New Mac Mini

Rick Stirling

I got my Mac Mini a year ago, and it totally changed the way I felt about computers.

It was the slickest thing I had every used, and so small. I got one without a DVD writer, as I had one in my PC, but after the PC got relegated I took the DVD writer out of the PC and got a USB connector. The Mac and DVD writer are sitting beside each other, and the DVD writer is only about 1 cm thinnner and 1 cm shorter (and 4 cm longer) than the mac.

Perfection comes in tiny packages (why are PCs so HUGE (and noisy))?

Anyway, the new one is out today - http://www.apple.com/macmini/

If anyone has considered getting a Mac, this looks like the ideal time. The updates are great (more USB, audio input, optical out). They got the space for them after dropping the built in modem (a good move).

I just wish the remote worked with my current one

poopinmymouth

Oh look at that, an embedded graphics chip, with no dedicated video ram. Looks perfect for a group of game playing and game developing hobbyists and professionals.

MoP

1 video out port = no.

It looks nifty, like most Mac products do, but it's entirely unsuited to what I do (and as poop said, probably most of us).

If I want a cool-looking, quiet, fast computer which can do everything I need to do, I'll build a Shuttle XPC.

Thegodzero

Looks alot like the concept for the nintendo revolution.

KeyserSoze

Looks pretty slick, and actually not a bad price, but I have to echo poop's comments. I don't have the money to spend on a machine that I'd just end up using as a media/web machine.

AstroZombie

Hey, looks nifty. Now if they would just make one that could run games and my 3d software of choice OOTB, I may consider buying one.

Rick Stirling

Aye, games are an issue, but I play games on consoles.

They run Photoshop and Maya and Silo.

Justin Meisse

The mac mini's are solid little guys but not for games, I'd wait and see what the intel powermacs are like, I read an article that the companies that port PC games over to Macs are complaining that the intel switch will ruin their business (because porting games would become so easy the developer could do it)

thomasp

mac mini is nice indeed as a small, quiet and energy-saving desktop machine. keeping in mind the not so great reliability of early mac minis, i'd definitely stay away from their first intel-inside revision.

mac osx however feels so terribly slow and memory wasting, i wouldn't want to do any serious graphics work on such a machine. looks are deceiving, definitely.

also, i notice they have increased their prices. the lowest end intel model is now more expensive than the mid range PPC version i bought three months ago (as a gift, mind you).

hawken

isn't this new mac an intel duo?

thomasp: "i wouldn't want to do any serious graphics work on such a machine" try telling that to the thousands upon thousands of professional video editors and illustrators who use macs?

I think the new mac mini is the perfect accompanyment to a HDTV. Which can also run photoshop and illustrator

Since my pc died, I noticed that if I want to play games, I'll buy a games console.

thomasp

hawken: the low end model is a single. and about speed: you can't tell that to a mac evangelist. unless you want them to call for a djihad upon you
everyone else i guess knows that osx is pretty but slow and many seem to prefer just that. i'm sure faster macs offset the lack of performance but the mini is additionally limited by it's slow laptop disk.

it's amazing how much you can speed up that machine by installing linux or BSD though. so cpu capability is there, even in the G4 PPC model. it's just the OS that brings it to a crawl.
you'll consider windows XP a slim, efficient OS after experiencing that

anyway i am considering one for myself as a desktop/office box. i want the hardware though, not the software. that can go into the bin straight after purchase.

hawken

I don't know about running other software on this, as it's only been out for 1 day.

KDR_11k

Is this thread a joke about all that "viral marketing" stuff lately?

why are PCs so HUGE

So I can put my right speaker, my mouse base station and my Wacom on it of course!

neolith

[ QUOTE ]
thomasp: "i wouldn't want to do any serious graphics work on such a machine" try telling that to the thousands upon thousands of professional video editors and illustrators who use macs?

[/ QUOTE ]
No professional video editor would use a mac mini for that. I doubt that you'll get an Avid system based upon the mini - it's just not powerful enough.

hawken

APPLE JUST GOT MY CUSTOM

I'll let you know how it goes. I went for the 2gb ram option, with the biggest hdd.