Mac mini thoughts

Richard

My Mac Powerbook has finally died and I want to replace it. I am on a tight budget, but think I can stretch to a Mac mini, with an educational discount from the Apple Store.

I want to wait until Leopard comes out, but I have heard various rumours that the Mac mini is going to be discontinued. I eventually want to get an HDTV and connect the mini to this, so an iMac would be no good for me.

Any thoughts on what I should do? If I get a mac mini now it won't have Leopard. If I wait, the Mac mini may be unavailable, although it may be replaced with something better.

Sad Professor

Leopard is available for pre-order as of today, it's out the 26th. From the Apple store:

Leopard Up-to-Date Program

Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard and its 300-plus new features and innovations are coming Oct. 26, 2007.

If you buy a qualifying Mac between October 1, 2007 and December 29, 2007, and it does not include Mac OS X Leopard, you're eligible to get Leopard after it's released for just €8.95.

And if the mini is discontinued it's unlikely to be replaced with anything. Apple were never too keen on it in the first place. But if you're going to get a mini now is a good time as they were only updated in August.

whiterebel

The rumours are around a while, SP, but they only just updated it. I got the 2GHz and connected it under an LCD TV. Looks stunning, and the wife loves it.
All part of my plan to "convert" her....

I can't see them dropping it for a while to be honest, certainly not before November.

PDD

Hi Richard,

I have a Mac Mini, its an older spec 1.6Ghz and I picked up from PC World about 150 under the Apple store price so if your on budget I would suggest shopping around. Sure what harm can a ring around do for stock checks?

I put 2Gb RAM into mine and its running like a dream, I would suggest maybe looking at an external HDD too as the HDDs are tiny and way too much hastle to change not to mention the huge array of nice housings that fit the Mac Mini perfectly such as the ones from NeverTech.

I doubt the Mac Mini will be discontinued within the next 12 months as they have done an update to it recently. If anything I can see Apple havin to bring out something with a wider feature set to make it competitive.

Dave

ZENER

Richard wrote: »

My Mac Powerbook has finally died . . .

What are your intentions for the corpse ??:cool:

ZEN

Dont be at yourself

I loved my Mac Mini. The basic specs are pretty decent. When I bought my one, it came with only 512mb of RAM, which was a little light for Tiger. I upgraded it to 1gb and it was flying. If you're intent on getting Leopard, you're probably better off going for closer to 2gb.

Anyway, for a light user - surfing, mail, music & movies - it's a more than capable machine.

Richard

ZENER wrote: »

What are your intentions for the corpse ??:cool:

ZEN

I'm thinking of removing the hard disk and selling it. The battery is rather knackered too, but I suspect someone might give me something for it on eBay. The rest of the laptop is fine.

I don't think I'll get a mac mini just yet, though. I might wait until I've got a bit more money. I just hope there is something to buy in a few months!

condra

Richard the mini aint going to be discontinued any time soon.

Dude youre gonna love it. My mini (c2d 2gig ram) kicks ass with my yummy dell screen. So small and quiet, but still plenty powerfull. Best computer purchase I've ever made.

If and when they ever get discontinued, it will be a sad day for personal computing in my opinion.

tenandtracer

Really happy with my Mac mini and with this underneath it looks fab!
http://www.newertech.com/products/ministackv2.php

Red Alert

The i-Mac does also have an external monitor port (much like the Macbook and MB Pros) - check the specs to be sure but I was thinking of getting one and also hooking up to my projector.

unklerosco

I picked one up on ebay last week... Plan was to use it as a HTPC but front row is doing the trick for the time being. Deffo need to get an external HD.. 40gb wont cut it. I've near 2TB in my PC....