The new Mac minis are considerably better than the older ones. I'd have enough money to bear the brunt of a restocking fee (even if there's no guarantee of getting the right model the second time), but many more consumers do not. As in the case of the iPod nano, one ticked off customer can cause some trouble. The difference is Apple's computer market is small enough as it is, they don't wanna piss people off there too.
I think he means that it does a simple RAM rest, and does a basic Disk Utility check as well.
Even so, I don't see why this is a reason to regularly shut down a macine that works well. If you have for example defective RAM, you will most probably experience kernel panics and you will know that there is problem. And the startup check is not going to correct it.
Quote:
But he's forgetting all of the checks and cleanup ( daily, weekly, monthly) it does when it's left on.
Well, yes, but on a machine that goes to sleep every night, those do not run. It is however trivial to force them run whenever one likes.
Even so, I don't see why this is a reason to regularly shut down a macine that works well. If you have for example defective RAM, you will most probably experience kernel panics and you will know that there is problem. And the startup check is not going to correct it.
Well, yes, but on a machine that goes to sleep every night, those do not run. It is however trivial to force them run whenever one likes.
I don't consider the turn on checks to be important myself. I just mentioned them as a posible reason. I think the other checks work even if sleep is used.
But you do have to check the system regularly even if it is working well. I do find occasional problems.
I don't consider the turn on checks to be important myself. I just mentioned them as a posible reason. I think the other checks work even if sleep is used.
But you do have to check the system regularly even if it is working well. I do find occasional problems.
The OS won't run it's regular cron maint. if it is sleeping...
Spring for Cocktail, only costs US$15 for a single-user lifetime license/updates...
Onyx is da bomb. Just run it once a month and things are sweet. I was getting problems backing up my user folders in 10.4.2 for some reason but Onyx sorted it good...... At least with Onyx as well, I feel, okay, let's clean house, click a button, bam! its being done... rather than waiting for some mysterious processes that may run at certain times of the night/day/startup/etc etc....
I'll admit. It's a bad habit of "i gotta defrag my hard disk every week" from my windoze upbringing \
Typical errors in the disk database. They creep up on you whether or not the machine is on all the time. This isn't the fault of the OS, it's just the usual corruption that all systems are subject to. The routines run at night don't fix disk errors. And if you have more than one drive or partition, they aren't checked at all.
Typical errors in the disk database. They creep up on you whether or not the machine is on all the time. This isn't the fault of the OS, it's just the usual corruption that all systems are subject to. The routines run at night don't fix disk errors. And if you have more than one drive or partition, they aren't checked at all.
I don't think just restarting the machine would solve such problems (MacCrazy's point), unless you force-run fsck. Or is it running automatically during startup? Which I doubt, judging from the time it takes when run manually. Besides, the MacOS is now journaled and problems from disk corruption (not physical damage of course) are much less common than before. But yes, if I am not mistaken, for the journal to take effect, you have to restart the machine.
I don't think just restarting the machine would solve such problems (MacCrazy's point), unless you force-run fsck. Or is it running automatically during startup? Which I doubt, judging from the time it takes when run manually. Besides, the MacOS is now journaled and problems from disk corruption (not physical damage of course) are much less common than before. But yes, if I am not mistaken, for the journal to take effect, you have to restart the machine.
I've noticed a more stable computer after a restart - this could just be my impression but I like to empty the RAM every so often - this could be a completely false impression. I like my iPod to connect to iTunes etc. which only happens once each time it's opened. It's these little bits that occur but there are probably no adverse side effects to leaving it on.
Back to the thread though - these specs look good, but still not good enough compared to the iMac.
so if the models are "officially announced" as updated, would the older models be cleared at a $50-$100 discount?
i hope that apple clears things up soon, announces the new models, only sell these new models on the apple store, and then through other channels clear out all the inventory of older models. if their margins are quite thin on the mini, and especially since were are now in the christmas frenzy quarter, i'm not sure why apple would want to scrape every penny of profit out of the older models, when an announcement of new models** could start of some good volume of mac christmas buying on the right foot...
**in this case its not the "bigger better specs" that would attract people but the "new!", "latest!" and "just updated!" angle of things. the fact that there is DEDICATED 64mb of VRAM though would be one of the most important specs to push to differentiate themselves from budget Dull/ generic beigebox integrated graphics/ shared memory stuff... complain as we might about ati 9200, the other day i saw an ad for a toshiba laptop, it was like, 64mb of dedicated vram! but for an onboard ati 9000
there's going to be people pulling lots of hurley's (from Lost) ~ "the numbers are bad, man..." to demand to see the serial number of the unit before buying it. of course, no guarantee that this will work \
there's going to be people pulling lots of hurley's (from Lost) ~ "the numbers are bad, man..." to demand to see the serial number of the unit before buying it. of course, no guarantee that this will work \
The serial number should be on the Apple tag on the outside of the box. So as long as the serial number list is correct there shouldn't be any problems finding a mini with the updated specs.
there's going to be people pulling lots of hurley's (from Lost) ~ "the numbers are bad, man..." to demand to see the serial number of the unit before buying it. of course, no guarantee that this will work \
I don't know why people can't simply wait a few weeks. By then all of the older units should have gone by by.
Comments
Originally posted by PB
I really don't understand what you are talking about.
I think he means that it does a simple RAM rest, and does a basic Disk Utility check as well.
But he's forgetting all of the checks and cleanup ( daily, weekly, monthly) it does when it's left on.
Originally posted by melgross
I think he means that it does a simple RAM rest, and does a basic Disk Utility check as well.
Even so, I don't see why this is a reason to regularly shut down a macine that works well. If you have for example defective RAM, you will most probably experience kernel panics and you will know that there is problem. And the startup check is not going to correct it.
But he's forgetting all of the checks and cleanup ( daily, weekly, monthly) it does when it's left on.
Well, yes, but on a machine that goes to sleep every night, those do not run. It is however trivial to force them run whenever one likes.
Originally posted by melgross
But he's forgetting all of the checks and cleanup ( daily, weekly, monthly) it does when it's left on.
No I'm not actually - I perform these checks myself using the Terminal.
Originally posted by PB
Even so, I don't see why this is a reason to regularly shut down a macine that works well. If you have for example defective RAM, you will most probably experience kernel panics and you will know that there is problem. And the startup check is not going to correct it.
Well, yes, but on a machine that goes to sleep every night, those do not run. It is however trivial to force them run whenever one likes.
I don't consider the turn on checks to be important myself. I just mentioned them as a posible reason. I think the other checks work even if sleep is used.
But you do have to check the system regularly even if it is working well. I do find occasional problems.
Originally posted by melgross
I don't consider the turn on checks to be important myself. I just mentioned them as a posible reason. I think the other checks work even if sleep is used.
But you do have to check the system regularly even if it is working well. I do find occasional problems.
The OS won't run it's regular cron maint. if it is sleeping...
Spring for Cocktail, only costs US$15 for a single-user lifetime license/updates...
www.macosxcocktail.com
Originally posted by Aurora
Those are nice specs, a Macmini with 64mb video and a 1.5 G4 will make for a very solid all around computer. 5 out of 5 stars. Sweet.
With the faster Hard Drive it basically would fix most of what was wrong with it. i would go out and buy one if.............
Apple weren't swtiching to Intels soon.
Not buying an outdated computer.
Originally posted by MacRonin
The OS won't run it's regular cron maint. if it is sleeping...
Spring for Cocktail, only costs US$15 for a single-user lifetime license/updates...
www.macosxcocktail.com
I think YASU is better
http://www.jimmitchelldesigns.com/software.html
I'll admit. It's a bad habit of "i gotta defrag my hard disk every week" from my windoze upbringing
Originally posted by MacRonin
The OS won't run it's regular cron maint. if it is sleeping...
Spring for Cocktail, only costs US$15 for a single-user lifetime license/updates...
www.macosxcocktail.com
I've been using cocktail for a long time. When I keep my machines on, I only have the monitor off.
None of these programs replace Disk Utility or Diskwarrior.
Originally posted by melgross
But you do have to check the system regularly even if it is working well. I do find occasional problems.
Could you be more specific on that?
Originally posted by PB
Could you be more specific on that?
Typical errors in the disk database. They creep up on you whether or not the machine is on all the time. This isn't the fault of the OS, it's just the usual corruption that all systems are subject to. The routines run at night don't fix disk errors. And if you have more than one drive or partition, they aren't checked at all.
Originally posted by melgross
Typical errors in the disk database. They creep up on you whether or not the machine is on all the time. This isn't the fault of the OS, it's just the usual corruption that all systems are subject to. The routines run at night don't fix disk errors. And if you have more than one drive or partition, they aren't checked at all.
I don't think just restarting the machine would solve such problems (MacCrazy's point), unless you force-run fsck. Or is it running automatically during startup? Which I doubt, judging from the time it takes when run manually. Besides, the MacOS is now journaled and problems from disk corruption (not physical damage of course) are much less common than before. But yes, if I am not mistaken, for the journal to take effect, you have to restart the machine.
Originally posted by PB
I don't think just restarting the machine would solve such problems (MacCrazy's point), unless you force-run fsck. Or is it running automatically during startup? Which I doubt, judging from the time it takes when run manually. Besides, the MacOS is now journaled and problems from disk corruption (not physical damage of course) are much less common than before. But yes, if I am not mistaken, for the journal to take effect, you have to restart the machine.
I've noticed a more stable computer after a restart - this could just be my impression but I like to empty the RAM every so often - this could be a completely false impression. I like my iPod to connect to iTunes etc. which only happens once each time it's opened. It's these little bits that occur but there are probably no adverse side effects to leaving it on.
Back to the thread though - these specs look good, but still not good enough compared to the iMac.
Originally posted by MacCrazy
...these specs look good, but still not good enough compared to the iMac.
Mac mini - £359 - £499
iMac - £899 - £1199
Why are you comparing a Mac mini with an iMac? The mini is basically a headless eMac.
i hope that apple clears things up soon, announces the new models, only sell these new models on the apple store, and then through other channels clear out all the inventory of older models. if their margins are quite thin on the mini, and especially since were are now in the christmas frenzy quarter, i'm not sure why apple would want to scrape every penny of profit out of the older models, when an announcement of new models** could start of some good volume of mac christmas buying on the right foot...
**in this case its not the "bigger better specs" that would attract people but the "new!", "latest!" and "just updated!" angle of things. the fact that there is DEDICATED 64mb of VRAM though would be one of the most important specs to push to differentiate themselves from budget Dull/ generic beigebox integrated graphics/ shared memory stuff... complain as we might about ati 9200, the other day i saw an ad for a toshiba laptop, it was like, 64mb of dedicated vram! but for an onboard ati 9000
http://hardmac.com/news/2005-09-30/
there's going to be people pulling lots of hurley's (from Lost) ~ "the numbers are bad, man..." to demand to see the serial number of the unit before buying it. of course, no guarantee that this will work
Originally posted by sunilraman
hardmac has the serial numbers to look out for if you wanna be sure you are getting the updated mac mini
http://hardmac.com/news/2005-09-30/
there's going to be people pulling lots of hurley's (from Lost) ~ "the numbers are bad, man..." to demand to see the serial number of the unit before buying it. of course, no guarantee that this will work
The serial number should be on the Apple tag on the outside of the box. So as long as the serial number list is correct there shouldn't be any problems finding a mini with the updated specs.
Originally posted by sunilraman
hardmac has the serial numbers to look out for if you wanna be sure you are getting the updated mac mini
http://hardmac.com/news/2005-09-30/
there's going to be people pulling lots of hurley's (from Lost) ~ "the numbers are bad, man..." to demand to see the serial number of the unit before buying it. of course, no guarantee that this will work
I don't know why people can't simply wait a few weeks. By then all of the older units should have gone by by.