mac mini

Drapper

hi guys, overseas on hols and the mac minis are the US price here! was thinking of getting one but the only thing that is badly spec'd is the graphics card or lack their of, was hoping to use it as a media pc when I get back to dublin.....

question:- are they worth it? and is it good as a media pc under the telly via the vga/dvi adapter

thanks

D

dubmick

they are great as a media player, don't worry about the graphics card unless you are playing games on it.

Pick up a remote as well.

Drapper

dubmick wrote: »

they are great as a media player, don't worry about the graphics card unless you are playing games on it.

Pick up a remote as well.

1 gig or 2?

will it manage any games at all?

also the superdrive seems to be the way to go!

last question audio out has one port - good enough?

dubmick

just buy the base model if you are using it just for a media player

actually the remote comes with the mac mini

Not too sure about games, maybe someone else could take care of this question? I only play Football Manager on my mac

J-blk

Yep don't worry about the GFX - I had Vista Home Premium on it for awhile and even Aero works in all its' glory with no problems. I never tried a single game on it (that's what the XBox is for ) but I'd say it's pretty rubbish...

As a media PC though, it's great and I'm using the older Core Duo 1.66Ghz not one of the newer Core 2 Duos - you might want to max out the memory to 2GB though if you can, it's quite a hassle to do it yourself later on, but can be done. The only media task that mine chocked on is 1080p mkv files - 720p mkv files play fine though and I had no issues with live TV or anything else really. It's a very quiet system too - well worth it IMO...

The audio port doubles as an optical out too - so you can connect it that way to a 5.1 digital decoder. Otherwise, it's used as standard 3.5mm stereo minijack output. One thing that caught me by surprise was the line-in which does not double as a proper mic in (it's not powered). So if you want to use a headset with Skype or anything else, you're gonna need a USB headset/mic or something like this:

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic

(I have one of those and it works great...)

ZENER

J-blk wrote: »

. . . .So if you want to use a headset with Skype or anything else, you're gonna need a USB headset/mic or something like this:

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic

(I have one of those and it works great...)

Alternatively you can use a BlueTooth headset like you would use with a mobile phone.

ZEN

Drapper

J-blk wrote: »

The audio port doubles as an optical out too - so you can connect it that way to a 5.1 digital decoder. Otherwise, it's used as standard 3.5mm stereo minijack output.

(I have one of those and it works great...)

run that by me one more time , I'v set of 5.1 speakers I'd like to use, how do I bounce it of them? I note the single sound out port.

/edit link seems to be the solution ...

dhaumi

Drapper wrote: »

run that by me one more time , I'v set of 5.1 speakers I'd like to use, how do I bounce it of them? I note the single sound out port.

/edit link seems to be the solution ...

Yeah, you just need an optical cable that you would plug into the jack output. At the other end, you would need an amplifier, or something that receives the optical signal as an input.

440Hz

Yeah iMic is the best solution for any single out audio Macs... thankfully all that changed, eventually!

Drapper

ok guys got the mac minis actually got 2 and save a pack! hopefully no customs check in Dublin tomorrow night!! lol

so as a last question:- the imic seems to be the best solution, would anyone have an image of this setup as I want to be sure to be sure I'm ordering the right cable! :-) I plan to jack it to my tv (new Samsug 1080p HD jobbie) and use for sound! and use my vga - davi adaptor cable for vision, will that work?

J-blk

Drapper wrote: »

so as a last question:- the imic seems to be the best solution, would anyone have an image of this setup as I want to be sure to be sure I'm ordering the right cable! :-) I plan to jack it to my tv (new Samsug 1080p HD jobbie) and use for sound! and use my vga - davi adaptor cable for vision, will that work?

Sorry Drapper, I missed your last question on the iMic. To avoid any confusion, you only need the iMic if you want to use a microphone (as may be the case with Skype) - you do NOT really need one when it comes to audio output as it does not really give you anything that the Mac Mini does not already have. If you have 5.1 speakers, the only way to connect them is going to be via an amplifier that has an optical input so the connection becomes:

1. Optical out cable from the Mac Mini's audio output (it takes both mini jack and optical cables) to the amplifier/decoder. At one time, I used a Creative DDTS-100 decoder as it was cheap and cheerful - they are no longer made though:

http://www.amazon.com/CreativeLabs-CREATIVE-DECODER-DDTS-100-51MF8000AA008/dp/B00013JUA2

2. The speakers then connect to the amplifier/decoder.
3. Set the decoder to the correct input (optical, from the Mac).

And that's it really.

The iMic has a bog-standard stereo output (not sure if it does optical, I think not) - as I mentioned in the earlier post, the only reason to get it is if you need a proper microphone input, because the line input on the Mini is unpowered (most PCs have a line-in/mic in as standard - the Mac Mini is the first exception I've ever seen).

As for the video connection, get yourself a DVI to HDMI cable (I'm assuming your HDTV has HDMI - probably more than one), like this:

http://cgi.ebay.ie/HDMI-to-DVI-D-CABLE-HDTV-FOR-PLASMA-DVD-LCD-2M-6FT_W0QQitemZ350079742223QQihZ022QQcategoryZ41999QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

(random link for illustration - I have not dealt with the particular seller)

I hope this clarifies things a bit - if not, just post back. Have fun with the new Mini(s) .

Talisman

What model Samsung do you have? I have a 4/5 year old Samsung LCD and I have the Mac mini connected up via the VGA adaptor and use a simple mini jack to rca cable for sound. The audio cable only cost a couple of Euro. If you're in the States then you should easily be able to pick up a cable in the likes of Best Buy or Radio Shack. Similar cable on Komplett

K.O.Kiki

Drapper wrote:

hopefully no customs check in Dublin tomorrow night!! lol

*cough*getridofthebox*cough*

Drapper

excellent advise! I am gonna see if I can find nother amplifier to use ..... cant seem to find one of those you mentioned!

big thumbs up!!

Drapper

Talisman wrote: »

What model Samsung do you have? I have a 4/5 year old Samsung LCD and I have the Mac mini connected up via the VGA adaptor and use a simple mini jack to rca cable for sound. The audio cable only cost a couple of Euro. If you're in the States then you should easily be able to pick up a cable in the likes of Best Buy or Radio Shack. Similar cable on Komplett

would you believe I'm in Korea! but thats neither here nor there! I have a fairly new 1080p series 6 one I think! 40 inch! its bells and whistles!! (typing might be all over the places just back fmor being on the razz with my father inlaw!!)

J-blk

Drapper wrote: »

I am gonna see if I can find nother amplifier to use ..... cant seem to find one of those you mentioned!

Yep, like I said, unfortunately the DDTS-100 is no longer made and Creative never replaced it with anything once it was discontinued - too bad too, because it was one of the only decoders that I know of that you could use with "standard" 5.1 PC speakers (that use three mini jack connections as opposed to co-axial like most Home Cinema speaker systems).

What speakers do you actually intend to hook up? A link might give people enough info to suggest alternatives.

Drapper

J-blk wrote: »

Yep, like I said, unfortunately the DDTS-100 is no longer made and Creative never replaced it with anything once it was discontinued - too bad too, because it was one of the only decoders that I know of that you could use with "standard" 5.1 PC speakers (that use three mini jack connections as opposed to co-axial like most Home Cinema speaker systems).

What speakers do you actually intend to hook up? A link might give people enough info to suggest alternatives.

A they are only a cheap set of Britz ones from overseas. I'll do a bit more research!

back in Dublin got all the gear back in boxes!! was like a bull running through customs on Sunday morning!

Thanks for all the help lads!! big thumbs up!!