2012 Mac Mini

Ant84 said:
Just picked up the middle spec i7 from my local Apple store with a Bluetooth keyboard and wireless trackpad.

The keyboard is annoying me already as it doesn't sit flat on my desk like my Logitech one does.
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AbsenceJam said:
Pro-tip: K750 Mac.
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Seconded the K750 I got one in the summer to replace my Apple keyboard - it is much nicer.
 
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I wouldn't have gone for a Mini personally for that use case but good luck with your purchase. It would be interesting to know if there is any Lightroom improvement.
 
Well the good news is that Lightroom usage is greatly improved and is showing near enough realtime adjustments to the image, whereas my i3 530 was taking around 4-5 seconds at time to show the change in the preview window.

The bad news. I'm already suffering from the wireless drop out that appears to have plagued many Apple devices since 10.7 Lion. After an hour or so without problem it disappeared and took over an hour before I got it back stable again. The network sometimes didn't even appear at all in the list and even when it did, I got a connection timeout. Had a mess about with the settings and it seems okay again, but if it happens again during the initial 14 day money back period it'll be returned.
 
I have a stock i3 the same as yours and I even ran it with 2GB RAM for a while and it handled Lightroom 3/4 absolutely fine with 16mp RAW files. So I'm not entirely convinced your previous hardware was at fault tbh.

Regarding wireless it's a persistent problem with Apple stuff in my experience going back years and years. Make sure all the OS updates are applied but definitely take it back if it continues to play up.
 
I really don't know. Something was definitely at fault though and this Mini is much, much quicker with the edits with the same amount of RAM so I'm guessing it must be the CPU slowing it down.

These are 20mp images that are 25MB in size, so I don't know whether that's the issue or not.

As far as the wireless is concerned, I'm a little bit baffled why my iPad and Galaxy SII picked up the signal easily but the Mini didn't even display it in the available networks, despite being on the same desk. Strange.
 
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Just finished ordering everything I need for the mini...

2.3 i7 mini
16GB Kingston DDR3 1600MHz
256GB Samsung 930 SSD
27" Phillips monitor (fed via HDMI)
Apple wireless kb and mouse
Mac Mini Upper Flex Cable

I'm hoping in theory the above system will punch way above it's weight speed wise as it cost only the same as lowest spec 21.5 imac. System won't be used for gaming

I hope to install snow leopard on the SSD, and then use the 1TB drive it came with for storage in second internal bay. Don't know if Win8 will run in bootcamp, but if not I'll dual boot Win7.
 
Totally get a SSD software RAID 0 going!

Sure you don't want to wait for the iMac?

The Mini would be better for upgrades though!
 
Flukester said:
Just finished ordering everything I need for the mini...

2.3 i7 mini
16GB Kingston DDR3 1600MHz
256GB Samsung 930 SSD
27" Phillips monitor (fed via HDMI)
Apple wireless kb and mouse
Mac Mini Upper Flex Cable

I'm hoping in theory the above system will punch way above it's weight speed wise as it cost only the same as lowest spec 21.5 imac. System won't be used for gaming

I hope to install snow leopard on the SSD, and then use the 1TB drive it came with for storage in second internal bay. Don't know if Win8 will run in bootcamp, but if not I'll dual boot Win7.
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Why not Mountain Lion?
 
The wireless issue is something I'm hoping will become less of a problem as I plan to buy some TP Link gigabit powerlines and run the Mini via ethernet.

I'm quite impressed with the performance of the machine and can only imagine it will be much, much better with an SSD installed. Is there any other way to fit one than buying the iFixit kit?
 
Ant84 said:
The wireless issue is something I'm hoping will become less of a problem as I plan to buy some TP Link gigabit powerlines and run the Mini via ethernet.

I'm quite impressed with the performance of the machine and can only imagine it will be much, much better with an SSD installed. Is there any other way to fit one than buying the iFixit kit?
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I found the upper flex cable with a uk supplier but it still cost a cool £45 ex vat which seems a rip off. They didn't know if it worked also with the 2012 mini, I'm hoping it does. Got a 5 day lead time on order :(

I'm hoping to fit the ssd where the current drive is and move the 1tb drive to the upper position with the new cable

I guess the iFixit kit isn't much more....though shipping might bump it up
 
I think I might want me one of these.

Currently using a resurrected 2009 Mac Mini with an SSD and 8gb of RAM and it's quite splendid.

If you're not gaming and you're not scared to open it up these new ones can be a really powerful little box on not too much money.

The VESA mounts that sandwich the Mini inbetween the wall mount and monitor are great too. Definitely something to think about, I reckon.
 
Jimmy1983 said:
Yeah thought as much! Pretty sure iam just going to get the base model, then SSD/RAM in the future at some point.

How much did you pay for the SSD and other parts? Any particular reason you went for the apple KB/mouse?
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Apple keyboards are awesome.

Apple mice... match the keyboards.

Actually to be fair I do like the Magic Mouse, mostly because you can do the gestures on it. It's too flat for some people but I find it ok. Utter rubbish for games though, when I play minecraft I'm always accidentally scrolling through weapons all the time by resting my fingers on it.
 
PardonTheWait said:
Apple keyboards are awesome.

Apple mice... match the keyboards.

Actually to be fair I do like the Magic Mouse, mostly because you can do the gestures on it. It's too flat for some people but I find it ok. Utter rubbish for games though, when I play minecraft I'm always accidentally scrolling through weapons all the time by resting my fingers on it.
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Cheers, yeah good point about the gestures actually! :cool: I dont play games, so iam good on that front!
 
I use the two finger double tap for mission control, and two finger swipe each way for back/forward.

I like the magic mouse for day to day use, but for games it wouldn't cut it.

It is also very expensive and you can't get away from that.

Because I work in a shop that sells their kit, I've always just got used to whatever's out and used that because I use it so much at work. Making my Mac really unique is pretty much pointless because I'm always on bog stock ones at work, I'd probably be different if my job wasn't to do with Macs.
 
Well the mini arrived today so before any mods I hooked it up via HDMI to the Philips monitor and the quality was shocking, text very unreadable. It's running at native 1080p.

I tried the monitor via DVI on a PC and it's perfect, so it must be the HDMI on either the Mac or Monitor.

I have ordered a cheap Display port to DVI adaptor and gonna try again tomorrow... grrrr
 
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