Mac Mini

sofireland

Hi

I'm looking at a mac mini on ebay for a buy it now price of €387 plus postage of £35. Which makes this a bargain versus the apple store price of €629

Do mac mini's have international warranty, or are they country specific?

Would i be able to buy apple care for it?

Heres the link Mac Mini on Ebay

xebec

Yes, all Apple products have worldwide warranties. However, the seller says you won't be covered by UK warranty - so does that mean you're not covered by any warranty?

Are you sure you want to wait a month for the computer? And are you sure that the quality of what you are getting is ok?

Can't see that this seller has sold anything like this before - mainly CD's and trousers so as always, buyer beware.

If you are sure of what you are getting then go for it, the price is tempting...

JDxtra

Plus, it's only a stock photo. Sounds a bit dodge to me...

sofireland

was thinking that myself, does seem a bit suspect....
the price is very tempting though

ZENER

The provided link goes to a removed item - might be my browser but buyer beware. I was nearly screwed on a Powerbook 3 years ago.

Ask the buyer if he/she can meet you as you are going there - wherever there is - in a few weeks for work - if he/she says fine but money upfront while the purchase is confirmed then forget it.

The sellers past history is dodgey to say the least and the price is way too good to be true IMO, me . . . I wouldn't !?

ZEN

drive3331

Yip, item was pulled from ebay.
If the price looks too good check, check and check again before commiting

ZENER

Yeah, if it looks too good to be true then it most probably is too good to be true !!

ZEN

sofireland

Yeah i see that myself. All his items have been yanked off... could ebay have pulled them? seemed quite shifty

Might just take the plunge and buy in an 02 experience shop...

Cos i don't know anyone who'll be going stateside anytime soon!

Urban Weigl

IMHO the iMac is better value than the Mac mini, especially now that it has been updated.

sofireland

It definitely looks great, and good value for money, but i don't have the space for it at the minute, but who knows. Nothing decided yet

Urban Weigl

Don't get me wrong, I like the Mac mini a lot. We have one in the office, loaded with 2GB RAM, and it's insanely fast. I just think the new iMac is better value, that's all.

Dont be at yourself

Depends on your needs, I would guess. I've a intel mac mini with 1.25gb ram, and it's brilliant for my needs (media centre, surfing, word-processing, and the occasional Football Manager season...).

sofireland

Yeah thats what i was kind of thinking... at the end of the day, i'm not using it as a gaming machine (part from maybe FM2007) but it's gonna be email, internet, that kinda stuff. Will be using the Mac 2 KVM from Belkin as well, so i can keep my keyboard, mouse and monitor from my Dell... until i get the HD tv!!

It doesn't look like that big a job to upgrade the ram from what i've seen.

Don't get me wrong the Imac represents great value for money imo and if i could stretch that far at this time, i'd go for it, just i don't have the room for it... the mac mini also allows itself for media centre use, which could be handy when i get my new HD tv next yr

Dont be at yourself

I've upgraded the ram in mine myself, took less than ten minutes, armed only with a spatula and a how-to from the internet. The processor can be upgraded with ease too, apparantly.

The Front Row media centre software & apple remote really impressed me - so much so that it's pretty much hooked up to my TV all the time now! I realise that Front Row ships on all new macs, but only the mini lends itself to sitting alongside (or in place of) your dvd player in the living room.

sofireland

well i took the plunge and got one! at last i have a mac.

Just a couple of questions...

1: DVD Player, how can i make this multi region? As you're only allowed to change it 5 times from setup, or is there another player i can use. (i have quite a few american dvds in my collection)

2: when playing dvds it doesn't fill the whole screen like my own dvd player would, i'm using a JVC 17" flat panel LCD, and the letter box is quite small (as in the black bits at the top of the screen are too thick)

edit - i seem to have sorted the letter box issue by fiddling with the resolution, just the multi region i need help with now....
any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated

A Mac OS Virgin

SouperComputer

1: DVD Player, how can i make this multi region? As you're only allowed to change it 5 times from setup, or is there another player i can use. (i have quite a few american dvds in my collection)

The way I have always done it is to flash the drive to RPC2 (ie region free) and then using free software called regionX to change the region in software.

Only problem is that most utils for flashing firmware are windows-centric, so you may have to remove the drive and connect it to a PC to flash it to RPC 2.

There may also be a professional software solution like windows, but I dont think that is the case yet.

sofireland

There was me hoping for an easy solution!

deevey

Only problem is that most utils for flashing firmware are windows-centric, so you may have to remove the drive and connect it to a PC to flash it to RPC 2.

Bootcamp ?

or is there another player i can use.

VLC

sorry for the short reply .. time to sleep

sofireland

I downloaded VLC, how do i make this my Default Player.
Because everytime i put in a region one disc, DVD Player prompts me to change region, when i click cancel it just ejects the disc.

Its not really a big deal as i have a multi region dvd player attached to the same flat panel, but was thinking of using the mac mini as a media centre.

SouperComputer

deevey wrote:

Bootcamp ?

wierd, after following the auction link yesterday I edited my post, but it didnt get changed!

So, yes, bootcamp + windows + RPC2 flash + regionX = region free

deevey

or if you dont wanna flash it ... and install windows for that sole purpose

System prefs >

cd's and DVD's >

Choose your vlc all happy

sofireland

Thanks deevey
I've done that, but its refusing to play a region 1 disc.
Does that mean that i have to flash the drive to make it region free, is there no hack for it? (Excusing my ignorance here, what does it mean to flash it)

deevey

Hmmm, to be honest im stumped, thought VLC was reigon free, but now that I think about it, i generally load up the VOB files, not play the disc.

Flashing, is upgrading the firmware as souper mentioned, but needs to be done via windows (bootcamp)

uncle_sam_ie

VLC won't make a difference. You need to flash the drive. Of course this voids any warranty you may might have with Apple. The only other option is an external DVD drive. My solution is having two Macs one set to region 1, the other region 2.

Urban Weigl

I have an old Mac mini set to region 1. Whenever I get a region 1 disc, I just rip it there, removing any restrictions.

sofireland

cheers guys.
I have a regular multiregion dvd player attached to the monitor anyway

jfanning

xebec wrote:

Yes, all Apple products have worldwide warranties. However, the seller says you won't be covered by UK warranty - so does that mean you're not covered by any warranty?

Are you sure? Apple still lists World Wide Warrenties on iPods, Portables, and Minis, not the iMacs, or Mac Pros

xebec

jfanning wrote:

Are you sure? Apple still lists World Wide Warrenties on iPods, Portables, and Minis, not the iMacs, or Mac Pros

This is the worldwide warranty on everything except iPods and iSight

Warranty Link

Let me know if I'm wrong or if the link doesn't work. The title to the page is One(1) Year Limited Warranty - Worldwide

jfanning

xebec wrote:

This is the worldwide warranty on everything except iPods and iSight

Warranty Link

Let me know if I'm wrong or if the link doesn't work. The title to the page is One(1) Year Limited Warranty - Worldwide

ok, they seem to contradict themselves, on the Applecare PDF document they list that it gives you the following, one being global repair.

--

Extends telephone support from 90 days to three years from computer’s purchase date
•Extends hardware repair coverage to three years from computer’s purchase date, including:
–Onsite service for desktop computers
–Global repair coverage for portable computers and Mac mini

sofireland

Bootcamp, is that actually a program, or just the buzz word for running XP on a mac?

dubmick

it's a programme -> http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/