Slashdot Mirror
ArsTechnica Reviews The Intel Mac Mini (Core Solo)
phaedo00 writes "Ars Technica has put together a review of the recently announced Intel-powered Mac mini. The model reviewed was the public's first look at a Core Solo desktop from Apple and the results are promising: 'Up until Apple's "fun" announcement on the last day of February, there was really no indication of how Apple's low-end Intel offerings would be presented. Now that Apple has disclosed the specification and price points for their entry-level machines, we can get a better idea of where Apple is trying to take their product line. For those people who might be unaware, two new Mac Mini models were released and by most accounts, the products have been well received aside from a few quibbles over specifications.'"
I'm happy it's al least processor upgradable. See here. Upgrading the processor would speed the internal graphics as well. Not a bad little bugger.
Don't lead me into temptation... I can find it myself.
I have a 1.42 G4 Mac Mini with 512 MB and was very impressed with the Intel version. Apple managed to counter every complaint with an improvement -- SPDIF audio in and out, additional USB ports, SATA hard drive, etc. I expect to buy one within the next few months and retire my G4 to the living room for use a VLC media centre.
My only disappointment was the integrated video. I was hoping for something better than the Intel chipset, and it's shared video memory to boot.
Someone convince me I am wrong...
My favorite is the stuff Apple used to say about integrated graphics cards back when the PPC Mini was shipping (From the Graphics page):
Go ahead, just try to play Halo on a budget PC. Most say they're good for 2D games only. That's because an "integrated Intel graphics" chip steals power from the CPU and siphons off memory from system-level RAM. You'd have to buy an extra card to get the graphics performance of Mac mini, and some cheaper PCs don't even have an open slot to let you add one.
Other than the graphics card it's got a nice amount of raw CPU power, especially if you get the dual-core version or upgrade the single-core version by replacing the processor. It'd be great to buy a bunch of these for an Xcode build farm. Of course Xcode doesn't yet support cross-architecture distributed builds, so you'd have to be using all-Intel Macs for it to work well. Hopefully Apple will fix this in the near future.
infested with jello like fishes no melotron wishes
The only really important thing to me is that they improved on the atrociously poor HDD of the original Mini. About 80% of the beach-ball-spinning I've had to endure would just go away, and videos wouldn't immediately start stuttering whenever any other program at all touched the HDD. Compiling software should also be much quicker, which is another gripe I have.
Interesting article (since I'm a potential buyer :-), however, they didn't included the new Mac Mini CoreDuo for most of their benchmarks, only the new Mac Mini CoreSolo. I don't understand why, but that's clearly a limitation of the review.
Animoog.org
The thing is, OS X is like Linux only without the headaches and politics.
Linux is like OS X, without the ease of use and reality of actually getting things done in a timely manner.
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
A couple weeks back I ordered a refurbished Mac Mini (I buy all my Apple stuff as refurbished--I think the "new car price" is significantly too high) and was very disappointed. It was a G4 1.4GHz with 512MB of RAM and ran as slow as molasses. I understand that this is a "low end" machine, but the machine was so slow as to be barely usable. Despite the fact that the processor speed is close to that of my PowerBook (at 1.5), startup, opening apps, and performing routine tasks was excruciating. There was a periodic lag typing in text in Text Edit, though oddly enough, DVD playback was fine. This was an "out of the box" machine with no 3rd-party software on it (and not net connection) so there's just no excuse for that.
In any event, I'll be sending it back. I'm going to order a Core Duo and see if it's any better. If not, I'll have to find something else to run my living room entertainment system on.
Interested in a Flash-based MAME front end? Visit mame.danzbb.com
Ohmygod, more hype!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;-)
I think, therefore I am...I think.
...is that the OLD mini G4 had damn poor graphics of its own. Remember, we're comparing to a 32MB (yes, 32) ATI 9200.
... whereas the old mini got 14fps, gee so much better.
For example, MacWorld's game benchmark results. In UT 2004 (at default quality settings) the new mini gets a pathetic 10-12fps
Also, the new mini will get FASTER in the months ahead. For starters, upgrading to paired DIMMs will use the dual-channel bus, which is always a boost for shared-memory IGPs. Secondly, the Intel compilers for Mac are on the way.
Sure, a mini with GF 6200 or Radeon X200 would be better, but GMA950 is not the apocalypse some have been claiming.
Several points:
:o) )OS X has excellent usability, great features, and a pleasing look.
1. I'm not sure why the current Mini had problems: The G4 was older tech and had limited memory. In addition, it was a refurb, so it's possible that the problem was something that wasn't resolved before it was sent out again. I had hoped that it would suffice for a living room media PC, despite the former. I haven't had problems with refurbs before, so I wasn't expecting the latter. From some research I've done, it seems most likely that my experience is unusual, so I suspect that this is a machine that wasn't completely "fixed" before being resold.
2. I like Macs. (Not a fanboi, but I like them
3. I appreciate the Mini form factor, as this box is going to wind up in a piece of furniture behind my couch. Because I'll be using this in the living room, fanless operation is also important.
In any case, Apple offers free shipping and 100% satisfaction guarantee, so I'm not out any money (except the return shipping cost) and since I've been so happy with my PowerBook, I thought I'd give them another chance. If the new machine doesn't perform, then I'll go looking for something else.
Interested in a Flash-based MAME front end? Visit mame.danzbb.com
"Upgrading the processor would speed the internal graphics as well."
The graphics chip will not gain any new features. The only video operations that will be faster are things that are CPU dependant, where the CPU is your bottleneck. The bus speed stays the same after the upgrade which means the video chip has the same bandwidth to the system memory.
Sometimes my arms bend back.