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any suggestion as to which configuration of the mini would be ok for me?
JonasYip
Well-known
Purely anecdotal, but I've had many many macs (usually 4-5 in house between us at any one time) and the *only* ones I've ever had problems with are the two Mac Minis which both just unceremoniously crapped out at some point. One was a power supply issue and the other the logic board, I think because of heat issues (a lot of stuff crammed into a tight space and not a lot of surface area to dissipate heat). Or I was just unlucky... I didn't research to see if these were common problems.
j
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filmtwit
Desperate but not serious
Max your memory out.
And don't use Firefox, it's become pretty bloated and runs pages like RFF very slowly these days.
macMini - only 2 processors.
Imacs - i5 and i7's era iMacs are 4 processors. I'd stay away from the most modern iMac 23" as you can't open them at all these days and adding memory is expensive. The 27" imacs are great.
And don't use Firefox, it's become pretty bloated and runs pages like RFF very slowly these days.
macMini - only 2 processors.
Imacs - i5 and i7's era iMacs are 4 processors. I'd stay away from the most modern iMac 23" as you can't open them at all these days and adding memory is expensive. The 27" imacs are great.
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in the mini...i'm wondering if i could do well with the i5 and a smaller hard drive plus maxing out the memory...i use external drives for storing music and images...
seifadiaz
Established
Guys- let me start off by saying I take no responsibility for anything that happens to your PC's or laptops as a result of following this advice. This is my caveat. This is for windows, sorry I don't use a MAC.
That said, If you do the following you may see significant improvement on your machines:
Most programs you use will leave *.tmp / *.temp files on your computer, Over time these files will pile up and can consume a lot of disk space and slow your machines down. To clear these files click start > run and type in CMD then press enter, a small black window will pop up. If your on a Win7 machine then simply click Start and the type CMD in the search programs and files field. In this black window type or copy/paste:
Del /a /f /q /s C:\*.tmp
and then
Del /a /f /q /s C:\*.temp
This will only clear out temp files. If you've never done then this before it may take a little time to complete but be patient. The clean up typically takes 5 min to 10/15 minutes tops).
Thank me later
Piriform CCleaner is a better tool for removing temp files and a lot of other crap that tends to accumulate in a PC (Mac version also available).
jarski
Veteran
why not SSD for faster apps & boot, and external drive for personal files, backup etc.?
new fusion drive for mini seems interesting, as it organizes frequently used files automatically to SSD part of its brain, and lesser used files to HDD. but is pretty expensive too.
*chris
Established
i wonder how big the processing power difference is between the mac mini and the macbook air. depending on the difference i might look into a 23 inch air or a mac mini and a tb display
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yeah, the fusion drive takes the mini out of the budget arena...
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i'd like to take advantage of my already having a monitor, keyboard and mouse...the latter 2 being wireless.
Bob T
Established
I bought a mac mini to give mac a try (cheapest route). I ordered one with an i7 processor and standard 2 gigs of memory plus I ordered 2 sticks of 8 GB memory each for the mini. When I got the computer I fired it up as delivered to make sure all was well then I shut it down and removed the 2 gigs of memory and installed 16 gigs and I've never looked back. Memory swap took about 15 minutes, I have a wireless keyboard and mouse and I'm running it through a plasma TV and stereo system via HDMI.
lynnb
Veteran
Joe I've had one of the early Intel Core 2 Duo 2Ghz Mac Minis with 4Gb RAM for quite a few years now. No reliability problems. It does run slow when rendering a plug-in filter to a large (100Mb) scanned TIFF in CS4 but otherwise I have no complaints. iMacs and Macbooks have separate graphics cards which would make these more efficient at that sort of thing, but I don't regret buying the Mini.
If I was replacing it I'd get the i7 version with the maximum 16Gb RAM. Still no dedicated graphics card but that's not a deal breaker to me. If I had the funds I'd opt for the SSD.
The Mac Mini is only slightly larger than my external WD HDDs. It's almost completely silent and hardly uses any power. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another.
If I was replacing it I'd get the i7 version with the maximum 16Gb RAM. Still no dedicated graphics card but that's not a deal breaker to me. If I had the funds I'd opt for the SSD.
The Mac Mini is only slightly larger than my external WD HDDs. It's almost completely silent and hardly uses any power. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another.
back alley
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I bought a mac mini to give mac a try (cheapest route). I ordered one with an i7 processor and standard 2 gigs of memory plus I ordered 2 sticks of 8 GB memory each for the mini. When I got the computer I fired it up as delivered to make sure all was well then I shut it down and removed the 2 gigs of memory and installed 16 gigs and I've never looked back. Memory swap took about 15 minutes, I have a wireless keyboard and mouse and I'm running it through a plasma TV and stereo system via HDMI.
do you post process your images on the plasma too?
how does that work?
wjlapier
Well-known
Two mac minis and an unibody macbook all bought used. I found them on fredmiranda.com. both minis cost less that $250. The macbook was $500 and had 8gb of ram. I took the 80gb SSD out and installed a 500gb drive in it. The minis are great. I have wireless mouse and keyboards and my kids love them.
willie_901
Veteran
Joe,
How much empty space left on your HD?
UNIX needs a certain amount of free space to be efficient.
How much empty space left on your HD?
UNIX needs a certain amount of free space to be efficient.
sykotec
Well-known
How old is your machine, out of curiosity? My regular computer is a final-generation white unibody macbook - it still cuts it for everything i need, but i'm a pretty light user at home. the upgrade from 2gb to 4gb made a big difference, but 4-8 less so for me - though i'd still advise maxxing out the RAM on most any laptop, as it's a good cheap hit for performance.
i'll admit to being tempted by a shiny new macbook air, but i don't NEED it, and the hit in battery life plus lack of optical drive would probably just bother me at that point. still likely my next machine tho.
as for the Mac Mini suggestions others have made, i've got a mini of the same generation as my macbook - it's essentially the same in performance, and basically uses laptop type components like processor, RAM, drives, etc.
that said, if you don't need a build in screen/speakers/microphone/battery backup/keyboard, you get all the same function - plus alot more ports - for a much lower price.
i'll admit to being tempted by a shiny new macbook air, but i don't NEED it, and the hit in battery life plus lack of optical drive would probably just bother me at that point. still likely my next machine tho.
as for the Mac Mini suggestions others have made, i've got a mini of the same generation as my macbook - it's essentially the same in performance, and basically uses laptop type components like processor, RAM, drives, etc.
that said, if you don't need a build in screen/speakers/microphone/battery backup/keyboard, you get all the same function - plus alot more ports - for a much lower price.
filmtwit
Desperate but not serious
The Macmini max memory is about 8gb, while the iMacs should be 16mb.
The ability to really expand on the Macmini is medocre, you'll want to replace it in 2-3 years.
I'd say look for 2011-12 era iMac 22" i5 or i7. Should easily be under grand these days too.
The ability to really expand on the Macmini is medocre, you'll want to replace it in 2-3 years.
I'd say look for 2011-12 era iMac 22" i5 or i7. Should easily be under grand these days too.
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not much...lots of music on it.
back alley
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my macbook must be about 5 years or so...i know apple wont let the latest os load onto it.
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being a not too bright computer guy i am hesitant to get anything used...
Bob T
Established
Yes I do post process with the plasma, using Photoshop Elements mostly. I put a trial version of Lightroom on and used it a bit but let it expire because Elements has been all I need so far. I forgot to mention I ordered the mini with an AMD Radeon HD 6630M GPU as well (the image on the plasma is amazing). And it came with a 7200 rpm 750GB hard drive. It came with 4 GB of memory not 2 which was removed as I mentioned. No problem with post processing and it's faster than an HP PC I was using before getting the mini. I bought an LG USB optical drive for CD/DVD reading and burning and the mini is on a gigabit wired network I setup in our house. File sharing between mac and PC works but is not straight forward and the internet blasts along on the mini.