what do you do with your mac mini?

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
The idea of this is to share what we can do with our minis and learn from what other people have done with theirs, thus creating a usable resource which may give people an idea of the capabilities of the machine. Post spec of your machine and what you can do with it. Heres mine:



1.25Ghz

1 gb DDR3200 RAM

40gb hard disk

500gb Lacie usb2 big disk

Starlogic 17" TFT 1280x1024



I use this machine to create and publish architecture projects, which incorporates CAD, rendering, photography, graphic design, presentation production, animation, video editing. On my most recent project I have mostly been drawing in Sketchup, which I also use for creating my animations, with Vue 5 infinite (runs a lot better than expected) to create photorealistic renders of the model. I'm presenting my work in Powerpoint from MS Office:Mac 2004 (one of the best software suites ever, and the best edition of office on either platform). I create my graphics using Adobe CS2, particularly photoshop, but also using indesign to create portfolio work. I also use iPhoto to manage my photography, use iMovie to edit my animations and may at some point use a mix of quicktime pro and garageband for my sound creation.



I often run itunes, safari, powerpoint, photoshop, sketchup, iphoto and imovie at the same time which runs ok with the gigabyte of RAM. I used aticcelerator to overclock my gpu and VRAM speeds by 10%. My system is optimised and maintained for performance using cocktail and tinkertool.



I find this works pretty well for the most part, and all of the apps run fast enough except for perhaps sketchup 5, but only once the model gets really complex, however this is made up for by the productivity I can achieve with the software because it is so well thought out, and with a clever use of layersand display options you can get decent performance. I have to leave vue 5 renders to run overnight sometimes. What I really want is a core duo for that extra processor, however until the ppc only programs go intel native its not really worth it.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    1.25GHz

    1GB DDR 3200 Ram

    40GB internal 5400

    80GB 7200 external FW

    CTX 17" CRT 1280x1024@85Hz

    4x Superdrive

    8x external FW LG GSA 4120B DVD-Ram burner



    I do some 3D stuff with it too and pretty much everything else I need to do computer related. It's the best Mac I've ever used and that includes the quad G5. Sure the quad is much faster but I just feel happier using the Mini. I feel like money is burning with the quad but I get every penny out the Mini.



    I often feel that I could use a better GPU but I guess it's just not going to happen. That's the only thing that lets it down IMO but like I say, to me it's still the best Mac I've ever used.
  • Reply 2 of 5
    I have an Intel Duo in my kitchen and a low end latest model mini as a network monitor. It have a firewire drive connected to the later and use navicat for off-site MySQL backups and use Dejal's Simon as a network monitor for all server and routers.
  • Reply 3 of 5
    1.25 GHz

    512 MB RAM

    external 250 GB Firewire HD

    20 " Cinema Display

    EyeTV 200



    I use it primarily to watch/record TV (the cinema display is the most beautiful tv around), and I run my website from it.



    It's a great machine for the job, although a bit more RAM and a faster graphic engine would help. But it's OK, it works nicely. I just love it. *hugsmacmini*
  • Reply 4 of 5
    archstudentarchstudent Posts: 262member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by durin oakenskin

    1.25 GHz

    512 MB RAM

    external 250 GB Firewire HD

    20 " Cinema Display

    EyeTV 200



    I use it primarily to watch/record TV (the cinema display is the most beautiful tv around), and I run my website from it.



    It's a great machine for the job, although a bit more RAM and a faster graphic engine would help. But it's OK, it works nicely. I just love it. *hugsmacmini*




    so would u recommend the eyeTV? What is the picture quality and reception like?
  • Reply 5 of 5
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Archstudent

    so would u recommend the eyeTV? What is the picture quality and reception like?



    since I own only the EyeTV 200 (tv cable), I can't say anything about the digital or sat receivers.



    Reception: Reception is mostly good, but might be a little worse than an actual TV. This might be because of may setup (cable runs from vcr to EyeTV) or the fact that a noisy signal looks better on a tv screen than on a LCD.



    I have two or three channels that are really noisy. fortunately, I have composite video connectors in EyeTV, so I can use the TV tuner of my VCR for those channels, so no problem.



    Picture Quality: If you run it full screen, there are some MPEG artefacts visible, the picture might look a little blocky. Very seldom, the frame rate drops (in camera tilts, for example). Watching News or TV shows is OK, feature films as well. Ice hockey is a pain to watch - MPEG was surely not created for encoding hockey games.



    Native TV resolution (small Window on Mac display) is no problem, and I like that feature: Watching TV while surfing AI...



    All in all, for me it's OK, and I really appreciate the possibility to record directly from the web tv guides, and timeshift is a gift of god, so to speak.



    If you're picture quality fetishist, go look somewhere else - but you won't find a much better solution, I think.



    Hope that helps
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