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+--- Thread: New Mac Mini in the house! (/showthread.php?tid=124398)
New Mac Mini in the house! - guitarist - 09-30-2011
Fellow members, I'm typing this on my newly-installed Mac Mini!
I have gone five years without getting a new computer, so this is a big deal for me.
I got it from the online Apple Store, refurb, ordered it about a week ago, when it appeared. A 2010 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, minimally equipped 320 GB HD, 2 GB Ram for $469.
I had planned, for a long time, to save up and get an 11" refurb Macbook Air. And waited for the newest Sandy Bridge-chip-equipped, backlit-keyboard, Lion OS MacBook Air, but here's what tipped me toward a compact 2010 desktop Mac instead:
I've been using my 2006 15" MacBook Pro, connected to a display, external keyboard, mouse, etc., as my default desktop computer, for about 3 years now. Over time, with more and more peripherals plugged into it (every single port, no joke) it felt increasingly chained-down. I had to liberate it. I had to replace a fan on it, it's showing age. I wanted to make it portable again, and make my desk cleaner.
The bargain price of the Mini gave me enough wiggle room get on the OWC page (warning: shameless sponsor plug) and order 8 GB of RAM, and a 500 GB Seagate Momentus XT DIY kit. All of which arrived within days of my Mac purchase. $467 for the Mac+ $60 to max out the RAM + $125 to upgrade the HD and put the original HD in an enclosure, and I'm a happy customer.
Holy Cow! I'm delighted. For those that have flipped over the newer Mac Minis, to see that black disc on the bottom, turned counter-clockwise to pop open, the easy-access is a welcome improvement over previous Minis. The utterly simple RAM installation gave me a false sense of breezy confidence about the HD upgrade, too. ...as it turns out, I was wrong, it's more challenging than I anticipated. But still worth doing.
I didn't even know about these hybrid drives until a few weeks ago. A friend recommended I check it out. So I read a bunch of stuff on the web, some threads here, watched a few YouTube videos comparing boot times and app-loading times, saw favorable comments and positive reviews, it looked like a respectable performance boost for a good value.
Maybe my 5 years of running older computers made me easy to impress, but man, this feels very responsive. I've never had 8 GBs of Ram in anything. Or 500 GBs of internal storage. (my MacBook Pro has a 125 GB HD) so, for my money, the 2010 Mac Mini isn't the most powerful computer, but with these additions, it feels really fast, and easy to like. A dramatic improvement over my previous setup!
The included tools DIY tools and instruction video made an otherwise painstaking process go very smoothly. (OWC, nice work on that video!)
Re: New Mac Mini in the house! - WHiiP - 09-30-2011
Leader!
Re: New Mac Mini in the house! - olnacl - 09-30-2011
- Mini Leader -
I went to a Mini for my desktop nearly 3 years ago, buying a 2009 2.26 to supplement my 2008 MBP that, like yours, was loaded down with cables attached. I kept it for the dual link DVI for my 30" monitor, but finally bought the $99 Apple adapter for the mini, and long story short, I moved to a 2011 Mini Server recently. Great little machines!
Re: New Mac Mini in the house! - Grateful11 - 09-30-2011
Leader!
I like Bill's mini leader ;-)
Re: New Mac Mini in the house! - WHiiP - 09-30-2011
Grateful11 wrote:
Leader!
I like Bill's mini leader ;-)
Thanks for the cacth, Grateful11 . . .
mile:
Re: New Mac Mini in the house! - Grateful11 - 09-30-2011
WHiiP wrote:
[quote=Grateful11]
Leader!
I like Bill's mini leader ;-)
Thanks for the cacth, Grateful11 . . .
mile:
You're welcome, if I can come here and have a smile or two per day it's worth it
mile:Anyway guitarist, Mini's are great especially at that price point. We used one for years.
Re: New Mac Mini in the house! - abevilac - 09-30-2011
Upgrade Leader!
You've got me thinking as I look at my MBP all chained up to a million things on my desktop. It wants to be free as a laptop is supposed to be... maybe I need a mini too. Good luck w/ yours.
Re: New Mac Mini in the house! - guitarist - 09-30-2011
Laptops unite! Rise up! Tell your masters you want to be FREEEEEEE
Re: New Mac Mini in the house! - SKYLANE - 09-30-2011
I just got the new 2011 MacMini Server after 5 years as well. LOVE IT.
Have fun with yours...
LEADER!