Mac Mini Duo

Berserker · 13 Aug 2006 at 23:47

Echo toxin said:
Well... almost. I'm going to wait for a little longer to see if they put Core 2 Duo inside the bugger.

More likely it'll get Merom (the mobile version). That's already been done by some overclockers who got hold of ES versions, and it works rather well.

Echo toxin · 13 Aug 2006 at 23:58

All this codename talk has me confused. If Conroe then is Core 2 Duo what is Merom? Core 2 Duo Mobile?

Fillado · 14 Aug 2006 at 01:25

Echo toxin said:
All this codename talk has me confused. If Conroe then is Core 2 Duo what is Merom? Core 2 Duo Mobile?

Got it in one

In other news my 2Ghz MacBook can also handle 1080p Quicktime movies no problems

JimmyEatWorms · 14 Aug 2006 at 07:55

Fillado said:
Got it in one

In other news my 2Ghz MacBook can also handle 1080p Quicktime movies no problems

You can upgrade the CPU of a mac mini?

Echo toxin · 14 Aug 2006 at 09:41

You can't officially upgrade the CPU - heck, you're not even supposed to take the casing apart. But unofficially it seems you can as some have already done it.

FreeStream · 14 Aug 2006 at 09:51

Echo toxin said:
You can't officially upgrade the CPU - heck, you're not even supposed to take the casing apart. But unofficially it seems you can as some have already done it.

Yar, and it works straight off

Im still here with my PowerMac G4 867 DP, but now the MacPro is out, im gonna grab a quad G5 for £500 muhahahahaha.

JimmyEatWorms · 14 Aug 2006 at 09:59

Echo toxin said:
You can't officially upgrade the CPU - heck, you're not even supposed to take the casing apart. But unofficially it seems you can as some have already done it.

Cool. I thought they'd have changed the socket form slightly or something.

stuppy · 14 Aug 2006 at 10:41

Big-Mac-Please said:
Ooo I like nice player but when I play a divx video it has no sound just like in quicktime but mplayer plays it ok with sound?

What do you think I'm missing?

Cheers!!!

EDIT: If you go to the free plugins theres one called xine install that and log out and log in again and then make it the default viewer in preferences and hey presto it played the file ok

Looks sexy too!

Niceplayer is bascailly just a different front end for Quicktime but with more controls and nicer interface. It uses the same protocols that Quicktime.app uses.

You need to grab the DivX Codecs from here > http://www.divx.com/divx/mac/ - install them, along with the Flip4Mac 2.1 UB and you'll be set to play any kind of movie through Niceplayer.

Not sure whether DVDs play though, but there is Apple DVD Player for that

Echo toxin · 14 Aug 2006 at 10:59

davetherave2 said:
All i did was try the sample quicktime movies from apples website and it handled them with ease, which I expected to be honest.

Ah, I wonder if a chunky H.264 Transport Stream file would make it cough and splutter...

Doug · 14 Aug 2006 at 11:41

Concorde Rules said:
im gonna grab a quad G5 for £500 muhahahahaha.

There goes the resale value of my PM G5

Echo toxin · 14 Aug 2006 at 13:55

Surely it won't be that cheap, already? I was still seeing G3 iMacs for £50-£100 notes on eBay last night... A nice G4 with 512Mb RAM is around £200!

davetherave2 · 14 Aug 2006 at 14:32

Echo toxin said:
Ah, I wonder if a chunky H.264 Transport Stream file would make it cough and splutter...

What I will do is reencode one of my ts files with approx 16MB average info and see how it fairs but to be honest I think it will cope no problems at all.

Big-Mac-Please · 14 Aug 2006 at 17:29

I have been holding off buying because of core duo 2 do you think apple will be changing there range over soon?

I'm glad the mini seems to be performing so well! If more people took the plunge from windows and tried one I swear they wouldn't go back!!

Apple should advertise them more I think, really get the brand out there like they do with the ipod

Spyhop · 14 Aug 2006 at 17:50

I wouldn't be suprised, since the Macbook (non-pro) is supposedly getting Core2Duo!

JimmyEatWorms · 14 Aug 2006 at 18:45

Is there much performance difference between the core duo and core 2 duo chips (clueless about CPU's since mHz ratings became invalid)? Damn u people making me hesitate and think of waiting...lol

Echo toxin · 14 Aug 2006 at 19:43

"They" reckon there is about a 10-15% performance increase. I hoping the Steve man will unveil an upgrade at the Apple Expo in Paris...

JimmyEatWorms · 15 Aug 2006 at 08:32

Hmmm...don't really think a 10-15% increase is worth waiting for.

Echo toxin · 15 Aug 2006 at 09:55

I think the main difference will be the fact that Merom is 64-bit so it's ready for the future Leopard OS. If you plan on only keeping the Mini for a year or two then it's current config (with a bit of extra RAM) should suffice. I'm going to wait a wee bit longer just to see if they get rid of the Core Solo for a Core 2 Duo or even a faster Core Duo for the same price.

My Windows PC will last me for a good year at least but I want to try out OS X for a while on a cheap Mac before deciding whether to go for a Vista notebook or a Leopard notebook to take with me to uni in 2007.

BoomAM · 15 Aug 2006 at 10:43

How does the MacMini perform as a HDTV media center?
Is it possible to have frontrow accessing HD media files and display them on a HDTV properly?

Ive been thinking of getting a MacMini for the usage of functioning as a media player for my HDTV. Providing DVD playback, music playback, playback of HD files, and to sync my iPod.
But im unsure if it has the power to do so.

Echo toxin · 15 Aug 2006 at 11:54

It's supposed to be fine doing all those things. The Front Row software is a bit inflexible - it's a bit behind Windows Media Center with regards to organising/displaying/playing your media as you would like it.