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Dogwood
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Joined: 23 Feb 2013
Posts: 3
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 Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2013 4:29 pm Post subject: Forced to retire 10.4.11 Power PC mini... Now what? |
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I purchased it in Feb of 2006. A friend said I should have waited. I've come to know why.
I used it for Cubase music recording, normal pre-iPhone surfing and some photo and itune stuff. 3 years ago I fell in love with Turbotax and now they have abandoned the version compatability. Plus I can't even sinc my G4 iPhone, among other inconveniences.
But I fear that even the base version of the new Mac mini with mountain lion will be overkill. I suppose $600 + 90 for the CD driver is no great expense to keep everything in the "family".
Or I could buy a used 10.6.8 (?) snow leopard mini as a get by measure. Is that even upgradable? Info out there seems to lay out Lion as being the only safe standard anymore, if my interpretation is correct.
Or change over to a windows laptop, for kicks.
I wonder if anyone has a suggestion with respect to the obsolescence factor of my Mac options. In a nutshell.
Thanks. |
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Bandit Bill
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Joined: 07 Jun 2005
Posts: 5805
Location: Edmonton, AB, Canada
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| Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2013 7:07 pm Post subject: |
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An Early 2009 or new Mac mini is Mountain Lion capable. If you are going to go used, you want that as a minimum if you want the option to upgrade to Mountain Lion down the road.
A 2009 mini will also let you run non Intel based software (with Snow Leopard and Rosetta). You can also run the latest version of iTunes with Snow Leopard and sync you phone etc.
The only real benefit of Mountain Lion is iCloud. You'd need iOS 5 or greater on your phone to support iCloud.
If you buy a new mini, plan on buying new software. |
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Smithcraft
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Joined: 09 Nov 2008
Posts: 3031
Location: Seattle
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| Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2013 4:29 am Post subject: |
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You can either try and find a decent used mini, or just a refurb mini from Apple.
This would be the cheapest one at $469 -> 2.3 GHz i5 with 2 GB
They sometimes have 4 GB models for $489. Might be cheaper to by the base and upgrade it yourself to 8 or 16 GB.
SC
_________________
Grumpy old man of computing.
[Desktop] G4 mini - 1.5Ghz 1GB 80GB HDD - Newer miniStack v2 500GB - 10.5.8
[Media System] Intel i5 mini - 2.33Ghz 8GB 500GB HDD - 4 x Hitachi 2TB HDD in a qBOX-SF - 10.7.5 (Thanks Phil!)
Make sure it has pins! |
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philiparcario
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Joined: 19 Jun 2006
Posts: 4570
Location: Howell NJ USA
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| Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2013 4:38 pm Post subject: |
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there is no need to spend 600 plus 90 for a dvd player. you can buy from new sellers the 2012 model for 563
http://www.jr.com/category/computers/desktop-computers/apple-macintosh/mac-mini/
no tax to all but new york use code FEBSAVINGS get $10 off so the machine is 553.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151263
this will work 30 bucks total of 583. if you have a discover card and link to jr.com 5% cash back so the 583 drops to 556. all new all good sellers.
putting in ram is very easy but you get 4gb so test drive it for a week to see if you need to buy ram. 556 is much less then 690
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2010 Mm 2.4 C2D oem 320gb hdd 8gb ram
2012Mm base 2.5 with 16gb ram diy fusion drive
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Smithcraft
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Joined: 09 Nov 2008
Posts: 3031
Location: Seattle
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| Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2013 3:50 am Post subject: |
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Apple also has the 2.5 GHz i5 mini on refurb for $509.
SC
_________________
Grumpy old man of computing.
[Desktop] G4 mini - 1.5Ghz 1GB 80GB HDD - Newer miniStack v2 500GB - 10.5.8
[Media System] Intel i5 mini - 2.33Ghz 8GB 500GB HDD - 4 x Hitachi 2TB HDD in a qBOX-SF - 10.7.5 (Thanks Phil!)
Make sure it has pins! |
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Dogwood
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Joined: 23 Feb 2013
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2013 12:14 pm Post subject: |
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I've tracked onto Bandit Bill's idea of a model from 2009. Thanks BB, kinda what I was driving at, post-wise.
Still seems to be a $400+ machine, but it sometimes comes with mountain lion and still has the original cd drive integrated, two pluses.
I see a lot of bidding for some 2009 used minis on eBay.
This still makes me think that if I cannot find a great used mini that won't become obsolete soon, for around $225, then I should be shopping new with apple care.
Thanks for the replies. |
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Bandit Bill
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Joined: 07 Jun 2005
Posts: 5805
Location: Edmonton, AB, Canada
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| Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2013 2:49 pm Post subject: |
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| Dogwood wrote: | I've tracked onto Bandit Bill's idea of a model from 2009. Thanks BB, kinda what I was driving at, post-wise.
Still seems to be a $400+ machine, but it sometimes comes with mountain lion and still has the original cd drive integrated, two pluses.
I see a lot of bidding for some 2009 used minis on eBay.
This still makes me think that if I cannot find a great used mini that won't become obsolete soon, for around $225, then I should be shopping new with apple care.
Thanks for the replies. |
You are welcome.
The biggest factor to consider is Cubase. It's a $500 program (correct)?
Do you plan on updating this software? Do you plan on continuing to run it on your G4 mini or do you want it to run on the new machine.
If you go to mountain lion, you are done. It won't run on ML.
If you get a machine 2009 or newer that originally shipped with Snow Leopard, we could easily help you set up a dual boot machine. You can run Snow Leopard and Mountain Lion. If the machine is too new (ie. shipped with ML pre installed, you do not have the option of running Snow Leopard or your Old version of Cubase.
Let us know your thoughts. Happy to help. |
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gooser
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Joined: 25 Feb 2013
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2013 11:38 pm Post subject: |
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| i notice that bandit bill recommends an early 2009 mini for the original poster. but wouldn't a late 2009 mini or an early 2010 also work? both can run 10.6................................can't they? |
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Bandit Bill
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Joined: 07 Jun 2005
Posts: 5805
Location: Edmonton, AB, Canada
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| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 12:22 am Post subject: |
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| gooser wrote: | | i notice that bandit bill recommends an early 2009 mini for the original poster. but wouldn't a late 2009 mini or an early 2010 also work? both can run 10.6................................can't they? |
Yes they can. I mentioned early 2009 as a minimum, because that is the oldest mini still capable of running Mountain Lion. Newer is better, just don't get one that came with Lion or Mountain Lion preinstalled or you'll never get it to run Snow Leopard (or at least not reliably). Mid 2010 at the latest is what you would want. Basically don't get one with an i5 or i7 processor, but newer than Early 2009.
Mac mini "Core 2 Duo" 2.0 (Early 2009)
Mac mini "Core 2 Duo" 2.26 (Early 2009)
Mac mini "Core 2 Duo" 2.26 (Late 2009)
Mac mini "Core 2 Duo" 2.53 (Late 2009)
Mac mini "Core 2 Duo" 2.66 (Late 2009)
Mac mini "Core 2 Duo" 2.4 (Mid-2010)
Mac mini "Core 2 Duo" 2.66 (Mid-2010) |
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Dogwood
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Joined: 23 Feb 2013
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 1:09 am Post subject: |
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Duel boot, now there's an idea I hadn't given much thought to. Easy enough to keep separate though, if I want to run my old machine for access to any of it's contents on it's own. But, just in case, you're saying that snow leopard will accept crossover from my 10.4.11? Like desktop, harddrive, storage, programs, iTunes, etc...
Compelling and useful, if possible. |
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Bandit Bill
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Joined: 07 Jun 2005
Posts: 5805
Location: Edmonton, AB, Canada
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| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 1:20 am Post subject: |
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| Dogwood wrote: | Duel boot, now there's an idea I hadn't given much thought to. Easy enough to keep separate though, if I want to run my old machine for access to any of it's contents on it's own. But, just in case, you're saying that snow leopard will accept crossover from my 10.4.11? Like desktop, harddrive, storage, programs, iTunes, etc...
Compelling and useful, if possible. |
That's what I'm saying.
"Normally, applications intended for Mac computers based on PowerPC processors don’t work on Macs based on Intel processors. But if you install Rosetta, you can use applications intended for PowerPC-based Macs."
Snow Leopard allows you to install Rosetta. Mountain Lion does not. |
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