Mac Mini Questions

arty

arty

arty

Soldato
Joined
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I'm toying with the idea of getting a Mac Mini to replace my slightly ageing Shuttle SK43G as a LAN box, HTPC and potentially also a server. My Shuttle is rather noisy which tends to limit its use to the odd film watching and some light LAN gaming, as well as a (very) useful backup computer when friends and family's own computers have problems. I'd really like to replace it with something silent, or near-silent, to run Subversion and one or two other things 24/7.

My questions are thus:

1. How quiet are the current Mac Minis?
2. Would one be a suitable choice for a server? Do they run hot?
3. Can you run them on their side (i.e. with the DVD drive vertical)?
4. Do they have any 3D graphics capabilities? I'm thinking enough for things like Civ4, not Oblivion :p
5. Is there a decent VNC-like application for OS X?
6. Are they likely to be powerful enough to manage a full 1080p HD output?
7. Is it worth waiting for Core 2 to become the standard CPU?
8. Bearing in mind I've only briefly used Macs with System 5 and OS 8, is there anything really important I'd need to know about that differentiates modern machines from PCs?

I think that's more or less it for now. I've had a look around for answers to most of these questions on the internet, but not really found any conclusive ones. I also appreciate the first-hand experience of people on this forum :)

Cheers for any info!

arty
 
4) Yep, the graphics will be fine for what you've mentioned. My GMA900 plays WoW, so ...

5) Chicken of the VNC is quite good, I think its free.
 
1. How quiet are the current Mac Minis?

Extremely quiet, you can only hear it if you actually listen out for it

2. Would one be a suitable choice for a server? Do they run hot?

It would be a great choice for a server, very reliable and they run nice & cool

3. Can you run them on their side (i.e. with the DVD drive vertical)?

Yep, The mac department at Microsoft have about 100 of them (for testing) positioned vertically

4. Do they have any 3D graphics capabilities? I'm thinking enough for things like Civ4, not Oblivion :p

The graphics on them aren't the best, but i've managed to play the Call of Duty 2 and Quake 4 demo's on mine with no problems so it can't be that bad.

5. Is there a decent VNC-like application for OS X?

Yep :)

6. Are they likely to be powerful enough to manage a full 1080p HD output?

I was using a 30" HD Apple LCD at an Apple store a couple of months ago and it really is stunning, it will cope easily. Mine is running off a Sony 19" LCD at 1280x1024 and the quality is superb.

7. Is it worth waiting for Core 2 to become the standard CPU?

Hmm, personally i'd say its not worth waiting.

8. Bearing in mind I've only briefly used Macs with System 5 and OS 8, is there anything really important I'd need to know about that differentiates modern machines from PCs?

Nope, they couldn't be easier to use ... As an example of how easy they are I recently got my dad (of 51) to switch, and for a guy of his age he found moving from Windows to Mac painless. He got a book explaining everything in OS X which seems really good, it certainly helped my dad learn the ropes early on. If you want to get some reading in while it gets delivered I'd recommend getting a book from Amazon.

Oh, and I use an Intel Mac Mini (1GB RAM, 100GB HDD) as my main machine, day in, day out :)
 
Last edited:
arty said:
IMy questions are thus:
Click to expand...

1. How quiet are the current Mac Minis?
Click to expand...
very quiet :)
2. Would one be a suitable choice for a server? Do they run hot?
Click to expand...
yep fine,can do file and print sharing, unsure of running temperature carn't rember mine being hot.
3. Can you run them on their side (i.e. with the DVD drive vertical)?
Click to expand...
carn't see why not
4. Do they have any 3D graphics capabilities? I'm thinking enough for things like Civ4, not Oblivion :p
Click to expand...
should think civ4 would be ok
5. Is there a decent VNC-like application for OS X?
Click to expand...
chicken if the vnc? might just be a viewer - ssh
6. Are they likely to be powerful enough to manage a full 1080p HD output?
Click to expand...
don't know
7. Is it worth waiting for Core 2 to become the standard CPU?
Click to expand...
depends how long you want to wait possibly oct/nov or jan
8. Bearing in mind I've only briefly used Macs with System 5 and OS 8, is there anything really important I'd need to know about that differentiates modern machines from PCs?
Click to expand...
they just ROCK :) and you end up spending more time on the mac than windows

HTH

cheers
deano
EDIT 2 minutes to slow :o
 
Thanks for all of the responses so far. It's probably something I'll consider in the next month or two but it's useful for me to start thinking about things now.

Forgot to mention, I'd also like to run Apache on one, mainly for PHP development. I'm sure that'd be fine as Subversion works best as an Apache module and I've already seen a Mac binary for it somewhere :)

I'll do a bit more reading up and make a decision soon. Thanks again.

arty
 
If you didn't know already OSX comes with Apache installed (called Personal Web Sharing) plus a VNC server (Apple Remote Desktop), plus you can download Microsoft Remote Desktop to connect to Windows machines.
 
Just for a bit of a heads up - rumours are starting to appear that a new mac mini will be released sometime soon :)
 
Only had mine a week so i'll try and answer as best I can

1. How quiet are the current Mac Minis?

Absolutely silent. I can hear the hum of my speakers when not in use over the Mini.

2. Would one be a suitable choice for a server? Do they run hot?

I haven't really noticed any heat.

3. Can you run them on their side (i.e. with the DVD drive vertical)?

I see no reason why not

4. Do they have any 3D graphics capabilities? I'm thinking enough for things like Civ4, not Oblivion :p

Yes. They have an onboard Intel GPU (can't remember the name) which will apparantly run basic games reasonably well. I wouldn't expect to be playing anything amazing on it though.

5. Is there a decent VNC-like application for OS X?

OSX has its own built in VNC compatible server.

6. Are they likely to be powerful enough to manage a full 1080p HD output?

Not sure. But it handles 1080i without breaking sweat.

7. Is it worth waiting for Core 2 to become the standard CPU?

Depends how quickly you want it. I'm not sure what the performance boost is with Core2.

8. Bearing in mind I've only briefly used Macs with System 5 and OS 8, is there anything really important I'd need to know about that differentiates modern machines from PCs?

They look sexier ;)
 
MagSafe said:
Just for a bit of a heads up - rumours are starting to appear that a new mac mini will be released sometime soon :)
Click to expand...

I'm eagerly waiting to hear what might be revealed... ready to purchase any day now. :D
 
MagSafe said:
Just for a bit of a heads up - rumours are starting to appear that a new mac mini will be released sometime soon :)
Click to expand...

Intriguing. I shall keep my eyes open.

Is it possible to uninstall the bundled applications with OS X? There are quite a lot of programs I know I won't be using, such as iTunes, and I'm used to having a clean PC with a streamlined version of Windows. I don't expect OS X to be as bloated by any means, but I just don't know about this stuff :)

arty
 
deano said:
or do a custom install of Mac os X.

cheers
Deano
Click to expand...

Out of interest, do Mac Minis actually come with an OS X CD? It's been an incredibly long time since I bought a 'pre-built' computer and I know the PC world has rather annoyingly moved on to 'recovery CDs' and restrictive OEM licensing.

arty
 
arty said:
Out of interest, do Mac Minis actually come with an OS X CD? It's been an incredibly long time since I bought a 'pre-built' computer and I know the PC world has rather annoyingly moved on to 'recovery CDs' and restrictive OEM licensing.

arty
Click to expand...

You get 2 discs, one with the OS and the other with the software :)

It's not the actual retail version of OS X though, I guess more like a recovery CD but with mac's you very rarely have to use them.
 
Just another question to add to this thread, if anyone's still reading it: I'm now thinking of buying a Mac Mini alongside a Sony 32" LCD TV and using the two together. As the TV doesn't have a DVI input I was planning to use a DVI -> HDMI adapter. Is this essentially just a connector change? In other words, should I be able to just use the TV as a normal monitor with the Mac Mini and get full 720p (1366x768) output from it?

If anyone has their Mac Mini connected via HDMI I'd be very interested to know :)

arty
 
HDMI is essentially DVI with a few pins to carry digital audio. You'll have to connect your Mac Mini's audio output to the HDMI converter along with your DVI plug.
 
BillytheImpaler said:
HDMI is essentially DVI with a few pins to carry digital audio. You'll have to connect your Mac Mini's audio output to the HDMI converter along with your DVI plug.
Click to expand...

Great. Many thanks for that clarification - audio won't be a problem :)

arty
 
Finally just taken the plunge and ordered a Mac Mini 1.66Ghz with 1GB RAM. It'll be used with the Sony 32" LCD TV which I now have - should be a pretty neat setup, as long as the Mini can cope with HD playback :cool:

Thanks for all the advice. I'll post some photographs once it arrives :)

arty
 
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