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186
 
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I'm thinking of getting a mac mini for home - in the living room - because it's small, seems quiet, and is stylish. We'd use it for email and the internet, digital photos, and maybe playing cds.
Can anyone point me to reviews that show if it's worth getting the new intel mini (it costs more) or if the older G4 is better. I've heard that the intel mac runs software slower. I've read a few reviews but these are wierd - more like adverts for macs. (There's obviously a religious element to being a maccer, or maccie, or applehead, or whatever). So reviews that told me what the mini is good at and what it isn't would help.
The cheapest I can find right now is from Think4 - a company i've bought pc componenet form, and who are pretty good - but maybe there's a grey market somewhere?
Thanks.
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286
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There are a number of reviews out there for the Intel Mini but most are in Mac magazines or web sites. There is a small review in the May edition of MacFormat and a good article on www.maccentral.com by Rob Griffiths which may be of interest to you.
Comparing a G4 to an Intel Mac Mini. The Intel Mac is a far better specced machine all round. Faster HDD, more memory, better graphics and so on. It is faster than the G4 when runnibg applications that have been coded using a Universal Binary (UB) - this is where an app will run on a PowerPC processor (G4/G5) as well as an Intel one. Where the performance is affected is when it has to run apps compiled for PowerPC only and it uses an 'emulation' layer called Rosetta. There are a lot of apps now re-compiled as UB's so the 'native' software situation is getting better - its things like Photoshop that haven't been converted yet that are running slower using Rosetta. All the apps that come with the Mac are already UB's so no problem there (in fact an Intel Mac using Rosetta was as quick as a G4 when doing a Photoshop test).
For what you require a G4 Mini would be adequate but I would personally spend the extra on the Intel one. This comes with Apple's FrontRow software & remote control turning it into a media centre machine. The G4 hasn't got enough horsepower to do this. Handling photo's using iPhoto (comes with machine) will also be far better than a G4. Everything else you want it to do will be quicker as all this can be done with the apps pre-loaded in the machine which are all UB. The other fact is that the Intel machine can also be made to boot Windows XP natively if you have a need to run any Windows specific software.
If you go for one the dearer Core Duo machine looks the best bet but have the retailer up the memory to 1GB from the 512MB standard. If you don't want to spend that much the Core Solo will OK if slower (especially with any non UB apps) however, the processors in these new Mini's are on sockets and some people have already upgrade from Core Sol to Core Duo for more umph - this isn't supported by Apple though.....
Not all of us Mac users are 'religiously fervent fanatics', in fact they are the minority. Some of us could be classed as nearly normal....... 
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186
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Thanks for the detailed reply - and the advice about the advantages of the Intel duo model. I will read Rob G's articles over the weekend and think it through.
One of the other things that appeals to me about macs is the better OS - I've seen Tiger in action, and it is scarily good. So getting the extra software - remote etc - with the duo is also a bonus.
Linux still has it for names though - I've got Ubuntu Breezy Badger, for example.
I expect most mac users are in the zone - my son is a designer and long time mac user and he's well....er,...
But was that voices I heard chanting - it sounded like "There shall be only one button on the mouse" or maybe "There shall be no F keys on the keyboard" a couple of years ago?
Thanks for the help.
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286
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Yes, Tiger is a pretty damned good OS. I use XP at work all day (plus W200 and occasionally W98) and its always nice to come home to Tiger. If you have never used it before it may be a little daunting at first. But don't worry, things quickly fall into place - it is generally a very intuitive OS. Steve Jobs motto has always been "keep it simple". Many Mac users are eagerly waiting for the upcoming replacement for Tiger, OS X 10.5 codenamed Leopard. Apple have released no details as yet of what new stuff it will have, this will come at their World Wide Developers Conference in August. Leopard is expected to go on sale late in the year, probably around Xmas.
Multi-button mice? With scroll-wheels? And 'F' buttons!? And they call us Mac Fanatics strange???
No, seriously. The Function keys have always been user programmable as far back as I can remeber. F9 currently activates something called Expose. This is a bit of eye candy that, when you have a number of open windows and apps open on the desktop, they fly apart and shrink to reveal them all on the screen. Hover the mouse over them and tha app or window /file name is revealed to you. Click the one you want and it comes back to full size with the other windows hiding behind it. F10 & 11 are variations on this, one which makes all open windows fly to the corners of the screen out of sight, coming back when you press the key (F11) again.
Apple now have their own multi-button mouse for sale (free with iMacs I think) with a roller wheel. Most other mice from Microsoft, Logitech, etc will also work quite happily. The single button mice always were limited as you had to press shift & control buttons on keyboard to gat axtra functions. In fact, there are a great many keystroke shortcuts available if you like using them.
I'd possibly have a search for Mac Mini articles using Google or Yahoo as well as the main Mac websites.
And if you do buy one, enjoy........
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186
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Thanks again. The only other thing is noise. I use my intel mobile chip laptop in the living room at present as it is very quiet, apart from the occasional whirr of the fan. But it occurred to me that if the mini uses an intel chip presumably it has the chip fan on all the time? I know that apple's G series chips were running hot but I never thought about how this was dealt with.
Some of the shoebox size pcs have water cooling to deal with noise, but I don't really know how this works.
And finally it doesn't look as though the speakers in te mini are good enough to play music. Is this right?
Hope you don't mind this third request.
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Octo-core Atom @ 233GHz (ES)
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There are no speakers in the Mini (just a mono beeper).
Classic PCs
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286
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As Jason says there are no speakers in a
They are also fairly quiet as the Intel processor is the same one Apple, HP and other manufacturers put in their latest laptops. From what I've read you could put it near your tv and it'll not disturb you with fan noise. It should be no noisier than your laptop. Water cooling is used on PC's that are running fast/hot/over-clocked processors. It works the same way as in your car where water is passed over the top surface of the processor and then cooled via a radiator. This is more efficient than a metal heatsink with a fan to blow air across it's cooling fins to take heat away.
I'd suggest you visit an Apple retailer near you and go and have a demonstration. There are usually stores in most major towns and cities. PC World sell some Macs and the John Lewis department stores sell them too. If there is an actual Apple-owned Store near you (London regents street, Birmingham Bullring, Meadowhall or Manchester) you will find helpful staff with a full range of Macs for you to look at and compare.
One thing to remember is that Mini's don't come with keyboard or a mouse. Any old USB ones (not PS2 connector types) will do the job nicely. I have an Apple Keyboard (cost around £20) and a logitech cordless scrollwheel mouse (about £20) on my PowerMac G5. Apple has a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse set but I think they are too expensive.
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186
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Thanks to both. I read Rob G's articles - I will definitely go for the 1.66 if I don't buy a second hand one - some good prices on ebay I see. But a tri to Regent Street seems like a good idea as well. This is because when I do the sumes - I'll want a speakers, a screen, keyboard and mouse (wireless) and maybe extra ram, then it starts to price up like a an intel Imac. Best is to go and have a look. When I've glanced at an imac in passing it just looks really ugly to me...
Maybe small really is beautiful.
Thanks again for all your advice.
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286
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Yes, the cost of all the extras soon adds up. Apple really intended the Mini to be used with old keyboards, monitors, etc that you have lying around. Effectively its a base unit which was intended to use your old spare parts or directly replace an older Windows base unit.
Have a look at one and compare with the iMac before you choose. If you have any old stuff like mice use them rather than buy new. You could always plug the audio into your HiFi rather than use separate speakers.
Let us know how you get on...
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