The new Mac mini eviscerated with ease
Apple's new Mac mini has been torn apart by the parts 'n' tools 'n' repair-advice folks at iFixit, who pronounce it highly repairable – a rare reversal of Apple's increasing tendency to create kit that's locked down tighter than Mitt Romney's tax records. The new mini scored an impressive eight on iFixit's one-to-10 …
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Re: Mini and ASRock
Idiotic software?
I'm no fanboi - anything but in fact - however OSX is damn good.
It's unix based, what's not to like?
Stable, secure, plenty of software, native development environment for apache/php/mysql (I'm a web dev)
Although I'm a Linux user too, I consider OSX far superior to any Linux desktop offerings for many tasks.
Not all, but definately better for things like graphics manipulation, sound creation - the arty stuff.
For me, windows = gaming, linux = development, macos = creativity
So, yeah, I use them all and diss none of them - they all have their respective strengths.
Any self-respecting geek knows and applauds that fact!
And this is news, why?
My two or three year old mac mini has exactly the same twist off cover on the bottom.
...and, having an optical drive, it even plays DVDs and CDs too!
Quiet news day at Vulture Towers?
Mac Mini - what's its main purpose?
I've always wondered exactly what a Mac Mini's target market was. Apple now say it's the only server offering they have, but it's not really up to snuff for that surely (e.g. RAID 5 anyone?). Does it work as a media centre server? Well, yes, that would seem an obvious use, but there are cheaper nettop boxes to do that (you don't need an i5 - you want GPU acceleration primarily plus lots of connectivity/disk space) such as the Acer Revo, Lenovo or Shuttle.
So at its price point, I see it as small form factor desktop PC, but yet again, there are cheaper alternatives (including all-in-ones) at the Mac Mini's price point. I'm completely baffled why you'd buy this rather than a cheaper rival machine + replace its HDD for an SSD for faster boot/app performance + and buy a big NAS for media storage for the same price as just a Mac Mini!
Re: Mac Mini - what's its main purpose?
Because you don't want plastic Sleeve bearing fans? Or how about the evergreen classic. I don't want Windows, especially Windows 8!
Re: Mac Mini - what's its main purpose?
I use a Mac Mini as my home PC. It's basically a deconstructed iMac. Mine has been upgraded to 8GB of RAM and a 480GB SSD, I use a 9x12 wacom as input and it drives 2 HP monitors, A ZR22 and a ZR24. I suits me very nicely for the uses to which I put a home PC these days. I don't really get on with laptops, never have.
Re: Mac Mini - what's its main purpose?
You need to run Xcode (Apple's IDE) to develop software for iPhones & iPads. The Mac Mini is the cheapest computer that lets you do this.
Write your killer app. Put it in the app store. Get your share of the $6 Billion that Apple have paid out to developers over the last 2 years. Profit!
That's the theory anyway. YMMV
Re: Mac Mini - what's its main purpose?
Enterprise class server? No.
However, if your storage needs (scalability/robustness) are greater, then pair it with an external Drobo and it's lovely.
And in that config (4TB or so capacity in mine, hot-expandable to 8TB), it makes a fantastic media centre server, either directly or as a backend to AppleTV (we have 2 AppleTVs plus a bunch of Airport Expresses).
Re: Mac Mini - what's its main purpose?
Why would I want GPU acceleration for a media centre **server** ? All the thing has to do is stream the files to other boxes that you use to view the videos.
Or do you mean a HTPC?
Re: Mac Mini - what's its main purpose?
>Why would I want GPU acceleration for a media centre **server** ? All the thing has to do is stream the files to >other boxes that you use to view the videos.
Some servers can transcode media files as they stream them... I don't know if this is something the GPU is called in to assist with?
But yeah, my mate uses his Mac Mini as a HTPC, since it's nice and quiet. I was hoping that he would use it for his ongoing vinyl transcription project, since his FireWire soundcard just works with it and OSX's CoreAudio seems better behaved than Window's Sound Mapper (which keeps trying to displace ASIO, which in any case is limited to a few channels). Alas, he's a masochist and is attached to piece of software on his XP PC, and the differences in the OSX version confuse him. He's also a sadist, since it's me who gets called in to to troubleshoot problems...
Standardisation Please
If you're going to resort to describing colours for the hard of hearing or whatever, you could at least use the universally accepted X11 colours...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X11_color_names
Your mauve looks more like "hotpink" to me, and teal is definitely nearer "turquoise. Or, of course, you could use the RGB values, which would be clearly understood by at least 90% of the Reg readership.
"The only problem with the mini is OSX, but given a bit of trouble you can jailbreak it."
Something esoteric and hard to grasp like "sudo -i"?
Don't you mean tighter than Obama's school records and passport application?
Really? Political commentary in an Apple computer story? No wonder I read this site less and less.
I'd love to smash it flat with a hammer but it looks like Apple's design folks are already there.
Oh dear...
It's not an 'A'elta, it's a 'D'elta, and my guess is it's a DC motor controller. For a fan, f'rinctance.
Re: Oh dear...
I'm all for freedom of speech...but which idiot downvoted me for this LOL
Re: Oh dear...
I've just given you another one. If you'd read the comments you'd have seen someone had found the exact device around an hour after this went up. It's an ethernet transformer. You don't get a thumbs up for going to the Delta website and plumping for the first thing mentioned on the front page with a "that's close enough" attitude.
prying tool
is that 7/40$ tool actually a 1mm diameter steel wire, double bent? maybe some special sort of steel, not as that in an ordinary paper clip?
It's so an error message can appear saying
"I've just picked up a fault in the AELTA 8904C-F unit. It's going to go 100% failure within 72 hours."
Won't diss OSX too heavily
Sorry, but although I won't diss OSX too heavily. But.... 1) It's kind of function over form. I just don't like the appearance of almost every aspect of it, and people are allowed to not like the same things you do. I'm thinking Cody doesn't either. 2) It's not UNIX-based, it's a BSD-Mach hybrid, which actually has pretty strong performance consequences.
Apple's no monopolist (unlike Microsoft) so I'm not going to be all "Oh, Apple should be required to ship a blank system". Unlike the PC market, where... all I can say is I'm glad the State of Iowa kept their lawsuit against Microsoft up so I could get a $200 check from them for forced bundling and price fixing!
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