Mac Mini-Probably the best Mac I've owned

[gabester]

I'm a fan of the mini, don't get me wrong.

I just wish Apple would sell one with an eSATA port. I know intrepid individuals have hacked the internal port to an external connector. I had one such mini set up for a while with the case top removed, running inside of a beige G3 case, using the G3's power supply and housings for 4 x 1.5TB drives and a SATA port multiplier. I could boot off a partition on the port multiplier's RAID 10 setup and used the optical cable for a 3.5" SATA DVD-ROM drive.

Eventually I put this little beastie back together as a regular machine connected to my TV. No doubt this is why its optical drive no longer reads DVDs out of spite.

[kj4btkljv]

Grumpyguy wrote:
For its size, it has more power than my G5 tower it replace. It is compact, quiet, powerful, and has 8 gigs of ram.

Yeah, but have you put an SSD drive in there yet?

That really makes it sing.

We've got 2010 Mac Minis at work for our workstations. Eeach one has an SSD drive inside, with 8GB of RAM.

Jeff

[RAMd®d]

the iMac was a genuine grown-up computer.

LOL, sounds like PC people who call any MAC a toy computer.

The only advantage the so-called "grown-up" computer has is the discrete graphics, where that GPU significantly excels to the mini.

To be honest, most iMac users would never know the difference between their "grown-up" iMac and the poor, spindly mini.

And a significant improvement in the mini's graphics is the only think I can think of that would make me resign my new refurb to second chair.

[Buzz]

tenders wrote:
I have adored my 2006 Mini, which has been upgraded out the wazoo, for all the same reasons.

But the filthiest, sneakiest, best Mac I've ever owned is my Dell Mini 9, vintage 2009. An SSD before they were mainstream...tinier even than an MBA...no moving parts except the keyboard...faster than an iPad...and cheaper than any OS X machine ever produced by Apple.

Slicker than warm snot on a brass doorknob, as we used to say in the Navy.

Uh, tenders, I hope you were one of the smarter swabee's that realized that the slick stuff on those knobs wasn't really snot...

[jdc]

RAMd®d wrote:
And a significant improvement in the mini's graphics is the only think I can think of that would make me resign my new refurb to second chair.

Yeah, but sadly will prob never happen.

Ive got a 2010 27" iMac w/ 2.93 i7, 24GB Ram and 1GB Radeon 5750. Im pushing some heavy graphics fairly regularly so Im probably using the i7 and Radeon.

I think a mini could be a suitable replacement -- but I would need buy a 27" screen... I woluld prefer a Dell 2713, $700. new mini with 2.6 i7 $850 (refurb). + $200 for 16 GB ram... $1800 and still a discrete GPU.
vs
Refurb 2012 27" iMac with 3.4 i7, 1GB Nvida 675MX + $150 24 Gb ram... $1900

For me, (since my needs arent the same as others) the extra $100 is way worth it.

[Mini 9]

Grumpyguy wrote:
I think I've owned some great Macs, including the Mac Plus, a beige G3, a 2009 MBP, and my 2010 Mac Mini.

For its size, it has more power than my G5 tower it replace. It is compact, quiet, powerful, and has 8 gigs of ram.

In general, coupled with OS X, the Mac Mini is almost a light switch. It is always there, always works.

Sure, I'd like the latest and greatest (I'll hold out for the next update), but at least the next version of OS X is compatible with both my Macs.

What makes it a Mac?

[tenders]

Buzz wrote:
[quote=tenders]
I have adored my 2006 Mini, which has been upgraded out the wazoo, for all the same reasons.

But the filthiest, sneakiest, best Mac I've ever owned is my Dell Mini 9, vintage 2009. An SSD before they were mainstream...tinier even than an MBA...no moving parts except the keyboard...faster than an iPad...and cheaper than any OS X machine ever produced by Apple.

Slicker than warm snot on a brass doorknob, as we used to say in the Navy.

Uh, tenders, I hope you were one of the smarter swabee's that realized that the slick stuff on those knobs wasn't really snot...
Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk. Not to worry. There are no brass doorknobs on ships! Only aluminum, or steel lock bars.

[GeneL]

I've never been clear on what the Mini's graphic issue would mean to me.

Going from my "early" MacPro to one of the latest Minis, what would the difference be? I don't do any heavy-duty graphic work, but I do watch streaming video. That's about it. My monitor is a 23 inch LG IPS.

Is there any reason that I would be disappointed in a Mini?

My main reasons for choosing a Mini would be for its smaller size, much much less heat, I'm assuming much faster than my Mac Pro and probably much less electricity usage. Also, I'm stuck at OS 10.7 with my present computer.

Is there anything else that I should be aware of?

Now, all I have to worry about is surviving surgery. :dunno:

Thanks for your insights.

[AllGold]

Gene, everything about a mini will be better than your current Mac Pro, with one obvious exception: you can't fit four 3.5" hard drives in a mini like you can in your Mac Pro.

[GeneL]

Thanks AllGold.

That brings up a question I've had about storage.

It's been my plan to get a server model that allows for two internal drives. For sure one will be an SSD. I'm not sure about the other. It seems that with FW or USB 3 it wouldn't create too much of a bottleneck to use an external drive.

Presently I use two 1 TB drives, one for backup, and they're not full. So, I would think that there won't be any problem with storage with the Mini.

I do wonder what strategy would be my best choice for the size of the SSD? If my finances would allow, would it be ideal to use two 1 TB SSD'S or better to use a smaller SSD as the boot drive, a standard drive for storage and an external drive for backup? Of course, money is a big issue for me and everything will depend on what I can get for my Mac Pro.

Now, I'm still stuck with the same big question, will it pay to wait for new versions of the Mini?