Question - MacMini or iBook?

[noam17]

If you had to choose, would you buy a macmini or an ibook? I heard that burning isn't great on the mini? is this true? can you do video on the mini?
I'll appreciate it if you give me your opinion!!

[blazer]

I would choose the Mac mini but if money isn't an issue and you want portability get the iBook. Burning on the Mac mini is acceptable and on par with the iBook. Sure you can do video on the Mac mini but you need to get all the memory you can afford and Superdrive if you want to burn DVD's.
_________________
1.42GHz Mac mini
2.0GHz Core 2 Duo Mac mini
2.0GHz Core 2 Duo Mac mini (2009)
2.5GHz Core i5 Mac mini (2011)
24" Dell LCD & 42" Sharp TV
EyeTV 250 Plus
1G, 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G iPod nanos
16GB 3G iPhone

[noam17]

Thanks - see i was wondering, in terms of performance, which is better? and with a SD are both the iBook and Mini the same? Plus, wireless networking is a big deal - is the mini the same as the iBook in this as well?
Thanks again.

[nalenb]

I don't have wireless on my mini, but I bet the reception is better with the ibook. If price isn't an issue, I'd get the ibook.
_________________
Mac mini powered up on 2-11-2005

[blazer]

The mini "1.42ghz" is probably a tad faster than the iBook. There were some benchmarks that had it tied with the Powerbook before it was just updated.
_________________
1.42GHz Mac mini
2.0GHz Core 2 Duo Mac mini
2.0GHz Core 2 Duo Mac mini (2009)
2.5GHz Core i5 Mac mini (2011)
24" Dell LCD & 42" Sharp TV
EyeTV 250 Plus
1G, 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G iPod nanos
16GB 3G iPhone

[John]

For what it's worth, I'm very pleased with my Mini as a DV editing station. I bought the advanced model with 512MB RAM. If you already have a decent monitor, it's still a whole lot less than an iBook. I used the savings to buy Final Cut Express and several other tools to support producing multimedia projects on DVD.

[noam17]

Thanks for the good advice - however I still have some more question:
1) There are very few orts (USB, Firewire...) and although the iBook has the same amount, it dosent have a keyboard and mouse connected. Once both the keyboard and mouse are connected, you have very few ports to connect with, only two in fact; 1 USB 2.0 and 1 Firewire. Do you find this hard to deal with, when connecting iPod, iShight, digital camera's, camcorders, ect.?

2) Again on the CD/DVD burning issue; I read in this Forum that to burn a music CD with iTunes took 1/2 and hour!?? And some one suggested that it might be because the bottom of the CD is blue/purple. However, when burning DVD's the bottoms of the DVD CD's are purple! So even if I have a SD it would take about an hour to burn a DVD?!

3) How long do you think that the mini will stay "current". Meaning that it won't be to slow to run new applications. For instance, PC's are good for about 2 years - how long will it be if before I have to get a new mac if I buy the mini and how long will it be if I buy the iBook?

Thanks again!

[John]

I'll try to answer your questions as best I can.
1. Ports. iBook or Mini, if you want to have more than two USB devices attached, you'll need a hub. I have a seven port D-Link hub. Plugged into it are my printer, scanner, Contour Shuttle Express (jog control for video editing) and two digital cameras. My single Firewire port is conected to an external disk drive, but like most such devices, it has an additional port for daisy-changing Firewire devices. My iPod cable is usually plugged into it. My Apple keyboard is plugged into the other USB port. The keyboard has two USB ports, one is vacant, the other provides connection for my mouse. As you can see, that's a lot of stuff hooked to a Mini!

2. Burning. I don't burn CDs, but I can tell tell you the Mini burns DVDs quite well. Buy 4x media and you'll get close to 4x burning. 15-20 minutes for a one hour DVD. A full DVD should burn in 30 - 40 minutes, but I've yet to put two hours of video/data on a DVD.

3. Longevity. If you have to have the latest & greatest, I suspect you'll need to replace your Apple as often as a Wintel PC. But shop for used Mac's on eBay & you'll discover they hold their value much better than Wintel PCs. It's like shopping for a used BWM vice shopping for a used Chevy. Note that both the Mini and the iBook are currently G4 computers, so they are starting off even in that regard. But here's the kicker: equip Mini and iBooks as follows and the Mini is $800 bucks cheaper:
512MB RAM
80GB hard drive
SuperDrive
Apple Mouse/Keyboard for Mini
If you already have a monitor, that's money in your pocket. If you need to, you can get a 19 inch CRT for $200 & still have $600 left over. If you do not need the portability of a notebook, the Mini is the way to go.

[nalenb]

1. I think you have to have a usb hub. I have my kvm (with hub) plugged into one slot and a belkin 4 port hub in the other (stay away from the belkin one FSU234, it has problems when the mini powers up and I constantly have to reset the thing). This give me enough ports to plug in mouse, keyboard, kvm, card reader, printer, ups, dvd burner and another mouse I'm trying out.

2. I don't have a super drive. My external LaCie seems to be about the same length of time as my Windows dvd burner. CD's seem to burn in the right amount of time.

3. No idea. I'd expect it to be about the same as other kinds of computers.
_________________
Mac mini powered up on 2-11-2005

[blazer]

What more could you want get the Mac mini!
_________________
1.42GHz Mac mini
2.0GHz Core 2 Duo Mac mini
2.0GHz Core 2 Duo Mac mini (2009)
2.5GHz Core i5 Mac mini (2011)
24" Dell LCD & 42" Sharp TV
EyeTV 250 Plus
1G, 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G iPod nanos
16GB 3G iPhone

[epic_ed]

My 2 cents. Pick the 1.42GHz Mac mini but wait until Tiger comes out.

[blazer]

[noam17]

[blazer]

Your Welcome!!
_________________
1.42GHz Mac mini
2.0GHz Core 2 Duo Mac mini
2.0GHz Core 2 Duo Mac mini (2009)
2.5GHz Core i5 Mac mini (2011)
24" Dell LCD & 42" Sharp TV
EyeTV 250 Plus
1G, 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G iPod nanos
16GB 3G iPhone

[noam17]

Another questions about burning: I read somewhere in this forum that since the mini does not have an anti-buffer or somthing you can't work/play/edit video on the mini while burning. Is this true?
And if someone has any comments about wireless networking, burning, video and anything else about the mini [pros and cons] I would greatly appreciate to know about it!
Thanks!