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HangingClowns · 2009-08-04, 06:10

I ran into a guy who is selling a "Used Mac Mini 1.42 Gz 256 K Ram 80 g hard drive" with airport installed. I was interested in using this as a type of media center. He's willing to sell it for $150, firm. Is this a good deal? Is it worth the $150 since I know most of the development is towards Intel processors and this is a PPC? I'm at a crossroads here with if I want to buy it and upgrade the software to Tiger, since it is running 10.3.9, as of right now and just plugging in as much ram as possible into it.

Can someone give me some good advice?

jmarshall · 2009-08-04, 07:20

If you want to playback anything high definition, then I'd stay away from it.

Think about how much it'll cost you to upgrade the RAM and to Tiger. Compare with the cost of an intel mini.

garyi · 2009-08-04, 07:47

Its one of the first that came out, it will struggle to launch XBMC let alone anything else.

HangingClowns · 2009-08-04, 15:16

jmarshall Wrote:If you want to playback anything high definition, then I'd stay away from it.

Think about how much it'll cost you to upgrade the RAM and to Tiger. Compare with the cost of an intel mini.

I have an installation disk, already, for Tiger for PPC. How much would the RAM cost? How much RAM can it handle? It seems to me like a decent deal, but I would like to be able to play high definition since I just bought a 42" High Def TV.

Geeba · 2009-08-04, 15:25

Its lacking grunt... Slow CPU, AGP x4 Radeon GFX... DDR memory speeds..(Max 1 Gb) cant see a RAM/OS boost getting away from that...

HangingClowns · 2009-08-04, 15:29

Thanks for the help. It's hard trying to find a decent deal on a mac mini that's been used, cause I can't afford a brand new one, right now. But, I guess I'll have to save up and wait.

pmcd · 2009-08-05, 12:00

HangingClowns Wrote:I ran into a guy who is selling a "Used Mac Mini 1.42 Gz 256 K Ram 80 g hard drive" with airport installed. I was interested in using this as a type of media center. He's willing to sell it for $150, firm. Is this a good deal? Is it worth the $150 since I know most of the development is towards Intel processors and this is a PPC? I'm at a crossroads here with if I want to buy it and upgrade the software to Tiger, since it is running 10.3.9, as of right now and just plugging in as much ram as possible into it.

Can someone give me some good advice?

I have a similar Mini but it has a gig of RAM. It plays XBMC, Leopard, Front Row just fine. Of course you aren't going to be playing 720p files, but do you really need to? I've also got a variety of other systems that can play 1080p stuff. Big deal. Unless you are recording HD (and not many things will do that given the copy protection) what you want to be able to do is play back 480p DVD type video and that Mini (with more ram) will do it.

It's just an opinion but sometimes the videophile folks seem to lose touch with reality.

I'd go for the system (though try to get more ram) and save up over the next year or two for a really neat system which will put the current one's to shame.

philip

HangingClowns · 2009-08-05, 15:47

pmcd Wrote:I have a similar Mini but it has a gig of RAM. It plays XBMC, Leopard, Front Row just fine. Of course you aren't going to be playing 720p files, but do you really need to? I've also got a variety of other systems that can play 1080p stuff. Big deal. Unless you are recording HD (and not many things will do that given the copy protection) what you want to be able to do is play back 480p DVD type video and that Mini (with more ram) will do it.

It's just an opinion but sometimes the videophile folks seem to lose touch with reality.

I'd go for the system (though try to get more ram) and save up over the next year or two for a really neat system which will put the current one's to shame.

philip

I was also thinking of maybe hosting an "internal" website that I can use for keeping track of stuff, like recipes or whatever, just for fun. I am a student and I do like to play around with Ruby on Rails. I wonder if it can survive and handle all of that.

How much would it cost to upgrade the RAM, do you think? What kind of RAM do I need? I upgraded the RAM on my MacBook Pro, so I'm somewhat familiar with this.

garyi · 2009-08-05, 20:06

I have lots of 720 stuff and would hate to not have that functionality.

Boseman · 2009-08-05, 21:25

HangingClowns Wrote:I was also thinking of maybe hosting an "internal" website that I can use for keeping track of stuff, like recipes or whatever, just for fun. I am a student and I do like to play around with Ruby on Rails. I wonder if it can survive and handle all of that.

How much would it cost to upgrade the RAM, do you think? What kind of RAM do I need? I upgraded the RAM on my MacBook Pro, so I'm somewhat familiar with this.

http://www.methodshop.com/gadgets/tutori...ndex.shtml
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2616
http://www.crucial.com/upgrade/compatibl.../list.html

garyi · 2009-08-05, 21:53

Replacing ram in a mini is 100% different to changing ram in a macbook pro. You have been warned!