Mac Mini in hand, anyone need a test or demo ran? Help me try this beast out!

[nylon]

Some users maybe getting the 4200rpm, and some getting the 5400rpm. And according to Barefeets, there may be little difference in performance in the 2.5" drives between the 5400 and 7200 HDDs.

I don't think that's true. Here is review at Barefeats which demonstrates that there can be a significant performance boost with a 7200 RPM drive.

http://www.barefeats.com/hard34.html

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

I don't think that's true. Here is review at Barefeats which demonstrates that there can be a significant performance boost with a 7200 RPM drive.

http://www.barefeats.com/hard34.html

And this test looked at the PB....

http://www.barefeats.com/pb12.html

 

[Poff]

far a couple culture shock things coming from the PC world - IE, closing a program window does not CLOSE the program.... Except in some cases... lol. Some what confusing to me, i guess it just takes getting used too.
Bill

Hehe.. I remember having the same issue. "Why does some of the icons on my task-bar have small, black triangles beneith them? Is it to tell me what programs I have used since last resetting my computer?"

 

[Poff]

Awesome, thats some bonus news, and almost makes the low end mini an even greater deal. A faster hd, and only slightly slower processor!

Me thinks the low end mini will easily run at 1.42 ghz (a 170mhz o/c is really not much !)

Now, just need to figure out how to overclock the bad boy.

I think you'll have a hard time overclocking it, should involve some soldering on the motherboard. (It is generally not as easy to overclock Macs as it is with PCs.)

Kudos to you if you actually make it work!

 

[BillHarrison]

I think you'll have a hard time overclocking it, should involve some soldering on the motherboard. (It is generally not as easy to overclock Macs as it is with PCs.)

Kudos to you if you actually make it work!

Yeah, I did find a write up on someone who had overclocked the "Emac" (An earlier model) and it involved resetting some resistors on the logic board. I would most likely just upgrade my mini before I went to those extremes. LOL

PS. I bought this puppy at CompUSA, and they do have a 21 day no questions asked return policy, so if I really do feel that the other model is worth 100$, all i have to do is box this one up, and take it in and exchange it.

So far though, I have not "waited" on the computer, nor wished it was "faster" which is VERY impressive seeing as how i came from a kick ass fast PC. Even right now I am streaming music in iTunes, and doing this on the web, with iChat, Yahoo, and 3 or 4 other apps running (yeah, as the poster said above, It took me a few just to figure out what those triangles really meant on the dock ).

So far, a good experience, just a few switcher issues which I hope to have figured out soon.

Bill

 

[BillHarrison]

Ok, got some more time invested in the mini:

Further thoughts:

Wow, is this thing quiet. Listening to MP3's, I have heard things in the track I never heard before because of the fans in my pc. Pretty impressive. This thing is practically silent.

Fast, but not always responsive: Here is my opinion on this subject. It seems "fast". Loading programs, etc is all very acceptable. However, occasionally, it just simply bogs down, and takes a second for anything to happen. I believe it is the limited ram, and a larger amount would alleviate this. I am on the wall deciding whether to return this one for the 1.42ghz model. They extra speed is always nice, but looks like I may be getting a slower HD, so it may actually be a wash. I am thinking I would be better off spending the 100$ towards more ram, and that would make an even bigger difference than the extra 170mhz.

Easy on the eyes. I never felt "soothed" by windows. But after using the mini for a few hours last night, I literally felt more relaxed, and comfortable. Probably part of it was the lack of noise, and part of it how easy the colors and everything are on my eyes. XP has such clashing colors, bright green start button, blue task bar, rolling green background, and such "sharp" edges on everything. OS X just seems "Smooth" to me. Nothing JUMPS out at you. Everything is "fluid" and I really like that.

Well, will keep you all posted as I get more time under my belt. I tried to get the fan to come on, but as of yet have not been successful in this.

I guess so far, my only possible regret is going with the lower processor speed. I would rather have fast external storage than the bigger, but slower 80gb internal drive, so that is no issue to me at all. I am just kinda mulling over the extra mhz. I guess I am thinking just add ram, which should improve the occasional bog down (feels like its due to hitting the harddrive pagefile) and the general speed should be acceptable.

I am REALLY trying to resist the urge to tear this down to find the pll resistors on the motherboard.

I think I could easily just make due fine with this until the next revision, and jump to it. Thats probably the best course of action, throw in a 1gb, which should give better performance than a stock 1.42 256mb w/ 4200rpm 80gb for the same price.

Thats my opionion so far, but ill keep you posted!

 

[wordmunger]

I am on the wall deciding whether to return this one for the 1.42ghz model. They extra speed is always nice, but looks like I may be getting a slower HD, so it may actually be a wash. I am thinking I would be better off spending the 100$ towards more ram, and that would make an even bigger difference than the extra 170mhz.

That's your problem, right there. Get more memory. The 170mhz will be barely noticeable by comparison.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

That's your problem, right there. Get more memory. The 170mhz will be barely noticeable by comparison.

Keep in mind that the Seagate 40gb 5400RPM HDD may not be only one is using. They could switch at anytime, particularly in light of the demand for the Mac mini.

 

[BillHarrison]

Keep in mind that the Seagate 40gb 5400RPM HDD may not be only one is using. They could switch at anytime, particularly in light of the demand for the Mac mini.

I dunno, i am pretty confident that will be the installed model for the time being. I am guessing they have some pretty big contracts on these items. I am not sure how much of a diff this is vrs the 4200, or worse than a 7200. But chances are, all the minis w/ 40gb drives atm are using this drive.

 

[ftaok]

Here is your chance to find out just how useable a base mac mini really is!

Bill

If possible, could you do the following 2 operations?

1. Rip a CD with iTunes (128 AAC).

2. Use Handbrake and rip a DVD (let's say at 512 kbps video/128 kbps audio; mpeg-4; 320x240 or whatever the horizontal is for 240 vert.)

I need to justify upgrading from a 500mhz iBook Combo.

Thanks.

 

[BillHarrison]

If possible, could you do the following 2 operations?

1. Rip a CD with iTunes (128 AAC).

2. Use Handbrake and rip a DVD (let's say at 512 kbps video/128 kbps audio; mpeg-4; 320x240 or whatever the horizontal is for 240 vert.)

I need to justify upgrading from a 500mhz iBook Combo.

Thanks.

Will do when I get home. I have itunes, could you please post a link to "handbrake" so that I can get it when i get home. Does it matter what dvd? Or are they all pretty much the same?

Thanks

Bill

 

[ftaok]

Will do when I get home. I have itunes, could you please post a link to "handbrake" so that I can get it when i get home. Does it matter what dvd? Or are they all pretty much the same?

Thanks

Bill

I guess any DVD will do. If you have a shorter one (like a compilation DVD a la The Simpsons), that might make the test shorter. On my iBook, ripping a DVD movie takes over 12 hours. I'm hoping the mini can do it in under an hour.

Here's the LINK to the handbrake webpage.

Thanks for volunteering.

 

[carpet]

sorry to "crash the party" so to speak, but mac mini is nothing new inside. it should compare more or less with an iBook.

what would be useful is information on noise, heat, etc...

You mean more like a Powerbook. Look at the mini's fsb and memory speed and now with the 8x super drive option. Its nothing like the ibook and everything like the PB.

 

[BillHarrison]

Will do when I get home. I have itunes, could you please post a link to "handbrake" so that I can get it when i get home. Does it matter what dvd? Or are they all pretty much the same?

Thanks

Bill

Ok, here are my results:

First of all, iTunes. Ripped to 128kbs AAC, all settings default. Max speed was 13.2x. Take this with a grain of salt, as the Cd I was ripping seemed to have some problems and frequently stalled. I popped it out, and noticed some scratches on it. I tried cleaning it up, and it seemed to help some. But it would hit "problem" spots and slow down to 5x at times.

Second:

Handbrake. Ripped the movie "Nightmare On Elm St." Widescreen, using the bit rates and screensize you mentioned. Average encoding speed was 27.94 fps. Took 1h 20 min to encode, movie length was 1h 31 min.

So basically realtime encoding. Seems awful slow compared to my dual athlon in the encoding department, i have no idea why? J/k

I can do the same movie in 15-20 min on that. But that is not the purpose of the mac mini. I would say def useable, esp for someone who now waits 12 hours. LOL

Bill

 

[nylon]

And this test looked at the PB....

http://www.barefeats.com/pb12.html

Now that is a dilemma!!

 

[Chrispy]

Hehe.. I remember having the same issue. "Why does some of the icons on my task-bar have small, black triangles beneith them? Is it to tell me what programs I have used since last resetting my computer?"

The icons with black triangles under then means that those programs are running. To close them either click on the icon and then close the program on the menu bar or right click (hold control + hit the mouse button if you have a single button mouse) on the icon in the dock (thing that shows all the icons) and then go to quit. You will soon grow to know this method for using applications and grow to love it. I know I did

 

[chanoc]

Ok, here are my results:

First of all, iTunes. Ripped to 128kbs AAC, all settings default. Max speed was 13.2x. Take this with a grain of salt, as the Cd I was ripping seemed to have some problems and frequently stalled. I popped it out, and noticed some scratches on it. I tried cleaning it up, and it seemed to help some. But it would hit "problem" spots and slow down to 5x at times.

Second:

Handbrake. Ripped the movie "Nightmare On Elm St." Widescreen, using the bit rates and screensize you mentioned. Average encoding speed was 27.94 fps. Took 1h 20 min to encode, movie length was 1h 31 min.

So basically realtime encoding. Seems awful slow compared to my dual athlon in the encoding department, i have no idea why? J/k

I can do the same movie in 15-20 min on that. But that is not the purpose of the mac mini. I would say def useable, esp for someone who now waits 12 hours. LOL

Bill

I used to encode - using HandBrake - at settings of MPEG-4 video (1,024 bit rate) and AAC audio (128Kbps), and on my ibook 500 G3 would take over 18 hours - sometimes it would crash half way through the encode!

So, only 1.5 hours on a computer that costs about the same as an old iBook.

iTunes would encode a CD, to AAC or MP3, at 5X, top speed on an iBook 500. So 13X is a noticable increase.

 

[Poff]

The icons with black triangles under then means that those programs are running. To close them either click on the icon and then close the program on the menu bar or right click (hold control + hit the mouse button if you have a single button mouse) on the icon in the dock (thing that shows all the icons) and then go to quit. You will soon grow to know this method for using applications and grow to love it. I know I did

Yeah, I know. (been a Mac-user for 2+ years now.)

I just didn't bother reading the whole help-file for people with win-background, since most of the OS is very self-explanatory. They should have had a short explanation of the differences for people a bit more technical..

 

[ftaok]

First of all, iTunes. Ripped to 128kbs AAC, all settings default. Max speed was 13.2x.

Handbrake. Ripped the movie "Nightmare On Elm St." Widescreen, using the bit rates and screensize you mentioned. Average encoding speed was 27.94 fps. Took 1h 20 min to encode, movie length was 1h 31 min.

Bill,

Thanks for the tests.

For comparision, my iBook usually rips iTunes at 2.5x or so.

Handbrake rips at around 5 fps.

So for my purposes, the Mac mini seems to be 5x faster. Now I gotta get one. Maybe after demand dies down a little.

ft

 

[BillHarrison]

Bill,

Thanks for the tests.

For comparision, my iBook usually rips iTunes at 2.5x or so.

Handbrake rips at around 5 fps.

So for my purposes, the Mac mini seems to be 5x faster. Now I gotta get one. Maybe after demand dies down a little.

ft

Note, this is the low end mini w/ stock 256mb ram! The high end would do a little better.

PS, If you have a Compusa near you, you may be able to take one home right away. The store near me had several of each model. I had to ask, as they were not on display! So if you want one, head on over, chances are good you can get one. And don't call, it is useless, I called, they said they didnt have any. I went on down anyways, just to play around and get some discs. Guess what? When i got there, and asked the person in the mac area, he said sure, and brought me one out!

PS. I really cant shake the feeling I should return this and get the faster model. I plan on getting the next revision mini when released. So I am not sure if it is the best idea or not to get the higher model. I want the extra speed, but I dont know if the slower harddrive will negate that. I most likely will not be swapping the hd, not for lack of ability, but for lack of worth. Too much for too little. So I am tempted just to spend the 100$ towards a large ram upgrade, and roll with the 1.25 till the next release. I have a case of "top end Itis" and its really bugging me that I could have a faster mini processor.

Decisions decisions!

 

[johnnyjibbs]

I picked up my mini on Saturday. I've been able to kick in the fan on 3 occasions, once while playing chess...

Hmm, that's not unusual. Even though it's just some open source chess game with an Apple lick of paint on it, it does take some beating. In fact, I've never beat it..

Nice to see that the mini is performing as expected. If I was in the market, I'd get one, but I'm not. And BillHarrison - welcome to the party! I'm sure you'll soon get used to your "switcher" issues - Mac OS X has some strange things going on when you have just come from Windows (like I did a year ago) but it's not that different really. But much more of a joy to use overall.

 

[iShater]

You can find out how much virtual memory your system is using. I don't remember if Activity Monitor displays that, but it definitely shows you how much RAM the applications are using.

To find out the VM, go to the Terminal application. Type the following command:

ls -l /var/vm

This will show you the listing and size of the virtual memory files. If you the that you have lots of files with big sizes, that tells you that your doing a lot of paging and would benefit from the RAM upgrade.

When I got my iBook, it came with the stock 128MB of RAM, I added 512 and the speed DOUBLED (I timed it!). You might not see the same kind of boost, but the more applications you use the more responsive your system will be.

enjoy! I plan to get one later this year when I get the $$!

 

[Poff]

PS. I really cant shake the feeling I should return this and get the faster model. I plan on getting the next revision mini when released. So I am not sure if it is the best idea or not to get the higher model. I want the extra speed, but I dont know if the slower harddrive will negate that. I most likely will not be swapping the hd, not for lack of ability, but for lack of worth. Too much for too little. So I am tempted just to spend the 100$ towards a large ram upgrade, and roll with the 1.25 till the next release. I have a case of "top end Itis" and its really bugging me that I could have a faster mini processor.

You prolly won't notice much difference between the two models available now, and you prolly won't notice much difference between the current high-end model and the next high-end model. So if you're going to get one of the next revision minis aswell, why not keep this low-end model, get the next revision high-end model, and actually notice some speed difference? It's always a good feeling, you know..