Mac Mini

[ORAC]

Interested in getting a Mac Mini to play around with. The problem is, as usual, though the initial price looks low, add on a few extras and you are looking at the best part of a grand.

e.g. The baseline Mini is £399.00. But when I looked at the 1.66Ghz version with 1Gb of RAM, then just added Toast for DVD burning and Office Student (I´m in the NUS cos of my MSc course ) the total shot up to:

Roxio Toast 7 Titanium: £59.57
Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Student & Teacher: £92.77
Mac mini 1.66GHz Intel Core Duo, 1GB SDRAM £556.60

Subtotal: £708.94
VAT: £124.06
Order Total: £833.00

Anyone any recommendations on the spec needed for a reasonable machine?

I already have USB mouse, keyboard and DVI monitor. I have a Buffalo Terastation for external storage. I don´t play games, so am just looking at it for the internet and SOHO work. Already have MS Office, Adobe Acrobat etc etc for the PC.

Would the baseline model work OK with Boot Camp and my XP loaded on top with my PC apps, or is that defeating the object? Is Boot Camp bundled or down loadable? Would I need to push the RAM up to 1Gb, or more?

Is about £800-1000 about what I should expect to pay? It just seems a bit steep for what you get.

Should I be looking at another model?

Suggestions from Mac fanatics, sorry afficionados, appreciated....

[CWL2YOW]

ORAC, I'm also looking at getting a Mac mini to use as a home entertainment device and have been going through the same conundrums. I can give you my 2 cents worth, but not to all of your questions.

The mini itself - you may be able to get away with the single rather than duo chip. Ultimately, it depends on what you will be using it for. Simple PC tasks (Office, web, iTunes etc) you should be OK with the basic model, but for more intensive tasks, go for the duo.
In terms of the RAM, as with any PC, you will benefit from more RAM than less RAM (sounds obvious, I know). From what you intend to use it for, 512 should be OK, but personally, I would bump it up to 1GB.
Toast - do the UK minis come preloaded with iLife? If yes, then there is DVD burning software included in this set up. Which reminds me, you will need a superdrive rather than the combodrive. The superdrive is a DVD recorder whereas the combodrive is just a CD recorder.

I can't comment on Boot Camp, as I don't have any plans to XP-ize my Mac.
I've been looking at forums on www.123macmini.com for hints and tips.

[AppleMacster]

Orac & CWL,
The MacMini is a great machine, especially for someone in your position with existing keyboard, mouse and external storage.
Regarding Toast, it depends what DVDs you are burning. Remember, burning DVDs with Quicktime is possible with iDVD (iLife is included with every Mac). You can also burn Data DVDs direct from the OS. CWL is right about needing the SuperDrive for burning DVDs.
You could always consider downloading NeoOffice for free if you don't need all the features of Microsoft Office. It will read and write the Office files as necessary.
Boot Camp needs to be downloaded from Apple's website and the installation notes followed *to the letter*. You burn a CD of drivers for the Windows installation *prior* to installing your own licensed copy of XP. One installed, you can choose to startup in either XP or OSX. Of course, your machine will be as susceptible to virii and worms as any other Windows machine when booted up in XP.
The Duo Core will always be a better investment for the future. However, the Solo Core will run all your Office-type applications, email and web browsing software without any trouble whatsoever.

[WeatherJinx]

ORAC

A couple of suggestions that might help reduce your bill:

1. Not sure how much this might be worth, but as a bona fide student (which I'm sure you are ) you may qualify for Apple's educational discount scheme.

2. Never, ever buy upgrade RAM from Apple, it's extortionate - get it from Crucial or some other reputable memory outfit and fit it yourself if able.

Hope this proves helpful.

Jx

[CWL2YOW]

100% concur with Jinx about purchasing RAM from Apple. However, from what I have read, with the mini being, errr, mini, things can get a little tight and fiddly. I am able to purchase Apple products thru an employee discount scheme and therefore can get the extra RAM for a reasonable price, otherwise, I would have followed Jinx's advice.

I think I am going for a Core Duo, 2GB RAM, 120GB HD with superdrive, all hooked up to my 52 inch HDTV and 5.1 Amp. All to play music...!

[ORAC]

I won´t be using it as a media machine. Just for SOHO. I use my Terastation to store my media files and don´t want to have to use a PC to sream them. I see Buffalo now says it supports direct streaming to any machine which is a DLNA device. Any one know which music/DVD network devices support DLNA?

The 1.66Hg mini already has the superdrive, but the reports I´ve seen say iLife doesn´t support all types of burning (I presume the normal Mac copyright thing? ) which is why I was looking at Toast. I will still have a PC machine as well, so it´s not essential. It would just save having to boot another machine when I wanted to save some files.

[ORAC]

OK, proposal.

I buy the Mac mini 1.66Ghz, complete with superdrive. I do not buy the optional iWork package or the memory upgrade.

I buy the Crucial 2Gb upgrade which, at about £140, is the same as the Apple 1Gb upgrade (and I get to sell the original 2 x 256Mb SDIMMS as well)

I buy the ilIfe package, which looks a reasonable bundle at £55.

I download the NeoOffice package to give me a WP, Spreadsheet etc till I see if I need Office.

I hold off on Toast, or any other equivalent DVD burning package, till I see if I need it. I hold off buying an expansion external HDD box (though I like the LaCie 250Gb - £139), till I see it I want to take the system away from home, where I already have a 1Tb NAS.

Total cost:
1.66Gb Core Duo - £529
ILife: - £55
Crucial 2Gb upgrade: £170
Total: £754

Anything else I need, or what should I add?

Would I be better leaving out the Crucial memory upgrade till later? (May sound silly, but if everyone has ended up buying it, I might as well do it now rather than later).

[AppleMacster]

Orac,

iLife is included with all Macs. You do not need to buy it. That makes your purchase less than £700!

[ORAC]

Do any Mac people think buying Intego NetBarrier/NetVirus is worthwhile?

Seen some good reviews, then others that say the threat is so low it is a waste of money.

Having looked at the freeware, I am tempted towards a combined Office 2004 & Toast at arounf £90.

I have also found, on Amazon.co.uk, a student/teacher offer for Macromedia Studio 8 at just under £70, reduced from £180 (Thats student price ). I don't know how to say no...

Any Mac people with recommendations/wave-offs on software?

(Studio 8 includes DreamWeaver and a few other good bits. It omits Acrobat Standard, but from looking around, OS X includes a pretty good PDF document maker anyway, and between them should do all I need. If you buy the lot, Adobe Web Bundle, the full cost is about £1500 and the student price about £600......)

[drauk]

We have an office full of the original Mac Minis and several of them are used for software development (a reasonably computer-intensive process). If you want to spec it up just for the sake of it that's fine, but a single processor machine with 1Gb will do the vast majority of things that most people would want to do: nothing you've mentioned makes me think you need more.

As someone else said, iLife is included. I'd not bother with Toast or Office - plenty of free alternatives. Nor anti-virus software.

Boot Camp works well if you really need Windows. If you need to do something with some devices it can be useful - e.g. programming a Jeppesen data card or a TV remote control.

[ORAC]

Errr, sorry, my credit card slipped last night, delivery due in the next couple of days.......

Cancom:
Apple Mac mini 1.66Ghz Intel Core Duo 512MB/80GB/SuperDrive/ GMA 950/ Airport/ Bluetooth: £449.99
Lacie Mini 250GB Companion Hard Drive Mac/PC Firewire: £79.99
Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Student & Teacher OSX CD + Roxio Toast 7 Titanium Mac CD: £99.57
Intego Internet Security Barrier X4 Backup Bundle inc (Virus BarrierX4,Net Barrier X4,Backup X4) Mac OS X: £57.99
VAT £120.32, Total £807.86

Amazon:
Studio 8 Student & Teacher Edition CD-ROM: £69.96,

All I have to do today is order the 2Gb memory upgrade fro Crucial (£140).....

In my defence, I built a new Shuttle SN26P a couple of months back. 3Ghz CPU, 4Gb RAM, 3 x 250Gb Spinpoint SATA drives, high spec video card. And I only tend to use that for the internet and word processing as well.....

All right, I fess up. My name is ORAC and I am a computerholic......

[OneWorld22]

Hey ORAC,

How you getting on with your Mac mini?? How you finding it compared to Windows??

I'm trying to get all the info I can before I lose my Mac virginity in a few days!

[ORAC]

Aint gorrit yet. Delivery to my sister in UK, I go back to UK on holiday to pick it up and play with it around the 4th of August. I ccould have bought the Mac itself out here, English OS X version, but not the rest of the software. And I want it to replace my old machine in my study at home anyway.

Already got my old shuttle, new shuttle (SN26), a laptop and a Linux machine here in my apartment. Can´t really justify a Mac here as well. But maybe, if I like it, a couple of nephews and nieces may get hand me down PCs at Xmas....

[CWL2YOW]

I picked up this piece of advice from another forum...the advice was to keep hold of the original 512MB of RAM rather than sell it, as if you need to return the mini to Apple, they will want to receive the computer as shipped (in terms of hardware) otherwise you may find that your warrantee is void (or is it voided?). I guess that once the warrantee expires (1 year?) you will be free to sell the unwanted memory.

I'm waiting until late August to buy my mini - the Apple World Wide Developers' Conference is taking place at the start of the month, and I'm hoping for some upgrade announcements (chip speed etc). It may not happen, but I can wait.

[WeatherJinx]

Not true. Apple regards RAM as a user serviceable/replaceable part - you are free to upgrade as you like and free to sell the RAM without affecting your warranty. I know because I've done it and then had to take the machine in question in for a warranty repair.

As with PPRuNe, don't believe everything you read in a forum

[CWL2YOW]

I bow to your superior knowledge, Jinxy. In that case, ORAC, sell it!

[ORAC]

Looking at ebay, the problem is selling it......

[WeatherJinx]

Do you have a work/college intranet? That's how I sold mine - it seems the idea that colleagues who were in the market for RAM could jump in a lift and come pick it up from me was very appealing - I had to disappoint a couple of people, too!