Which mac mini ?

tfdesign

I am not on Mac so cannot be trusted

Quite right!

but integrated Intel chipsets are well known to be problematic with SU.

This is of course utter nonsense, and seems to be a current theme from those who use Windows machines (mostly everyone on SketchUcation ).

Mac Minis are very small, and although they contain Intel i5 processors, they'll never be as powerful as a top of the range PowerMac with 16 cores and 32gigs of RAM.

Now to build a steel-clad fort to fend off the oncoming siege from windows fanbois hurling ninja-style killer copies of Windows 7 at me.

Gaieus

That integrated Intel chipset was about the graphics system, not about processors. I would try to avoid them either on Windows or Mac.

tfdesign

Okay. I got you. But that also applies to PC's too.

Avoid anything that says Intel GMA etc!

The NVidia or ATi ones are the best

Gaieus

@tfdesign said:

Okay. I got you. But that also applies to PC's too.

Yes, obviously.

chedda

Thanks Gaieus for the confirmation so i'll opt for the high clock speed and dedicated graphics card quite looking forward to my cute little machine. Now i will get the thunderbolt display envy i can see it coming ! Although it's hard to justify being almost the same price as the computer !

Over at macrumours i have a similar thread running where a poster tells me both cores show activity on his machine while he is running sketchup , just to confirm one last time even the mac version of sketchup uses one core ?

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1255429

I'm looking forward to creating 3d worlds from within the tardis like mini..........

Gaieus

Well, I do not know Macs but from whatever John Bacus product manager says all over the different forums, SU is strictly a single core application. Yet the other core(s) may still process other things (like OS and such) so they need not necessarily be idle (but at least a whole core can handle SU then).

Anssi

AFAIK all i7 processors support Turbo Boost, so that the power of an otherwise idle processor core can be used to overclock the core that has activity. That is too what can be happening here. I have a PC with a 2.8 GHz 4-core i7, and it feels quite snappy with SU, much, much faster than an old 2.8 GHz Pentium IV.

Anssi

tfdesign

If you're paranoid about the i5 processor, you could always try a Hackintosh instead!
(this article is quite 'old' )

http://lifehacker.com/5815715/how-to-build-a-hackintosh-mini-for-less-than-600

chedda

Thanks guys it's ordered arrives tomorrow ! Got the i7 dual core @ 2.7 with the amd graphics card & 7,200 rpm drive. Everything's falling nicely into place i have some weekend work in another office so it can easily travel with me. The 12 core beast can stay in the man cave obediently rendering.

A hackintosh is almost impossible to match the form factor of a mini ! Plus i'd be haunted by Steve J for an eternity !

tfdesign

You know the great thing about Macs are that you can link them all together (including your old G5), and the networked result turns them into a super-cpu!

Have fun with your new tool. I know you will!

Jean Lemire

Hi Chedda, hi folks.

And nothing can refrain you from installing Windows 7 using Bootcamp on your Mac Mini.

You will then have two computers in the same box.

Just ideas.

chedda

First day of use was perfect I am very pleased with the purchase. I was working with a large model for a competition. When orbiting etc it didn't go into wire frame even with many dwg's in the viewport shadows were a little slow updating though but I rarely use them while modelling. I am very pleased with the machine as a whole even after the infamous apple tax ! It caused quite a stir in the office and disbelief in its abilities given the form factor. It didn't get hot or use the fans which was surprising. Also autocad for Mac ran seamlessly.

Jean you pre-empted my next move. I will install parallels desktop & windows 7 next so I can access the high poly features of 3ds max. I am going to be short on ram though. The big question is do I future proof it with 16 gb or take the budget route of 8 ? I have a feeling that 8 gig sticks are going to drop in price this year.

tfdesign

I've got Windows 7 on my Mac too. It a good operating system, much better than XP (but of not as good, as OSX of course!)

8 gigs is plenty, but if someone is happy to pay for you to go to 16 gigs, go for it!

However, watch out for the damn Shockwave Flash plug in. It has a memory leak in it, and if you have a lot of ram, it will eat it if you are running a browser (like Safari or Firefox). Therefore it's wise to get the "Click to Flash" plugin installed to halt Flash in its tracks.

I'm pleased your office colleagues had a good experience. I had a very similar experience too. They thought the computer was a hard drive!!! There was complete disbelief when I had it up and running!

Tom