mac mini

[RWebb]

Let's hear it -- good? bad? overpriced?

[motion]

Awesome little machines, but for a couple hundred more, you can get a refurb Macbook Air from Apple with a warranty. I'd go that route.

[jyl]

We replaced the family desktop last year. Instead of buying another iMac, I chose a mac mini because it is easy to run dual monitors on it. You can stuff 8 GB DRAM in it, open it up and install a SSD instead of the stock HDD, plug in a 2 TB external HDD for media storage, etc. I like it.

[stomachmonkey]

I like the mini's a lot.

[IROC]

We've had two Mac Minis. Love 'em. I'm also typing this on a MacBook Pro. Gotta love Macs...

[Scott R]

Great machine, we're testing them for field use with our sales people, so far near indestructible among other positives.

[techweenie]

Good units. As with all Apple products, go to the online store, scroll down and look on the left for a blue tag -- that's the link to the "refurbished" units.

Apple refurbished carry the same 12-month warranty as new and are eligible for AppleCare extension. Refiurbished Minis are rare, but they do pop up. Typical savings off new list range from 15-25%.

[targa911S]

I have had one since they first came out. Various upgrades to it since. Never ever failed me, never ever crashed or had any problems other than a dead CD ROM drive that was $90. and I put it in myself along with bumping the RAM. Been through 3 keyboards though. I think mine is 12 years old now. Wonderful machine. The size of two grilled cheese sandwiches stacked on top of each other.

[Z-man]

One of the machines I use at work is a Mac mini to manage the Apple Xsan used by the digital media group. Nice little machine.
A friend of mine switched from a PC to a Mac mini earlier this year - loves it! If you don't need your PC to be mobile get a mini - otherwise get a MacBook pro lappy.
-Z-man

[RWebb]

Thanks - I need a 750 Gbyte drive - only a spendy server was avail. refurbed.

I had 2 PC's die on me in the last month so I am going to give up and try moving to a mac. I can always use a cheap laptop PC to run my datalogger.

We don't have Apple stores here, we have Mac Stores - they are moving data from the HDD I pulled out of the PC over to a mini right now.

I have not been super impressed with the Apple tech support; also hope the re-learning curve is not too steep.

[jyl]

Dual monitors . . . You know you want it . . . I run two screen at home, five screens at work, hard to use just one now. Also max out the DRAM while it is cheap, no need for Apple memory either.

[herr_oberst]

I work in pre press (emphasis on photoshop, powerful machines are needed.) We've gotten rid of all the Mac Pro boxes and replaced them with minis. Plenty of speed for photoshop. Things have changed dramatically since the days of the blue and white G3's.

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by jyl

Dual monitors . . . You know you want it . . . I run two screen at home, five screens at work, hard to use just one now. Also max out the DRAM while it is cheap, no need for Apple memory either.

funny you should mention that - my 27" hp monitor died just past the warranty period -- it works on VGA (laptop) but does not work on DVI or HDMI (newer PCs and Macs)

I paid $400 and it is now $300, not that I would buy another one.

But I could buy 2 21" monitors for $120 each and use them together...

but how do you do it? There is only a single video out on the mini. -- or do you use HDMI on one & thumper bolt on the other?

[stealthn]

I have one acting as a media hub, it's got hdmi and I'm burning all my DVD's to it. Online acess to netflix, vimeo, it's all good.

[Scott R]

You can use an USB attached GPU to drive the second screen. Thats what we do for our kiosks. Thunderbolt would have meant replacing all of our screens.

SEE2 Extreme UV250 USB External DVI/VGA Video Card

[RWebb]

huh - I had no idea that usb 2.0 was fast enuff for a display

[jyl]

I don't know about the Thunderbolt minis. My mini is pre-Thunderbolt. I'm reading people drive 1 display off the HDMI and 1 from Thunderbolt-to-DVI adapter but I have no personal experience. I'm also reading you can daisy chain two Thunderbolt screens from the Thunderbolt port on the mini and drive a third screen from the HDMI if the mini is the high end one. Again, no personal experience. I'm sure there is a way though.

[RWebb]

ok, how do I make the system font larger so I can read without using glasses???


called apple tech support and got nowhere with 2 different bozos

[scottmandue]

Don't forget to put the apple sticker on your Prius!

I kid, I kid!

[targa911S]

each app has it's own font size under preferences that would include finder too.