[bladesmith]

Okay, I have been using MS products forever and I have had my fill.  You don't even want to know how I feel about Microsoft and there products,    so I am coming over from the dark side and hopefully, into the light.

But, I know very little about Apple/mac/macmini's, etc, etc. I have read some through the threads here and stickies.  And I do know I want a mac mini. Using my tv as monitor and keyless keybrd/mouse. Probably getting the quieter drive, too.

I know about how much memory I need and ports, but once I buy the processor,  I am stuck with it. In the MS world some newer processors weren't really better, not sure if this is the case with macmini's.  I would like to listen to music and do some occasional surfing, using a browser and my MOG desktop app at the same time with out problems. I would also like to watch movies/dvds, so a good graphics cards is necessary.

"If you were buying a macmini today, what would you get, as far as bare minimums, processor speed and operating system ?"
(Is there that much difference btwn the i5/2.3gh and intel core 2/2.0gh processors ?)

Thanks..

[cody69]

Welcome and congrats moving to a Mac. I use a mini for the same purposes you plan for yours, and am very satisfied with it. Based on your planned usage, I would think the 2.3/i5 will be fine. With Apple products, part of the hype is keeping current with whatever is the most recent software release -- which is Mavericks. I did punch up my memory to 8Gb prior to installing Mavericks, to eliminate any swapping which was causing some performance issues when editing videos and other memory intensive tasks.
Minis no longer come with a built-in optical drive, so if you plan on watching DVDs, you'll need an external drive. And as you mention, an external drive for back-up is desirable. I'd suggest throwing in a track-pad to make full use of Mavericks gestures.

Think you're off to a good start... there's no end to the tweaking you can do, look at Ed's post New to Mac. Suggest you get started with a basic configuration, use it a while, then see what modifications make sense to make. And most of all, enjoy!

[minotaur]

Usually with a mac mini, the memory is very easy to upgrade, while the hard drive is trickier. Here's a link to videos for upgrading different parts of a mac mini, depending on which mac mini you purchase:

http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/

I think any modern mac mini should be able to play movies/dvds (tho as cody69 mentioned, the newest mac minis don't include an optical drive) though it may depend on what resolution your movies are. I am not aware that you can choose a video card for a mac mini in any case.

[skunark]

I would focus on getting a Mac Mini that is one or two models newer than the base spec for Mavericks which is an Early 2009 or later.  This will ensure that you have at least one more OS upgrade and several years of security updates.   

If you want to enable airplay mirroring you will need a mac mini with the hardware video codec and the requirement there is a Mid 2011 or newer.

Don't be turned off if the CD-rom isn't included, every mac mini i've owned I had to have it replaced under warrenty.  Perhaps bad luck or maybe i've ripped one too many discs on it...

The i5s provide hyper-threading which is about a 30% speed increase over the core duo for certain type so of applications.   

The base models will be 1-2 dBs quieter than the ones with the faster processors.   Also keep in mind that 2010 or newer have the power supply integrated, a plus because there is no wall wart, but a minus if you wanted to upgrade to a linear power supply. 

I've owned a 2006, 2008 and 2010 mac minis and this year the 2006 finally died...so now i lost the 2010 model.  Hand-me-downs on computers can be a slippery slope...    I did peak into the 2006 and  I believe dust suffocated the air vents causing the logic board to overheat, so if you do crack open a mac mini to upgrade the memory/hdd, do dust...


Jim 

[bladesmith]

Thanks for the replies.

I got a little nervous about the purchase and bought an i7/2.0.  I have always bought, as little, as required when it comes to computers, but decided to go a step future in processor speed, which might be a little noisier(internal/external/signal noise).    I am under the impression that some of the units are noisy when up at full speed, but I plan on placing this behind my flat screen tv (on my tv stand).

It has all of the options/ports I need/require. Very excited about getting into macmini's.

I still need an external drive for watching movies and ripping, etc, etc.

Anyone have any good/bad experience with external drives, suggestions, stay with Apple or do an off brand ?

Bladesmith.

[skunark]

I went with Apple's external optical drive as it's rather small and with a short cable.  I've tried Apple's HDD on a linux machine and it wasn't recognized, so if that is a concern then I would consider trying another brand. 

I've always picked the fast CPU for other reasons than audio, and really is silent.  The external optical drives will always be louder than the mac mini, but the any HDD with a built in fan will probably be louder than the mac mini.    If you are coming from windows, there's a good chance you will be pleased, even the Mac Pros are silent after the initial scream of the fan's spinning full blast during boot.

Jim

[bladesmith]

After doing a lot of research on external optical drives. It seems there are some failure rates,  ranging from 15% to 25%, depending on the brand/type. So many dissatisfied customers, for so many different reasons. It's mind boggling.

 Decided to go with an inexpensive (LG) optical drive, seems some of the cheap can run very, very well and very dependable.  And getting a good quiet unit might be more of a game at chance or just luck, whether you go cheap or expensive.   And my luck lately has been poor.

[bladesmith]

Okay,

I have my mac up and running, everything is going well. Running Maverick,  10.9.1. Very easy.

Very easy to get around, I would compare it's simplicity to winXP or win7. (No insult intended.)

Schiit Bi-frost dac works better. That's a plus, can't explain that. But, the music is much smoother and much deeper.

Mog works better, I have been using it without the desk app., no hicups. Another plus.

Everything is better, so simple. 

Is it possible to make the tool bar bigger ?

( it's a little bit small on my monitor/tv)

Thanks..

[Crimson]

Welcome to the dark side. Resizing the tool bar, aka the dock, is simple: Preferences > Dock > Size.

As an FYI (although as a current user you probably already know this), MOG will cease to exist in its current form on tax day (4/15). Beats Music will be taking over.

[bladesmith]

Crimson,

Thanks.

And yea, MOG is out. I liked them. Too bad. They got there ten million and they are gone. Probably go across the bridge,  buy a house along highway one and lay in the sun.

Got the dock resized, looks great.  Still can't get the menu bar,  on top, to resize. Hard to see, my eyes are getting old.

(Other than that, all is righteous. )

[bladesmith]

Okay, so I have been researching,  and found no way to increase the size of the menu bar (top bar) on my mac mini !

I use a 52" tv and it is very small, unless I zoom in on the whole page, then I cant see everything.

Can't figure out why a software programmer wouldnt allow this. Seems weird. So simple.

[mikeeastman]

Click on apple in top right corner ,window will open,click on system preferences  new window opens, click on dock this will open window that will let you adjust size and location of dock.

[wilsynet]

Unfortunately, I don't think it's possible to change menu bar fonts or height.

One work around is to use the accessibility zoom feature:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/guides/magnify/computer/mac/os_x/

Rather heavy handed, but maybe you'll like the zoom feature anyway.

[bladesmith]

Wilsynet,

Thanks, understand and appreciate your response.

Thanks for everyones responses.  I have my Mac up and running, flawlessly.  The quad core processor is a beast.

Thanks,

Bladesmith

[wilsynet]

For what it's worth, adjustable menu bar font and height has been requested for more than 10 years and still hasn't been done.  It may never happen.

You might also want to turn off menu bar translucency.  It should make what's there a bit more readable.

[skunark]

To increase the font and size of the menu bar, just change the monitor resolution.  Ignoring video playback, you would want to do this anyways if it's difficult to see the text.   For the retina machines, you do get a few more options on scaling the font size, but effectively it's changing the monitor resolution.