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Desktops (Apple) Businesses Apple Hardware News

Mac mini Dissection 920

xbasque writes "Smash has a video showing the technique for cracking open a Mac mini safely. Upgrade the RAM and hard drive yourself and save a bundle (ain't that the point of the mini?)" And if you don't plan to take one apart yourself, parvenu74 points out the pictures of exploratory Mac mini surgery on mini-itx.com, writing "From a post: 'The board itself is slightly smaller than Mini-ITX at about 160mm square by our estimations, and includes Ethernet, Modem, DVI/VGA, 2 x USB, Firewire and Audio connectors (sadly not optical).'"
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Mac mini Dissection

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  • by Tarcastil ( 832141 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @02:20AM (#11405426)
    Let's hope it's not hosted on a dissected mac mini. Unless it's overclocked. Then it's OK.
  • by rebeka thomas ( 673264 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @02:20AM (#11405428)
    This was not ripped open. This mac mini was just one motherboard provided to the press for the purpose of looking at its motherboard. MacNews.de aren't the only site with images of that particular motherboard.
  • Can't Wait (Score:5, Funny)

    by TheKidWho ( 705796 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @02:20AM (#11405429)
    To put one of these babies in my car.

    Then put some wicked cool Red LED Lights in the front of the car, and whenever the car talks to me, the red lights act like a visualizer of sorts. Knight Rider here I come!
  • That is cool (Score:4, Interesting)

    by leicaM6 ( 730225 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @02:21AM (#11405431)
    It would make a good brain for a robot
  • Audio in? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by QuantumG ( 50515 ) <qg@biodome.org> on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @02:23AM (#11405443) Homepage Journal
    Is there an actual audio in on the board? Cause there's no socket for it. Apparently this is because there are superior USB devices that work with GarageBand so no-one would use an audio in jack if there was one. What I wanna know is what's the best way to use this as a PVR? Are there USB tv tuners? How about USB high definition receivers?
    • by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) * on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @02:26AM (#11405456)
      Elgato systems sells a number of models of the EyeTV [elgato.com], they even have an HD model! I think it's the best best for PVR style capture. I believe it also comes with PVR kind of software.

      Then you just need to hook it into some kind of IR blaster...
  • HDD Q (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @02:24AM (#11405447)
    So does the Mac Mini use a laptop hard drive or what? It doesn't say anything about the HDD on that page nor the pages that I looked at on the day of the announcement. It would make sense, seeing how the Mac Mini is basically an iBook in a box, but it would kill performance.
    • Re:HDD Q (Score:5, Informative)

      by ip_fired ( 730445 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @03:01AM (#11405618) Homepage
      It appears from the pictures that the ATA100 connector that they have in there is the small form factor found on the ibook/powerbook motherboards, so I would imagine that the hard drive is also a laptop harddrive. This is unfortunate as they aren't as fast as their larger siblings.
      • Re:HDD Q (Score:5, Insightful)

        by GreatDrok ( 684119 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @03:37AM (#11405799) Journal
        You know, I am sitting here using my Apple iBook G4 933Mhz and wondering why people get so wound up about the 'lack' of power in the new Mac mini. The only thing I would do is upgrade the RAM as I did with this iBook (added 512MB for £75 from crucial) which makes the machine nice and snappy. Other than that, the G4 is a great processor because it runs cool (my iBook is currently running at about 40 degrees Celsius and the fan doesn't kick in until it hits 75 so it is virtually silent. Same will be true of the Mac mini. Compare that to a typical cheap PC. Also, my iBook has the same graphics capabilities and a slower CPU than the mini but it is able to play UT2004 at 1024x768 surprisingly well, better than the Geforce4MX my PC came with.

        All things considered, the Mac mini will be a great machine to use and own. Mac OS X works smoothly even on a sub 1Ghz G4 so the mini is going to be ample. More to the point, where my XP Pro box with Athlon XP 2200+ and 512MB of RAM quite often feels slow and bogged down the iBook multitasks much better. I doubt that the slow hard drive in the Mac mini is going to be that big an issue either. Just do yourself a favour if you buy one, get the cheapest and stick some Crucial RAM in it (512MB is the sweet spot). I would get a Mac keyboard but use a standard 3 button scroll wheel mouse and put a good quality 17" LCD on there. That is going to get you a really nice Mac for budget PC money and it will run OS X, something I think is worth a great deal.
    • Re:HDD Q (Score:4, Informative)

      by MemoryDragon ( 544441 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @04:15AM (#11405963)
      Standard Fujitsu Laptop HD... Basically the whole Mac mini has the same performance and speed as an iBook.
  • by Gob Blesh It ( 847837 ) <gobblesh1t@gmail.com> on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @02:27AM (#11405462)
    It's mentioned in the article, but it probably bears repeating here: "Apple states that as long as you do not BREAK your Mac Mini while working on the inside, it is still covered under warranty."

    Left unanswered is the obvious question: well then, if any hardware problems arise, how will Apple know I'm not to blame? Based on my experience getting Macs serviced (4 years in university), I'd say there's really not much to worry about. If you break the RAM slot, then tough luck. But if, say, the CPU dies through no fault of yours, Apple's not the sort of company to refuse to service your Mac on a technicality. There aren't a lot of assholes working for Apple customer service.

    Nevertheless, I do wonder if there's some sort of sticker or seal on the inside to let Apple know you've opened the case.
    • by dr.badass ( 25287 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @02:44AM (#11405541) Homepage
      Nevertheless, I do wonder if there's some sort of sticker or seal on the inside to let Apple know you've opened the case.

      In my experience with PC repair, you can usually tell by how thoroughly the person who brought it in denies having opened the case, which is always in proportion to how broken it is.
    • Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) * on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @02:46AM (#11405547)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • ...a higher wattage CPU...

        We're om /. here so why do you use wattage? Of course you mean power consumption. To any half clued techie, Wattage sounds just as silly as Ampereage, Faradage, Ohmage and Voltage. (current, capacitance, resistance and potential)
    • by earthpig ( 227603 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @03:10AM (#11405670) Homepage
      No, There is just one asshole and he works in Europe Support. it seems that apple service state side and here in europe are two different beasts.
      i bought my power book in the US but live right now in europe. I sent it in for the know problem of white spots on the display. There was some shipping damage and ES (euro support) refused to take any responsibility for it and refused fix anything stating - paraphrasing - give us $900 or we won't fix it, because the damage was not listed in the original service request. but when i got back to the states, thety fixed it no questions asked.

      I was talking to customer service in Ireland complaining about the level of service i was receiving. I had the guy on the phone tell me that he had head the words extortion and blackmail used a lot by people refering to the kind of support from ES.

      Form you own conclusion!
      • by Gid1 ( 23642 ) <tom@@@gidden...net> on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @07:26AM (#11406557)
        In my experience, Apple UK is pretty bad too. I've had hardware problems with every mac I've had recently (my bad luck, I think), and every time it's been a real chore getting Apple to fix it, even with AppleCare. Each time, I've ended up having to call up someone in Customer Relations in the US and have them intervene.

        The last time, my iBook screen went dead while it was just sitting on my desk. I was turned away from the Apple Centre in Kensington on the grounds that I'd bought the iBook at a different store (an Apple-authorised reseller). Apple's telephone support refused to even discuss the fault unless I paid an incident fee, which they assured me would be refunded if it turned out to be a warranty issue (which it did). That is NOT the way warranties are meant to work. My AppleCare-covered PM G4 workstation had a broken SuperDrive which destroyed the hardware test CD with a buzzsaw sound when Apple told me to try it. They wanted me to send them the machine for three weeks, just to replace a £30 part I could have fitted myself in less than a minute.

        Apple US support is great. Apple UK support isn't. I'm hoping the presence of the London retail store might make things easier, at least for us London residents.

        If I didn't rely so much on OS X and its pure superiority to everything else (IMHO), I'd never buy Apple hardware again.
  • mirror (Score:3, Informative)

    by Hes Nikke ( 237581 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @02:36AM (#11405502) Journal
    i have a mirror at http://www.forgottennewbies.com/~natef/macmini-sma sh.mp4 [forgottennewbies.com]

    just in case :)
  • Smash??! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Chordonblue ( 585047 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @02:37AM (#11405508) Journal
    Can I guess Smash's method of opening the case or should I RTFA?

    • Re:Smash??! (Score:4, Funny)

      by lxs ( 131946 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @05:44AM (#11406261)
      You don't have to RTFA but at least WTFV.
    • Re:Smash??! (Score:3, Interesting)

      So, the $500 iMac... NO, not for you - your parents! Imagine XMAS dinner without having to run AdAware first...

      I guess this must be pretty common. First thing I did on Christmas was clean up my mom's computer of viruses and spyware. She runs Spybot Search and Destroy every day but can't understand the concept of having to update the signatures. I wish it had an automatic update like AVG does for viruses. I'd buy her one of these Mac Minis in a heartbeat except the thing she uses 99% of the time isn't

  • by Mercano ( 826132 ) <mercano@gmail.RASPcom minus berry> on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @02:41AM (#11405525)
    Is the slot for the WiFi\Bluetooth card any sort of standard connector? Apple carges $75 for 802.11* ($125 for 802 and Bluetooth), which seems sorta pricy, unless, of course, you need to get an Apple specifc part, at which point it is just a ripoff.

    Yeah, you probably could just hook up a USB 802 adapter, but then you loose some "look how small it is" points.
  • by EnronHaliburton2004 ( 815366 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @02:49AM (#11405564) Homepage Journal
    [evil]

    Dissecting a MiniMac is sort of like ripping the limbs off of your kid sister's Barbie dolls and glueing them back onto your GI Joe action figures ... I can imagine the expressions on their face when they see the all the pieces laying there on the table ...

    [/evil]
  • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @02:49AM (#11405566)
    From the FA:
    the rounded corners should help cramming it into unusual places
    I know I'm going to regret asking, but just what are the usual "unusual places"?
  • by Joff_NZ ( 309034 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @02:58AM (#11405601) Homepage Journal
    $399 Dell PC: "No Wireless"
    $499 Minimac: "AirPort Extreme- and Bluetooth-ready"


    So.... that'd be the "no wireless" option for the minimac too?
    • by Leo McGarry ( 843676 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @03:21AM (#11405724)
      Wireless gizmos come in two parts: the antenna and the guts. The antennas are already built into all Mac hardware. All you need to add is the guts.

      With the Dell, on the other hand, you get neither antennas nor guts. That means that, if you add wireless via a card or some damn thing, it's either going to perform really poorly or it's going to have a big-ass antenna sticking out of it.

      Advantage: Apple.
      • This was always a big point of contention for me. On the dell you could get any (because all network cards work with windows) 25$ 802.11G card that has a small antenna sticking out of the back of the pci slot (you wouldn't notice it if its sitting with its back to the wall). Wheras with apple - even if you had a pci slot you're stuck buying the one or two cards that work with OSX for quite a bit more.
      • Actually, the Mac mini will NOT have the required antennas unless you BTO the computer with AirPort and/or Bluetooth.

        First Mac to do that since the introduction of AirPort.
  • by dcstimm ( 556797 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @03:09AM (#11405664) Homepage
    I had this video for awhile because I am training to be a Apple Portable / Desktop Tech, If you purchuse the $299 Apple Service Training you get this and any other Take apart video for free. THe person that leaked this could be in some serious trouble..
  • by The OPTiCIAN ( 8190 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @03:56AM (#11405889)
    At http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/editors/2005/01/mi niapplesandoranges/index.php I read this:

    """
    But it was only a matter of time before someone would argue, "It's still not price-competitive with the cheapest Dell." And within days we've got our first such columns and articles, all of which leave me scratching my head, wondering if these guys are as bad at comparing products when they shop for themselves as they apparently are when comparing products for their columns.
    """

    I agree. I'm a really recent switcher. I had a second hand mac kicking around years ago (and despised the OS - I ran Be on it), but bought an iBook laptop last Friday. It's my first mac and my first laptop. My justification was that it was cheap, runs unix, has full driver support, especially for wireless networking. I've held off for about two years waiting for a laptop that can deliver that for less than two grand Australian. That's a really compelling formula, and a far better geek computer than a PC.

    To get a happy unix experience on a PC laptop you either pay a lot more money or roll the dice on linux drivers and winmodems. Or you can try and run Windows and put up with the limitations of cygwin or the speed hit of vmware. Yuck.

    Not that it's always been this way. Until recently, Apples sucked. But OS X has become usable and the hardware has a better reputation than it used to - laptops in particular.

    If I were Apple I'd be a bit concerned at the powerbook line - the iBooks deliver so much for so little now the powerbooks don't look very attractive.
  • by SensiMillia ( 217366 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @05:39AM (#11406247)
    What concerns me is the MAC Mini Power supply. As a European my wall plugs give me 220V at 50Hz. I have some American contacts who will be travelling here shortly and can bring me a mac mini. Mac mini sells here at about EUR 500, which is about 25-30% more expensive than $500.

    Does anyone know whether
    - The power supply sold with the Mac Mini's in the US support 220V
    - The power cable is easily replacable with one that fits European wall outlets?

    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=7 50 99 doesn't give me any info. (yet?)
  • by paanta ( 640245 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @11:33AM (#11408366) Homepage
    I have a nice year-and-a-half old PC sitting in my living room, as well as a G4 ibook with a processor running at basically half the speed of my PC. The PC never gets turned on. Rather, it gets turned on by my wife when she can't rip the ibook from my hands, or by me when I need to run ArcGIS or AutoCAD. I'll probably always _need_ a PC around, but I certainly don't _want_ one around. Yes, its clearly a superior machine in raw computing power, but its not really designed to be lived with. Frankly, if I'm going to spend 8 hours a day sitting in front of a computer, I want it to be pleasant to look at and nice to touch and totally silent. I don't want the ugliest thing in my house to be the thing I spend the most time using.

    Would I tolerate a refridgerator that was cold enough to make liquid nitrogen if it also kicked out a 90dB whine? No. Would I ever use a toaster that was 5x larger than it needed to be and so ugly that I had to hide it under a desk? No. Do I want my toilet to blue-screen-of-death on me? Not particularly.

  • by djplurvert ( 737910 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @11:47AM (#11408517)
    It's VERY important that those of you who need PCI slots and super fast processors DO NOT BUY a mac mini.

    You are ABSOLUTELY right. The DELLs come WITH PCI slots, a SUPER FAST intel processor, and BEST OF ALL.....WINDOWS!!!

    If you start MESING WITH WINTEL SUCCESS by thinking of trying a mac now you will only DELAY the arrival of MY mac-mini which I will be ordering soon.

    It is OBVIOUS that any computer that doesn't sound like a 707 when you turn it on is NO COMPUTER at all.

    There is CLEARLY NO VALUE in reducing the size and audible noise of a PC. In fact, if anything, telling the world you have a little cabinet is BAD BAD BAD!!!

    The mac-mini is NOT for you. Please continue to purchase DELLs and whatnot so you have something to show off to your friends while you drone on about expandability, oh, and stop picking your nose.
    • Wish i had your confidence there... The last several Dells I've helped setup and get running had NO AGP slots on the mianboard! Think i'm BSing? Crack open one of their mid- to low-range models and take a peek inside. You can see where the AGP slot is supposed to go, BUT! The slot itself was never installed!

      This is one reason why I urge my clients that buy Dells to overbuild their processor and memory so that Dell will be forced to put in the nicer boards instead of the low-grade POS Intels that they seem
    • How is this flamebait? It's a joke. Hint: look at the third paragraph, and read it again.
  • by tgibbs ( 83782 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @12:09PM (#11408753)
    1. Produce an iPod that runs Keynote and outputs video to a projector.
    2. Incorporate an integrated reference/bibliography manager into Pages.

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