Which apple to buy... Mac Mini?

I don't know if this is the right area to post this or not, but since I couldn't find a "general" forum, here it is:
I'm a PC user now, and am wanting to buy a mac. I have no idea what the differences are between them all, except some are laptops, and others are desktops. That's the summation of my knowledge so far.
I write books. I need a computer with enough memory to not crash (like my PC does) when the book is nearly complete. Usually by then it's about 2 gigs, including all text, pics, cover, etc. I usually have Word, Photoshop, and one or two other random programs operating at the same time.
Would the mini handle all that? Should I get the MacBook Pro, the Powerbook, IBook?
I'm so confused....

If you rely heavily on Photoshop, then you shouldn't get a Mini (Early 2006), iMac (Early 2006) or MacBook Pro, because they use Intel processors instead of the G4/G5 PowerPC chips used in older Macs. While this means that they will perform faster (sometimes much faster) with native (they call it Universal) software, older software that has been compiled only for the PowerPC architecture, such as Photoshop, will run under emulation (see Rosetta).
Some software will work just fine under Rosetta, but Steve Jobs himself (i.e. Apple's CEO) said in one of his keynotes that Photoshop's performance under Rosetta was OK for occasional users, but not adequate for professionals (that also applies to all users which use it a lot). Many companies (including Apple of course) have already transitioned their products to offer software optimized for both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs, but Adobe will have to transition their entire Creative Suite, and that's going to take a lot of time and will be very costly, explaining why they decided to wait until CS3 to release Universal versions of their apps. Until then, you will get better performance with Photoshop and a PPC Mac, would it be a refurb unit, a G5 tower (very powerful and expensive) or a 17-inch PowerBook (or even an iBook).
Moreover, the programs that you use on your PC will not work on a Mac, you will have to get Mac versions of your applications, such as Office 2004 for Mac, Photoshop for Mac, etc. and that can add to the price of your purchase.
Lastly, considering that the books you make are quite large (2 GB), adding RAM to the base 512 MB would be a wise choice. With that amount, you Mac will probably not crash on you, but 1 GB would make things faster, and 2 GB would ensure that both Photoshop and the other apps will run fast enough even under very heavy load.

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I am planning to buy mac mini 2.5Gzh. I will be using it mainly for video editing and I am planning to upgrade up to 8GB. Is it a good buy or should I try some other alternative.

I am planning to buy my next desktop. I will be using this mainly for video editing. I am not a professional video editor, I normally do home made videos for youtube, like tutorial, DIY project etc. I use Nikon D3100 camera and some basic green screen techniques as part of recording. So my basic video editing would be just syncing audio, editing videos to cut un-necessary frames etc and some basic effects. I am also planning to buy final cut pro.
So my question is should I buy the mac mini or Imac?

Great advice from RRFS!
For video editing, do go for 16 GB of RAM ffrom OWC & consider the twice as fast i7 2.6 model, see Geekbench scores here..
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_mini/specs/mac-mini-core-i5-2.5-late-2 012-specs.html
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_mini/specs/mac-mini-core-i7-2.6-late-2 012-specs.html

Is there any way we can buy Mac mini customised?

I actually gave planned to buy Mac mini but I want some customisation to be done before purchased and I have geared that apple accepts customised order in Macs. If it excepts then how to make order for customisation Mac mini. Can any one provide me the link of the customisation page on apples web side and by the way I live in India and ifthe facility avaliable in India weather or not please provide me the link of it.

what do you want to customize?
check this,
http://store.apple.com/us/mac/family/mac-mini
you can select if what country you are in..

Can I seamlessly toggle Apple TV between Mac Mini and Iphone / iPad?

I am having a Mac Mini, iPad, iPhone and Apple TV. Currently i am using 2 HDMI cables 1 between TV and Mac Mini and 2nd between TV and Apple TV. Seems like If i toggle between iPad / iPhone display via apple TV and Mac Mini display via apple TV; it becomes an issue.
Can I seamlessly toggle Apple TV between Mac Mini and iPhone / iPad?
Regards,
Mahendra Panchal.

Seems like If i toggle between iPad / iPhone display via apple TV and Mac Mini display via apple TV;
Toggle how? What are you doing? Why do you have the MacMini connected to the TV? That is the whole point of AppleTV. It is a simple way ( in therory ) to get your content to your TV without having to plug your computer in to your TV.
it becomes an issue.
What does? What is the issue? What specifically fails or does not work?

Where to buy a 2m power cord for Apple TV And Mac mini?

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Thanks

The connector used on the Mac mini is as you say a figure of 8, the official designation being IEC C7.
It is my experience standard C7 power leads work with no problems, see the following as an example one I believe meets your requirements, a 2M one is also available on Amazon.
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/Guilty-Gadgets-®-Projector-receiver/dp/B00D1FCKI6/

Apple TV v Mac Mini

I want to integrate my Mac into the living room, and as far as I can see I have two options:
a) I buy an Apple TV and sync it with iTunes so I can watch/listen to films and music ripped to my iMac in the study, and control it all from the living room. This gives the added benefit of being able to do photo slideshows on my HDTV too. This will mean I still need my separate DVD player to play 'live' DVDs (my iMac is on wireless 802.11g, which I don't think will stream DVDs to Apple TV - am I right?).
b) I buy a Mac Mini for the lounge, which will take care of the DVD situation.
Questions:
1. If a go with option a), I'll probably rip all of my DVDs to the iMac so I can watch them at will. Can I choose what is stored locally, rather than just being able to use whatever Apple TV has been able to sync, before it becomes full?
2. Can my iMac with 802.11g stream video to the Apple TV?
3. Option b) feels like a better idea (more functionality for the money, plus I can use it as a digital TV recorder with a bit of help from EyeTV). Will I be able to replicate Apple TV - ie sync all of the music, movies and photos from the iMac for use in the living room? ie more than just 'sharing', so I don't need the iMac turned on to use the content?
4. Is it worth holding on to see if a Blu Ray compatible Mini is on the cards? Plus, will Minis start to come with 802.11n?
5. Can I stream from iMac to Mini? I'd like to be able to set iTunes playing, and have the same stuff playing on the Mini and the iMac.
6. Anyone got any thoughts on what I'd like to do?
Thanks
iMac 20" Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Spencer...
The latest Intel Mac Minis are more powerful, more flexible and ,of course, more expensive than the Apple TV.
The Core Duo MacMinis can easily play 1080p content. The Apple TV is limited to 720p. Avoid the older G4 MacMinis.
The Mini can play all sorts of digital formats, including DIVX. MKV etc.
The Mini has a built-in DVD player. (Although I find it frustrating that the Mini's DVD drive is one of those that cannot be modified to be region-free.)
The Mini has a larger hard disk, and you can plug in additional storage, and stream content wirelessly. You can also plug in a Freeview tuner and record TV.
The Mini does not have 802.11n networking. But 802.11g is adequate for video streaming, especially if your media server is wired to your router.
The Mini can get confused by hi-definition 16:9 screens where the pixel ratio is not 16:9. ie. 1024x1024 plasmas.
Glyn

Combining Apple TV and Mac Mini.

Following the threads I think this is possible. If so it will be a great solution. Any comments will be appreciated.
Configuration: Set up a Mac Mini directly connected to a HD television using DVI. Set up the Apple TV connected to the same television using HDMI.
Set up the Mac Mini as one of the five PCs that talk direct to the Apple TV.
Add DivX, flac, VLC, etc to the Mac Mini.
This way I can use the Apple TV to do what it is good at, that is play content from the iTunes Store stored on the internal drive of the Apple TV and the appropriate content on the Mac Mini.
And use the Mac Mini to play all my DivX and other video content.
In other words the Mac Mini connects directly to the TV to play content such as DivX movies, and though the Apple TV for content supported by Apple TV.
Maybe the Mac Mini can play iTunes video content, but it only has DVI output, and the Apple TV has HDMI.
As this would be in the living room any thoughts on remote access to a Mac Mini without hooking up a keyboard and monitor every time the content needs updating?
Will the Mac Mini ever come with an HDMI interface. That would make life easy. Also connecting a large external drive to the Apple TV would be great.
Any comments on this configuration would be appreciated?

With the Mac Mini can I play DivX encoded files on
the TV? And control them only using the Apple remote?
Some posts say yes this works if the file is on the
internal drive, but not if it is on an external
drive. Some say to play them when the DivX files are
on an external drive it requires a link from the
internal drive.
The key for me is to do all this from the Apple
remote in the living room.
You can simply create an alias of your movies folders on the external drive and drop it in the Mac Mini's main "Movies" folder. All your shows will then be available under Movies in Front Row using the remote.
Most external drives are too loud, so I was thinking
of locating external drive on my Airport in another
room and have it connect to the Mac Mini over
wireless, 802.11n. Is this a fast enough connection
for streaming video? Or do I have to have a wired
connection and put up with the noise?
I streamed to the Mini for a while but it became annoying. Some shows would stutter occasionally and it was very slow to navigate content in Front Row. I ended up buying the miniStack drive which has been great. Very quiet.
I also bought a Logitech wireless keyboard w/trackpad for added flexibility (accessing video_TS folders, downloading content, youtube), but it's not vital.

Want to Buy Mac Mini.... HELP!

I want to buy a mac mini, but my fear is that it says it comes with Tiger as the OS. Anyone with experience? If this is the case... I will be very unhappy.

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Some applications still aren't Leopard compatible. Some even have issues with Adobe CS2 and CS3 compatibility and Leopard. So depending on your application needs, you may find having Tiger to be advantageous. If you get a Mac Mini that preshipped with Leopard, you'll have no option to downgrade back to Tiger if you find a necessary application is Tiger only compatible.
PowerPC Mac Minis also have another added advantage, and that's Classic compatibility up through 10.4.11. There is no Classic compatibility in Leopard.
Note, Classic doesn't have full Mac OS 9 driver support, but there are many older software titles that work just fine in Classic, but don't work at all in 10.5.
So before complaining about Tiger only being on your Mac Mini determine if there is any software which requires Leopard in your collection. If not, don't panic!
Many third party software vendors offer Leopard like features on Tiger compatible software.
Finally if you have a big enough internal hard drive, you can dual boot into both Tiger and Leopard on your Mac for compatibility to both operating systems.
Note, 2 USB port Mac Minis are PowerPC. 4 USB port Mac Minis are Intel. Compatibility with Windows applications is better with Intel Mac Mini, plus more built-in RAM makes it easier to install Leopard.
Whatever Mac Mini you get, be sure to get the original prebundled software, as they contain a good hardware test program, and bundled software that does not ship with the operating system retail.

Apple Remote with Mac Mini G4

Hi
I have a mac mini g4 which obviously does'nt have the infra-red reciever on the front like the intel models do. So is there any hardware that I could buy from the apple store which would allow the apple remote to work with my g4 mac mini.
Thanks.....

This link provides a method for doing so.
http://andrewescobar.com/frontrow
Since for all practical purposes this is a hack, you may want to keep this link handy.
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/removefrontrowhack.html

Change SSL self-certificate email contact and default apple ID on mac mini server

Hello,
I just received my mac mini server and started to set it up.
I bought this computer with my regular apple id account that I use with my 2 MBPs.
When installing the mac mini computer I connected my Mac Mini Server to my regular apple ID account.
The issue is that I don't want to share my MBP account details on this Mini Server computer (software update, server notification push, SSL certificate contact e-mail...) not to mess things up between all my macs.
My question is :
I created a new apple ID for this computer with a different contact email etc.
How do I change the default ID for the whole mac mini settings ?
I already changed the user settings in the OSX user pref pane, the new mail is updated.
I already changed the icloud apple ID with the new one it's updated.
I already changed the alert notification push recipient e-mail in server.app it's updated.
BUT still, if I want to change the "self-SSL certificate" for a new one with my new apple ID account, the e-mail contact is still my old one which I bought the computer with.
How do I change that ?
Also I want to be able to update my apps on this computer without using the apple ID account I bought the mac mini with (and my 2 MBP, iphone etc), but with the new dedicated apple ID for this McMini.
Is there a software transfer trick to separate computers softwares from a mac to another?
thanks for your precious help.
Damian

Hello,
I just received my mac mini server and started to set it up.
I bought this computer with my regular apple id account that I use with my 2 MBPs.
When installing the mac mini computer I connected my Mac Mini Server to my regular apple ID account.
The issue is that I don't want to share my MBP account details on this Mini Server computer (software update, server notification push, SSL certificate contact e-mail...) not to mess things up between all my macs.
My question is :
I created a new apple ID for this computer with a different contact email etc.
How do I change the default ID for the whole mac mini settings ?
I already changed the user settings in the OSX user pref pane, the new mail is updated.
I already changed the icloud apple ID with the new one it's updated.
I already changed the alert notification push recipient e-mail in server.app it's updated.
BUT still, if I want to change the "self-SSL certificate" for a new one with my new apple ID account, the e-mail contact is still my old one which I bought the computer with.
How do I change that ?
Also I want to be able to update my apps on this computer without using the apple ID account I bought the mac mini with (and my 2 MBP, iphone etc), but with the new dedicated apple ID for this McMini.
Is there a software transfer trick to separate computers softwares from a mac to another?
thanks for your precious help.
Damian

How to buy mac mini from USA

HI, there, I want to buy a Mac mini from USA but I'm in New Zealand. The price here is so crazy!!! Is it possible to order one from apple store in USA and ask them to post it? How to do that? Cheers

There are some things to know about buying things in the US. The prices do not include sales taxes. There is no standard federal sales tax, it differs from state to state and large city to large city and can be between 6 to 10+%.
If you buy from Apple you will always pay sales tax. If you find an online 3rd party Apple reseller, you may pay as much as US$20 to 30 less for the product, but many also do not charge sales tax and if you buy enough, offer free shipping within the US. I have friends in Dallas, so I buy things in the US there. For example, if I had purchased my Mac mini from an Apple Store in Dallas it would have been US$499 plus US$41.00 sales tax (8.25%). (It would have been the same cost from Apple Online, but sometimes they charge for shipping, sometimes they do not.) However, I ordered it from Other World Computing for US$479.00 with no sales tax and free shipping to Dallas. So I saved US$61.00.
However, as mentioned, shipping to NZ and paying customs' duty fees may not save you anything over buying it there.

Apple TV or Mac Mini?

Overly eager I went out and bought the new n-Airport Extreme BS and a 500GB Lacie USB HDD to plug in the back. As other posts report this is painfully slow. I also just purchased an Apple TV but have not unpacked it yet. Thinking it through, I have an alternative setup to Apple TV and wondered what other people thought of it... Would be grateful for your opinions. I might have missed something really simple that makes it a daft idea??
What I want:
To watch my iTunes videos on my plasma
Network Attached Storage - lots of it and quick!
Airtunes remote speakers (currently running in 3 rooms)
n-speed file transfers/streams to MacBook Pro and PCs from NAS
Mac remote control of iTunes
Solution:
Buy a mac mini, connect by 'DVI to HDMI' cable to plasma
Connect mac mini wired ethernet to n-AEBS
Connect n-AEBS wired to one Airport Express BS for 2.4GHz(g) bridged connections
Run n-AEBS at 5GHz(n) speed
Pros:
Watch anything from my mac on the big screen - not just itunes/h264 content
Fast network storage (fastest possible??)
Full wireless keyboard/mouse access to mac mini (browse/work on plasma)
4 x USB vs 2
Firewire port (I have an old firewire only 320GB Lacie drive)
More flexible if I want to change my setup
Cons:
£200 quid more (although I'll save £100 cos of my firewire Lacie)
Audio quality... (Is there a way to upgrade mac mini to digital audio out?)
I have never run a mac mini or apple tv, so don't know about fan noise?
P.S. Thanks to Glyn Williams for your post on setting up a dual band wireless network. Really helped me.

"http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4281054&#4281054"
this is an older thread. My answer you question.
good luck

Buying Mac MIni (GIFT) Can i connect it to dual non-mac displays?

okay, If i buy the lower end mac mini as a christmas gift for my brother, can i connect it to a display not made by apple. If so, What addapters/Programs/Drivers do i need
2::::
Can I connect it to multiple non-apple displays? If so, Again How??

The mini can connect to most digital (DVI) monitors and to standard VGA monitors (via included adapter). So you should be OK.
The "low-end" Intel Mini is a very nice computer.
For many tasks, such as running legacy PPC Mac programs like MS Office, it will perform much better if you buy it with at least 1024 Meg of RAM memory, rather than the standard 512 Meg RAM.
If your brother won't be running legacy apps like MS Office or Photoshop, then 512 Meg is OK -- though more RAM provides a substantial performance increase.
BTW -- what a nice brother you are!

How to use menu button on apple remote with mac mini

I purchased a late 2012 mac mini and the silver remote. The remote automatically opens iTunes, plays and pauses songs, adjust the volume, and skips forwards or backwards just fine. I had no trouble linking it the the Mac Mini either. So we have established it is working and comunicating fine with my Mac. My question is: what the heck is the "menu" botton for and can I use it with my Mac Mini? I'm using OS X 10.9.2.

The Menu button does nothing
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4143595
There are apps that will help using the remote. See:
http://andymurkin.wordpress.com/2013/10/07/fun-with-the-apple-ir-remote-part-1-m aking-it-work/

Need to buy Lion Server when buying Mac Mini Server?

Hi there,
Last week I bought a Mac Mini Server. Do I need to pay for the Lion Server part in the App store separate?
Cheers.

That is correct. I did not find the Lion Server App at first. Now I found it. No need to buy.
Thanks!

Failed to issue print from win7 laptop to Canon MP230 which is connected to mac mini os x 10.8.3

HI
I have recently bought a Canon MP230 printer and connected to my Mac Mini 10.8.3 usb port.
To setup the printer I downloaded the latest driver from canon web site and install all of them
When I issue print from my mac mini it works fine.
Next step was to issue print from Windows 7 laptop .
To do that I intalled Bonjoure in my Windows 7 latpot and set the printer connected to MAc Mini as default printer.
Upto this point every thing works fine.
When I tried to issue print from my Windows 7 laptop the printer gets activated the power button start blinking . But it just pass a page from
input tray to out tary without printing a single line. I have looked into cups server page at my mac mini. It shows that the job fired from windows
laptop was done.
I treid a lot debug it myself . But no luck yet.
Please help me. I am very upset.
Thanks
Anirban

I just updated to 10.8.3 today, and my computer and Apple TV won't even recognize each other now. I have absolutely no advice, but wanted to throw this in so you (and Apple) know you're not the only one.

Which apple to buy... Mac Mini?

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