The Official Headless iMac Thread

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Originally posted by MrDigital
Didn't last year's iMac cost $1300? I guess it's cheaper. :)

And aren't most Tivo's only 40GB? At least they were at one point. So I'm not sure what the beef with the storage is. 40GB will hold a decent amount of videos, especially with illegal DVD divx rips coming in at around 700MB.

I'm not entirely sure what I'd use it for, but that hasn't stopped me from buying crap in the past.

-MrD

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Hehe. I'm saying it's like buying last year's iMac TODAY. Like, if you were to get it off eBay. You know, last year's iMac spec wise..

Tivo's do start at 40GB. But that's 40GB JUST FOR Tivo storage. You know, with an OS and other computer stuff...well, 40GB goes pretty fast. Plus, you don't have any TV input, so you can't really use it as a Tivo unless you get some USB/Firewire toys to play with it.

Haha. Your last point there is the good one. I do that all the time.

Again, DVI doesn't mean you can only use one DVI-D monitors, there are adapters (and Apple sells many of them) for all sorts of outputs from DVI (Component, Composite, S-video, standard DB15, etc.)

I think Apple's idea with this is to capture PC users. I walk into a store and say...wow that's one sexy Mac, and it's cheap. I can also use the keyboard, mouse and monitor I already have just like if I were to buy this Dell over here. (Of course, the same could be said of any Mac, but this pricepoint makes it more the case).

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DVI has component analog built in. Something like this does the trick:

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Not always. Sure DVI-A can but real TV style DVI does not carry component. DVI-I (PC style) can but in this case it is rare as only two lines of cards support it - the 9500/9600 and the 9700/9800.

Not to mention the video card in this system is not officially on the list for the ATI dongle. I think that someone over at Avsforum got it working but it is not official and I doubt this would be an easy task with a Mac.



Apple may have had some foresight. Considering that they use a stock 9200 I doubt it will work. However after looking at it, it may be able to work with a normal VGA - Component transcoder. Still sucks that Component is always overlooked for machines like this. Have to cludge something together to get it to work.

it comes with a DVI-VGA adapter. I think it should come with a ps2 to usb adapter for the keyboard if they are trying to get people to use thier PC parts. but other than that I think its pretty slick. Im thinking about getting one to play with OSX

1) No matter what else I say, it is freaking cool, at least in principle.

2) 2 USB ports? That's it?? KB + mouse and they're gone. That leaves one more port, if your other peripherals even use firewire.

3) The SFF bit is really cool, and is no doubt engineered very well. Still, they could have fit a lot more power (and more ports - USB, video out, sound out) into that $499 price point by making it just big enough to use standard desktop parts. Of course, this is based on the assumption that the Mac mini uses SO-DIMMs, 2.5" hard drives, and lappie-thin opticals.

Ok, first of all, this isn't just a HTPC, so name any video card that has component outs built in. Second, it's 6"x6"x2"... how does anyone reasonably expect more things to be packed into this package? It doesn't have some 200 MHz G3. They're cooling a 1.4 GHz G4 in this size - that's amazing - and you can get a DVD-RW drive (Superdrive). If it uses standard desktop parts, it'd be at least 3 times as tall and waste a lot of space.

It's easy to cram a ton of these things on a 12x14 motherboard that is this tall with just the RAM (never mind the CPU HSF, even for a P3 Tulatin or what have you).

As far as USB...nearly every Apple component that goes on your desktop has more USB outputs than inputs (monitors, keyboards etc.). You can also get Bluetooth or a hub.

Name anything at this price, near this size that has what you guys want this to have.

It's not even SFF...it's about 1/3rd a PC SFF box.

Finally, Apple sells a S-Video and Composite adapter for it - component probably is possible in this case.

Too many models. Much confusion. :eek:

New Mac Mini looks promising for a simple setup, no?

Best pic ever:

https://www.sharkyforums.com/

EDIT: In case you can't tell, that 7 of the new Mac-Minis stacked up next to a 'real' PC.

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Originally posted by AstroCreep
Best pic ever:

http://images.apple.com/macmini/imag...ck20050111.gif

EDIT: In case you can't tell, that 7 of the new Mac-Minis stacked up next to a 'real' PC.

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That's not even a 'real' PC.. it's an HP! :D Seriously, HP desktops use smaller cases and MicroATX boards.

So that's 7 mac mini's vs. a mini-tower, not even the basic mid-tower most custom builders use.

-MrD

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Originally posted by MrDigital
That's not even a 'real' PC.. it's an HP! :D Seriously, HP desktops use smaller cases and MicroATX boards.

So that's 7 mac mini's vs. a mini-tower, not even the basic mid-tower most custom builders use.

-MrD

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Yeah, I just found the pic/sizes to be entertaining. ;)

Seriously though, that is the thing that would get me to use/familiarize myself with the 'Mac-World'; a good price point for what appears to be a decent system.

BTW, it does turn out that at that price it will be 256MB, but it's upgradable to 1GB. ;)

1) I paid $500 for my xbox and a few games, same for ps2, so even if thought of as just another console box, this could have a home in my tv room.

2) Apple had quality problems with the cube and the titanium notebook due to problems manufacturing cutting edge designs, so I'd probably hold off purchasing for a couple months and avoid potential "early adopter blues". I'm sure there are plenty of rabid apple fans to fill the order books in the meantime.

3) If I was a rich guy I'd try to cluster a few of these babies just for fun. Maybe NeXt year they'll be cheap enough on ebay.

4) Ju$t what I needed, another iWant to lust after!

Only 2 USB ports = Need for USB hub to be used, perhaps. :)

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Originally posted by Ramuman
It's not even SFF...it's about 1/3rd a PC SFF box.

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Not only in size, but in functionality, expandability, and performance.

It still looks purday, don't it? :D

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Originally posted by Bearded Kirklander
Only 2 USB ports = Need for USB hub to be used, perhaps. :)

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Most mac keyboards have two usb plugs on them, helpful if you are just upgrading from another mac.