Help buying a Mac Mini

[Burninator]

So iTunes is making me want to punch puppies right now. It freezes up all the time on my Windows 7 machine. I would stop using it, but I have two Apple TVs and I like them very much. But when it's freezing between songs for 30-60 seconds and doing the same thing every time I try to browse through my videos it's more than a bit annoying. I've tried fixing iTunes on my computer, but can't. I don't really feel like installing Windows again just to fix stupid iTunes. Plus if I do fix it, who to say it won't happen again?

So I was thinking of solutions, and this is what I came up with. Buy a Mac Mini and plug in my external hard drives and basically use it as an iTunes media server for my content.

A refurbished Mac Mini is $650, which is a lot. It's a decent enough computer that I could use for day to day use if I wanted. But it's still a chunk of change for my purposes. This seems like a decent deal on Kijiji here for $600.

Or I buy a second hand Mac Mini on Kijiji on the cheap. There are ones for $125 and $200 right now. Here and here. I am just not familiar with Mac computers at all. I see that they have an Ethernet port and 2 USB ports which is adequate (mouse, keyboard and hard drive could be an issue though...) But is the hardware good enough for my purposes? Is the software up to date enough to run the correct version of iTunes? Is there anything else I should know?

I found this link that has all the Mac Mini models listed here.

Is this a good idea? Overkill? Is it worth it to buy a new one and take advantage of the Apple ecosystem?

[silentsim]

The G4's are *very* old, and no longer supported since everything is Intel. I would recommend getting the newer model, as it is quite powerful, and will do 1080p video and what not flawlessly if you decide to hook it up to a TV.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by silentsim

The G4's are *very* old, and no longer supported since everything is Intel. I would recommend getting the newer model, as it is quite powerful, and will do 1080p video and what not flawlessly if you decide to hook it up to a TV.

Yeah...my biggest concern with a G4 being used specifically to feed AppleTV's is that they will drop PowerPC support from iTunes and then you are stranded.

It's not if they drop support; they most certainly will - the writing is on the wall since 10.5 is the last PowerPC version of OS X.

[CKPThunder]

Originally Posted by Burninator

Or I buy a second hand Mac Mini on Kijiji on the cheap. There are ones for $125 and $200 right now. Here and here. I am just not familiar with Mac computers at all. I see that they have an Ethernet port and 2 USB ports which is adequate (mouse, keyboard and hard drive could be an issue though...) But is the hardware good enough for my purposes? Is the software up to date enough to run the correct version of iTunes? Is there anything else I should know?

I may be off base here since I'm a basically a Mac newbie but aren't the G4 Mini's limited to OSX10.4 (Tiger) and if so they could only run iTunes 9.2 I believe. If you want something that will run the latest version of iTunes, then I would suggest getting something a bit newer. Tuaw.com had a report today that Lion will not support anything before a Core2Duo.

I'm sort of in the same boat since I would like a device hooked to my TV where I can watch my shows but I also need a browser so my wife can go to her sites that watch specific video's that youtube doesn't carry. I thought about the Mini but I may wait a bit to see what GoogleTV has to offer when it finally arrives to Canada.

The Mini will probably be refreshed in a few months and from what I have been reading it will probably have similar specs as the MBP 13". When this comes out, you could pick up a new one then or have your pick of the many 2010 models that will be up for sale.

[llama64]

Before you go out and "blow your wad" on a Mac Mini just to act as a media server, you may want to investigate why your current machine is behaving like that. I use Windows7 with iTunes without a hitch, no lag and no freezing.

Sounds to me like it's either: 1) running out of memory (should have 2+ GB at least) 2) having network communication issues 3) something disk related.

Are the two AppleTV's connected to the server via wireless network or wired? I wouldn't exclude your router from analysis either - especially since spending 700$ on a new mini wouldn't fix anything in this case.

[Rathji]

I agree. I have never had any problems with Windows 7 and iTunes.

I would look to see if there are other causes of your problem before automatically dumping money into a new computer (Mac or PC)

[MickMcGeough]

What you should do is buy my 2010 MacBook Pro

Really though, the best streaming media experience possible on the AppleTV is to jailbreak it and install XBMC, then use a NAS (or anything, really) for streaming.

[Burninator]

Alright I won't bother with any of those really old ones. No point spending money on something that won't be supported for very much longer.

Originally Posted by llama64

Before you go out and "blow your wad" on a Mac Mini just to act as a media server, you may want to investigate why your current machine is behaving like that. I use Windows7 with iTunes without a hitch, no lag and no freezing.

Sounds to me like it's either: 1) running out of memory (should have 2+ GB at least) 2) having network communication issues 3) something disk related.

Are the two AppleTV's connected to the server via wireless network or wired? I wouldn't exclude your router from analysis either - especially since spending 700$ on a new mini wouldn't fix anything in this case.

I'd be ok with spending a hundred bucks on something to act as an iTunes Media server, but 600-700 isn't something I would jump right into. I would use it for other computer purposes. But I agree with you, it's much cheaper to get it working on my computer first.

I blew out iTunes and rebuilt the library. I added all my music and movies, no issues. I then started adding my TV shows one show at a time, and one show lagged up iTunes (I was restarting iTunes after every show I added, It took 30 seconds or longer to load up with that show added.) So I kept that show out and added everything else. iTunes was working fine. "Homesharing" is required to use the newer model of the Apple TV. I turned that on and it froze up again. It's working a lot better than it was before, but it's laggy.

I have 4GB of RAM (32 bit Windows 7), it's a wireless connection to the Apple TV's. I haven't changed anything with my setup except for adding more content to iTunes. How could I check if it's my network/router that is messing it up? I have a lot of content, could that be the problem?

[llama64]

iTunes becomes laggy on the PC when you turn Homesharing on? That definitely smells of a network issue. Simplest way to verify if it's your network or not is to try changing the network hardware. Try a wired connection, a different router, etc. Not the most helpful advice, I know...

Apparently a lot of people are having issues with iTunes since the last update, issues that sound similar to what you describe. I'm unsure if this site can be trusted, but you may have luck trying an older version of iTunes (10.0 from sept for instance): http://www.oldapps.com/itunes.php

The TV show problem you describe sounds confusing though. My initial thought is that it's trying to copy the file into your library (this is a setting in the preferences) which will slow down the entire computer for a while depending on the size of the video file. It could also be trying to convert the video to another format - both are heavy disk operations which could cause iTunes to become unresponsive and appear frozen.

I'd double check the preferences to make sure iTunes doesn't nothing but simply add the file link to it's index. When adding a new video, keep an eye on the disk activity to see if it spikes. May also want to watch the CPU activity as well.

[OldDutch]

Originally Posted by Rathji

I agree. I have never had any problems with Windows 7 and iTunes.

I would look to see if there are other causes of your problem before automatically dumping money into a new computer (Mac or PC)

I have an issue with iTunes (latest version) 64-bit n Wndows 7. It takes like 15 hours to upload my 2000 songs to my iPhone. It doesn't hang, just takes forever.

I had the exact same issue on my 32-bit Win XP machine with the last version of iTunes. I then upgraded to the latest on my XP machine and it works fine now. I stopped using my Win 7 machine for iTunes though.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by llama64

iTunes becomes laggy on the PC when you turn Homesharing on? That definitely smells of a network issue. Simplest way to verify if it's your network or not is to try changing the network hardware. Try a wired connection, a different router, etc. Not the most helpful advice, I know...

Try turning IPv6 on (or off if its already on).. that has, oddly enough, helped quite a few people.

[Burninator]

*BUMP*

So I am thinking about this again, not to solve a problem, but to give Mac a try. I see on Kijiji that some people are selling their 1.83 Ghz Core 2 Duo for around $300. This seems like a lot of money for a computer that is 4 years old. Is it worth saving a couple hundred dollars or should I just go with the new unibody designs? People are selling used ones for $500-$650. I'm sure a refresh is around the corner, so maybe I can save some money on the current unibody when they come out. Thoughts?

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Burninator

*BUMP*

So I am thinking about this again, not to solve a problem, but to give Mac a try. I see on Kijiji that some people are selling their 1.83 Ghz Core 2 Duo for around $300. This seems like a lot of money for a computer that is 4 years old. Is it worth saving a couple hundred dollars or should I just go with the new unibody designs? People are selling used ones for $500-$650. I'm sure a refresh is around the corner, so maybe I can save some money on the current unibody when they come out. Thoughts?

That model Mini supports a max of 3GB of RAM unofficially, and only 2GB in a "real" config. I'd skip it. OS X is really, really happy with 4GB of RAM, and I can't imagine Lion running well on less.

Also, those 1.83 Ghz boxes were only $600 new, so do you really feel right paying half the cost for a 4 year old machine?

The new unibody ones are what I'd look at.

The Mac Mini is a nice little box, I've had one running now 24x7 for close to 6 years, that has had hard drive upgrades, CPU upgrades, RAM upgrades, etc. My next machine at home will probably be another one.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

That model Mini supports a max of 3GB of RAM unofficially, and only 2GB in a "real" config. I'd skip it. OS X is really, really happy with 4GB of RAM, and I can't imagine Lion running well on less.

Also, those 1.83 Ghz boxes were only $600 new, so do you really feel right paying half the cost for a 4 year old machine?

The new unibody ones are what I'd look at.

The Mac Mini is a nice little box, I've had one running now 24x7 for close to 6 years, that has had hard drive upgrades, CPU upgrades, RAM upgrades, etc. My next machine at home will probably be another one.

Thanks, that's what I was thinking. I know Apple products are suppose to hold their value well, but those prices seem crazy for such an old machine. That's good to know about the RAM, I would want to be running the latest OS. I will see if I can find a good deal on a used one or wait till they are refreshed.