The official "Mac mini review" thread

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I must say that I am a little shocked at the lack of a thread on this board filled with new Mm owners reviewing and gushing over their new baby, replete with freshly snapped photos. WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE! One of the first threads to pop up was one to complain about possible bugs. The mods may decide that this thread is just one more Mm thread in a crowded field but I think we need to get back to some semblance of normalcy, not to mention sanity.



Another alarming trend I see all across the Mac Web is discussions about the Mm's potential as something other than what it is, a budget priced, entry level Mac. It is first and foremost a home computer for budget conscious, iPod wielding consumers. It is not a home entertainment component. It is not a automobile accessory. It is not a server cluster node or whatever the proper term is. It is a cheap consumer desktop computer. Yet, no one seems particularly interested in that aspect of the product. It is abundantly clear that there is a market for these other types of products and perhaps Apple would be wise to address these markets. But the Mm is not some stealth product to bring the Mac into the living room IMO. To begin with, it has the wrong components. Listen to the sound your DVD drive makes and listen the sound that the Mm's DVD drive makes. No way is that thing intended to replace your progressive scan DVD player. The HD is too slow for video work. The noise from the drives and the fans would be obvious and distracting when performing as some type of media center. The list goes on. It also has the wrong connections. Also, if Apple had wanted you to think it was something for the living room, they would have marketed it that way. That would have potentially drawn more interest from the PC world than as some switcher bait. Don't get me wrong, I like to see people thinking outside of the box. But in this case, we need to start thinking inside the box. The Mac mini is what it is. Nothing more, nothing less. Having said all that let's talk about what it is.



I picked up my Mm on the first day of release. It replaces a G3 800 MHz 12" iBook. The iB served faithfully for two years and I had few complaints about it. Still I was ready for an upgrade and this represented a great opportunity to do so. I moved up a processor generation and more than a 50% MHz increase. So far, I love it.



Whisper quiet it is not unless you are doing nothing more demanding than writing text and surfing the Web. Playing even the simplest of games sends the fan into high gear. I have read a lot of complaints about the noise on other boards. Mine is the base model and most of the complaints seems to come from people with the higher end model. When the thing is at work, it lets you know it in no uncertain terms. Adding to that is the fact that it is sitting on your desk right in front of you so there is no getting away from the sound that it makes. If mostly what you do is write and surf, then it is plenty quiet. For everything else, there are ear plugs. Still, the fans cycle down very quickly after the offending task is completed. It is nothing I can't live with. But I definitely understand the complaints people have been making. When Apple finally admits to the problem and comes out with a fix, I will be the first in line. Till then, I will enjoy using this machine.



I really can't measure performance because I am still using the stock 256 MB of ram. It is still considerably faster than my wife's old PC (which will be replaced by one of these soon), but I had 640 MB in my iBook and I miss the speed. Having said that, I have every reason to believe that this thing will be quite spiffy with an adequate ram upgrade. Even so, it is quite usable as is.



Bottom line, the Mac experience is well represented by the Mm. There was a lot of hand-wringing before its release over whether switchers would have the full Mac experience because of the stripped down nature of the machine. The answer is a resounding YES! Not only is the experience in tact for switchers, it is a great upgrade for all G3 owners. eMac owners who are tired of the built-in monitor should also consider this machine. Looking for a second Mac for the home? Look no further. I called my wife into my room to show her the straighten feature in the new iPhoto and she was blown away. When she saw I could do something as simple as press the power switch and instantly sleep my computer, she wanted one for herself. The Mac experience is very much alive and well in this new Mac and as long as people who buy it do so for what it is and not what it is not, then I suspect there will be a lot of happy new Mac owners to help boost that all important market share number. That's my review.



I thought it would be nice to have a place for new product reviews like we use to do. So here it is. Please don't hijack this thread with side issues. If you have a mini, post a review. If you don't but have questions about the mimi as a computer, ask. Otherwise, there are a number of threads rehashing endless speculation about the mini's "hidden" functionality. Thanks for honoring the spirit of this thread.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 11
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    I completely agree with your opinion about the Mm just being a budget computer. People are going crazy with all the different niches they want it to fill!



    That said, I will not be getting a Mm anytime soon. I'm just not willing to buy another G4 based machine-especially with HD around the corner.



    When/how are you looking to upgrade your ram? Looking for a place to unload that 256 chip? Check your PMs
  • Reply 2 of 11
    i love my mac mini and I'm also upgrading from a g3 700Mhz iBook with 640MB. IMO, our situations are quite similar.



    Anyway, the machine is slow with the 256MB RAM in comparison to my iBook when it comes to multi-tasking. However, application startup times are much quicker. I haven't gotten to play with my new toy much, but as soon as my 1GB of RAM comes in and I get a break from school, I'll post another review.



    Another thing I am going to attempt to do with my mac mini is use dual displays. The ATI Radeon 9200 supposedly supports dual displays with a DVI Splitter. I have bought the splitter and it should be shipping soon. I will update you guys as to whether this solution works or not. If it does, the value of this machine will be greatly increased! If not, oh well, at least I tried
  • Reply 3 of 11
    Ohhh, that sweet sound of sanity
  • Reply 4 of 11
    mac voyermac voyer Posts: 1,294member
    Macasaurus, let us know how that dual display thing works. I, for one, would be very interested. I can't think of a reason the spanning enabler wouldn't work for this purpose.



    On another note, can someone give me some insight on ram. I know I will upgrade in the next week or so. The question is how much. I can get 512 MB pretty cheap. I have seen 1 GB at Fry's for as little as $150. will there be an appreciable difference between the two amounts? Will 512 bring me up to speed. The most demanding tasks I perform these days are music production with GB and PTLE, and iPhoto. Saving for the 1 GB stick will take a little more time for me and I just want to know that it is worth it. Feel free to PM me with the answer or just point me to another discussion on the subject. Thanks.
  • Reply 5 of 11
    ompusompus Posts: 163member
    What's there to say? I plugged it in and it works.



    But I'll back up a bit. I spent, Friday, Saturday and the first part of Sunday assembling a Windows Box and putting it on my home network. Finished, I had dinner at my mother's house. I pulled out the Mini and a tableful of 60 year olds gasped in pure amazement... "THAT'S THE COMPUTER?"



    So I excused myself. Plugged the Mini into my mom's existing 19" LCD monitor, cannibalized a USB mouse and keyboard from an old Mac, and turned it on. Airport Extreme had me connected to the internet in 30 seconds. Registration and Personalization took 5 minutes. Rendezvous found my printer in 3 seconds. Set-up complete, I was back at the table in time for pie. After spending untold time on the Windows box, the simple beauty of the Mac was almost Zen like. The old farts at the table were amazed too.



    The "hard" part is going to be getting my mom to move from OS 8.6 to 10.3. But for the first time, I recognized the beauty of the dock. First, on a huge monitor, the fact that it's a space hog is irrelevant. Second, for my mom, the Dock serves as a perfect "idiot bar." EVERYTHING she could ever want is right there at the bottom of page. What's not there she can find through Sherlock. She even "gets" Expose, although I've limited it.



    So there you have it. My 65 year old mom is loose on the internet w/ a broadband connection. Yet I've no worries she'll be hacked, nor experience crippling viruses. Plus, when software updates appear, I can update her computer w/ Apple Remote Desktop 2.



    It's certainly a sub-market, but I see LOT'S of computer "geeks" buying the mini for parents and relatives. Even my IT friends who mock the power of the G4 are excited about setting up their parents and family members with minis.



    To wrap it up... I'm thrilled with the mini, my Mom's thrilled with the mini, and my wife thinks a mini in the TV room sounds like a cool idea. And that Windows box I built... the one with the Athlon 64 3200+ w/ 90 nm winchester core, coupled w/an nVIDIA GeForce 6600 video card, and 5 open PCI slots? They could care less.
  • Reply 6 of 11
    ps5533ps5533 Posts: 476member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Paul

    That said, I will not be getting a Mm anytime soon. I'm just not willing to buy another G4 based machine-especially with HD around the corner.



    sorry about the stupidity but "HD"?
  • Reply 7 of 11
    yevgenyyevgeny Posts: 1,148member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by PS5533

    sorry about the stupidity but "HD"?



    High Definition (i.e. High Definition Television).
  • Reply 8 of 11
    erbiumerbium Posts: 354member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Yevgeny

    High Definition (i.e. High Definition Television).





    Yeah, but the G4 should be able to handle HD shouldn't it?
  • Reply 9 of 11
    pbg4 dudepbg4 dude Posts: 1,611member
    El Gato's firewire HD tuner requires a dual G5 to display 1080i HD video.
  • Reply 10 of 11
    ompusompus Posts: 163member
    My understanding is the implementation of the H.264 spec into Quicktime will substantially reduce the power needed to process video. You might not get "full" HD quality out of the mini, but I'd expect it to be pretty good nonetheless.
  • Reply 11 of 11
    pbg4 dudepbg4 dude Posts: 1,611member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Ompus

    My understanding is the implementation of the H.264 spec into Quicktime will substantially reduce the power needed to process video. You might not get "full" HD quality out of the mini, but I'd expect it to be pretty good nonetheless.



    You can display 480p and 720p using a G4. Right now it's only 1080i that requires a G5 processor.
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