IMac G5 vs Intel Mac Mini

Hi guys,
My question is actually the title to the thread... which is faster?
I have a 20inch iMac G5 Rev A and am debating selling it, putting an intel mini into a spare cube case and running two monitors from it or something - or at least one big one!
Before people chip in with opinions about any mods, I would love to know which machine is faster and any other benefits I might like to know about.
You can pretend I will leave the mini alone if that helps.

I considered the same thing myself. I came to the conclusion that while the CPU itself was indeed faster, the HD is slower and smaller, and it has an inferior graphics card. I also run CS2 and since it is not an Intel-native app, I didn't want to give up the native performance.
It is not much and I am not a hard-core CS user so it doesn't really make that much of a difference, but it was something else to consider.

Similar Messages

Can I use a Power PC non intel Mac Mini as an external HD with my iMac 3.06

Can I use a Power PC non intel Mac Mini as an external HD with my iMac 3.06 Intel Core Duo
I can't figure out how to get this to work. Is it possible?

WildBull wrote:
Will it work if I connect via usb instead of firewire?
No. There is no "USB Target Disk Mode".
Just so we're clear, when you start your Mac mini in FireWire Target Disk Mode (TDM - holding T on startup), do you see a FireWire icon on the Mac mini's display? IIRC, it's not required that the Mac mini be connected to a display for TDM, but it would help diagnose whether or not the mini is actually starting in this mode.

The Intel Mac Mini uses on-board graphics... how good are they?

I'm seriously considering getting an Intel Mac Mini and telling all my friends to get one, too. However, there's one problem - the graphics.
The whole reason I'd want an Intel Mac would be so that I could dual-boot into Windows Vista (when it comes out) in order to play the latest games.
How suitable are the on-board graphics for gaming? Would it be able to play Halo and Command & Conquer Generals well?
Basically, I want to know if it's the equivalent of a 64 MB graphics chip in speed, or if having on-board graphics makes it a bit slower. Does it have hardware acceleration? And is it suitable for smooth casual gaming at an average resolution?

I am very uneasy about finding integrated graphics in the new mini too.
When I first saw the new Mini website on Apple's website I was so excited "intel processor", "4 usb ports", "faster drives" but something was missing from the website; the "graphics" sub-category. I instantly wondering what was up with that, thinking right away obviously the graphics weren't good enough to brag about. I was right. On Apple's MacMini website, on the "Intel Core" sub-category page, bottom of the page, right side there's a weee comment on integrated graphics, "oh." was my only thought.
It's really disappointing to see integrated graphics in the new Mini. That AND the increase in price. The price of the Intel iMac dropped by $100 when it got introduced, but the Intel Mini's price goes up $100 upon introduction, further closing the price between the iMac and the Mini and making the iMac looking more and more attractice in terms of features-performance-price-value. I better run out and buy a Intel iMac before Apple removes the miniDVI-out port (which I'm predicting it will be removed in the next iMac revision)
Hopefully some Intel MacMini review tests in the coming weeks will reveal better-than-expected graphics performance.
I'm surprised nobody else has mentioned this but... doesn't anyone here see that Apple has given us a preview of what's to come by putting integrated graphics in the new Intel MacMini? -- Anyone? I'll tell you -- we're going to see the exact same integrated graphics in the upcoming Intel iBooks, that's what.
Mac Mini Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Need help with Intel Mac mini... potential logic board failure...

Hey everyone! For the past couple years, I've been using an Intel Mac mini which I was able to afford before rough times hit for me. It has been a champ for a long time, until recently. In the past week, the clock would lose time ever so often, and last week, whenever I'd try to power it up in the morning (as I shut it down every night), it wouldn't start up most times (meaning, you hit the power, nothing... no LED, no fan, nothing on screen, nada). After a while, I would somehow manage to get it to start. I assumed at this point, the lithium battery (coin type CR2032, not the traditional 1/2 AA purple battery) was shot. Since I'm in the middle of a job transition, I was waiting until I had time to put in a new battery, which I was planning to do this weekend. Then Wednesday happened...
I go to start it, nothing... A week before this, I started losing time and sometimes it would not boot. I figured eventually I would be able to start it since I was able to sometimes get it to start after a half hour or more. That didn't happen. So I decided to go ahead and swap in the new battery. I do that, power it up, nothing. I reset the SMC (same as PMU on the PPC Macs), to no avail. I reseated the RAM, and did everything I could think of, but it's deader than Elvis. I also had took the power supply to a guy who had a voltimeter. He said voltage was getting to all pins.
I went back and read some of the archives on this board. Someone mentioned something about a repair exception. It mentioned that sometimes if you call AppleCare (even if you don't have it) and ask for a repair exception, sometimes they'll agree to have the logic board replaced due to it being a documented problem. How true is this and who should I contact?
Can anyone suggest anything here? If I can't revive the mini, I may have to drag my iMac back out and try to set it up to run OS X. I can't no where near afford another computer at this point. I'm praying the mini can be fixed. I would appreciate any and all suggestions!
Thanks in advance!
Tommy

It does sound like the logic board has gone bad. However, there are no current repair extension programs open on the Mac Minis.
This page lists the open extensions:
http://www.apple.com/support/exchange_repair/
So that's not an option. I assume that the Mini doesn't have AppleCare (whoops.), so I would not count on Apple covering it, but it's always worth a shot. You can call AppleCare (1-800-275-2273) or visit your local Apple Store

Blinking Green Light! Mount & Unmount on Intel Mac mini

Hi all.
This is my sister's iPod shuffle, lat night she plugged into her new Intel Mac mini Core Duo, and the shuffle mounts, everything appears to be in working order, she said today she still listened to it.
Just now she accidently plugged the shuffle while in our Dad's account (on the Mac mini as well), then seemed like "all well broke loose", this is what she told me, first iTunes was not responsive, colour wheel, so she restarted but only arrived at the blank desktop and only the shadow of the Top Menu Bar
I reset the iPod shuffle, was successful in plugging it in, quit iTunes (all in her own account now) and update the shuffle software.
When inside iTunes, once I started Autofill, it suddenly unmounted by itself, followed by the red exclamation error message when you accidently remove an external device unproperly.
When I tried plugging in again, it refuses to mount. Just blinking Green, or pull out again, blinking Yellow.
Now I plug it into my own iMac G5, and it mounts and is blinking slowly with yellow light, what seems to be normal charging.
Has this something got to do with the Intel Mac??
Thanks and cheers

This probably has nothing to do with the Mini, but everything to do with the Shuffle. Like all flash memory, it is susceptible to damage if unplugged at the wrong time.
For the shuffle, you cannot remove it while it is updating or in Disk Mode. This warning is presented in the User's Guide and is repeated in several other places throughout the Support pages as well.
The general rule is: If it's blinking amber, don't unplug it before you unmount it. Unmounting can be done either in iTunes or in the Finder.
About all you can do, given the symptoms you're seeing, is try to Restore it. See the instructions in the User's Guide and/or on the iPod Shuffle Support Page.

Intel Mac mini as a faxserver with more then one USB-Modems?

Hi there,
does anybody have a clue if this idea will work?
We plan to buy a Intel Mac mini and someone had the idea to use it additionally as a faxserver - BUT, we'll need more the one fax-line. So, I wonder if it is possible to buy 3 or even 4 external USB-Modem from Apple to use all of them.
Does anyone tried this before?
Any comments are welcome!
Thanks in advance, Chris.
Mac mini Core Duo, 2GB, 120GB Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Hello Chris,
incl. a four line fax-card. Why isn't it a good
choice?
From my experience the Mac's make a terrible fax machine.
I have tried receiving faxes with a 1.8 GHz iMac G5 (with built-in modem), a 2.0 GHz iMac G5 (with built-in modem), and my 1.25 GHz Mac Mini (with built-in modem).
In every single case, and experiment, they dropped the fax after the first page.
So, that means that I've gone round and round trying to get beyond the first page received without trouble.
I do have a real fax machine, and never have any trouble receiving faxes on the same line with it. So, I only use the computer as a fax when I want to only receive the first page (for example the many local doctors who send me their customers private details).
In the case of the doctors, my phone rings frequently with customer's private details. All I want is the first page so I can call the doctor and tell them to quit sending me faxes.
They will send, send, and re-send until a fax machine answers. It keeps the phone busy all day if I don't receive the fax.
But, it costs money to receive the 30-page faxes just to stop the phone ringing. So, I let the computer capture the first page, and then call them and demand that they quit calling me (which works for a couple of days).
You wouldn't believe the information they have sent me. And, with an older doner-film fax, a 30-page document is mighty expensive.
What really gets me, is when they had the nerve to request me to invest even more money and pay to mail the fax back to them. I tell them their free to drive here and get it, otherwise, it's going in the garbage.
I can tell you from experience, that your medical records are not safe with a doctor. They just assume they are dialing the right number, and will send your entire personal history (and even family history - I've received generations of information) to just about anyone with a fax machine.
Anyway, now that I explained how I use mine, I hope you can better understand why a real fax machine is going to serve you better.
The tolerance of a real fax machine will prevent you from constantly trying to receive the same fax over and over and over again.

Intel Mac mini: upgrading questions...

Hi, I'm going to buy the new intel mac mini but I'm a little afraid for the graphic card inside the tiny machine...
What about music recording? (GarageBand, Logic Express...)
What about games? (Doom3, The Sims...) It's better than the nVidia 5200 that was inside the first gen of iMacG5?
What about video editing? It's the Mac mini fast enaugh to perform simple video operations or I need a more powerful computer? Maybe the new iMac?... Please help me!

I can't tell you about games, though if you scan through these Discussion threads in the next week or so I'd bet you'll find plenty of references to game playing on the new mini as people buy them and try them out. At the present moment, having only been announced a couple of days ago, there aren't many of the systems in actual use yet, so there's not much information to go on.
But it has to be said that it has always been a mistake to assume the physical size of the system reflects anything of it's capabilities. The PPC mini that has just been discontinued and which was slower and more limited than the new system appears to be was perfectly capable of running such things as Garageband, and doing complex video editing projects, so there's absolutely no reason to assume the new mini won't be more capable. The fact that it has an integrated graphics processor that shares RAM with the CPU has got a whole lot of people in a tizzy, but despite the comments some are making about it, they don't have any first-hand knowledge (as yet) and thus have no clue how well or badly it performs.
I'd urge you to find one of these systems in a local Apple store or retailer and play with it for a bit - I would expect you to be pleasantly surprised, even shocked, at how well it behaves. If you can't get access to one, watch these Discussions and read what actual owners and users begin to report, not what 'experts' are thinking.

New Intel Mac mini: Is 1G Ram Enough?

Hello everyone.
I intend to get my dad and my sis (upgrade from her old iMac G3) each a new Intel Mac mini Core Solo.
I understand that the new Intel Mac mini shares the ram memory between the processor and the "in-built" graphics... also understand from an Apple KB docu that it is best to pair the same ram to maximise efficiency or something...
My dad will be mainly in iPhoto, organising his digital photos, burning CDs and touching up a bit here and there; And both of them will be using mainly to surf, email, chat, maybe a bit of word processing etc - I would say "light to moderate work"
So is 1Gb of Ram enough for the processor and the graphics? I would probably try to max out as big a hard disk for them... and a 19" monitor...
Thanks and cheers

If he can afford it, I would recommend putting 2-1G modules in there. OS X loves RAM and will call for even more running apps under Rosetta.
How To Determine Your Memory Needs >>
-Bmer
Mac Owners Support Group
Join Us @ MacOSG.com
 An Apple User Group 
ITMS: MacOSG Podcast >>
Disclaimer required by Apple Discussions Terms of Use: MacOSG - a non-profit Apple User Group - may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.

Experimented: iPS with latest update "conflicts" with Intel Mac mini

Hello everyone.
Please see my earlier post first as "background story":
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=602573
So I have 2 1Gb iPod Shuffles, one mine, one my sister's. My sister's, the 1st time I plugged into her new Intel Mac mini, it asked for an iPod Update, I clicked "Yes" and proceeded with the update.
After that, I set the iPS with Disk Mode, it appears on the Desktop, when I launched or inside iTunes, once I hit the "Autofill" button, the shuffle unmount and disappear from the desktop immediately, leaving behind a 'warning message' with red exclamation mark, the same when you pull out a thumb drive or turn off an external drive, without unmounting them first.
My own shuffle, I did not apply the latest iPod Updater
When I bring the 2 iPS to my own iMac G5, both with same settings (Disk Mode etc) mounts perfectly on the Desktop, inside iTunes, I can 'Autofill' BOTH shuffles.
When I plug my non-updated shuffle into my sis's Intel Mac mini, it mounts nicely, and when hit with Autofill, it does so nicely without "self-unmounting" at all.
So in the end? I swap my shuffle with my sis, and make sure she never ever update the shuffle, at least for the time being.
So what does this show?? That the iPod shuffle with the latest update may have a conflict of instability with Intel-based Macs??
Thanks and cheers

Hi Howwow,
To add a detail: my updated Shuffle works like a charm on my old iBook and not on my new Intel MacBook. So I am convinced it is in the Shuffle/Intel combination. I did try undoing the update on the shuffle (reverting back to 2005-11-17), but that made no difference on my Intel MacBook.
Regards

Dual PowerMac G4 or Core Duo Intel Mac Mini?

Right now I have a Intel Core Duo Mac mini. I have the following setup and specs on my desk. The mini contains the Duo 1.66GHz processor, 2GB DDR SDRam, 80GB hard drive, OS X & Windows XP, AirPort +Bluetooth, and so on. My problem is that I have always been a tower lover and that is why I purchased the Mac mini because I purchased a 20.1 widescreen HD Dell LCD with DVI-D, VGA, Component, and so on imputs. I wanted this for my Xbox 360 also.
Here is where it starts to get complicated. I also have four, yes four, external hard drives sitting on my desk, and I still need more hard disc space. I have a 250GB, 120GB, 250GB, and 60GB. Plus remember I have a 80GB in the mini. I am also looking into another 250GB or 500GB external hard drive.
Now before I had the mini, I had the original iMac G5 which had a 1.6GHz PowerPC G5 processor in it, 160GB hard drive, and 1.5GB of ram. It was showing age and I needed more speed and a bigger display so I ditched it for the Intel Mac mini.
In addition I am pulling 12 USB ports out the back of my Mac mini. I have a few hubs fulling almost all the ports. I need these for the external hard drives. If I go internal, I can probably live with 6-8 USB 2.0 ports. I will need at least 1 firewire or an iSight camera or my Sony HD handycam, but USB is more needed. In addition I see some PowerMac G4's came with Firewire 800? Is this something I would need, I currently however have no use for it.
But now I really see the need of a PowerMac G4 Quicksilver tower. I was looking into the Dual 1.42GHz PowerPC G4 models, and really don't know which is faster. I would obviously love the expandability of the PCI cards, and independed graphics memory, but am I willing to transition back to PowerPC after moving over the Intel?
I don't know so I am posting it all here in the PowerMac G4 section of the Apple forums. I really hope I can get some good advice here. By the way, I am very Apple and technology frantic, so I know the ins and outs of a tower and stuff like that. So a non Apple warrenty would probably not be a problem.
But one problem is, how much could I get for my Mini which cost me $1099 and how much would a decent G4 tower cost me? I have an extra Nvideo GeForce 4 MX 5400 Ultra with 64MB of ram and DVD-D/ VGA outputs, so that isn't a problem. Plus to replace the AirPort Extreme built into the mini, I have a AirLink 101 Super G (108MBPS) Wireless PCI card. Bluetooth can be added with a simple USB dongle.
UPDATE: Forgot the mention I already have a DVD Burner compatible with OS X and 3.5inch bays. I would like a Dual Layer, but if its a tower, I can upgrade that anytime.
UPDATE x2: I would also like to mention that I use Gigabit Ethernet so any PowerMac model I choose would have to acomidate that such as the Intel Mac mini does.
THANKS EVERYONE!!!!
Mac Mini 1.67GHz Intel Core Duo, 2GB ram, 1.5TB storage, OS X v.10.4.6, 30GB iPo Mac OS X (10.4.6)

I would like one day to have a tower with 4-8 HD drives
(120-250GB each) and HD DVD and Blue-Ray burners.
Good luck Even the Dell towers we have at work have space for 3 HDs, and thats only of you give up one of the CD bays.
Honestly, I unless a blueray player ships in the CPU, I would get a PS3. 1/2 the cost of a standalone blu-ray player, and a game system too
Expected street prices from Sony and Toshiba web sites:
standalone Sony blueray player: 995.
Toshiba HD-DVD: 599
Sony PS3 w/ bluray: 499/599
Is the reason the PowerPC G4 can't handle HD DVD is
processor speed or what? Cause there is always
processor upgrade cards up to 1.8GHz and 2.0GHz Dual.
Thanks.
One of the Apple support pages says you must have a G5...
does not give the background behind it.
On a G4, the OS will not allow HDDVD playback (as HD is defined by FinalCutHD) via the DVD player, BUT it will play back HD video clips (like QT trailers)
On my 867, 720i clips played back w/o a problem, but 1080 would freeze for 20 seconds at a time, (while audio continued normally)
on my Dual 1.42, I have no problems with 1080.
I hesitate to consider or recommend processor upgrade cards b/c for some, the price approaches the cost of a new machine w/o the benefits of faster busses, etc, and, right on the side of the OS X box, it says processor upgrade cards not supported. I would hate to upgrade the OS to find it refused to support my machine.

Intel Mac Mini stuck in reboot loop

I just upgraded the hard drive in my 2007 intel mac mini core duo. Drive formatted successfully, contains GUID Partition Table.
OSX 10.5 installed successfully.
Machine rebooted, I ran software update to 10.5.7 successfully.
Upon installing Adobe Flash Player, Adobe Acrobat Reader, machine began to react slowly to commands.
Rebooted machine, went to Grey Apple Screen with spinning dash wheen icon.
Machine rebooted itself, once again going to the grey apply screen with the spinning wheel.
After about 15 minutes of letting the continual reboot cycle happen, I inserted the installation DVD for 10.5, held the power button in to power off the machine, and booted from the disk.
I ran disk utility. Disk Utility shows the hard drive, shows the partition (GUID Partition) correctly.
I Verified Disk, which verified as "OK"
Repaired permissions.
Restarted machine.
Once again, it loaded to the grey apple screen, stayed there with the spinning dash wheel for about 3 minutes then continued to reboot over and over (everytime it reboots it sticks on the grey apple screen for 3 minutes before rebooting.
I once again powered off the machine and reset the PRAM.
Machine stuck again on reboot cycle.
I powered off the machine and reset the mini's SMC.
Machine is still stuck in reboot cycle.
I have also taken the mini back apart and verified that all RAM and connections are seated properly.
Any advice on what to do at this point will be very helpful.

+And I promise I will not download and install a hundred different programs this time.+
Good idea.
Any time you install software in OSX, there is a small, but finite, chance that the installation process won't be able to access a needed file because it is in use. This can mess up pre-binding, or even prevent files from being updated.
So the best advice is not to run any other programs while doing software installs or updates. And when in doubt, run DiskUtility afterwards and fix permissions one more time.
I cringe whenever I think of a post I read a while back about a Mac user who boasted about what music he likes to run in iTunes while doing system software updates. Not a good idea. It's "Russian roulette" with maybe 99 blanks in the "gun", but one real bullet that can kill your Mac's installation.

Bluetooth Not Available on Intel Mac mini

I keep losing the Bluetooth wireless connection between my Apple wireless mouse and keyboard and my Intel Mac mini (which is running Mac OSX 10.5.5)
Tried re-booting but it doesn't always come back.
Looked in System Preferences, but if the connection is lost, Bluetooth has disappeared as if not installed. If the connection is present then all seems OK. You can check battery levels etc.
Left to itself Bluetooth can re-appear sometime later as mysteriously as it disappeared, maybe after half an hour or so. Very annoying as I have to result to using an Apple USB mouse and keyboard when the connection is lost.
Tried running Bluetooth Updater but it says I haven't got Bluetooth if the connection is lost! But it came pre-installed on purchase. Problem only seems to have started since upgrading to Leopard. Never had this problem with Tiger.
Any thoughts would be most welcome.
regards,
BJ

Ok, I've resolved this on my machine, at least for the time being.
Here is what I did. I am not advising anyone else to do this and I am in-no-way stating this will fix your problem. I'm just relaying what worked for me. If anyone chooses to try this then it's on their own head!
I opened my Mac Mini and located the Bluetooth circuit board just in front of the rear power button. I removed the small phillips screw holding the board in place and noticed that the connector that connects the board to the main motherboard was not seated well. I removed the connector and reattached it, making sure I felt the 'click' as the connector was pushed home.
I had also read on the net that the routing of the bluetooth ariel cable may cause problems due to interference from the USB ports. I took the opportunity to extract the ariel and run it over the disk and away from the USB ports. Before putting the lid back on I booted up to check Bluetooth was working again.
So, I now have my Mac Mini with Bluetooth working again. We shall see how long this lasts - perhaps the root cause was a loose connection, in which case it may be fixed permanently now. I shall report back in a few weeks.
Be aware that opening your Mac is going to invalidate any warranty. Mine was out of warranty anyway so I was not bothered. I've also got a degree in software and electronic engineering so know my way round the insides of computers. Please make your own assessment of your level of expertise before deciding to try what I did. It may not work for you anyway!

Intel Mac mini and widescreen TV output (analog)

I just replaced my 1.25 GHz mini with a dual-core Intel one, and are really disappointed that the wide-screen resolution options are nowhere to be found. I'm using the Apple DVI-to-Video adapter with an S-Video cable.
On the G4 Mac mini, I would get 640x480 (NTSC 4:3), 800x480 (NTSC 16:9), 768x576 (PAL 4:3) and 1024x576 (PAL 16:9). Together with Overscan and Best for Video, I got a really nice picture on my 16:9 CRT TV (can display PAL and NTSC in either 4:3 or 16:9).
With the Intel Mac mini, I only get 640x480.
(The other available resolutions do not match with the actual NTSC or PAL frequencies or aspect ratios. For example, 720x480 or 720x576 is used as the pixel format for some digital media, but the pixels are not square, and so far, all software expects display pixels to be square. So it's actually quite useless.)
Is there a trick to get those resolutions to show up in Displays and become usable?

1.) I am using either 1920x1080 (interlaced) which is the resultion that has the worst problem with text sharpness. Now, I have discovered the Zoom feature in OSX and I can use it to some degree to make things readable. This may be my best option.
2.) I have done the calibraton and it does look quite a bit better. Those the DVD output is good but not great.
3.) Apparently, from what I have read, this is a common problem. Maybe a driver upgrade from Apple or Intel could fix?
I bought a Philips DVI cable. I know it's not the best but it should suffice. Monster cables seem to be overpriced. I plan to hook my PC to my HDTV with the same cable. My ATi card supports HD resolutions as well.
I also hooked the mini to my CRT that I have on my Dell and it looks very good there. I am impressed that OSX adjusts the resoltions that it can display upon boot. Even which switching displays.
Intel Mini Duo Core Mac OS X (10.4.5) 512MB RAM

Need Advice: New Intel Mac Mini Still In The Box

Hi!
Okay.. I know... I have several posts going here as I have several issues I am trying to solve rather simultaneously. Thanks for being patient with me.
I have my old 1.25 Ghz PowerPC Mac Mini running 10.4.11 and all was well and happy. Then Security Update 2007-009 happened and all went to ....well... you know and, yes, it was bad! Went to Apple, got it running of sorts as they re-installed the OS, but they used an old version of OS X. (10.4.7. Can you believe that?) This caused other problems. It continues to have all sorts of difficulties, as I have had to get applications to re-recognize that the computer is back up to 10.4.11. Currently, I am struggling with trying to get iTunes to access it's music folders on the external hard drives. Realized that I hadn't even gotten around to figuring out whether or not some of my other applications work, like some of the games and third party, etc.
The thing is I got a new Intel Mac Mini for Christmas and it's still in the box because as I suspected I need to get my old mac perfect again before I can even think about migrating stuff over to the new Mac. But.. here's the thing... it's starting to look pretty much like 2008 will come and go before I can get the old Mac ready enough to take the new Mac out of the box. This really is rather silly!
Now... I can't get the old Mac to see the music and it made me think. I have all of my iTunes music and iPhoto backed up on an external hard drive (I used Apple's "Back-up" software to do it) and in addition to this two complete copies of the iTunes music and iPhoto photos albums on two separate external hard drives. Should I just forget using migration assistant? Can I get my music and my photo albums into the new mac directly from the external hard drives?
Or...can I use "back up" to restore the music and photos into the new Mac?
I am starting to think that the best way to get my new Mac running is not risk it by attaching it to my old Mac. What do you think?
Thank you so much for any advice or experiences you can give. -Charlotte

I know that I am vacillating back and forth as to what to do. Thanks so much for being patient with me. All of your advice is really appreciated and I am at least closing in on deciding on my strategy. Probably will follow your first response advice, especially considering that some of the third party apps may not have updates to handle Leopard quite yet. Anyway... it's a good strategy since everything is on the externals anyway.
You can say that fine.
Ha ha ha.... yes, I've been messing around with computers since my parents bought our first Apple computer back in 1979. Just like you, I've never had a serious problem with any of the computers and we've had them all, running all sorts of things from the Original Apple and Apple IIc (which my parents still have and it still runs!) to the Commodore and all the Windows permeations and then on to the Macs running Jaguar, Panther and Tiger, probably because we've always been careful with the machines and what we install in them and how we update them. I have always kept my computers on UPS' and un-plug them when storms brew outside. As it is I am still using my eight year old Windows 98 computer, (for games mostly) and it still runs quicker than most peoples windows pcs and it's only a 740 Megahertz.
I haven't had to re-install anything, especially on this lovely little Mac Mini until now and wouldn't have in this situation, had I known more. I had taken the little Mac Mini in for a Procare "Tune-Up," only four days before the big up-date disaster. Not sure what they did to my mac in the tune-up but the guy gave me back the machine assuring me that the computer was perfect with no problems in answer to my asking "were they sure?" Even after the Genius Bar techs at the Apple Store re-installed the OS to fix the big problems it seems that no one ever thought to run verify disk. Had the Genius Bar techs at the time of the tune-up done this, or at least told me to do this, the last security update would not have wrecked so much havoc. It was only after I got the machine back from Apple that second time that I found that the directory had been corrupted when I ran disk verify. Actually it is amazing that I have had this little Mac Mini for so long and so not have had any problems on it that I would be able to go so long without having to know this really pretty important aspect of keeping one's mac in good running shape. I had been running maintenance scripts and permissions verify and repair and thought that was all there was to it. Silly! You know... that really is a testimony of how nice these little machines are.
Anyway... experience is a good teacher and I have learned so much it's actually been great! This stuff is pretty interesting.
Now... on to Leopard!
Thanks so much and you have a great New Year! -Charlotte

Using External Boot Drive with New Intel Mac Mini

I have a 1st Gen MacMini and use an external 7200 RPM Lacie drive as the system boot drive along with all the applications.
If I were to purchase a new Intel Mac Mini, is it possible to use the current external drive as the system drive or is there some conversion steps that would be necessary ?
Thank you.

You can use the hardware, but will have to repartition and reinstall the OS from the disk shipped with the new Mac Mini.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303220
If you create a disk image of the Lacie on your Mini, you can later use setup assistant to restore users and applications from that image.

IMac G5 vs Intel Mac Mini

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for