I'm planning to buy a Mac Mini, and I've been waiting to see what the new systems would bring. To be honest I'm a little underwhelmed, especially with the power/price ratio, so I'm going to be doing some upgrading when I get it. The machine's mainly going to be used for graphics and photography work - large, high res files. It needs to be portable, hence the Mini, and I'm trying to keep it cheaper and (hopefully significantly) faster than the low-end MacBooks.
Problem is, I'm not up to date on Intel's current offerings, or on the Mini's (current or previous) compatibility. I also understand heat dissipation will be an issue.
I'm budgeting about £650, less if I can, but I'm taking into account what I can sell the parts that I don't need for. Hard drive is going to be a Seagate Momentus 7200.4 500GB, which comes in at about £100, fastest on the market as far as I know. RAM will be as much as the machine and my budget can handle. Processor I'm thinking about £150-200, depending on whether the one that comes with the machine is worth anything on eBay; like I said, I don't really know what's out there at that price point.
My question is this: which Mini (current gen or last gen) and what do I put inside it?
Obviously last generation's machine would be cheaper, leaving much more cash for upgrades. RAM for that set up is cheaper, too, but it only handles a max of 3GB. There's also the fact it's been out for a while, so I guess some people know what the hardware is compatible with. I don't know what the board can handle, though, and how much of a real-world limitation the graphics processor would be. Advice is greatly appreciated on this.
New machine has the obvious advantages of better graphics and newer chipset, obviously, but since I'm pulling out most of the rest of the guts, would it really be worth the money? On the other hand, the newer RAM and processor should fetch a bit more on eBay to make up for it. When am I likely to find out what the board is and what it's compatible with? Any educated guesses?
Thanks very much in advance, everyone.
Problem is, I'm not up to date on Intel's current offerings, or on the Mini's (current or previous) compatibility. I also understand heat dissipation will be an issue.
I'm budgeting about £650, less if I can, but I'm taking into account what I can sell the parts that I don't need for. Hard drive is going to be a Seagate Momentus 7200.4 500GB, which comes in at about £100, fastest on the market as far as I know. RAM will be as much as the machine and my budget can handle. Processor I'm thinking about £150-200, depending on whether the one that comes with the machine is worth anything on eBay; like I said, I don't really know what's out there at that price point.
My question is this: which Mini (current gen or last gen) and what do I put inside it?
Obviously last generation's machine would be cheaper, leaving much more cash for upgrades. RAM for that set up is cheaper, too, but it only handles a max of 3GB. There's also the fact it's been out for a while, so I guess some people know what the hardware is compatible with. I don't know what the board can handle, though, and how much of a real-world limitation the graphics processor would be. Advice is greatly appreciated on this.
New machine has the obvious advantages of better graphics and newer chipset, obviously, but since I'm pulling out most of the rest of the guts, would it really be worth the money? On the other hand, the newer RAM and processor should fetch a bit more on eBay to make up for it. When am I likely to find out what the board is and what it's compatible with? Any educated guesses?
Thanks very much in advance, everyone.