this time developer builds are being run on existing minis of lower specification, and historically Apple have typically ensured new OS versions are backwards compatible with older hardware platforms - certainly recent ones. Given the newly updated mini has just been announced and is likely to remain on sale for some time as a result without further change, and Leopard is due in a couple of months, it in highly improbable the mini won't run it, and run it well.
It will drive a 24" display since the maximum resolution of the mini is 1920x1200 (DVI) or 2048x1536 (VGA).

Similar Messages

How stable is the mac mini as a server?

Hi List,
I am planning to get the mac mini with snow leopard server.
Has anyone tried it?
How stable is the mac mini as a server?
I'd be setting it up for 10 mac clients.
It will be used as a file/print/dhcp server.
thanks.
Dp

max out the memory to reduce / eliminate paging. although you might not need to in your situation. I think printing is a light use of memory. Inkjet printers are heavy on the cpu.
electronics don't usually fail. It's the moving parts. Doesn't the mini take the 2.5 inch drives that are not as reliable as the 3.5? An external drive will get past this.
You could get an external bootable harddrive.
You need an external Firewire drive to boot a PowerPC Mac computer.
I recommend you do a google search on any external harddrive you are looking at.
I bought a low cost external drive enclosure. When I started having trouble with it, I did a google search and found a lot of complaints about the drive enclosure. I ended up buying a new drive enclosure. On my second go around, I decided to buy a drive enclosure with a good history of working with Macs. The chip set seems to be the key ingredient. The Oxford line of chips seems to be good. I got the Oxford 911.
The latest the hard drive enclosures support the newer serial ata drives. The drive and closure that I list supports only older parallel ata.
Has everything interface:
FireWire 800/400 + USB2, + eSATA 'Quad Interface'
save a little money interface:
FireWire 400 + USB 2.0
This web page lists both external harddrive types. You may need to scroll to the right to see both.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATAFW800_FW400USB
Here is an external hd enclosure.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MEFW91UAL1K/
Here is what one contributor recommended:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10452917#10452917
Folks in these Mac forums recommend LaCie, OWC or G-Tech.
Here is a list of recommended drives:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5564509#5564509
FireWire compared to USB. You will find that FireWire 400 is faster than USB 2.0 when used for a external harddrive connection.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UniversalSerial_Bus#USB_compared_toFireWire
http://www23.tomshardware.com/storageexternal.html
Here are two utilities for making a complete backup of your internal hard drive. I've recommend using one of these so that you can create a bootable system on your external hard drive. ( PPC require a firewire connected drive. ) Once created, you can run your system from the external drive. Hold down the option key on your keyboard then power on your machine. This will bring you in startup manager click on the drive image you wish to boot then click on the arrow key to the right.
"Clone, synchronize, backup. Schedule and forget it."
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
"SuperDuper is the wildly acclaimed program that makes recovery painless, because it makes creating a fully bootable backup painless."
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
Robert

HT1338 how much is the mac mini A1347,i7,4GB RAM,1TB hard drive ?? and wat maximum upgrading for the ram ? thannks :D

how much is the mac mini A1347,i7,4GB RAM,1TB hard drive ?? and wat maximum upgrading for the ram ? thannks

go to Apples website and look. That's what anyone else here would do.

How Well Does the Mac Mini handle Garageband?

Hi, I'm wondering about how well the mini handles garageband. My sister may finally be leaning towards getting their first mac for her family. They are long time old version windows users, I think they have a 6 year old HP running Win2k still. So they don't do a whole lot with the pc as it is. They are a musical family, very involved with their church and school. She has finally realized that macs are widely used in music creation (even though I've been telling them that for years and she's starting to do some research on garageband. I recommended the mini since budget is a big priority for them. Am I setting them up to be disappointed? I've already told them to wait until the intel version is released since it will most likely be faster/more effecient. After spending say $800 for mini and non-apple lcd and 1gb of ram, would going the extra $500 to get the imac instead be the smartest route. Just concerned its either going to be not enough power (mini) or more then they're ready for (imac). Any thoughts?

Hi Leandro
I use GarageBand 3 on my mac mini without a hitch
what so ever and I can even have several other fairly
intensive apps up and running without it
complaining.
Considering that your sisters family are using the
system that they currently own without really feeling
that they are falling behind, the mac mini will be a
fantastic advantage to their lifestyle. It's plenty
powerful and it's pretty much silent meaning that it
would make a great "first mac" for them to
experience. With regards to the intel mac mini, we
don't know that there is going to be one as of yet.
Steve Jobs did however, announce that all Macs were
going to be purely running on an Intel Core by next
year, meaning that if Apple don't discontinue the mac
mini line, it would be of a greater advantage. There
is no indication as to when an intel chip will appear
inside a mac mini, so you could well be waiting
anything from a matter of days to months or even
never!
At the end of the day, the current mac mini, some of
which are now shipping with a 1.5gHz G4 processor and
64MB Graphics will be the perfect solution for your
sister and her family.
Hope this helps
-pos
thanks for the quick reply. I am concerned about them having a positive first experience with a mac, I've been preaching it to them for a good ten years now! Her husband is the real stubborn one, he would need the most convincing. Good to know that it runs well on the mini and with such praise. Which model do you have and did you max the ram? I told her about the hard drive/hub stack kit which would have a faster drive to boot from. I forgot about the 1.5's. I was sure it was a rumor. Didn't know about the 64mb video card though...that would be a great boost as well!

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Remember, Apple offers a 1 year hardware warranty and 90 days free software support, both of which can be extended to three years from date of computer's purchase. This means if you appear to have what is a technical issue with your machine off the bat, Apple will cover the lemon issue, if it is obvious it is not an issue you the user could have caused. Mind you, if issues appear much later during the ownership, it gets harder to justify that it is a manufacturer issue. As long as you don't upgrade the internal hardware, the hardware test CD that comes with the machine will be able to tell if there is a manufacturer issue with the machine. All bets are off, if you change the RAM, or hard drive beyond the specs of the machine. Apple publishes the specs of the machine on http://support.apple.com/
Your machine shouldn't overheat unless you excede the published specs.
The advantage of the Mac is that malware and viruses are practically a nonissue, and everything you usually could desire is already built-in to the machine. So while you could build your own machine, you can't really get the integrated hardware and software as you do with the Mac.
Yes, the 27" iMac has been hit hard with issues, more around the display than anything else. I for one, if were forced to get an iMac, would get the 21.5".
I've not seen any specific Mac Mini issues really come to the fore.
If sound is lost on a Mac Mini, it usually is due to the fact that minijack connectors themselves are fragile to begin with, and endusers tend to jiggle them a lot in the connector, causing the connectivity to get lost. If you are careful to follow these directions about cables*:
http://www.macmaps.com/frayguide.html
You should avoid most of those issues. Thankfully there are 5 USB ports on Mac Minis, and USB audio is frequently better than the built-in audio, except when adding your own 5.1 speaker system with mini-Toslink connector speakers.
Don't forget the number of posters to this board, don't even amount to 1 tenth of a percent of all purchasers of iMacs, Mac Minis, or MacBooks any one quarter. Thus the remark you said was "rude" is not. It is factual. You are basing your information on what amounts to less odds of happening than a space program disaster with NASA. Mostly people who have problems are posting, and those who don't rarely do post.
I recently had a hard drive die after the three year warranty was spent, but hard drives I've seen die on Acers and Dells on the first day of ownership too, so that's nothing new. Backing up your data is the best way to deal with data loss*:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.

How to configure the mac mini to allow the clients to access both partitions...the client will only see the one we are logged into at the server???

if possible??? how do we configure the mac mini to allow the clients to access both partitions...the client will only see the one we are logged into at the server???

You have to explicitly share directories on external/secondary volumes.
Use the Server admin app to configure file sharing, and select which directory/directories on the second drive you want to share, then they'll be available to clients.

How to get the Mac Mini Digital Audio output at 192kHz?

I have a mid 2011 Mac Mini (and love it). According to http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4806, "The headphone / line output port accommodates digital optical audio output, analog audio output with a 24-bit, 44.1-192 kHz D/A converter, digital audio output up to 24-bit stereo and 44.1-192 kHz sampling rate and supporting encoded digital audio output (AC3 and DTS)."
So there is digital audio output to 192 kHz but how do you configure it to work? Using the Audio Midi Setup Utility, I can set the sample rate to 96000 Hz -- but it won't go higher to 192kHz. Anyone know how to do this?

That is in some ways confusing. For the analog output, the
internal DAC can support 24 bit/192Khz audio data. It does
require an application that has the capability of playing back
such material.
The TOSLINK optical standard does not support this data rate.
It has nothing to do with the Mini, it is the standard itself. The
TOSLINK optical spec is 96 kHz, 24 bit stereo (uncompressed).
The mini will however support multichannel, 24 bit, 192 kHz
(uncompressed) via the HDMI interface. Also, again,
the playback software needs to support it.
Just as a final note, unless the source material has the
higher sample rate format, there is no benifit to outputing
at the higher sample rate, especially if the source some
lossy comporessed format (mp3, aac, Dollby and DTS
non-HD formats).

How well does the Mac Mini look with an LED Tv?

I'm considering a Mac Mini over an iMac to cut costs, especially because I already have a 32in LED 1080p Samsung HDTV. Would I connect it with a thunderbolt cord or with an HDMI cord from the Mini to tv? Currently my 13" MBP, early 2011 plugged into a 40in HDTV looks terrible with the Thunderbolt to HDMI. Do you get a better display output? Thanks

It will be easier to connect via HDMI since Minis have HDMI out and your TV certainly has HDMI in. You can use Thunderbolt but would need a Thunderbolt to HDMI adapter, so I don't see the point of doing that unless you have a second HDMI display you wish to use simultaneously.
I find the output quality to be fine. Of course, TVs vary widely in quality. And you must remember that 1080p equates to 1920x1080 resolution, which is not particularly high resolution for a desktop monitor nowadays.

How good is the Mac??

I am thinking of buying one what do owners of a Mac think of them?
I plan to use it for school projects and surffing the net

What matters is What do you think of it?
Most people visiting these boards are having problems and looking for solutions. Even so, I believe the majorty Love their Macbooks!
If you can go to a local apple store or authorized retailer and try one out. I did, and i ended up walking out the proud owner of a Black Macbook. No regrets.
I absolutely love it.
Good luck.

How good is the audio jack?

In the past I've connected my iPod to my stereo using a mini to RCA adapter. It gave me a weak signal (even with the volume turned all the way up). How good is the Mac Mini's audio when plugging into a stereo? Thanks.

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The NOVA that I have, linked to above, supports 16-bit output from USB and 24-bit output from optical toslink and coax. I think the USB limitation might be imposed by the software in the DAC, however, not at the mac end.

HT202856 Can the Mac Mini (Late 2014) support 4k display @ 60 Hz via the DisplayPort?

Dear Experienced Apple Guru,
Apple made it clear on the Tech Specs for the Mac Mini (Late 2014) that a 4k display can be supported via the HDMI port at 30 Hz. But, can we also be clear how many Hertz the Mac Mini can handle with a 4k display via the Mini DisplayPort (Thunderbolt 2)?
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Thanks,
Trevalyn

That have enabled DP 1.2 on their monitor and used a DP 1.2 cable but still only get 30 Hz at 4K.
The MAC does not support MST

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Move them to /Users/Shared/ and then into the new account.
(85692)

I want to hook up a mac mini and us my tv as a monitor. how can I use airplay from my phone on the mac mini like i can with an apple tv (without having to buy an apple tv!). the airplay capabilities i want to use are mirroring and streaming from my iphone

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Download AirPlayer for Mac - Transforms your Mac into an AirPlay-compatible display. MacUpdate.com

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x Installation cannot continue until the following applications are closed:
flash_server
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Your right. It won't make any sense to subscribe for a software that I don't own. I have CS5 on my Dell Laptop which has been giving me issues, so I re-installed the Operating System along with all my editing programs and nothing more. So I can toggle between the Mac and the PC to get the job done in the meantime. I will eventually get CS6 for the Mac.

How good is the mac mini

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