Mac Mini Dual Core vs PowerMac DP G4

I am considering purchasing a Mac Mini Dual Core to replace my PowerMac DP 1.25Ghz G4 . I'm worried whether I will be happy , and if it will be faster than my G4. The app's I run most are univeral binary or will be soon , so I'm thinking , yes. But I would feel more comfortable if I could get some solid input from some power Mac user's experienced or knowledgeable with the new Mac Mini
PowerMac DP 1.25 Ghz , 1.5GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.5) Dual 80GB Seagate Barracuda drives

I can't imagine that an Intel Mac mini would ever be "faster" than a dual-processor G4 tower for most operations. The comparisons that Apple advertises, like "4X faster" are all against single-processor PowerPC Macs. Mac OS X does a good job at managing dual PowerPC processors.
Although the new Intel Mac mini now has a faster system bus, you're MUCH more limited by the use of portable-size hard drives (for example, your PowerMac probably has over a 100GB drive to start with and could have 500GB without much cost). If you want to max-out the RAM on the new Intel Mac mini to 2GB, it will cost you $300 more. So, a 1.66GHz Core Duo Mac mini with a 120GB hard drive and 2GB of RAM is $1,224.00 (US). If I were you, I would, without question, keep the PowerMac and invest in a newer Super Drive and/or hard drive(s) before giving it up.
-Doug

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Mac mini Dual core vs. G4 500MHz Dual tower w/ non native applications

I have a Power Mac G4, Dual 500MHz. I wanted to upgrade to the G5 tower, but am getting concerned that I will be buying an obsolete computer as Apple migrates to Intel. I use Microsoft Office and Adobe's Creative Suite 2 (CS2) primarily on my G4 and am really tired of the slow performance. I was thinking of buying the new Mac mini dual core and add an additional 7200 RPM external Hard Drive to improve the drive performance until the new Intel towers come out. I know that the applications I use are not written for the Intel processor. Does anyone know how well these applications perform on the Intel mini vs. my old old G4?

In a year or so, there will probably still be more PPC Mac users than Intel ones, and I doubt that any smart company will end support for PPC Macs that early. Apple provided developers with a way to create Universal Binaires for two reasons : to avoid the confusion introduced by two versions (PPC & Intel) of the same app, and to force (i.e. strongly encourage) developers to support both platforms for quite some time.
There's no doubt that a PowerMac G5 will run Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5), and probably the following version too. CS3 will be Universal, and will thus run at full speed on both PowerPC and Intel-based macs, and there's a chance that CS4 could be Universal too. If you buy a PowerMac now, it probably won't be outdated before three years or more.
While the Intel Core Duo is much faster than a G4 and quite a bit faster than a single G5, I think that a Dual G5 could be about as fast as they are (maybe a bit slower "per-gigahertz", but Core Duos don't reach 2.3/2.5 Ghz yet anyway) ...
Regarding the fact that Office runs well under Rosetta but not CS2, that's because CS2 is a much more demanding suite of applications, which probably features a lot of AltiVec code (software sepcifically optimized for the G4/G5's Velocity Engine - which wasn't originally supported by Rosetta and now is, but translating PPC code into Intel x86 isn't fast, so translating code that's supposed to run very close to the processor itself must cause an even grater performance loss). Even though Photoshop probably won't run slower than on your dual 500 Mhz, it probably won't run much faster, so if you don't want to get a PPC Mac, then I suggest that you keep your G4 for now and wait until Apple releases the next generation of PowerMacs.
On the other hand, one of the reasons why your G4 is slow with Photoshop could be because you don't have enough RAM. Most people who have used the latest version consider that 512 MB is a minimum, and 1 or 2 GB are recommended. If you only have 256 MB or so in your Mac, why don't you just add some memory and wait until the next PowerMacs ?

Will logic pro x run on my mac mini dual core intel i5 with 4gb of ram and mountain lion ?

hi there guys,
will logic pro x run on my mac mini dual core intel i5 with 4gb of ram and mountain lion ?
I'm not sure if my machine is 64 bit - it is the current model base mac mini.
Many thanks for any help you can offer !
Simon

SkiJumptoes is right. 4GB is not enough to comfortably run Logic X.
Your Mac Mini will need DDR3 SODIMM RAM. That website seems incredibly steep though. I guess that's the price of finding it for you. You're better off going to any below:
http://www.ebuyer.com/191206-kingston-4gb-ddr3-1066mhz-laptop-memory-kvr1066d3s7 -4g?utm_source=google&utm_medium=products&gclid=COqM6KzdxbgCFcfJtAodoicARg
http://www.ballicom.co.uk/cmso4gx3m1a1600c11-corsair-value-select--memory--4-gb- -so-dimm-204pin--ddr3--1600-mhz--pc312800--cl11--15-v--unbuffered--nonecc.p87434 0.html?ref=5&gclid=CKyej_HdxbgCFQSS3godEjwAug

Mac Mini dual core or Mac Mini quad core server for normal use ?

Hello
I am looking to replace my desktop work computer from my 2011 i7 quad core 2.0 MBP for a Mac Mini because it was actually made for desktop use and my minidisplayport - dvi adaptor just broke ( I think because to many unplugs and plugs from the laptop to the monitor ) .
I work in Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Aptana, Netbeans, open 20 + tabs in chrome, firefox so I need a bit of performance
I have no use for Mac OSX Server, I just want to be at least as fast as my MBP. I can see that the 999$ Mac mini has the same processor as my MBP ( 2.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 ) but no dedicated video card. Also, the 800$ Mac mini has a video card BUT just a dual core - 2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 .
What do you think I should get ? I don't play games, I have windows for that anyway. Would the dedicated video card make much of a difference ? ( does photoshop or mac use it much - openCL etc. )
Thanks!

You might also consider the Apple only available Mini
which has a 2.7 GHz i7 dual core which has dedicated
graphics. Also, all the 2011 i7 processors (Sandy Bridge)
are hyperthreading.
As for dedicated graphics, they are really only needed
for high end gaming or 3D rendering apps. It will
make no difference with the software that you mention,
as they are more CPU intensive.

LE 9.0 performance on Mac Mini (dual core) Vs. iMac (quad core)

I am in the process of evaluating options to replace my 2007 MBP with a faster DAW. I am on a budget so while I am looking for performance improvements over what I have, I don't need overkill either. I am considering the 2011 Mac Mini (2.5 GHz, dual core) and the 2011 iMac (2.5 GHz quad - core). Whichever configuration I choose, I will bump up RAM to 8 GB.
I use LE 9.0 and a Presonus Firestudio Project and would like to know whether what kind of performance improvements I will see between the two options I am considering. I use a lot of plugins, and an external Firewire 800 drive for recording. Obviously with the Mini, I will have to buy an optical drive as well. I already have two monitors, keyboard and mouse.
The only thing that worries me about the Mac Mini is the slower 5400 rpm hard drive. While I plan on using an external drive for recording, I am concerned because of the number of plugins and sample files that need to load during recording / playback.

I am in the process of evaluating options to replace my 2007 MBP with a faster DAW. I am on a budget so while I am looking for performance improvements over what I have, I don't need overkill either. I am considering the 2011 Mac Mini (2.5 GHz, dual core) and the 2011 iMac (2.5 GHz quad - core). Whichever configuration I choose, I will bump up RAM to 8 GB.
I use LE 9.0 and a Presonus Firestudio Project and would like to know whether what kind of performance improvements I will see between the two options I am considering. I use a lot of plugins, and an external Firewire 800 drive for recording. Obviously with the Mini, I will have to buy an optical drive as well. I already have two monitors, keyboard and mouse.
The only thing that worries me about the Mac Mini is the slower 5400 rpm hard drive. While I plan on using an external drive for recording, I am concerned because of the number of plugins and sample files that need to load during recording / playback.

Mac Mini dual core 2007 - can I install Lion/Mountain Lion

I have a 2007 dual core Mini, running OSX 10.6.8.
Can I install either Lion or Mountian Lion? - I want to use iCloud.
Thanks in advance,
Naomi

Luxembourg
Start your support request online and we'll connect you to an expert.
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Audio output on Mac Mini Dual Core

The Mac Mini outputs both stedigital 5.1 audio.
MPEG4 video files encoded in H264 AAC 5.1 format do not output any audio when the Mac Mini is connected to a standard stereo amplifier.
Is there a way to force the output to standard Stereo instead of 5.1 digital?
RV

QuickTime Player and iTunes will really only play stereo without some additional hardware and software. The DVD Player.app and VLC Media Player can play AC-3 surround sound, but if you're not using them, it doesn't matter. You might try VLC. They should all automatically downsample to stereo if you don't have the hardware to play surround sound. I've never used Handbrake, though, maybe I don't understand how it works, but if you're encoding the audio from the DVD to AAC it should play audio whether you've got an AC3 amplifier or not.
-Doug

Is a mac mini Dual Core 2MHz with Snow Leopard compatible with Mountain Lion

Can I buy and load Mountain Lion on my system

Welcome to Apple Communities
Mountain Lion requires an Early 2009 or later Mac mini. Open App Store buy Mountain Lion, and if the Mac isn't supported, App Store won't purchase Mountain Lion

Power Mac G5 Dual Core freezing

Hi,
Everything works fine with my G5 with 4GB RAM, except one thing:
Sometimes when I work for a long time, my mouse justs freeze,
The red light near the RAM slots appears and the fans start being noisy ! (LED 7—Checkstop: red—contact Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider)
I reboot and all just works fine until the next freeze
I ran Hardware test and apple diagnotics many times but all the tests including the ram test passed successfully.
It happens like 1 or 2 time by day. I couldn't identify the cause or the frequency of the problem (maybe Eyetv usb box, or a spécific app that causes the computer freezing ??? !)
Thanks for the help !
Power Mac G5 Dual Core 2,3 Ghz Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Curiously - we have two new Dual 2.3 G5s and they exhibit this same behavior. Suddenly freezing - and not necessarily while we have a lot of apps running. iTunes is always going in the background though. I'll start monitoring the temps on these machines and we'll see what happens. Does anyone know of a menubar app that might display CPU temp on the fly? Could be useful if we see a spike in temperature and then a crash.
One notable thing though, when it does crash, it crashes hard. Everything freezes, the audio (since iTunes is usually running) begins to skip on the last section of the track it was playing, sort of like a skipping record - only much faster. It also appears to have happened to one of the machines last night while it was asleep. I came in the morning the the fans were going crazy - and yes, the little red LED was on. What does that mean?
Dual 2.3 PM G5 Mac OS X (10.4.8) 4 GB RAM, etc.
iMac Intel Core Duo 20" Mac OS X (10.4.6) iBook G4, iBook G3, iPod Video 30GB, iPod Nano 2GB, iPod Mini, 2G iPod 20G

Running 10.6.8 on Mac Pro Dual-Core Intel Xeon 2.66GHz processors. Can I upgrade to Lion 10.7

I've just upgraded from 10.5 to 10.6.8 on a Mac Pro Dual-Core Intell Xeon, 2.66GHz. Is it possilbe to upgrade to Lion 10.7 with my Mac Pro Dual Core or have I just hit my ceiling on 10.6.8 update ?

Mac Pros are not PowerMacs. In 2006, Apple changed all its cheesegrater enclosure Macs to have the Xeon chip installed, and changed the name to Mac Pro at that that time from PowerMac G5. That said, all Mac Pros can upgrade to a minimum of 10.7.5. Only the earliest ones can't upgrade to 10.8 and above. 10.7 and later do not have Rosetta, the ability to run PowerPC (pre-2006) applications natively. For other pitfalls, read this tip.

Mac Mini Dual Processor?

I was told by a salesman at the guitar center that I could hook my mac mini G4 to a powermac G5 to boost the speed a bit. I don't really know how I'd do that, but my question is, if that's possible could I hook up a Mac MIni G4 to another one of the same speed and make that a dual processor set up...??
Mac Mini Mac OS X (10.3.9)

To my knowledge, there is (unfortunately) nothing as simple as that.
Still It should be "doable" to connect two macs to share their capabilities, but, due to the power used to run the process, you certainly won't end up with the power and ease of use of a dual processor machine...

Mac mini Intel Core Duo fan very loud and runs at high speed all the time.

I purchased an "Open box" Mac mini Intel Core Duo, 1.66Ghz, 2G ram, 80G HD and SD a few days ago from Fry's.
It runs beautifully except the fan is very loud compared to any Mac my family has ever had. It is so loud that we were thinking of putting it under the desk.
The fan runs constantly, and I mean all the time, at a high speed. You can really feel the air coming out the exhaust vents. The case is always cool to the touch as is the exhaust air.
My aunt bought a similar Mac mini (But only 512Mb ram) the same day. Her's is very quiet. The case feels just slightly warm, not unlike other Mac mini's I've seen.
Should my Mac mini's fan be running this way?
Thanks,
llulua
BTW: The "open box" was sealed with a Fry's label and it said that this had a new warranty. Yet, checking the serial number, it said that it had about 260 days left. I guess Fry's is backing it?
Also, someone told me that perhaps the main wire from the fan to the logic board is disconnected.
eMac 1Ghz, iBook 500 dual usb, Mac mini 1.66Ghz Intel Core Duo 2g ram Mac OS X (10.4.8)
eMac 1Ghz, iBook 500 dual usb, Mac mini 1.66Ghz Intel Core Duo 2g ram Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Since you have 2 gigs of memory, my thoughts are that when the party (Fry's or the origianl purchaser) upgraded the memory, they neglected to reattach the wire at the front of the Mini under the IR receptor at the right front corner that regulates the fan speed. This wire must be unattached in order to upgrade the memory, and is probably why the original person brought it back, because of the fan noise resulting from failing to reattach the wire. If that wire is left unattached, the fan runs continually at high speed to protect the CPU and system in general. If you do not want to use a putty knife to open the Mini, take it back to Fry's and ask someone who is Mac savvy to open it and reattach the small plastic receptacle at the end of the wire into its socket at the right front of the machine. When I go to Fry's, I am always concerned because the employees allow people to pry keys off of the Apple notebooks, so don't expect that their employees to know or care about anything Mac.
Al PB 12" 1.5 Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Mac Mini Intel Core Solo 1,5GHz won't turn on

Hi at all!
I'm in a trouble with a Mac Mini Intel Core Solo-based.
Well, when I connect power cord, after a while, Power LED self-turns on (without powering on the Mac), but Startup Chime isn't played, there aren't no video signals on screen, Optical Drive mechanics isn't initialized and no Hard disk Drive noise is audible.
I can hear only (if I put my ear on Mini's body) a bit Fan Noise (and a bit air flow on the back).
If I stay-pressing power button for 4 seconds, Mac turns off. It I re-press that button, Mac turns on again. Finally, if I long-press the power button, Mac DON'T perform PMU reset (with classical speed flashing of power led, Long beep and Startup Chime).
What can I do to fix this problem?
Thanks very much to all readers!

You're right!
I wrote PMU instead of SMU.....in fact, mine is an Intel-based Mac, and PMU is present only in PowerPC Architecture.... ^_^
Sorry for my expression error.....:)
While I'm writing..... I thought that, in my Self-repairing operations on the Mac Mini, I've also replaced the internal 3V battery (because, with a multimeter, I'd can verify that battery voltage was only 1,75V instead of near 3V). After that, I left Mac turned off for a certain interval of time (I was busy in other personal activities). So, when I turned on again the Mac (after the complete reassembly of the entire computer), the Startup chime was played and the Mac beguns to work.
Is possible that, in the Mini - Intel Core Solo 1,5GHz, a low internal battery can cause problems like in the old dear iMacs G3 ????

An advice for an used Power Mac G5 dual core 2.3

Hello.
I used a Power Mac G5 PCI-X (sett. 2003) 2.0 GHz, working with Photoshop. It worked great for yeras, but now, due to its typical logic board lack, it got broken and is unable to boot anymore (three times flashing power light).
Now, I use software for PowerPC CPUs, so I can't get new computers, because I should replace all the software too!
I'm going to buy an used Power Mac G5 dual core 2.3 GHz:
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermacg5/stats/powermac_g5_dual2.3.html
This is the configuration:
Ram: 5.5 GB
HD: 250 GB
SVGA: GeForce 6600 - 256 MB.
About 650 dollars.
According to you, is this a good product? do you know any issue or manufacturing fault?
Would you buy it if you were me?
Thank you!

I tried heating it (not with the hair dryer), after about 1 hour it booted and worked very well, as in past. But when I powered it off, it started again with the same problem: unable to boot and three times flashing light.
I need a working system.
Furthermore, I removed the hard disk (sata 160 GB), and installed it in a Mac Pro: but it recognized only the second partition (data). So I run the Disk Utility and gave immediately an error (wrote in red and big), writing that the hard disk had a serious physical problem, and that if the computer was able to see the disk, I had to make immediately a backup.
But the three-times flashing light error of the G5 was not given due to the hard disk, because I tried several times to boot it from the OSX DVD, also removing the hard disk, and it always gave the same problem.

Can not for the life of me get printing to work on my mac mini duo core

I have a photosmart 7550 and laserjet 1012. And I can't get my mac mini to recognize either printer. This has been driving me nuts. I was a long time mac user in the 80s and early 90s. Switched to Windows. Just switched back with the mac mini (intel duo core). And I hate to say it, but it's just been an awful transition. My wife, which hates me that I made her get rid of her windows machine and switched it with this mini. If I don't get this mac printing I'm going to have to get rid of it.
I've installed/reinstalled drivers from HP, removing the library/printer/hp directory. Guten-print. Nothing is working for me.
Can anyone help me?
mac mini duo core Mac OS X (10.4.6)

If the printers are not being recognized by the Printer Setup Utility, it may mean that the printing services has not started up. You can check for this by using the Activity Monitor (/Applications/Utilities). Set it to show "All Processes", then click on the "Process Name" tab. That will sort the running processes in alphabetical order. Look for an entry for "cupsd". If you find no such entry, printing services is not running. You can probably turn it on by enabling Printer sharing (System Preferences-->Sharing).
There should be a driver for the Laserjet 1012 that will be useable once you get the computer to recognize that there is a printer there. This according to the Apple article listing the drivers included with Intel Macs . Unfortunately, that article does not list a driver for the 7550. According to HP's support site, they do have drivers for Mac OS X 10.4. There is no entry, however, for the Intel Macs. I think you will have to wait for HP to release Intel drivers for the Photosmart printer.
Matt
Mac Mini; B&W G3/300

Mac Mini Dual Core vs PowerMac DP G4

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