ArsTechnica Reviews The Intel Mac Mini (Core Solo) 58
phaedo00 writes "Ars Technica has put together a review of the recently announced Intel-powered Mac mini. The model reviewed was the public's first look at a Core Solo desktop from Apple and the results are promising: 'Up until Apple's "fun" announcement on the last day of February, there was really no indication of how Apple's low-end Intel offerings would be presented. Now that Apple has disclosed the specification and price points for their entry-level machines, we can get a better idea of where Apple is trying to take their product line. For those people who might be unaware, two new Mac Mini models were released and by most accounts, the products have been well received aside from a few quibbles over specifications.'"
Upgradable (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Upgradable (Score:1)
Re:Upgradable (Score:3, Informative)
You're behind the times. No, most slashdotters won't replace OS X with linux. Hell, most slashdotters use windows.
Re:Upgradable (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Upgradable (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Upgradable (Score:2)
Re:Upgradable (Score:2)
which is not to say that I don't have Linux on my powermac, but it certainly gets used a lot less than OS X.
Its like this. (Score:5, Funny)
Linux is like OS X, without the ease of use and reality of actually getting things done in a timely manner.
Re:Upgradable (Score:5, Funny)
And he will never go back to Linux on a Desktop.
Linux is free as in beer. Not bloody likely. Linux is free as in Syphilis.
Re:Upgradable (Score:2, Funny)
ROFL.. QFT!
Re:Upgradable (Score:1)
Re:Upgradable (Score:2)
Currently both OS's complement each other as they target different markets, it's just that they both target markets microsoft is in.
There is even the future possible oppurtunity to load the Apple GUI on top of the Linux ker
How? (Score:2)
The graphics chip will not gain any new features. The only video operations that will be faster are things that are CPU dependant, where the CPU is your bottleneck. The bus speed stays the same after the upgrade which means the video chip has the same bandwidth to the system memory.
Re:How? (Score:1)
My complaint: integrated video. (Score:5, Interesting)
My only disappointment was the integrated video. I was hoping for something better than the Intel chipset, and it's shared video memory to boot.
Someone convince me I am wrong...
Re:My complaint: integrated video. (Score:4, Interesting)
Wish I could. It seems to be everybody's "only problem" with the machine. It would be a sweet little media unit if they even managed to slap in fair-to-middlin' 128 MB video card.
As it is, it's an awesome li'l feller for a lot of headless tasks (as an example, my old G4 mini has been rack-mounted as an audio processor, and is only accessed via VNC on the Airport card), but it still falls just barely short of being a media center "dream system."
Lucky for me, with my projector at the back of the room and a re-arranged coat closet next to it, I have plenty of space for a dual-G5 tower... but I feel a little sympathy for mac-heads who need something small and unobtrusive in their living-room TV cabinets, yet still want full HDTV resolutions and maybe the occasional 3D gaming experience. The new mini seems to come about 90% of the way to meeting their needs.
Re:My complaint: integrated video. (Score:2)
I'm planning to buy one, and if this is wrong that's a deal-breaker.
-Peter
Re:My complaint: integrated video. (Score:2, Informative)
It's also a question of what frame-rate and resolution it can handle when playing games.
The bump in CPU power over the old mini is significant, but the hit to the system from having a shared-memory GPU is a step in the opposite direction, where anything video-intensive is concerned.
I'm waiting to hear what happens when somebody hooks up an EyeTV 500 to it, and pulls up the
Re:My complaint: integrated video. (Score:2)
Re:My complaint: integrated video. (Score:4, Informative)
Anywho: I couldn't tell you how it would do with an MPEG-2 stream at 1920x1080, but I do know my Core Duo mini plays 1080p H.264 QuickTime movies at full resolution with no frame dropping.
So far as games: who buys a Mac to play games in the first place? And when people do buy a gaming PC, do they typically go for the lowest end machine available? Personally, I'd have to answer no to both of those questions, so the gaming contention doesn't really make sense here.
Re:My complaint: integrated video. (Score:1)
Re:My complaint: integrated video. (Score:1)
In any case, my answer stands, may your mind boggle unto the ends of the multiverse.
Re:My complaint: integrated video. (Score:1)
However for most uses beyond a surf/email box, it seems the 1GB upgrade is a must now, as the GPU will eat quite a bit.
And for 720p/1080i/1080p the Core Duo variant seems to be a safer choice tha
Re:My complaint: integrated video. (Score:3, Informative)
I was always under the impression that the problem with integrated graphics was that the cooperative sharing of memory between the CPU and GPU created a performance hit. That's not really something you can get around by writing "better drivers." It's just the nature of the beast.
Re:My complaint: integrated video. (Score:2)
That was my initial reaction as well, having dealt with shared memory video of yore. But I noticed this one shares 667MHz DDR2 memory, so it's going to be a "less bad" shared memory implementation if it's even bad at all. I realize there are certain games for which no video memory bus or GPU is fast enough, but I've outgrown those particular needs myself. OK, wel
Re:Graphics Irony (Score:5, Interesting)
The real question is, why do you keep posting this exact same quote on every single Mac mini story? Are you just trying to get more hits for the "free mini" pyramid scam in your sig file?
You must not think it's that bad of a computer if you are willing to turn yourself into a total whore to get your hands on one.
Re:Graphics Irony (Score:2)
I don't mind seeing what people put in their sigs. I like sigs.
If you don't want to be called a whore, quit selling yourself.
Re:Graphics Irony (Score:2)
Re:Graphics Irony (Score:1, Troll)
Regardless, it's a great machine with a not-so-great video card. Highlighting what Apple said about integrated video only amplifies what others are now saying about it.
Re:Graphics Irony (Score:2)
It certainly puts your judgement in doubt...
The only thing that matter to me.. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:The only thing that matter to me.. (Score:5, Funny)
I expect that's exactly why they put a faster HDD in there. I bet Apple were just sick of getting thousands of support calls from first time buyers about how slowly Emacs was compiling.
In fact, that's probably why they sacrificed a better graphics chip. They just had to get those compile times down for the end user.
Incomplete benchmarks: no Mac Mini CoreDuo (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Incomplete benchmarks: no Mac Mini CoreDuo (Score:2)
However no such review of a Core Solo machine exists because, as far as I know, there are no other Core Solo machines.
Re: (Score:2)
I've ordered one, and it had better be better (Score:2)
Re:I've ordered one, and it had better be better (Score:1)
Good question (Score:2)
1. I'm not sure why the current Mini had problems: The G4 was older tech and had limited memory. In addition, it was a refurb, so it's possible that the problem was something that wasn't resolved before it was sent out again. I had hoped that it would suffice for a living room media PC, despite the former. I haven't had problems with refurbs before, so I wasn't expecting the latter. From some research I've done, it seems most likely that my experience is unusual, so I suspect that this is a m
Re:Good question (Score:2)
Re:I've ordered one, and it had better be better (Score:1, Informative)
Re:I've ordered one, and it had better be better (Score:2)
Ohmygod (Score:2, Funny)
One thing people don't mention... (Score:5, Insightful)
For example, MacWorld's game benchmark results. In UT 2004 (at default quality settings) the new mini gets a pathetic 10-12fps
Also, the new mini will get FASTER in the months ahead. For starters, upgrading to paired DIMMs will use the dual-channel bus, which is always a boost for shared-memory IGPs. Secondly, the Intel compilers for Mac are on the way.
Sure, a mini with GF 6200 or Radeon X200 would be better, but GMA950 is not the apocalypse some have been claiming.
Re:One thing people don't mention... (Score:2, Informative)
They ship paired anyway.
> the Intel compilers for Mac are on the way.
Nope... they've been around for months.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)