Mac Mini Choice (speed & drive & screen)

[EvanAdams]

After upgrading to Mountain Lion, my dad's Macbook Pro has come to a screeching halt. Horrible upgrade but it is done now.

This is what he has now:
Monitor: M9178LL/A
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro4,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.5 GHz
Year: 2008 15" Macbook Pro


So we are considering moving him up to a new 2012 MacMini. It just sits connected to the desk and now that he has a new iPad so he doesn't need a laptop anymore.

His primary use of the computer are:
1) Outlook via exchange (not mail, real outlook)
2) Web
3) Filemaker
4) iPhoto

He does not do any sort of video or photo editing.

I need to know what you all think about:
1) 2.5ghz dual core vs 2.3 quad core
2) If 2.3 quad then how worth it is the Fusion Drive
3) Will the M9178LL/A monitor work with the included adapter? I know Macs had a custom type of monitor connection for a time but I don't know if this one has that.


I'm kinda thinking the 2.5 will be enough but since I'm a PC person I have no way to really figure it out. He is a really basic user. He wants a iMac but I think that is overkill for his use and he uses his own keyboard & mouse anyway.

 

[Childs]

I recently bought a 2.6Ghz quad Mini, and the thing is a little beast. I bought 16GB of RAM for $60, and put in a 500GB SSD.

1. I think either the 2.5 dual or 2.3 quad will be fine. The 2.5 will be faster than his macbook pro.
2. I wouldnt spend the extra for the fusion drive @$250. I put the 1TB 5400RPM drive that came with mine in a fw800/esata/usb enclosure, and the read and writes are 80MB/s. The basic 1TB drive should be fast enough. Or buy an SSD and put the 5400rpm drive in an enclosure if you need space. You could buy the OWC kit and an SSD and build your own fusion drive. I would rather (which I did) spend the $100 on the CPU upgrade, and my own RAM and SSD. You can always upgrade the HD down the road when SSD prices drop.
3. Modern Macs use mini display/thunderbolt. You will need an adapter, as the monitor you listed is DVI. You should be able to get a single link adapter at monoprice for like $10.

And vs the iMac, you are already pretty close price wise to the 21.5" with Mini 2.3 quad and fusion. If he is a Mac person, go with the iMac. More elegant with the built in monitor, web cam, etc. But if its just about $$$, the new Mini is pretty good. I was using the 15" Retina MBP at work, and the Mini I have is just as fast. Video editing in FCP is smooth as butter. Boots in like 7 sec. The gamer in me wishes it had discrete graphics, but I havent noticed it being a problem for what I bought it for. I havent played any games on it, and never really planned to.

 

[runawayprisoner]

Mountain Lion currently (10.8.2 as of this post) has a memory leak, so you absolutely want to fit the Mac Mini with as much RAM as you can afford. Otherwise it'll thrash your hard drive like crazy.

On that note, the fusion drive is also a recommended update.

 

[joshhedge]

Should have just stuck with SL. I had that laptop, nothing felt as good as SL. Upgraded to Lion and ML with my Corsair Force 3 and the overall UI and application performance was noticably sub-par compared to SL. Backup what you need, format and reinstall SL

Mountain Lion currently (10.8.2 as of this post) has a memory leak, so you absolutely want to fit the Mac Mini with as much RAM as you can afford. Otherwise it'll thrash your hard drive like crazy.

On that note, the fusion drive is also a recommended update.

I haven't noticed this memory leak on my rPro yet. Care to elaberate?

Edit: What amount of RAM does your MBP have installed? If it's 2GB that would be the reason, not enough for ML. Upgrade to 4GB or 6GB (2+4) and you'll notice a huge difference.

 

[Childs]

On these new Minis you need ML. They are running a special build of ML, and you cannot install SL. Well, maybe there is a way with an updated 10.7.x ESD, but the one I had on hand didnt support it.

 

[EvanAdams]

1. I think either the 2.5 dual or 2.3 quad will be fine. The 2.5 will be faster than his macbook pro.

I just wonder how much. He is a not a power user. When people talk about games and video editing, these are things he will never do.

2. I wouldnt spend the extra for the fusion drive @$250. I put the 1TB 5400RPM drive that came with mine in a fw800/esata/usb enclosure, and the read and writes are 80MB/s. The basic 1TB drive should be fast enough. Or buy an SSD and put the 5400rpm drive in an enclosure if you need space. You could buy the OWC kit and an SSD and build your own fusion drive. I would rather (which I did) spend the $100 on the CPU upgrade, and my own RAM and SSD. You can always upgrade the HD down the road when SSD prices drop.

I'm not going to add a SSD but perhaps in a year or two. I guess the new Mini's have an issue with 3rd party SSD's so that isn't something I would do unless I could expect a big boost for all the work.

3. Modern Macs use mini display/thunderbolt. You will need an adapter, as the monitor you listed is DVI. You should be able to get a single link adapter at monoprice for like $10.

There is an adapter in the Mini box. I just wonder if it is the correct one.

And vs the iMac, you are already pretty close price wise to the 21.5" with Mini 2.3 quad and fusion. If he is a Mac person, go with the iMac. More elegant with the built in monitor, web cam, etc. But if its just about $$$, the new Mini is pretty good.

He has said he wouldn't want the 21.5" as he has a 23" monitor. It would have to be the 27" and that is more cash than I am comfortable with. However, I hadn't realized how much more the iMacs have 'under the hood' until I just now looked. That might future proof him a bit.... and that is tempting to save me headaches down the road.

Should have just stuck with SL. I had that laptop, nothing felt as good as SL. Upgraded to Lion and ML with my Corsair Force 3 and the overall UI and application performance was noticably sub-par compared to SL. Backup what you need, format and reinstall SL

Yes I agree. But it was only after I hit the mountain lion upgrade that I realized you can't roll it back and his time machine had not been working. (that version of the MBP has a faulty firewire800 port that apple never fixed)

Edit: What amount of RAM does your MBP have installed? If it's 2GB that would be the reason, not enough for ML. Upgrade to 4GB or 6GB (2+4) and you'll notice a huge difference.

He has 4gb

 

[joshhedge]

Yes I agree. But it was only after I hit the mountain lion upgrade that I realized you can't roll it back and his time machine had not been working. (that version of the MBP has a faulty firewire800 port that apple never fixed)

If you want to save some money, replace the HDD with a decent a 256GB M4 SSD, add a 4GB RAM stick to bring the total upto 6GB, copy what data/files/programs are vital and then do a clean install of OS X. Can't go wrong with that.

Although upgrading would be beneficial not only for performance and system longevity but also as this series of MBP with the 8600GT M has the faulty GPUs, Apple replaced mine for free around a year ago.

 

[Childs]

I just wonder how much. He is a not a power user. When people talk about games and video editing, these are things he will never do.

If you are paying for it, I'm sure he wont complain.

I'm not going to add a SSD but perhaps in a year or two. I guess the new Mini's have an issue with 3rd party SSD's so that isn't something I would do unless I could expect a big boost for all the work.

I am using a 3rd party SSD (Sandisk Extreme).

There is an adapter in the Mini box. I just wonder if it is the correct one.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that. It should be fine. 1920x1200 can be driven by the single link DVI adapters, so it should work. Higher than that requires dual link, which requires a powered adapter.

He has said he wouldn't want the 21.5" as he has a 23" monitor. It would have to be the 27" and that is more cash than I am comfortable with. However, I hadn't realized how much more the iMacs have 'under the hood' until I just now looked. That might future proof him a bit.... and that is tempting to save me headaches down the road.

Either version of the Mini will last awhile. I benched mine and it was comparable with the 15" MBP. These Minis are basically 13" MBPs without the laptop form factor.

 

[boomhower]

For his use the dual core would be fine. I'm a huge huge fan of SSD's. I don't even think I booted up my MBP before installing an SSD.

 

[dagamer34]

I just got a 2012 2.3Ghz Quad Mac Mini and am in awe of how awesome this thing is, especially as a server. It's super quiet, but damn powerful.

As to your questions.
1) 2.5Ghz dual core is fine. Unless you are doing video encoding, you will never use more than 1/2 the power a quad-core CPU is capable of. Tasks rarely split evenly enough for 4 cores to be that useful for normal consumer loads.
2) Fusion Drive (at least from Apple) isn't worth it. If you're that concerned about performance, just buy your own SSD and swap out the HDD, or if you feel real adventurous, you can buy a 2nd HDD install kit from OWC and make your own Fusion Drive (I just did this, took about an hour).
3) The adapter should work with your monitor. Single link DVI can handle up to 1920x1200.

So I'd just buy the $599 model and call it a day. I personally took the $799 2.3Ghz quad core model, added a 256GB Samsung 830 SSD ($170), 16GB DDR3 RAM ($60), created my own Fusion Drive and made myself a rather powerful little server for a little over $1000. It's a great product that no one else on the market seems to bother making.

 

[philipma1957]

...

Oh yeah, I forgot about that. It should be fine. 1920x1200 can be driven by the single link DVI adapters, so it should work. Higher than that requires dual link, which requires a powered adapter....

I have a 2.5 mini 2012 driving a 1900 x 1200 dell/rebranded as Princeton lcd . I do this via the dvi adapter works fine.

just get it with the standard hdd it is much faster then a normal 5400 hdd. must upgrade the ram to 8gb or 16gb. very easy does not void warranty.



works well for 8gb

http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Modul...r3+sodimm+1600

works well for 16gb

http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-1600M...r3+sodimm+1600


_________________________________Below is optional _____________________________________________________________________


i run my mini with an external ssd via t-bolt


http://www.macmall.com/p/LaCie-Hard-...36~pdp.iadgjgf



http://www.macmall.com/p/LaCie-Remov...19~pdp.iabheei


these are nice come with cords look for a sale for these as I think they could be a bit lower.

 

[cheez]

Mountain Lion currently (10.8.2 as of this post) has a memory leak, so you absolutely want to fit the Mac Mini with as much RAM as you can afford. Otherwise it'll thrash your hard drive like crazy.

On that note, the fusion drive is also a recommended update.

What about just Lion? Does it have memory leak too?


cheez