Using Mac Mini?

paulcr

Anyone using a Mac Mini? If so, what do you think? Would you recommend it to a friend? Any shortcomings? etc........

heggie

yeh im usin it for design work, its grand, i really need more ram tho, only got it a few days really. I wouldnt use it for hte likes of video as the 1 gig max ram might be a limit, but i like it

Peteer

paulcr wrote:

Anyone using a Mac Mini? If so, what do you think? Would you recommend it to a friend? Any shortcomings? etc........

Using one at home as a media centre. iTunes, EyeTV via the Hi-Fi and a 20" cinema display.

Works a treat and takes up very little space. I use bluetooth KB & Mouse and thats a help.

It's recommended to upgrade the memory to at least 512 though.

Best of luck with your decission.

Peter

Gillo

I've sold aload and no complaints so far.
Has anyone upgraded the ram themselves? how easy was it?

Baud

gillo wrote:

I've sold aload and no complaints so far.
Has anyone upgraded the ram themselves? how easy was it?

Took me about, what, 20 mins or so. Used a paint scraper, followed the instructions on the video that's around. It's pretty much push, click, and pop.

Getting the cover back on was the hardest bit

L.

kyper

I have one and I think it's a great little machine. I really want to upgrade the ram though.

gillo: you said you've sold a few and were wondering if they are difficult to upgrade - Do you work in a shop that might upgrade the ram?

formatman

there is a great tutorial on tomshardware.com to upgrade the memory , best to buy off crucial to get matching timings and latency

richieg

I'm trying to decide between 1 and a p/book but can't decide. P/book is about 600-700 euro more. Does anyone use the mini with a TV instead of monitor and how does it look. If I getg one I will be connecting to a 28" CRT widescreen via s-video, what do you think?

Hugh_C

richieg wrote:

I'm trying to decide between 1 and a p/book but can't decide. P/book is about 600-700 euro more. Does anyone use the mini with a TV instead of monitor and how does it look. If I getg one I will be connecting to a 28" CRT widescreen via s-video, what do you think?

I think you might be disappointed with the picture quality going to TV via s-video. Text will be "buzzy" - TV just doesn't have the resolution to give good pictures originating from a computer - you're limited (in TV world) to 768 x 576 pixels, some fo which are lost in vertical blanking and overscan. Not sure what the implications of this are when hooking up to a mac mini, but you'd be better off either a cheap CRT or flat panel display for sure.

I have a powerbook which is great, because I need to portablility. If you don't need the portability, then save your €€€s and buy a Mac Mini, a decent flat panel & max out the RAM.


hugh

Gillo

kyper wrote:

I have one and I think it's a great little machine. I really want to upgrade the ram though.

gillo: you said you've sold a few and were wondering if they are difficult to upgrade - Do you work in a shop that might upgrade the ram?

I've never actually upgraded one, the line from Apple is that you have to send them into a Apple Certified technician, I've heard from a number of people that it is very easy to upgrade the ram, Airport is meant to be trickier. As a reseller I have to cover my cute little a$$ by giving the official line.

When I buy ,my own one, I'll try and upgrade it myself. I suppose at the end of the day it's all relative, if you have upgraded a system before, and have nimble fingers it should be easy, if not send it away. bear in mind though once you open the unit, I imagine you'll void the warranty as they are not meant to be opened.

Try Mactivate or Typetech, they are both authorised repair centers.

Sarunas

afaik, upgrading ram does not void the warranty.

Gillo

Just got off the phone with Apple, you must get it sent into an Apple Authorised Repair Center otherwise you will void your warranty. Considering the reliability of most Apple machines, I don't think warranty would be an issue.

With most models they aer designed to be upgraded by the end user; eg, power book- panel on the back you just screw off.

I imagine the reason its different with the mac mini is it's so tightly packed together, similiar to the inside of the imac dome.

soph

Hi , just saw that you mentioned Eye TV, wat is the story with that? if you buy it can you pick up the normal channels like RTE, BBC, channel 4 etc for free? could you please tell me more about it, as im pretty anxious to find out how to use my mac comp as a tv. thanx

Ruaidhri

ok i have a mac mini for about 3 weeks now. got 512mb in it, apart from that it's the stock 1.25ghz model. works perfectly. i output to TV with a trust wireless 1620w wireless video sender. picture quality is much better than the Pc i had before that.
the mini is the perfect spec and size tbh

Sarunas

"Apple has told Macworld that you can even do it yourself without voiding your warranty “unless you break something when you open it.”"

http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/editors/2005/01/miniapplesandoranges/index.php

Gillo

Seems to be a grey area with Apple then. My advise would be to play safe if you are worried about the warranty and get Apple to do it.

paulcr

has anyone upgrade the airport card?

nadir

I wasthinking of getting one, would sure beat a via itx box, but I might hold out for amd itx