2009 Mac Mini discussion thread

[Kaido]

Mac Mini homepage

Features:
-2.0 or 2.26ghz C2D CPU (3MB L2 + 1066MHz FSB)
-Max 4GB RAM (DDR3 1066MHz)
-9400m graphics (2 video outputs with Extended Desktop + Video Mirroring)
-802.11n Wifi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, and Gigabit Ethernet
-8x DVD drive (standard on both models)
-120gb or 320gb 5400rpm SATA hard drive
-13w when idle, max power 110w

Processor Upgrades:

The CPU is soldered to the motherboard. You cannot upgrade the processor.

Memory Upgrades:

The new Mac Mini can take up to 4GB of DDR3-1066 memory. The cheapest on Newegg is (surprisingly) Crucial (2x2gb) for about half the cost of 4GB from Apple:

Crucial 4GB (2x2GB) Kit ($53 shipped)

It'd be interesting to see if the Mini can handle 8 gigs of RAM. If the 2.26ghz CPU is indeed the Intel P8400, then it should be able to - the Sony Viao 18" laptop uses that chip and comes with 8 gigs of RAM, so there's no reason the Mini shouldn't be able to handle it. It's very pricey though!

Crucial 8GB (2x4GB) ($779)

Hard Drive:

The Mac Mini uses a 2.5" SATA hard drive. Currently the largest and fastest is the Seagate 7200rpm 500gb hard drive (but it's not getting good reviews). I'd recommend going with either a 500gb 5400rpm drive (modern 5400rpm drives are still pretty fast) or a 320gb 7200rpm. I have a Scorpio in my laptop and it is both fast and quiet, as well as cheap:

320gb 7200rpm WD Scorpio ($79 shipped)

SSDs are another option. They're very expensive, but also very fast. A nice model with a relatively affordable pricetag (for an SSD) is the 80gb Intel X25-M, which is $353 shipped and has up 250 MB/s read and 70 MB/s write.

Other Upgrades:

There's no point in upgrading the Wifi, since 802.11n is the fastest you can get (unless you want 802.11a), and it all models also come with Bluetooth.

The Mac Mini uses a SATA DVD drive, although it is unknown if it is a 12.7mm or 9.5mm optical drive. It uses a Pioneer DVR-TS08PA DVD burner. It is probably possible to replace this with a Blu-ray driver, although Leopard can't play back Blu-ray discs, so it would only be good for authoring in say Toast.

There are a number of external hard drives that tuck under the Mini and have the same design (shape + color). You can either use them with the Firewire or USB jacks, or hack your Mini and run a SATA cable to them for optimum speed (such as with a 10K Raptor or Samsung F1 1TB). The MiniStack V3 from Newer Technology is my favorite, and already includes a FW800 jack for direct connection, as well as an eSATA jack if you want to hack your Mini. It can handle up to 1.5TB hard drives currently (although I'd stay far, far away from the 1.5TB Seagate drives, they're getting terrible reviews).

The new Mini is capable of driving dual monitors. The DVI port can run up to 1920x1200 and the Mini-DisplayPort can run up to 2560x1600 using Apple's $99 dual-link DVI adapter. You can use Mirroring or Extended Desktop.

123MacMini.com has a big list of Mac Mini accessories such as desktop stands, mounts, and shelves. Definitely worth checking out if you're a Mini geek. They also have the best forum for Mac Minis on the net.

 

[Goosemaster]

While I appreciate the release, it's sort of too little to late as it is hard to justify the cost with the alternatives out there.

<--mac mini 1.6cd w/ 2GB + 1TB esata

I would be spending around $750 + $50 for ilife for the upgrade and I can get so much more from competitors... except osx

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster
While I appreciate the release, it's sort of too little to late as it is hard to justify the cost with the alternatives out there.

<--mac mini 1.6cd w/ 2GB + 1TB esata

I would be spending around $750 + $50 for ilife for the upgrade and I can get so much more from competitors... except osx

Yeah but the point is the OS, as well as the form factor. You can get more from other vendors, but you can't get OS X from other vendors, so you're locked into Apple's ecosystem, for better or for worse.

I agree though, Apple took their sweet time upgrading the Mini. Granted the 9400m wasn't available until recently, but still...lame.

 

[Kaido]

Assuming the CPU can be upgraded, I have a new standard Mac model to build & recommend to family, friends, and clients:

Base Mac Mini ($599)
2.53ghz CPU ($370)
4GB RAM ($53)
320gb 7200rpm HDD ($79)
1TB MiniStack V3 ($225)

$1326 total. Speedy-fast Mac, compatible with all updates, with 1TB Time Machine backup. The biggest drawback here, of course, is the price - you can get a 20" iMac for cheaper, and a 24" iMac for only a couple hundred more. Ugh.

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: Kaido
Assuming the CPU can be upgraded, I have a new standard Mac model to build & recommend to family, friends, and clients:

Base Mac Mini ($599)
2.53ghz CPU ($370)
4GB RAM ($53)
320gb 7200rpm HDD ($79)
1TB MiniStack V3 ($225)

$1326 total. Speedy-fast Mac, compatible with all updates, with 1TB Time Machine backup. The biggest drawback here, of course, is the price - you can get a 20" iMac for cheaper, and a 24" iMac for only a couple hundred more. Ugh.

WAY too much. I can get a quad core with 6GB and 1TB of space for that much.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster

Originally posted by: Kaido
Assuming the CPU can be upgraded, I have a new standard Mac model to build & recommend to family, friends, and clients:

Base Mac Mini ($599)
2.53ghz CPU ($370)
4GB RAM ($53)
320gb 7200rpm HDD ($79)
1TB MiniStack V3 ($225)

$1326 total. Speedy-fast Mac, compatible with all updates, with 1TB Time Machine backup. The biggest drawback here, of course, is the price - you can get a 20" iMac for cheaper, and a 24" iMac for only a couple hundred more. Ugh.

WAY too much. I can get a quad core with 6GB and 1TB of space for that much.

Apples to oranges. (1) Apple is not in the low-end price business, (2) a Quad-Core/6GB/1TB rig will not come with OS X from the factory, and (3) you can't get the same form factor, which is the whole point of the Mini (i.e. SMALL).

I'm not disagreeing that it's expensive, I'm just saying you're looking at it from the wrong perspective. Apple isn't out to make cheap computers. The Mac Mini is designed to be small in form-factor and stay at the bottom end of Apple's pricing spectrum. The whole point is so that you can run OS X, which other machines can't do (legally). So in that sense, comparing a Mac to a Windows PC is kind of like comparing a car to a boat...they're both transportation, but they're vastly different ways of getting from Point A to Point B.

 

[tefleming]

Originally posted by: Kaido
Assuming the CPU can be upgraded, I have a new standard Mac model to build & recommend to family, friends, and clients:

Base Mac Mini ($599)
2.53ghz CPU ($370)
4GB RAM ($53)
320gb 7200rpm HDD ($79)
1TB MiniStack V3 ($225)

$1326 total. Speedy-fast Mac, compatible with all updates, with 1TB Time Machine backup. The biggest drawback here, of course, is the price - you can get a 20" iMac for cheaper, and a 24" iMac for only a couple hundred more. Ugh.

Not sure the "bang for buck" is there to go from 2.4 to 2.53 for $150.

Base Mac Mini ($599)
2.4ghz CPU ($220)
4GB RAM ($53)

OPTION ONE:
FW800 9pin to FW 6pin cable ($5 - monoprice)
Ministack (bare - no drive) 3.5" SATA FireWire 400 + USB 2.0 version ($60 - OWC)
1TB drive (brand etc of choice) ($100 - 'egg)

OR OPTION TWO:
1TB MiniStack V3 ($225) and do the eSATA hack -

Boot external

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: tefleming

Originally posted by: Kaido
Assuming the CPU can be upgraded, I have a new standard Mac model to build & recommend to family, friends, and clients:

Base Mac Mini ($599)
2.53ghz CPU ($370)
4GB RAM ($53)
320gb 7200rpm HDD ($79)
1TB MiniStack V3 ($225)

$1326 total. Speedy-fast Mac, compatible with all updates, with 1TB Time Machine backup. The biggest drawback here, of course, is the price - you can get a 20" iMac for cheaper, and a 24" iMac for only a couple hundred more. Ugh.

Not sure the "bang for buck" is there to go from 2.4 to 2.53 for $150.

Base Mac Mini ($599)
2.4ghz CPU ($220)
4GB RAM ($53)

OPTION ONE:
FW800 9pin to FW 6pin cable ($5 - monoprice)
Ministack (bare - no drive) 3.5" SATA FireWire 400 + USB 2.0 version ($60 - OWC)
1TB drive (brand etc of choice) ($100 - 'egg)

OR OPTION TWO:
1TB MiniStack V3 ($225) and do the eSATA hack -

Boot external

Ooh good, I didn't see a link for the bare enclosure, that's good to know!

Yeah, 2x1.53ghz for $150 is a bit pricey, but that's how Apple designed it - you look at the cost and then you're like gee, why not just get an iMac?

 

[tefleming]

Originally posted by: Kaido


Ooh good, I didn't see a link for the bare enclosure, that's good to know!

Yeah, 2x1.53ghz for $150 is a bit pricey, but that's how Apple designed it - you look at the cost and then you're like gee, why not just get an iMac?

I meant the marginal cost of going from the 2.4 aftermarket add-on to the 2.53 add-on.

Not sure what Apple has to do with Intel's chip pricing strategies.



And, the bare fw800 enclosure is 110 - again, not sure it's worth the extra $50.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: tefleming

Originally posted by: Kaido


Ooh good, I didn't see a link for the bare enclosure, that's good to know!

Yeah, 2x1.53ghz for $150 is a bit pricey, but that's how Apple designed it - you look at the cost and then you're like gee, why not just get an iMac?

I meant the marginal cost of going from the 2.4 aftermarket add-on to the 2.53 add-on.

Not sure what Apple has to do with Intel's chip pricing strategies.



And, the bare fw800 enclosure is 110 - again, not sure it's worth the extra $50.

I meant, Apple's pricing vs. aftermarket upgrade cost - the correlation between the price to upgrade and the price to just get an iMac. They positioned the Mini to be right at the end of the spectrum - it has a 2.0 or 2.26ghz chip, so it doesn't interfere with the iMac sales, but if you try upgrading, you might as well get an iMac with a better CPU (cost & performance-wise).

If you're booting from the MiniStack, I'd say the FW800 is worth it. I just wish they supported 2TB drives, that'd be fun!

 

[ViRGE]

What's particularly interesting is that the CPU in the Mini is the P7350. That's a 25W OEM-only part that you don't see very often, and isn't particularly cheap. Apple really needs to bite the bullet and make the Mini capable of accommodating desktop processors - with a little more cooling they could put something significantly faster in the Mini.

It also doesn't feature VT, which means you can't use virtual machine software with it.

 

[racolvin]

I'll buy one of the new Mini's instead of trying to build a Hackintosh. Mini + Ministack v3 and I'm good to go I'll probably pull the trigger on that baby this week

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: ViRGE
What's particularly interesting is that the CPU in the Mini is the P7350. That's a 25W OEM-only part that you don't see very often, and isn't particularly cheap. Apple really needs to bite the bullet and make the Mini capable of accommodating desktop processors - with a little more cooling they could put something significantly faster in the Mini.

It also doesn't feature VT, which means you can't use virtual machine software with it.

Where did you find the info on the Mini's CPU chip?

Also, you can use Virtual Machine software with the Mini - just not Parallels 4.0. VMware Fusion (a better product imo, due to better stability) does not require hardware VT.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: ViRGE
What's particularly interesting is that the CPU in the Mini is the P7350. That's a 25W OEM-only part that you don't see very often, and isn't particularly cheap. Apple really needs to bite the bullet and make the Mini capable of accommodating desktop processors - with a little more cooling they could put something significantly faster in the Mini.

It also doesn't feature VT, which means you can't use virtual machine software with it.

Where did you find the info on the Mini's CPU chip?

Also, you can use Virtual Machine software with the Mini - just not Parallels 4.0. VMware Fusion (a better product imo, due to better stability) does not require hardware VT.

Digging through Intel's product sheets. There's only a single mobile processor that has 3MB of L2 cache at 2ghz, the P7350.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: ViRGE

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: ViRGE
What's particularly interesting is that the CPU in the Mini is the P7350. That's a 25W OEM-only part that you don't see very often, and isn't particularly cheap. Apple really needs to bite the bullet and make the Mini capable of accommodating desktop processors - with a little more cooling they could put something significantly faster in the Mini.

It also doesn't feature VT, which means you can't use virtual machine software with it.

Where did you find the info on the Mini's CPU chip?

Also, you can use Virtual Machine software with the Mini - just not Parallels 4.0. VMware Fusion (a better product imo, due to better stability) does not require hardware VT.

Digging through Intel's product sheets. There's only a single mobile processor that has 3MB of L2 cache at 2ghz, the P7350.

Ah, excellent. That would explain why I didn't see it on Newegg Updating the OP...

 

[racolvin]

Interesting ... its disappointing that it doesn't have hardware VT. I mean isn't this the same chip they use the regular MacBooks? I could have sworn those things could do hardware VT.


I wonder if that situation changes if you get the 2.26Ghz BTO option ...

 

[Muddy Mudskipper]

Thoughts on the new Zotac 9300 mini-ITX board? It's only just been released: Newegg. A more flexible small-footprint alternative to the Mini?

9400 version is apparently due soon.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Muddy Mudskipper
Thoughts on the new Zotac 9300 mini-ITX board? It's only just been released: Newegg. A more flexible small-footprint alternative to the Mini?

9400 version is apparently due soon.

I actually saw that today too, the 9300 is compatible with Hackintosh and it looks like it'd be a super-compatible board overall

 

[DHart]

Great to know about the possibility of upgrading the CPU on the new Mini! I'm going to wait on purchasing until reading the confirmation here. Thanks very much Kaido!

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: DHart
Great to know about the possibility of upgrading the CPU on the new Mini! I'm going to wait on purchasing until reading the confirmation here. Thanks very much Kaido!

Well it's all speculation...it may be an OEM-only CPU...we'll have to wait for disassembly

 

[DHart]

Does the upgrade from 2.0 to 2.26 seem like a worthwhile upgrade if the CPU is OEM-only? I was thinking about getting the base model with the 2.26 CPU ($749) and upgrading the hard drive and RAM myself.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: DHart
Does the upgrade from 2.0 to 2.26 seem like a worthwhile upgrade if the CPU is OEM-only? I was thinking about getting the base model with the 2.26 CPU ($749) and upgrading the hard drive and RAM myself.

Depends on if it turns out that the CPU is indeed OEM-only. $150 extra for 2 x 260mhz...not a huge speed bump. Honestly the money would be better invested in a 7200rpm hard drive ($80 for 320gb) and 4GB RAM ($53). If it's going to be your only machine for a long time and you have the cash, then what the heck, get the extra MHz

Just for fun, I'd wait to see what the CPU turns out to be.

 

[DHart]

Yes... sounds like wait & see is a good idea... if you find the CPU can be upgraded, I'd much prefer to spend $250 for 2.4GHz than $150 for 2.26.

 

[racolvin]

Would the external power supply even support the 2.4+ speeds? Would the case be able to dissipate the xtra heat?

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: DHart
Does the upgrade from 2.0 to 2.26 seem like a worthwhile upgrade if the CPU is OEM-only? I was thinking about getting the base model with the 2.26 CPU ($749) and upgrading the hard drive and RAM myself.

Depends on if it turns out that the CPU is indeed OEM-only. $150 extra for 2 x 260mhz...not a huge speed bump. Honestly the money would be better invested in a 7200rpm hard drive ($80 for 320gb) and 4GB RAM ($53). If it's going to be your only machine for a long time and you have the cash, then what the heck, get the extra MHz

Just for fun, I'd wait to see what the CPU turns out to be.

Just so we're clear, only the 2ghz chip would be OEM only. The 2.26ghz chip would be the P8400; there's no other chip on Intel's datasheets that matches Apple's specs.