[Macworld]

Post your comments for Review: New Mac mini offers an attractive bang for the buck here

[icerabbit]

For my taste they should have kept the old form factor with optical drive and include a 7200rpm hard drive by default. I like the all-in-one convenience and size of the old one, with the power of the new one.

The mini is not inexpensive, as you have to bring all your peripherals and now buy an external optical drive if you want the ability to burn backup discs, dvds, ...

[cashxx]

I gotta get my old Mac Mini upgraded for my entertainment system in the living room. I have the 2009 model and its getting dog slow and not enough ram, max I think is 4GB. I use it for video and used to use Front Row until Apple sadly discontinued it. Now use XBMC and is fine, but Front Row you just threw the movie files in the Movie folder and went, the other is a little more complex and alot of features, just more than whats needed for me. But still atleast XBMC is an option and works well. Just need the updated hardware!!

[macmacmacmac]

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I gotta get my old Mac Mini upgraded for my entertainment system in the living room. I have the 2009 model and its getting dog slow and not enough ram, max I think is 4GB. I use it for video and used to use Front Row until Apple sadly discontinued it. Now use XBMC and is fine, but Front Row you just threw the movie files in the Movie folder and went, the other is a little more complex and alot of features, just more than whats needed for me. But still atleast XBMC is an option and works well. Just need the updated hardware!!

Have you tried Roksbox on the Roku? Extremely easy to get access to a Movie/TV/Music/Picture collection.

[JimShea]

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... I have the 2009 model and its getting dog slow and not enough ram, max I think is 4GB.

I find that the 5400 RPM drives are a main cause of Mac Mini slowdowns over time. But after replacing the HDD in a 2009 Mini with an SSD, it operates better than new.

[spanky]

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I gotta get my old Mac Mini upgraded for my entertainment system in the living room. I have the 2009 model and its getting dog slow and not enough ram, max I think is 4GB. I use it for video and used to use Front Row until Apple sadly discontinued it.

I have a 2008 mini as my media server. I upgraded the hard drive and RAM and it runs like a champ. I never upgraded the software past Snow Leopard so I could keep Front Row. You don't need the latest and greatest hardware for having a simple media server, but a DVD drive is essential.

[redgeminipa]

You need to fix the article. Both versions of the mini come with 4GB standard, not 2GB.

[glaire4206]

Instead of the 2.6GHz i7 w/6MB level 3 cache option they should have offered the 2.7 w/8MB level 3 cache.

[BobForsberg]

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... I have the 2009 model and its getting dog slow and not enough ram, max I think is 4GB. I find that the 5400 RPM drives are a main cause of Mac Mini slowdowns over time. But after replacing the HDD in a 2009 Mini with an SSD, it operates better than new.

Just got the entry level $599 but bumped the ram to 8GB and added a 3TB USB3 WD external drive. ....very fast, very large and has taken everything I throw at it, including 1080p MP4s. It works seamlessly with my Mitsubishi 73" and the playback videos look as good as OTA HDTV.

[BobForsberg]

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Have you tried Roksbox on the Roku? Extremely easy to get access to a Movie/TV/Music/Picture collection.

Thanks for the Roksbox heads-up. I've been using Roku from day one but was unaware of this add-on. Thanks.

[Alanwolf]

Looking at when new models are released would it be semi-safe to assume that there will be a new model released in 2013

[johnnylundy]

A dilemma:

- my 2006 Mac Pro will not run Mountain Lion. I need ML for iOS development.

- so I need a computer that will run Mountain Lion until they release a new Mac Pro (if ever).

- so with the mini, I need a second drive to use with Time Machine.

? Can I use one of the drives in my Mac Pro for this? Connect via ethernet from the mini?

I would get a Time Capsule, but it comes with a router built-in, and I already have an Apple router (Airport Extreme).

Suggestions?

[swccguy]

I love my mid 2011 Mac Mini, as long as Apple keeps making them, I'll keep buying them. This is my first intel mac, a Core i5, 2.5Ghz with the AMD graphics chip. I upgraded the memory to 16 GB, and this little guy is just the greatest. It's quiet, power efficient and in general really blends in.

My old PC, a quad core had three fans, one for the graphics card, one for the CPU and one for the 650 watt power supply. My old PC added a resonant noise lever of 60 DB. My mac mini is quiet and fun to use.

Honestly, if my current mini wasn't so darn good, I'd go for another one in a heartbeat. Oh well, I suppose there is my secret santa (Mastercard) just in case, I have a Mac store across the street from me.

[swccguy]

Oh yea, she's also a great little machine for game designing in Unity 3D and Autodesk Maya,

As much as I really like this Mac, the new ones are solo tempting.