Getting a Mac Mini need some advice on the processor speeds

[andrei.barbuta]

Get a Mini, I did!

The Mini is awesome, I got the 2.53 Ghz, 4GB, 320GB HDD version and it rocks. The upgrade to 2.66 it's not worth it. Trust me you will not be disappointed.
I work with Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Final Cut, Modo, Maya and Zbrush. Unless you are doing heavy production that will really need a Mac Pro you are fine.
To give you an idea I will be doing iPhone development and video presentations for my iPhone games. The video will be CGI so 3D. Which means modeling, animation, texturing and rendering all done on the Mini.
I use it with a 24" Dell dysplay and it rocks. If you are concerned for the slow HDD you can always get a SSD to replace it or a Firewire 800 external drive. I would recommend G-Tech G-Drive.
Anyway hope i got rid of your worries you can also check my thread here it's preety good:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/886652/

 

[GermanSuplex]

Just sprung for the $799 model (got it for about $768 on Amazon). I haven't used a Mac regularly since high school... the first iMacs, I think. So I've got a lot to catch up on.

I have a Windows 7 cheapo desktop that I'm happy with.. it's pretty fast for most of the tasks I need it to do like encoding h.264 vids and using iTunes. So if my Mac Mini is as fast or faster than the Windows 7 machine, and I can get used to the OS, I'll be happy, and maybe I'll spring for an iMac in the future.

 

[paulsonj72]

I have the basic model Mac Mini and for what I am using it for it is perfect. (web browsing, some flip 4 Mac stuff and eventually digital photography). I also got Parallels 5.0 installed so I have windows 7 professional for some games that are not Mac compatible. I payed a little more than I wanted but I needed a new monitor and bought a new keyboard and mouse. My added expense came because I went with the fastest shipping because my previous Imac and dads were in the shop and frankly I was getting tired of not having a computer.

 

[bpm2000]

Didn't want to clutter with a new post - similar question:

The occasional 2.0 pops up in the refurb section (just checked and they sold out in the time I took to write this lol) - how much difference would there be with the 2.0 vs the 2.53? I am coming from a 2.0 macbook btw that is on its way out.

I will most likely be putting 8gb ram in there, "because i can " if that makes any diff.

 

[MacMini2009]

Didn't want to clutter with a new post - similar question:

The occasional 2.0 pops up in the refurb section (just checked and they sold out in the time I took to write this lol) - how much difference would there be with the 2.0 vs the 2.53? I am coming from a 2.0 macbook btw that is on its way out.

I will most likely be putting 8gb ram in there, "because i can " if that makes any diff.

You wont notice any difference unless you do processor intensive tasks.

 

[bpm2000]

thanks - a 2.26 popped up shortly after and now my wallet is a fair bit lighter...

 

[GermanSuplex]

Just got my Mac Mini.... my setup is awful, I'm just test driving it right now. It'll be awhile before I can make a Mac my primary machine since all my iTunes data and documents reside on an internal 2TB drive on my Windows 7 machine. I really need to get a drobo or something, backing up to external drives stinks. My iTunes library is growing so fast ever since seasons of HD TV shows became available.

So far, so good. Everything seems fast and fluid, just as much as my Windows machine. Can't wait to get everything switched over in the near future to take advantage of things like calendars and iPhoto.