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Mac mini Dissection
xbasque writes "Smash has a video showing the technique for cracking open a Mac mini safely. Upgrade the RAM and hard drive yourself and save a bundle (ain't that the point of the mini?)" And if you don't plan to take one apart yourself,
parvenu74 points out the pictures of exploratory Mac mini surgery on mini-itx.com, writing "From a post: 'The board itself is slightly smaller than Mini-ITX at about 160mm square by our estimations, and includes Ethernet, Modem, DVI/VGA, 2 x USB, Firewire and Audio connectors (sadly not optical).'"
It would make a good brain for a robot
Does anyone have pictures of the actual insides of a mac mini, instead of just a motherboard? I'd like to see how the parts fit in together, and how the cooling works.
Is there an actual audio in on the board? Cause there's no socket for it. Apparently this is because there are superior USB devices that work with GarageBand so no-one would use an audio in jack if there was one. What I wanna know is what's the best way to use this as a PVR? Are there USB tv tuners? How about USB high definition receivers?
How we know is more important than what we know.
So does the Mac Mini use a laptop hard drive or what? It doesn't say anything about the HDD on that page nor the pages that I looked at on the day of the announcement. It would make sense, seeing how the Mac Mini is basically an iBook in a box, but it would kill performance.
I had this video for awhile because I am training to be a Apple Portable / Desktop Tech, If you purchuse the $299 Apple Service Training you get this and any other Take apart video for free. THe person that leaked this could be in some serious trouble..
keanmarine.com
No, There is just one asshole and he works in Europe Support. it seems that apple service state side and here in europe are two different beasts.
i bought my power book in the US but live right now in europe. I sent it in for the know problem of white spots on the display. There was some shipping damage and ES (euro support) refused to take any responsibility for it and refused fix anything stating - paraphrasing - give us $900 or we won't fix it, because the damage was not listed in the original service request. but when i got back to the states, thety fixed it no questions asked.
I was talking to customer service in Ireland complaining about the level of service i was receiving. I had the guy on the phone tell me that he had head the words extortion and blackmail used a lot by people refering to the kind of support from ES.
Form you own conclusion!
Uh, no, what you want to do is use OS X's Spoken User Interface for hands free operation. The touch screen idea isn't bad, and maybe the best overall solution is some combination of the two.
Also, with the appropriate hacks (perhaps Salling Clicker), you could integrate your bluetooth phone into the mix. Open Address Book, search for a name and have the computer dial out over the phone with voice commands. Incoming calls could also automatically mute the volume on iTunes.
I dunno, that's just off the top of my head. You could also use your bluetooth phone to connect to the internet to look up directions on mapquest, but it'd probably be better to pull over for that.
One question. If the mini Mac goes into the car stereo space, does the printer go into the glove compartment or do you just mount it on top of the dash? =)
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
What concerns me is the MAC Mini Power supply. As a European my wall plugs give me 220V at 50Hz. I have some American contacts who will be travelling here shortly and can bring me a mac mini. Mac mini sells here at about EUR 500, which is about 25-30% more expensive than $500.
7 50 99 doesn't give me any info. (yet?)
Does anyone know whether
- The power supply sold with the Mac Mini's in the US support 220V
- The power cable is easily replacable with one that fits European wall outlets?
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=
In my experience, Apple UK is pretty bad too. I've had hardware problems with every mac I've had recently (my bad luck, I think), and every time it's been a real chore getting Apple to fix it, even with AppleCare. Each time, I've ended up having to call up someone in Customer Relations in the US and have them intervene.
The last time, my iBook screen went dead while it was just sitting on my desk. I was turned away from the Apple Centre in Kensington on the grounds that I'd bought the iBook at a different store (an Apple-authorised reseller). Apple's telephone support refused to even discuss the fault unless I paid an incident fee, which they assured me would be refunded if it turned out to be a warranty issue (which it did). That is NOT the way warranties are meant to work. My AppleCare-covered PM G4 workstation had a broken SuperDrive which destroyed the hardware test CD with a buzzsaw sound when Apple told me to try it. They wanted me to send them the machine for three weeks, just to replace a £30 part I could have fitted myself in less than a minute.
Apple US support is great. Apple UK support isn't. I'm hoping the presence of the London retail store might make things easier, at least for us London residents.
If I didn't rely so much on OS X and its pure superiority to everything else (IMHO), I'd never buy Apple hardware again.
I'm no Mac fanboy; I've got plenty of x86 machines running Linux and XP (it does have its uses) all over the place at work and at home. But, the very next machine on my list to buy is the Mac Mini. Seems to me that the whole point of the Mac Mini (and indeed of all Macs in general) is this:
1. You bring it home.
2. You turn it on.
3. It just fucking works.
Constrast with the proceedure for x86 machines:
1. You bring it home.
2. You install all your expansion cards.
3. You install the operating system. We all do that ourselves, right?
4. You configure the operating system for the devices you have installed
5. You shut down and rearrange the expansion devices and pray that it clears up interrupt conflicts.
6. Probably go to step 4. Eventually fall out of this loop.
7. Tweek. Repeat.
8. Futz. Repeat.
I've wasted many, many hours of my precious life installing, configuring, tweeking, twiddling, rearranging, futzing, prodding, farting around with, etc., all these x86 machines. I want at least one computer that I don't have to dick with. Here's my checklist for justifying my buying one:
1. Runs Quicken? Check.
2. Runs TurboTax? Check.
3. Mozilla products? Check.
4. Runs MS Office (sorry, gotta use it)? Check.
5. Runs Photoshop? Check.
6. Runs iTunes? Check.
7. Unix-based? Check. X11? Check. ('tho I'm no big fan of BSD-ish installations, I'll get used to it).
8. Upgradable? Who gives a shit?
What this means for me is that I can dump two machines that I have at home (one Linux, one XP), and replace it with a smaller, no-muss-no-fuss, machine.
Geeze, how can I resist?
In the course of every project, it will become necessary to shoot the scientists and begin production.
Would I tolerate a refridgerator that was cold enough to make liquid nitrogen if it also kicked out a 90dB whine? No. Would I ever use a toaster that was 5x larger than it needed to be and so ugly that I had to hide it under a desk? No. Do I want my toilet to blue-screen-of-death on me? Not particularly.