Well I bought one (Mac Mini 2011)

[MajorFubar]

Everyone knows an Apple tech-refresh is imminent, people aren't buying because of it, and so bargains can be had (not that the words 'bargain' and 'Apple' often appear in the same sentence). To that end I was happy with the £110-off deal on a new sealed 2011 Mac Mini.

My kids have my old one on a trial basis as their first computer. I've told them that any arguments or messing about will see it confiscated without further warning. It certainly beats the ZX81 I got as my first computer when I was four years older than they are, but kids these days don't really appreciate what they've got.

I didn't enjoy the three hours it took to migrate 48GB of ALAC audio over my wireless network (I had no other way to connect them to both my router and a monitor) and I decided to do it during waking hours in case I got some yes/no/cancel prompt which would have sat unanswered for hours while I slept.

I think I'm going to miss the drive. In fact there's no 'think' about it. It's senseless to have got rid of the optical drive on a system which Apple obviously intended to be a media centre. Every time I buy a CD now, I'm going to have to rip it on one of the house's other computers, or buy an external drive. Madness.

 

[professorhat]

You may know this already, but just in case you meant ripping on another computer, then copying the file across, you may be interested in Apple's Remote Disc feature which should make life a bit easier.

 

[Paul.]

I didn't enjoy the three hours it took to migrate 48GB of ALAC audio over my wireless network (I had no other way to connect them to both my router and a monitor)

Next time, connect both machines with firewire. Reboot the old machine holding down T, enables target firewire mode (works with thunderbolt too). This effectively turns the enabled machine in to an external firewire disk.

 

[MajorFubar]

Thanks that would have been good to know; ah well, job done now!

You may know this already, but just in case you meant ripping on another computer, then copying the file across, you may be interested in Apple's Remote Disc feature which should make life a bit easier.

Thanks Professor, yes the manual it came with explains the basics behind Remote Disc. Still a faff though.

If I'm right is assuming that most of these machines are bought as media centres, I can see why the 2010 model is still very much holding its own on the used market. A quick look through the completed items on eBay shows that used 2010 models are bringing more money than I paid for this new 2011 one. Imo they should perhaps only have deleted the optical drive from the Server edition.

 

[Dan Turner]

You may know this already, but just in case you meant ripping on another computer, then copying the file across, you may be interested in Apple's Remote Disc feature which should make life a bit easier.

You may not have spotted it, but near the bottom of that page it says that remote disc doesn't support DVD video or audio CD, which kind of makes it a bit of a chocolate teapot!

 

[MajorFubar]

I hadn't spotted that either.

 

[professorhat]

You may know this already, but just in case you meant ripping on another computer, then copying the file across, you may be interested in Apple's Remote Disc feature which should make life a bit easier.

You may not have spotted it, but near the bottom of that page it says that remote disc doesn't support DVD video or audio CD, which kind of makes it a bit of a chocolate teapot!

Doh! I read that as it did support it! Well, that's fairly useless.

If I'm right is assuming that most of these machines are bought as media centres, I can see why the 2010 model is still very much holding its own on the used market. A quick look through the completed items on eBay shows that used 2010 models are bringing more money than I paid for this new 2011 one. Imo they should perhaps only have deleted the optical drive from the Server edition.

I now use mine as a media centre and I have to say, I really don't miss the drive (I know we've had this conversation earlier). Yes, I need the external drive to load more music / movies into it, but the point of the media centre (in my opinion) is to actually play the ripped media rather than load it

If I'm right is assuming that most of these machines are bought as media centres, I can see why the 2010 model is still very much holding its own on the used market. A quick look through the completed items on eBay shows that used 2010 models are bringing more money than I paid for this new 2011 one. Imo they should perhaps only have deleted the optical drive from the Server edition.

I now use mine mostly as a media centre (since I got my Macbook) and I have to say, I really don't miss the drive (I know we've had this conversation earlier). Yes, I need the external drive to load more music / movies into it, but the point of the media centre (in my opinion) is to actually play the ripped media rather than load it

In all seriousness - it's the Mac OS and applications I love. And as a result, I can and do overlook the (what I consider to be) minor inconveniences to get that experience.

 

[MajorFubar]

I can't disagree with you professor...I'm very much a convert these days and just about the only Windows apps I miss are Sound Forge and Nero, but I'm really not keen on the direction Apple are going with some of their lines, where they're killing-off certain technologies before their time for what seems to be just form-over-function's sake. They've done the same with the new MacBook Pro, which imo looks absolutely excellent and I'd happily sell a kidney to get one, yet what's it with losing the Firewire socket, RJ45 socket and the optical drive on a supposedly pro-grade machine?? I think they're being a little too revolutionary instead of evolutionary.

 

[professorhat]

Yes, I see where you're coming from. Perhaps they're embracing Steve Jobs' "no compromise" stance a little too tightly since his death in an over compensation. Of course, on the other hand, in many ways, not compromising is one of the best ways of getting users to adopt new technology i.e. they don't have a choice. Most users are very, very abhorrent to change, even when there are clear advantages to be had from doing so (I face it every day in my work when designing new systems).

Removing RJ45 is a smart move (IMO) - I remember the time when it was introduced as a standard (rather than some proprietry connection) and that was good. However, the occasions where you need it are now few and far between I think, and for those, you can get the the USB to RJ45 adapter. FireWire is a different matter - many people will have FireWire devices. Apple will be wanting Thunderbolt to succeed, so if you remove the ability to connect FireWire devices, it forces people to do this, but don't expect them to be happy about it. Fortunately for Apple, those people are likely to be Apple diehards (since FireWire was never a PC connection really), so they're probably used to it and will moan for a bit and move on (NB - I have a couple of FireWire external hard disks that I can only link to my Macbook Air through USB - I did just this, so I'm speaking from experience ).

Most companies couldn't get away with this - part of Apple's success story at the moment is that they can, because a lot of people are in love with them. For the moment anyway. Previously it was only the diehard Apple fans that put up with this sort of thing, and I have a feeling they won't get away with it for long - it will only take removing something which the majority are affected by, and people will turn away, so they're walking a fine line.

Time will tell.

 

[Anonymous]

I see there are lots of these second hand onebay at the moment , any advice on what to go for.. Could I use one and plugin into a amp to play, music through

 

[MajorFubar]

I agree. What Apple don't seem to realise in their post-Jobs era is that while they still have a good user-base of disciples, their current success is based on the fact that they have attracted a large proportion of transient customers who will go elsewhere if they get disillusioned. I'm a perfect example of the latter: very happy at the moment (more or less), but I won't think twice about returning to Windows with future purchases if suddenly what Cupertino offers doesn't match my needs. My bone marrow doesn't say 'Apple inc' through it like Blackpool rock.

 

[MajorFubar]

You certainly could, my recommendation would be a 2010 model if you need the drive and you don't have use for an i5/i7 processor, which tbh you won't really need if all you want to use it for is a music-server.

If you were talking about buying a PC, the next important purchase I'd direct you to is an outboard DAC, but the DAC in recent Mac Minis is surprisingly good and more than adequate for those looking to test the water. If you get hooked on computer-based audio you can always buy a DAC then, which I agree will reap great sonic benefits.

 

[Paul.]

I see there are lots of these second hand onebay at the moment , any advice on what to go for.. Could I use one and plugin into a amp to play, music through

Geekbench is your friend, this site gives you directly comparable benchmarks for most macs in the last 10 years. It cheered me up no end to find out the base retina MacBook pro is only 9% faster than the 17" I bought in December even though the retina is £300 more Maxing out the ram would probably mean I beat that score.

Its a good way of figuring out if the next mac up is worth the money.

 

[6th.replicant]

... Apple are ... killing-off certain technologies before their time ... what's with losing the Firewire socket, RJ45 socket and the optical drive on a supposedly pro-grade machine?? I think they're being a little too revolutionary instead of evolutionary.

+1 |(

 

[landzw]

Hold up guys!:hand:

If none of you notice the 2011 mac mini is cheaper over the 2010 model and the price difference i believe is more than the £65 that Apple are asking for there superdrive, not only that it only costs £20 for a samsung external DVD writer.

On the plus side you can now fit 2 internal HDD into the mac mini for a more streamline approach.

This isn't just Apple that have taken this approach with there products, all the new ultrabooks made by Dell, Asus and others are all now missing dvd drives and if you need one you have the choice to go and purchase a dvd or blu ray drive.

So no one is killing of anything of imo or would you prefer to pay the extra £80 or £90 for the super drive to be kept in the mac mini? Atleast you now have a choice.

 

[MajorFubar]

would you prefer to pay the extra £80 or £90 for the super drive to be kept in the mac mini?

Personally, yes I would have done, especially that in reality the £80 or £90 would have been rounded-down to keep the list price below £600

 

[landzw]

Ok i still use an external DVD drive with my mac mini, though its not often. Once i had ripped all my music to iTunes i may make a CD for the car or stereo every couple of months but apart from that i use usb drives to transfer most files now.

I would also admit i wanted the mac mini with the DVD drive built in and i can see pro's and con's for both models with or without the superdrive

But saying that i beleive the 2011 mac mini is a bigger seller than the 2010 model though i cannot find the figures even without the DVD drive

 

[MajorFubar]

i beleive the 2011 mac mini is a bigger seller than the 2010 model

Not sure...I haven't seen the figures either...but I do know that re-sale values of the 2010 are very strong. I've seen basic 2GB models sell for more on eBay than I paid for my 2011 model factory sealed.

 

[Alec]

Atleast you now have a choice.

Have no drive or have no drive?

 

[landzw]

You can add an external HDD or share a drive with another mac with a CD drive.

 

[landzw]

. In fact there's no 'think' about it. It's senseless to have got rid of the optical drive on a system which Apple obviously intended to be a media centre. Every time I buy a CD now, I'm going to have to rip it on one of the house's other computers, or buy an external drive. Madness.

When did Apple ever say the mac mini was designed to be a media centre, even though the 2010 model was very suited to the job.

The mac mini was away for the consumer to buy a cheap affordable mac and add your own monitors / keyboard and mouse that you may of used with a PC so you had more control of costs

 

[MajorFubar]

When did Apple ever say the mac mini was designed to be a media centre

They didn't, but for a start it was the first Mac they equipped with a HDMI socket, enabling you to plug it into a TV with a standard cable. So either by accident or deliberate design, it was suited to the task right out of the box, especially if you include the fact that Snow Leopard included the (imo) excellent Front Row as a media handler, which could be operated with the Apple remote.

 

[bigboss]

I didn't enjoy the three hours it took to migrate 48GB of ALAC audio over my wireless network (I had no other way to connect them to both my router and a monitor)

Next time, connect both machines with firewire. Reboot the old machine holding down T, enables target firewire mode (works with thunderbolt too). This effectively turns the enabled machine in to an external firewire disk.

Thanks! :cheers:

I was struggling to transfer contents from my old MacBook to my new one which arrived today.

 

[Paul.]

I think they should put that command on the box, it's one of the macs best features and they don't write it anywhere! It works without a functioning OS so is super handy for recovery.

 

[knacker]

I have been using an older mac mini with the optical drive for a while now and have borrowed a brand spanking new mini from me brother for a comparison and I cannot see, hear or notice any difference at all- especially when running Bit perfect.

the only issue I have with the old one is the noise of the disk drive when ripping