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My Next Mac Mini

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Re: My Next Mac Mini

#121

Post by WayneBro »

CydeWeys wrote: post #37
coldtea wrote: post #10

> Well, perfect except that six years in this machine is very creaky. It needs a reboot every week or so (otherwise it will refuse to launch anything). That sounds totally unrelated to the age of the machine, and totally related to what's installed, the mini running out of disk, etc. Maybe do a clean install of the OS? Aside from the mechanical parts (CD ROMS, Hard Disks, etc), the "digital" parts of a PC do not age…

There is one factor that heavily affects performance that you haven't addressed though: Software demands on hardware increase over time. MacOS today is more demanding than the MacOS of six years ago. Even if the hardware is in perfect condition, you can't run all six-year-old software, so it's going to be slower.

That Mac Mini would run fast again with Windows 10 on it though.

This tiny little Zotac ZBOX that I got for $150 off Amazon has a less powerful CPU than the 2010 Mac Mini from the article and Windows 10 flies on it.

https://www.amazon.com/ZOTAC-Quad-Core-Graphics-Barebones-ZB...

Honestly, I can't fathom why anybody would have chosen a Mac for an HTPC within the last decade to begin. I can see why people would buy an Apple TV, but if you want the "full" OS because you want to do more stuff - you can't beat Windows.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#122

Post by zuzun »

windexh8er wrote: post #107
zuzun wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought a Skylake NUC and I will buy more NUCs in the future but using them with Linux isn't all rosy: - Getting the NUC to wake up after sleep is a hit or miss. Sometimes I can still SSH into it, but I never manage to get the display back on. - One in every 200 boots the fan just doesn't start. Since the fan isn't very loud, some people might not notice this, which might or might not be a problem. - One in every 10…

Which model? I have NUC6i3SYH and NUC6i7KYK, neither exhibit any of the characteristics you've described. I've used Arch and Ubuntu Mate 16.04 on both as well as Windows 10 LTSB and Anniversary editions on the Skull Canyon. The latter is to run some graphics editing software (which is why I wanted dual M.2 slots so I could dedicate physical drives to each OS). If it were really that bad I definitely wouldn't be able…

NUC6i5SYK and Ubuntu 15.10 and now 16.04 LTS. Since I got the NUC right after its release I was hoping for newer kernels to fix some of these problems, but they didn't.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#123

Post by awinder »

I ran a windows pc connected to a tv for a while and ultimately decided that it was a lot of upkeep and hassle. Some of it was that I was using one of those infinitv cable card tuners with windows media center. But a lot of it was the pain of managing upgrades, and dealing with wake/sleep with an ir receiver. It was just always a lot of work.

So I moved to an Apple TV and a server running freenas. Any computer-y stuff basically involves the Apple TV talking to the nas, and I can admin the nas over web ui and ssh. I'm sure you can get remote admin setup with windows for similar experience, but having been on both sides, stuff breaks down all the time on windows and it's just a less-than-stellar OS for the tv.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#124

Post by germinalphrase »

DrNuke wrote: post #64

Trying to sell my mid 2011 right now but market is flooded, you didn't see this a couple of years ago.

My experience as a buyer doesn't match. I've been trying to find a cheap older model just to noodle around with/set up a lightweight media server. Everyone around me are trying to get 2x their practical value, it seems.

But then, I've been keeping a 2009 MBP alive with salvaged parts - so I probably don't adequately consider the apple tax on used equipment.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#125

Post by manarth »

Thrillington wrote: post #101
cesarb wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's one mechanical part which affects the execution speed: the fans. When they fail (or when the heatsink gets completely filled with compact dust), the CPU can overheat and throttle its speed.

I haven't looked at the mini line in a long time, but the whole point used to be that it was passively cooled so your media box didn't generate fan noise while you were watching TV.

I've had a few versions of a mac mini over the last 6 years or so…they've all had fans, although the fans only kicked in when it was under load. For most routine stuff, it's pretty quiet.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#126

Post by ofcrpls »

nottorp wrote: post #17

Speaking of NUCs, are there any that are (a) quiet at load (b) have the PSU integrated in the case? Those are about the only redeeming qualities of a Mac Mini right now, and it pisses me off to no end that no one bothers with (b) on the Wintel side. Edit: please don't explain to me how a power brick that's sometimes as large as the NUC doesn't bother you, it does bother me.

I have a Skull Canyon Nuc and a Zotac EN1070 mini PC. The Zotac is quieter while gaming compared to the NUC and that surprised me.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#127

Post by irq »

Thrillington wrote: post #101
cesarb wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's one mechanical part which affects the execution speed: the fans. When they fail (or when the heatsink gets completely filled with compact dust), the CPU can overheat and throttle its speed.

I haven't looked at the mini line in a long time, but the whole point used to be that it was passively cooled so your media box didn't generate fan noise while you were watching TV.

Most / all Mac Minis have fans. They're usually off and thus silent, but they're in there. And if you kick off a long running high CPU job, they can be very loud.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#128

Post by luckystartup »

I'm confused. That Mac Mini is still amazing. They didn't say anything about wiping the hard drive and reinstalling everything. Maybe there are some problems with the harddrive, so just replace it with a new SSD. Check the RAM and see if any needs replacing. You need to do all of that before you go out and buy a new computer.

I'm using a Lenovo Q190 [1] that runs lubuntu. It's a little slow to start, but everything runs fine. I run Plex Server, Plex Home Theater, Spotify, and RetroPie.

I would gladly trade it for a 2010 Mac Mini. That's crazy. Just reinstall everything and run a scan on your disk and RAM.

[1] http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/desktops/lenovo/q-series/q190/#...

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#129

Post by Symbiote »

ajmurmann wrote: post #84
rwmj wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TBH I've never understood what Apple gets out of selling the Mac Mini. It cannibalizes their own low-end laptops/desktops, and at the same time must be quite a marginal product mainly sold to a small number of hackers who probably put Linux on them.

I've been to countless offices that use Mac Minis for dashboards and CI monitors.

I set one up at work for this purpose, but using an old, unused Mac Mini.

If I'd needed something new for refreshing a couple of web pages, I'd have bought a Raspberry Pi or similar. Would anyone really buy a Mac Mini, new, to do this?

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