Mac-Mini posts

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Switchers, Apple, Mac mini, Mac OS X Server

Macminicolo writes up their state of the Mac mini

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Oct 22nd, 2009

Steve Sande actually did a brilliant job of explaining just why the Mac mini is so awesome the other day (and we've certainly had our share of mini-love here on the site before), but this is worth a read as well if you're interested in Apple's littlest Mac. Macminicolo, the very company that Steve lauds in his piece for colocating mini servers for a while now, has posted a "state of the mini" piece, complete with unboxing of the new mini server, pictures of its guts and how they all work together. If you've ever wondered why the mini is such a marvel of desktop OS X-ness, check out their writeup (and drool at the beautiful setup above -- so many minis!).

There are a few good things to take away from the big release this week -- while Steve is exactly right that releasing a mini server means Apple is getting on the server bandwagon, it also means that Apple is officially on the mini bandwagon. When these machines were first released, they were marketed as a switchers' computer -- bring your own mouse and monitor, and we'll show you what being on a Mac is like at a fraction of the cost. Frankly, they never shined at that purpose, prompting many people to proclaim death sentences for the little machine that could. But by releasing a server, Apple's saying, "we get it." They get that the mini is much more of a workhorse than it appears (or was meant) to be. In my mind, that's a whole new lease on life -- the mini may have never made much of a splash as a switchers' computer, but it's got a long future as a tiny but powerful computer you can use for all sorts of things.

[via DF]

Tags: apple, apple-hardware, df, hardware, mac-mini, mac-mini-server, macminicolo, monitor, os-server, state-of-the-mini, switcher

Filed under: Desktops, Hardware, Switchers

Report: 12% of US households own a Mac

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Oct 5th, 2009

A new NPD report says that 12% of US households now own a Mac of some kind. That's a nice gain -- just a year ago, back in 2008, the same stat was at 9 percent, so Apple has made nice jumps just in the last 12 months. But before you start crowing about Apple's impending superiority, here's another fact that might have you thinking twice: of those households, a whopping 85% also own a Windows computer. In fact, 66% of those Apple households actually own three computers or more. So many more Apple owners own more than one computer, and of those, it's pretty darn likely that one of them is still a Windows PC. That's certainly the case at my house (I own a Mac mini, a MacBook, and a PC), and I bet it's true for lots of you Mac users as well.

There is good news for Apple in terms of iPods however: 63% of Apple-owning households also have an iPod on hand, though I'd question whether that's chicken or egg: do they own an iPod because they owned a Mac or vice versa? Additionally, Apple users are more likely to have navigation systems in their cars, they're more likely to earn over $100,000, and they're likely to have twice as many gadgets as other users -- 48 gadgets on average for Mac owners, compared to 24 for the average consumer household.

While those stats are interesting, none of them seem super surprising -- Apple has a reputation for high-end gadgets, and so anyone who seeks out their products is going to pick up some other gadgets as well.

Tags: apple, gains, households, ipod, laptops, mac, mac-mini, npd, npd-report, research, statistics, survey

Filed under: Software, iTunes, Music

CoverSutra updated to be faster and Snow Leopard compatible

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Sep 24th, 2009

I picked up CoverSutra a little while ago in a bundle purchase, and I generally liked it -- it's an iTunes controller with the added features of regular notifications with album art, a music search, and Last.fm scrobbling. My one complaint with the software was that it was a bit of a CPU hogger -- my little Mac mini chugged right along trying to keep it running, and I occasionally had to turn it off completely if I was doing something else CPU-intensive.

But maybe with newly released version 2.2 they'll have fixed that problem -- not only have they made the app fully compatible with Snow Leopard and iTunes 9, but they've beefed up performance, taking advantage of all available CPU cores and, they say, dramatically loading album artwork and searching music faster. I haven't tried it yet, but if you've had the same problems with CoverSutra I have, it's worth picking up the new version and testing it out. 2.2 is of course a free upgrade to current users, and the app itself is available for $19.95.

Tags: album-artwork, coversutra, cpu, itunes-9, mac-mini, performance, snow-leopard, update, version-2.2

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Hardware, Software, Odds and ends, TUAW Business, iPhone, App Store

Talkcast reminder: Potluck night tonight

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Jun 28th, 2009

Our weekly interactive podcast goes live at 10pm Eastern this evening, and it's going to be a potluck night on the show -- you bring whatever you want to talk about, and we'll bring our own casserole of TUAW news from the last week. We'll definitely talk about the new iPhone 3GS: how fast it is, how Find My iPhone really can help you find your iPhone, five things you might not know about the phone (if you didn't read that post yet), and, errr -- how fast it is. The speed is such a big story we'll talk about it twice!

Plus, you'll probably hear us wax poetic on how much we love the mini, and we'll talk about our "stickiest" iPhone applications -- apps we just can't help but load up that "one more time." Should be a lot of fun -- definitely tune in and join us at 10pm Eastern this evening over on TalkShoe.

To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client, or you can try out the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VOIP lines (take advantange of your free cellphone weekend minutes if you like): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *-8. Talk with you then!

Recording support for the talkcast is provided by Call Recorder from ecamm networks.

Tags: app-store, casserole, find-my-iphone, flight-control, iphone, iphone-3gs, mac-mini, mini, mini-love, phone, podcast, potluck, speed, talkcast, tuaw-talkcast

Filed under: Hardware, Reviews

The ViBook, additional displays via USB

by Brett Terpstra (RSS feed) on May 11th, 2009

I reviewed the Village Tronic ViDock a while back, and I was happy to have the opportunity to take a look at one of their more entry-level solutions for adding additional monitors to machines without an additional video port. This one, the ViBook, is a USB-to-DVI solution.

As was the case with my previous experience with Village Tronic products, I was duly impressed by their classy packaging. But I won't dwell on the shell here (no more rhyming, I mean it!). The device itself is compact, well-engineered and, yes, shiny. It connects to your computer via a standard USB cable plugged into any powered USB 2.0 slot.

It's designed to connect in one of several ways to the monitor: directly attached to the monitor's video port via a compact male-to-male adapter, via a cable directly connected to its embedded female adapter, or -- in a related manner -- via a short cable with the body of the device semi-permanently mounted on the back of the monitor with the included cradle and 3M adhesive pads. It's designed well enough that no matter where you put it, it will fit nicely and stay put (it has a studded rubber base, too). It is, by the way, both Mac and PC compatible. Read on for the rest of the review ...

Continue reading “The ViBook, additional displays via USB”

Tags: displays, Mac Mini, Mac-Mini, MacMini, monitors, Village Tronic, VillageTronic

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Humor, Peripherals, Apple, Mac mini, MacBook, Mac Pro

Goodbye, FireWire 400

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Mar 4th, 2009

As Macworld notes, this is it for the ol' Firewire 400. With the introduction of the new Mac mini the other day and the refresh of the Mac Pro and iMac lines, the old version of Firewire is left only on the white MacBook. It's evolution at its finest, and our good friend Nilay Patel over at Engadget put together this perfect video showing just how hard it is to say goodbye to yesterday.

As I said on the Talkcast a long time ago when this was first hinted at, it's not a huge loss in my eyes. This is an outdated standard, and if you've got anything sitting around that absolutely requires a FireWire 400 port (and you've already upgraded completely to a computer that doesn't have one), then it's time for an upgrade. Those happen, you know -- there's a reason they're not selling Polaroid film any more. Besides, FW800 ports can easily drive your FW400 gear with a $8 cable.

Nostalgia, however, is a powerful force. So it's with a damp hankerchief and wet eyes that some of us will bid farewell to FireWire 400. Long live FireWire 800!

Tags: apple, firewire, firewire-400, mac-mini, nostalgia, photography, ports, upgrades, white-macbook

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Rumors, Apple, Mac mini

Apple to mini fans: "Be patient."

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Nov 6th, 2008

A distraught Mac mini fan (it wasn't me, though I would be distraught to hear that the mini was really, truly dead -- which it isn't yet) apparently called Apple to get the story on the little computer that could, and apparently was told to "be patient." If you believe AppleInsider's interview of an unnamed guy who claims to have spoken to an unspecified Apple representative who may have overheard some unclear plans for an unspoken time in the future, then the Mac mini may be getting a revamp soon.

Still, a little something (whatever it means) is better than nothing -- the mini hasn't seen an update or even been mentioned by Apple since last year. Part of me just kind of wants to leave it all alone -- maybe if Apple forgets they're even still selling the mini, they won't ever kill it. But I guess if an upgrade is coming, that's good news, too.

Tags: apple, apple-insider, be-patient, customer-service, customer-support, mac, mac-mini, rumor, waiting

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Rumors, Apple, Mac mini

GeForce 9-Series motherboards maybe coming to the Mini

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Oct 27th, 2008

I think that at this point, the Mac mini has moved up into the ranks of the TRS-80 and the Apple IIe as one of my favorite computers of all time. Though it's been rumored dead more times than disco, it's still puttering along as the tiny little computer that could, racking up (we assume -- the mini doesn't carry with it any of the sparkle of the iPhone or the raw beauty of the MacBooks, and so Apple is relatively mum on info) enough sales to keep moving. And there might even be new life in store: Peter Cohen over at MacWorld suggests that after the recent MB and MBP updates, the mini is last in line to ditch the old Intel integrated motherboard design.

Sounds great to us. The mini's so under the radar that you wouldn't even expect Apple to announce an upgrade for it -- it just sort of slipped up to Core Duo 2 the last time it got upgraded, like a cute little baby bear following the family. And it's a versitile little cubby, too, from taking it out to sea to turning it into a Mac Pro mini.

What a great little computer. We hope that the Nvidia GeForce 9-series motherboards do find a home in there, and (more than anything else) that Apple sees fit to remember their roots and keep creative computing with the tinest Mac alive.

Tags: apple-iie, core-duo-2, geforce, mac, mac-mini, macbook, macbook-pro, macworld, motherboard, nvidia, peter-cohen, rumor, trs-80

Filed under: Hardware, Mods, Mac mini

Behold the 24th Anniversary Mac

by Dave Caolo (RSS feed) on Jan 21st, 2008

Forget the TAM. I want this thing.

David Clausen decided to celebrate the Mac's longevity by making something special. So, he gutted the case of a 512K Mac (the case is in great shape, by the way), then inserted the workings of a Mac mini and a grayscale monitor. Add to that a LS-120 floppy disk drive and a custom-built USB microcontroller (to use the original mouse and keyboard), and you've got one badass compact Mac. For more detail, check out the Flickr Set.

All because he wanted to "...experiment with creating a custom USB device." That's one heck of a device. Hey Dave, if you decide to sell these, let me know.

[Via Adam Tow]

Tags: 512k, 512k-mac, hack, mac-mini, mini, mod

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Rumors, Mac mini

Rumor: Mac mini turns Nano in late October

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Oct 4th, 2007

I've had this plan ever since the mini almost died earlier this year, and I'm sticking to it: as soon as I can buy a Mac mini with Leopard on it, I'll do so. And no one's going to stop me-- except maybe Jobs himself. Mac OS Rumors reports that they've heard that as of October's end, the mini is dead-- long live something new called the Mac Nano. Supposedly, the new low-end Mac will be even smaller than a mini (just tall enough to fit a hard drive in), and the enclosure will have a completely new design.

Intriguing idea indeed, even if it isn't quite new-- the Nano name has been floating around for a while. There are four other products sliding out of the rumor mill as well-- AppleTV is rumored to get an update (and a hard drive), and supposedly we'll see a MacBook Nano as well, the long-rumored ultraportable that Apple is supposedly working on-- a.k.a. Rumor #3.

The future of Mac, or wishful thinking? At this point, we have no indication-- Mac OS Rumors is no 9-to-5 Mac (ouch, but they deserve it, don't they?), but they are called "Rumors" for a reason. Either way, I want to buy an extremely small, compact, headless Mac with Leopard on it this fall. Whether it's called mini or Nano doesn't matter to me at all.

Tags: announcements, apple, apple-tv, hard-drive, mac-mini, mac-nano, rumors, ultraportable

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