[rhettwinslow]

after ram whats most important to the browser? HDD speed or processor speed thanks

[macmutt]

In that case, I'll wait until fall, when Apple announces it's break through technological leap, via Snow Leopard, that will allow computers to support tons of RAM... (The article touted Terrabytes potential) ....won't THAT be fun? Go Apple!

[Dan Frakes]

nitewing98 said:

There's another type of upgrade that fills the "mac medium" tower form factor - a used Mac tower. I've bought 3 so far (a digital audio 466, a dual 1ghz quicksilver, and a MDD dual 1ghz). I'm sure at some point the tower G5 and Intel Pro tower (used) will be available on ebay for a reasonable price. These used towers are upgradeable (and despite the notion that "most people don't upgrade" I've upgraded DVD drives, memory, added USB 2.0 and wireless 802.11g capability to mine), reasonable, and often more powerful than this mythical "mac medium" would be.

That's an option, but keep in mind that a Core 2 Duo-based Mac -- even a Mac mini -- will outperform any G4 Mac and most G5 Macs at most tasks. A used Mac Pro is definitely an option, though.

[Dan Frakes]

mogil said:

so i did all that, i personally have the 599 version 07 made model and my friend has 07 799 version i stuck 2gb of ram in mine and 2 gb in his now his fan sounds like its off to the races , any suggestions...

You may have accidentally disconnected the fan cable from the motherboard. As I mentioned previously, both Chris Breen and I had the same thing happen when we upgraded an older mini; if the fan cable isn't connected, the fan runs at full-blast, which is surprisingly loud.

[Dan Frakes]

rhettwinslow said:

which upgrades [processor vs ram vs hd ect) are the most important for speedily viewing internet content like real estate searches with lots of pictures? Thanks

Easily RAM -- Web browsers are notorious memory hogs.

[deemery]

That's an option, but keep in mind that a Core 2 Duo-based Mac -- even a Mac mini -- will outperform any G4 Mac and most G5 Macs at most tasks. A used Mac Pro is definitely an option, though.

The one area where a G5/2ghz DP well outperforms a Mini is ripping CDs into iTunes. In fact, the 2Ghz G5 is only slightly slower than our 2.4Ghz Intel iMac. But that's consistent with the general rule that PowerPC has -much better- floating point performance than Intel, and Intel has -significantly better- integer performance than PPC, at the same clock rates.

dave (who just replaced his G5/2ghz with an Intel mini, running OS X Server, as the home office file and domain server...)

[deemery]

Easily RAM -- Web browsers are notorious memory hogs.

What's worse is virtualization software, Parallels or VMWare. But I've noticed Safari 4 beta is -tons and tons- better than Safari 3 for memory usage. Safari 3 leaked memory like a sieve.... Also Office 2008 is much better in memory than Office 2004, which also leaked badly. Office 2008 uses large amounts of virtual memory, but at least if you let Word '08 sit (doing nothing) in the background, the VM size doesn't continue to grow like Word '04 would do.

I use IStatPro widget to monitor VM performance. When the swap size gets above about 64mb, it's time to reboot.

[bebopredux]

Sheeesh. I'm an unabashed fanboy but, I still wouldn't pony up for Mac Mini. Right now if you go to the Apple Store refurbished section you can get an iMac with:

2.4 ghz
20-inch glossy widescreen display
1GB memory
250GB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD?R DL/DVD?RW/CD-RW)
ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT with 128MB memory
Built-in iSight Camera

for $850

For $150 more you get a:

2.66 ghz
20-inch glossy widescreen display
2GB memory
320GB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD?R DL/DVD?RW/CD-RW)
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M with 256MB memory
Built-in iSight camera

If you get a decent 20" monitor (around $200) and you're up to $950 for the DIY Mini.

IMO, it's a waste of time. The Mac Mini with a 20" monitor is still larger than a 20" iMac and the iMac at least has a graphics card. That's key to me. I paid $1200 for my refurbished 24" iMac with 2.8ghz, 2GB, 320GB, and ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro with 256MB. I upgraded the RAM myself to 4GB total for $60 more. $1260 for this and "only" about $300 than a DIY Mini with a 20" monitor. Either way you slice it, the Mini is a good idea poorly implemented. Apple should take the Shuffle PC box and use that as a template to make a "Midi" Mac that owners can upgrade easily. I for one would love that. A Shuffle sized box with it's own graphics card, a Western Digital WD20EADS 2TB Drive w/32MB cache....that's what I'm talkin' about! Nice brushed aluminum sides with a glossy white facade and Apple logo! There's too many gaps between the Mini to the iMac to the MacPro. Apple needs a Mac Midi!!

[nitewing98]

The mini itself wouldn't be so bad if it were more accessible and upgradable.

[emperordarius]

@pfindon:
It's called iMac.

[nitewing98]

emperordarius said:

@pfindon:

It's called iMac.

You're correct that it's in the spot that the mythical "mac midi" would go. But it's not that upgradeable (memory only). And my own case is a perfect example of when the "midi" would come in handy. I'm using an old PM G4 MDD tower. I have spent a bit of money over time upgrading it, installing Leopard, buying a webcam, speakers, and a 19" widescreen monitor (non-glossy). I'm wanting to buy a new Mac, but it doesn't make sense to dump all my equipment that I'm comfortable with to buy an iMac. I can't afford a Mac Pro, nor do I need that kind of power. But the Mini tops out at 2.26ghz, only comes with 5400rpm hard drives, and the CPU cache is half what the iMac has - end result is the Mini is crippled compared to its big brother.

Not sure why Apple is being so pig-headed about this. Give us a Mini that has more horsepower, charge an arm and a leg for it, and be done with it. People like me would buy it just to keep the glossy iMac screen away from us. LOL.

[pfindon]

@emperordarius

Thanks! I already have a bunch of iMacs - everything from fruity through to aluminum.

[Mista2]

I'm going to get a 2.26 GHz with 4G RAM and just the 120GB drive, then swap for an SSD drive.
My old 2007 2Ghz mini will become a server (Already have a 500GB 7200RPM drive in that sucker and a copy of 5 user OS X server - )
If I use a network mount for /home I'll get large personal data storage, fast application performance from the local SSD 8) and a small boost from Snow Leopard too.