[muglo] Re: Mac Mini
- From: Eric Dunbar <eric.dunbar@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: muglo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2006 21:17:56 -0500
On 2/16/06, Tee Cashmore <teecashmore@xxxxxx> wrote:
>
> On 16-Feb-06, at 5:59 PM, Tim Kearn wrote:
>
> > What are the specs for the mimi?
> > Are the monitors LCD?
> > Thanks!
> > Tim
>
> Mine is the 1.25 mhz with combo drive (DVD Read/CD R/W) with 512 Ram.
> Usual price new $629. Any monitor SVGA & up (CRT/LCD ETC.) works with
> the included adapter. Keyboards 7 mice are USB, I use a Macally Icekey
> & a wireless Logitech 2 button scroll mouse.
> Despite Eric's comments re speed; a bit overboard; compared with what
> you have the speed is blindingly fast. I do a lot of photo work & have
> never found any speed or memory problems.
CPU wise the Mac mini will be blindingly fast compared to an early
iBook. However, for HD tasks performance will be disappointingly
similar on the 40 GB model to an iBook laptop drive (don't know about
the 80 GB one).
IIRC the Mac mini 40 GB is a 4200 RPM drive, and, as far as I can tell
it's no faster than the 20 GB drive in my PowerBook G3/400 (which is 4
years older). I can really tell when the mini hits virtual memory,
and, damn does it ever slow down (of course, I'm not particularly kind
to my machines when it comes to multitasking ;-). Compared to the 80
GB 3.5" IDE drive in my G3/266 server it's _really_ slow.
> If you want to go LCD then add $300+ for a 17". Compared to the least
> expensive iMac you still come out $742 ahead with Tax savings too.
> Now maybe Dave Bonhoff is rich and can afford a new iMac, but i know
> you have a house, mortgage, wife & kids to support, so that sort of
> saving is considerable. I'm sure that speed of HD is not very important
> to you for your home needs; twould be different if you had a business
> decision.
> TTFN,
> TeeC
Instead of an LCD go for a _nice_ 19 or 21" CRT for $200. Yeah,
they're a "little" (ahem, lot) heavier but they're also quite a bit
cheaper and offer you a variety of screen sizes in one package (which
I like), plus, the cheap LCDs really aren't that good... if you're
going to blow a lot of money, you may as well go iMac. As someone else
posted, the iMacs are _very_ fast.
IMNSHO it's not worth saving yourself $300 or $400 if you're just
going to buy a cheap iMac (i.e. Mac mini + LCD).
If you go the LCD route, bite the bullet and get the iMac. You'll be
happy you did, and, you gotta figure that it'll last you at least an
extra two years vs. the Mac mini (certainly worth $400) (and, if you
get an Intel Mac you may find that the extra few $100 will last you as
much as five years longer than the Mac mini would've).
However, if you're willing to go CRT and buy a used base model Mac
mini for just over $500 and plunk down an extra $300 for a NICE brand
spanking new 19" CRT you've got a nice computer for around $800... Or,
you could get one of Tee's 17" monitors (brand?) for $35 and you'd
have yourself a new, fast 1.25 GHz machines for ~$550 (capable of
running Google Earth <http://earth.google.com> :-).
Eric.
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