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TheVoiceOfBob

This is starting to become very tempting. Small, quiet, powerful, and I can Boot Camp to Leopard or WinXP. (Linux too if I wish) I'd like to know if there is anyone out there using one, especially if they are using it in Windows for their audio work. Obviously that's where all my software is, but I like the ability to play with both if I decide to transition over to doing the work in the Apple world.
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Mike Sommer · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 7:37 pm Post subject:

I've contemplated the idea of a Mac Mini a few years ago (though I'm already a Mac user). I just liked the idea of have a second computer for just voice work. For you it might be the way to go (breaking into Mac), as for a Mac you can't beat the price, but max out the ram (2 G cool

and get the 160GB hard drive for it. If you don't you'll wish you did, the OS can be power starved with out it.

Oh and remember you're going to need a mouse, a mac keyboard, and monitor.
by then you're almost at the cost of the 20" Imac
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Yoda117 · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 9:21 pm Post subject:

Thought about it... lack of expandability killed the idea.

What Mike said was correct, and I think that they the iMacs just got a nice nod from the folks at Consumer Reports (might be wrong, but Apple did get the best nod for desktops, one of the worst for laptops... not 100% on which model since I read it for all of 3 seconds).
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georgethetech · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 10:12 pm Post subject:

Ironic that Apple got a poor rating for their laptops, wonder what it was based on? Did you know that the Macbook Pro was found to be the best notebook computer to run Vista? Yeah, no kidding!
Anywho, I can say that the Mini is an excellent, reliable, and capable little machine. You really need to think of it as a laptop without a screen or keyboard, because the guts are based on laptop componentry. I use one attached to my home theater and it has replaced my DVD player, Dish tuner, DVR, CD player, Mp3 player, list goes on....
There are numerous film production sound mixers using Minis on their cart as a primary or secondary recording system due to compactness and power efficiency. They really are remarkable computers. AND they are actually upgradeable, if you aren't afraid to crack open the case. You can upgrade RAM and CPU.
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Yoda117 · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 10:29 pm Post subject:

I'm not sure what it was based on George, as my own experiences with Macbooks have been quite positive, whereas their tower systems have been somewhat problematic.

BTW: just a disclaimer, if you crack open your case to a mini for an upgrade, you've voided your warranty.
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georgethetech · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 10:36 pm Post subject:

When the Macbooks first hit the streets, they had numerous problems, but now are well tweaked and generally trouble free.
Yes, it does void the warranty. But by the time you need to do an upgrade, the warranty is usually expired anyhow. Not for everyone, but the adventurous user on a budget, it can be done. Do buy it fully loaded with Memory. I do consider Applecare to be mandatory on any Mac you plan to keep for more than 1 year, and when quoting I add it into the price for a more realistic idea of costs. It's pretty cheap on a Mini, I think $160 or something.
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davidmonteath · Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 1:38 am Post subject:

I have had a Mac Mini running in my studio for the past 9 months and have never had any sort of problem or noise issue at all.

I do take the point about expandability and so added a 750gb Iomega hard drive to the stack which is slightly noisier, but quite honestly, when I'm recording I don't hear it on the track and none of my clients have ever mentioned it at all.
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ricevoice · Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 5:36 am Post subject:

We had Mac Minis running ProTools in a couple of the production studios at my last radio station. They worked fine, though we made sure not to put any audio or porjects on the hard drive... EVERYTHING went on an external.
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jasbart · Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 6:49 am Post subject:

I've been using a Mac Mini since September '07 when I moved into a very small office without the luxury of a second room for my G4 tower (appropriately nicknamed "Wind Tunnel").

I haven't had a moment's problem with the mini. It's whisper quiet, and certainly fast enough for voiceover. I use it with an Mbox 1/ProTools, about 3 feet away from my mic. It's quieter than my MacBook (my road machine that I run with Mbox2 mini).

I run both machines on Mac OS X 10.4.1, so can't comment on Windows. I also can't comment on how well Pro Tools runs on Leopard, which I have no desire to upgrade to. Most new Mac Minis or Macbooks will come with Leopard installed today.

Did I mention cheap? Haven't checked lately, but my mini cost around $500 (maybe less) from MacMall, no tax, no shipping, bunch of free stuff you probably don't need.

Jim
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TheVoiceOfBob · Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 7:17 am Post subject:

Thanks for all the input.

Since I work on a campus, we see and support all different flavors of Apple products, so I'm familiar with the hardware. I needed that assurance about using it in our arena.

I might grab one of ours here and give it a test drive. We also recommended to our users that they max out the RAM and HD, so they all have 2Gig and 160Gig. I'm very comfortable with Adobe Audition and have a license for the Windows version, so I figured I could use it to dual boot and run stuff in Windows yet give me a chance to transition in case I want to.

Plus I can get a student rate on the purchase.
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The Voice of Bob