Mac Mini or Computer Upgrade?

[Talon Razor]

First things first: I'm a college-student running a part-time, student cinemtography bussiness. I'd like a complete, dual-platform studio. I use my computer as a multi-media machine along with heavy gaming.

That being said, I was planning to update my current rig (see sig) in May/June with dual Opterons and the new nForce Professional boards (probably by Tyan or IWill's new board). I'm mostly looking at AMD Opteron Model 246 2.0 Ghz 64-Bit Processor or the 1.6 Ghz processors with a 1GB of RAM. I've just barely got enough money to afford the board, processors and RAM.

However, darn Apple tried to subvert me. It offered that highly sexy Mac Mini. Now I'm torn. I highly desire getting the $599 Mac Mini with the $75 Memory Upgrade and the $75 Wireless upgrade, along with a KVM switch to use my exisiting dual monitor setup. I've never used Macs and tended to stay away from them. However, I'd like to learn Macs and have a dual-platform studio. Also, because my company is contracted to the Boy Scouts of America in the summer (which means I'm moving around in their summer camps), the Mini would be heavily mobile. Very attractive.

So, I'm looking for advice. If you guys were in my shoes, what would you do? What do you guys think of my upgrade vs. the Mini?

 

[Ecgtheow]

What type of software would you be running on it?

 

[Olafva]

Remember to put in your order soon as the backlog is growing4-6 weeks. I work with UNIX, Linux, Windows (try to avoid) and teach a CS Grad Course and find nothing as great as OS/X. I have 2 Mac Minis with 512MB and just retired a Silicon Graphics workstation it replaced. I haven't seen anyone with OS/X Macs who didn't stick with them.

Imagine, a typical PC has a form factor equivalent to 3 stacks of 7 Mac Minis - the Mac Minis about 5% the space. I tucked one of mine in a slot under my desktop. I bought a $19 DVI-Video cable and connected the other mini to a large TV and watched Norwegian TV on the big screen TV via the Mac Mini. Beware, if you buy one, you're liable to become another one of us Mac Addicts.

Another blessing, you can sit back and never again worry about viruses and worms. Macs are immune from foreign viruses, as you are prompted of foreign software if something tries to install itself and you must enter the system password before anything can be installed unlike Windows where simply clicking email attachments can hose you. You can click all the email attachments you want on OSX and never have a problem. Windows won't achieve that status for many years when it's seriously rewritten from the ground up when Longhorn is available. That's likely to be a dramatic time for Windows folks. If I were you, I'd switch now rather than later, and have full Unix window to run a host of serious applications, or C++, Fortran, Matlab or even http://aaac.larc.nasa.gov/tsab/tetruss/mac/

 

[w00t]

get a powermac G4 15in or 17in

 

[phisrow]

You should note, in all this, that the Mac mini is going to be cute and small and have a nice OS; but it won't have performance anything like a dual Opteron rig. Say what you will about Opterons versus G5s; a couple of Opterons will absolutely terminate a single lower clocked G4. The mini's laptop drive won't help matters much either. If you are finding your existing PC to be too slow, you had better upgrade, rather than just getting another slow computer to go with it. If you existing box is fine, an OSX machine could well be a good addition. In this latter case, though, you might want to see what ebay will turn up on the used Mac market. Especially now that the cute new model is out, you may be able to pick up a rather more capable, if less sexy, dual G4 tower for a pretty decent price.

 

[Olafva]

Dual G5s beat Dual Opterons significantly at 2GHz:
http://www.barefeats.com/g5op.html
but G4 (Mac Mini) slower, but CPU speed isn't everything as fast video processing, faster browser (safari)
and immunity from viruses and worms & popups and Junk mail handling are in your favor.

 

[scruffles]

Barefeats job, keep n mind, is to sell Mac's. You can't find a page that doesn't link to mac sales pages.

 

[Talon Razor]

The whole thing about the Mac Mini is I can have another, highly mobile, computer. I will like (once I get a higher flow of cash) a dual G5 machine with a nice, 30" screen but that's a ways down the road when my studio can support that. I would love to get a nice dual-G4 but pricing is too high. I need to keep this at $1000 and under that if at all possible.

As for software right now, Hardcore is running all the Adobe products (Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, AfterEffects, etc) along with ParticleIllusion and audio software. AvidXpress will (hopefully) be addded after this summer. The main attraction of my upgrade is that it will last me for quite awhile (being 64-bit) and will let me handle a much smoother video editting job. But, the need isn't THAT great for the upgrade. I could either have a real rockin' machine or learn a totally new operating system....

And, I don't think being a Mac addict is a problem. I've always liked working on my rigs but I'm pretty neutral when it comes to PC vs Mac debate.

 

[Twsmit]

The minimac just isnt designed for the type of work you do IMO. A G5 would be awesome, but the minimac is in the same speed/performance range as a emachines budget computer.


Your going to end up requiring an external hard drive down the line and to save a little space it doesnt seem smart to sacrifice the performance and storage space.

 

[Siddhartha]

On hand you are saying you need to upgrade the system you use for making money. And on the other hand you are tempted by the coolness of the Mac Mini.

My recommendation:
First upgrade your work system. Hopefully you will be able to make more money and then get the cool Mac Mini.

 

[Talon Razor]

The problem is is that I'm a Criminal Justice/Computer Science student getting ready to go out of state next year to my University where I start my double-majors (which is Rochester Int. Of Tech. Currently I'm doing GERs and getting my Spanish Minor at a local University). Once I move, I'll be shutting down the bussiness and looking for employment with the US Marshalls after college.

You think it would be really worth learning the OS X? Is it *that* crucial to be familar with both Windows and Mac OS? Or should I merely get my own system beefed up for college?

Right now, leaning towards the dual Opterons...

 

[MDE]

If you get the Mac Mini, be sure to check if you can get a student discount through Apple.

 

[Eug]

If you want a portable computer, get a laptop.

 

[halfadder]

Originally posted by: Talon Razor
The problem is is that I'm a Criminal Justice/Computer Science student getting ready to go out of state next year to my University where I start my double-majors (which is Rochester Int. Of Tech. Currently I'm doing GERs and getting my Spanish Minor at a local University). Once I move, I'll be shutting down the bussiness and looking for employment with the US Marshalls after college.

You think it would be really worth learning the OS X? Is it *that* crucial to be familar with both Windows and Mac OS? Or should I merely get my own system beefed up for college?

It would be pretty difficult to find a job that *required* extensive Mac OS X experience. Aside from some media / publishing jobs (in which case application experience would be far more important than OS experience) I can only think of Unix-centric jobs where expereince with the Unix aspects of Mac OS X would be very helpful.

Chances are if you're an anandtech reader, you already know enough about computers to find your away around pretty much any GUI system, even those that are totally new to you.

My advice: if you really need a PC upgrade, than go ahead and do the PC instead. But your current rig does sound pretty sweet already. Maybe you would still want to upgrade it to improve your video encoding times.

I love my PowerBook, it's a nice complement to my PCs. I just bought a Mini for my grandfather, but I've been playing with it myself lately. It feels at least as fast as my old 2.2 and 2.4 GHz P4 PCs (they were nice fast balanced systems).But it doesn't feel quite as snappy as my 3.0 GHz P4 w/ Radeon 9600 Pro. But then again, I'm still using the original 256 MB that it came with.

If you go for 512+ MB (either yourself or from Apple) and you have a nice KVM switch, I think you'll be a happy camper!

 

[bigpow]

go ahead and buy the mac-mini.
I hope it'll work out for you. If not then at least you'll learn NOT to pay a dime to Apple again.

 

[hopejr]

If you were keeping your business, I'd recommend upgrading your current rig. However, seeing you're going to go and do Com Sci, a mac would be a really good thing to get hold of. Most Com Sci courses use Linux, and I found by personal experience (I'm doing a Software Eng course), what ever we are taught to do in Linux, I can do on my mac without having to install cygwin. It's just like that. All the latest compilers that are used on linux are on os x. But I wouldn't get a mac mini, I'd get an iBook G4 (they're a little slower, but I think a laptop is more portable and convenient than a Mac mini).

 

[The Godfather]

How much software have you bought?