Heartland

I should maybe have confined this to the geek anvil but I though it might get missed there

I’m looking for a 2010 mac mini for home entertainment, and have managed to track one from what looks to be a reputable and knowledgeable trader. In short, I need it for:

· Viewing movies (DVDs & online sources) via HDMI through a 42� TV and via 3.5mm jack to an analogue amp
· Online use: Youtube, Spotify, facebook etc.
· Downloading video / audio files & copying them onto DVD/CD (legally of course!)
· Converting files from flac, zip, rar etc.
· Storing a large quantity of video & audio files
· The Sisters – in my face – and my guests’ faces - whenever I feel like it

As I’m new to Macs, I have a few questions for those who know.

This seller offers to partition the drive to accommodate Mac and Windows OS, with a ‘drag & drop’ files between partitions option. Sounds ideal, but I imagine this will swallow up a lot of drive space (out of only 320Gb). Besides that, is such a set-up likely to be problematic?

As I plan to store a lot of files, do you think 320gb will be sufficient for file storage, especially with Windows alongside the Mac OS & all the other software? There is a 500Gb option listed in the technical spec but I think that’s just for the server version? I suppose there’s always the external drive option.

And is there any real advantage of Lion over Snow Leopard? I have a choice but know nothing about either, apart from Lion costs a bit extra and, in terms of animals, I prefer snow leopards to lions!

Any feedback, discussion, debate most welcome...

You know you want to

As for storage, 320 on the Mac itself is plenty. All additional stuff you can put onto an external drive, better for back-up purposes and all that too, I'd say. I store all my movies on a network drive (with over-the-air-access via an AirPort) and if I'm getting a new Mac I consider to put my music on there as well in a centralised library. We'll see about that one.

Drag and drop between windows is definitely nice, as a starter you'll want to do some things on Windows still, but it'll be pushed towards the background sooner than you think.

The newer the Mac OS the better! Don't doubt about that!

Is James informed yet?

As I plan to store a lot of files, do you think 320gb will be sufficient for file storage,

Never ever for a large quantity of audio and video files - you'll need at least 1TB onwards for this. Better get some kind of NAS or external USB harddrive(s) where you can store/archive data you don't always have to access to.

I use a 8TB (6TB usable because of RaidZ5) NAS at home since a year and I'm very happy with it. Thanks to GBit LAN the performance is pretty neat so it usually feels like an internal harddrive.

What they said.

Storage capacity will depend on the format you have the music in too.
If it's all mp3 for example you won't need a massive amount of onboard storage.
I would consider an external HDD though & use Time Machine to schedule automated backups to it. That way you can make sure you don't lose anything important.
& don't worry. Time machine is included in the & although snow leopards are prettier, Lion is a fabulous OS.

Also, if you're dual-booting, I would suggest a smallish partition (6-10 GB) for each OS and then use the rest of the HDD as a data partition, available from both OSes.

Thanks for the advice people, though I had to look things up before I could undrstand some of it And yes, James has been informed I've contacted the seller but have heard nothing back so far - I just hope nobody buys the bloody thing while I'm waiting. As for networking - nice idea but it's away beyond my capabilities, so I'd probably go with an external drive. The dual boot set-up certainly appeals but I'm a bit wary of the risk of viruses - I take it having both OSs would leave the mac (and al my files) open to possible infection via Windows and require all the usual precautions.

I'd say only the Windows bit would be vulnerable and you'd only need to keep this safe as per normal requirements. As Macs don't have BIOSes in the traditional sense, I don't think your average virus could dig that deep. Just getting rid of the Windows partition would wash the virus away. Or is this huge disinformation on my part?

Finally got it A 2010 mac mini with 8Gb memory and 128Gb solid state drive. Just booted it up for the first time and eventually managed to get online with a hiccup or 2. Still no idea where everything is and am still in the process of customising it so i can actually read the display without having to shove my face in the screen...

take of the sunglasses

congrats to the purchase

Just saw it on FB! Enjoy!

Congrats at your new mac.
Don't worry, in 2 weeks you 'll get used, in 3 weeks you 'll abominate any other OS and finally after a month, you 'll get so used to it, that you will start to use wrong keyboard-shortcut at regular PCs. (Alt + C , Alt + V lol)

BTW, Once you go Mac, you never comeback

One of my son's changed school today. At the new school, every kid gets a new MacBook. I will play with it it a bit

rian wrote:One of my sons changed school today. At the new school, every kid gets a new MacBook...

Christ. On. A. Bike.

Really? I'd heard some things about Sweden, but this really takes the biscuit...

Some things are pretty good over here, some are not!

rian wrote:Some things are pretty good over here, some are not!

True. You can certainly keep your state-owned off licences and incredibly priced bars...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 98617.html Not saying Microsoft ain't evil but just saying...