Notes on Apple's Mac mini
The Mac mini is a cost effective way to break into the Mac universe, but that’s true only if you don’t stray too far from the standard configuration and you have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse to hook up to it.
Since I hope to buy one in the future, I decided to look at the economics of ordering the slower model (1.25GHz) and equipping it with a 80 GB hard disk like its faster brother, upgrading memory to 512MB, and replacing the SuperDrive with a combo drive. It was still slightly cheaper than equipping the faster machine (1.42GB) with a 512MB stick and a SuperDrive but the difference was on the order of $50. So, if you’re going to buy a Mac mini, be sure you go to the Apple website and price out configurations using both the $499 and $599 base systems.
Another thing about the mini is that, unlike the new iMac, it is not user configurable or repairable.
The other thing about the device is that there is only one memory slot.
The immediate impact of both is that you cannot upgrade the system yourself. To upgrade memory to 512Mb or higher, you must order the system that way or have the memory installed by an authorized Apple Service center. Neither of those options are exactly cheap. Apple is known for its inflated memory prices. Most people, including me, buy memory from third party vendors if we want to expand a system’s memory. I did that with my new 20 inch G5 iMac. Its meager 256MB of memory was replaced by a single 1 GB DIMM on sale at MicroCenter. I took the 256MB stick and added that to my wife’s 17 inch G5 iMac to kick hers up to 512MB. Like Windows XP, Mac OS X performs better with at least 512MB of memory. I would not run either operating system on less, but then I do run major applications, sometimes several at a time.
(Update on January 18, 2005- MacWorld is reporting that Apple has told them you can upgrade the Mac mini's memory yourself as long as you don't break anything when you do. If this is true, I retract the above and will be looking ar buying a Mac mini and doing the upgrade myself unless the cost difference is not worth my time.)
I said in an earlier blog I wanted a G4 in the house, and the Mac mini seems to be a great answer. On both the Windows and Mac platforms, I have found it handy to keep copies of earlier operating systems. I’ve already discovered that my G5 will not boot up on Firewire hard disks running anything less than 10.3 (Panther). Panther disabled a software application I needed that would run on Jaguar and earlier. I have no doubt that Tiger will do the same. No matter what platform I’m running on, I don’t like losing capability. That’s why I’d like to have a G4 that will run older OS’s.
Since I hope to buy one in the future, I decided to look at the economics of ordering the slower model (1.25GHz) and equipping it with a 80 GB hard disk like its faster brother, upgrading memory to 512MB, and replacing the SuperDrive with a combo drive. It was still slightly cheaper than equipping the faster machine (1.42GB) with a 512MB stick and a SuperDrive but the difference was on the order of $50. So, if you’re going to buy a Mac mini, be sure you go to the Apple website and price out configurations using both the $499 and $599 base systems.
Another thing about the mini is that, unlike the new iMac, it is not user configurable or repairable.
The other thing about the device is that there is only one memory slot.
The immediate impact of both is that you cannot upgrade the system yourself. To upgrade memory to 512Mb or higher, you must order the system that way or have the memory installed by an authorized Apple Service center. Neither of those options are exactly cheap. Apple is known for its inflated memory prices. Most people, including me, buy memory from third party vendors if we want to expand a system’s memory. I did that with my new 20 inch G5 iMac. Its meager 256MB of memory was replaced by a single 1 GB DIMM on sale at MicroCenter. I took the 256MB stick and added that to my wife’s 17 inch G5 iMac to kick hers up to 512MB. Like Windows XP, Mac OS X performs better with at least 512MB of memory. I would not run either operating system on less, but then I do run major applications, sometimes several at a time.
(Update on January 18, 2005- MacWorld is reporting that Apple has told them you can upgrade the Mac mini's memory yourself as long as you don't break anything when you do. If this is true, I retract the above and will be looking ar buying a Mac mini and doing the upgrade myself unless the cost difference is not worth my time.)
I said in an earlier blog I wanted a G4 in the house, and the Mac mini seems to be a great answer. On both the Windows and Mac platforms, I have found it handy to keep copies of earlier operating systems. I’ve already discovered that my G5 will not boot up on Firewire hard disks running anything less than 10.3 (Panther). Panther disabled a software application I needed that would run on Jaguar and earlier. I have no doubt that Tiger will do the same. No matter what platform I’m running on, I don’t like losing capability. That’s why I’d like to have a G4 that will run older OS’s.
posted by Andy Foster at
3:06 PM
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