[Grandpa]

I need to replace my old desktop & am contemplating getting a mac mini. I don't play any graphics heavy games, but at the same time don't want to find myself needing to replace my new one in 2 or 3 years if I can help it. My main concerns are;

1) Is it worth loading the max 2Gb ram in the mini, or would 1Gb be ample?

2) Is the 1.83GHz model worth the extra money when compared to the 1.66GHz model?

3) Is it a good idea to pay for a larger hard drive or would it make more sense to wait until I run out of space & then add a firewire external drive?

I've read a lot of the threads about minis & have found them very helpful, but would appreciate any extra advice that you could give me.

Thank you.

[mduell]

1) Yes if you run more than ~3 apps at a time. No otherwise, unless you have really memory hungry apps.

2) No.

3) The latter.

[C.A.T.S. CEO]

1. Yes.

2. No.

3. Bigger internal. I desided to get a 80 GB HD in my MacBook (Should have gotten it with a 100 GB HD and upgraded the RAM later).

[Grandpa]

Thank you for your advice Mark & C.A.T.S. After much thought I may now put off buying a mini until next year when Leopard is released, but your comments are still very much appreciated.

[mac128k-1984]

Originally Posted by Grandpa 

1) Is it worth loading the max 2Gb ram in the mini, or would 1Gb be ample?

Yes, definitely. memory upgrades are not considered user upgradeable on the mini and its best to keep your warranty intact which means buying it with 2 gig. It seems non-UB applications require double the memory, for instance if office wanted 1 gig to run nicely you'll need 2 now,

2) Is the 1.83GHz model worth the extra money when compared to the 1.66GHz model?

No, the actual speed increase is not woth the price increase.

3) Is it a good idea to pay for a larger hard drive or would it make more sense to wait until I run out of space & then add a firewire external drive?

Get as large as you can internally and then use an external drive.

Mike