buy new or repair & upgrade

Hi there,
I have a mac mini with OS 10.4.11 , processor 1.83 GHz intel core duo and memory 2GB 667 MhZ DDR2 SDRAM.
My dvd burner and player recently totaly let me down after having acted funny for a while. As the machine itself is still working fairly fine, i enquired about replacing DVD burner and while i'm at it, maybe upgrade to the new OS system.
But it seems the whole thing would cost me about 350€ when a new mini would be around 500€. So what is worth doing?
i'm not an expert when it comes to processors and stuff but, would a new computer be better? is my machine that out of date?
If I were to buy a new one, would there be a way to "connect" the two machine so that i could one more for photos and movie editing and the other one for music without having to plug & unplug to a screen?
thanks a lot in advance for advice or opinion,
much appreciated!

If all you really want to do is repair your Mac Mini...you could purchase an external DVD drive, and you would be good to go.

- Nick

Hi I had thought of that, but i had bought the mini because it's small and tidy, didn't really feel like adding another piece on my desk (already have external HD).
plus quite felt like getting the new OS.

tubaobu said:

Hi I had thought of that, but i had bought the mini because it's small and tidy, didn't really feel like adding another piece on my desk (already have external HD).
plus quite felt like getting the new OS.

Click to expand...

It sounds like you know what you want to do. Just get the new mini. You might even be able to sell your old one for parts or to someone who doesn't want/need the disc drive.

yes, I know what i want. new drive + new Os. really, question was if it's better to get new mini (is it better?) or repair & upgrade.
anyone know anything about the 2d part of the question? connecting the 2 minis together?
thanks for your quick input pigoo3 & MYmacRox... really appreciate

You didn't give your location...but it sounds like you're in Europe somewhere.

You can purchase an external DVD drive for $64.99 here in the U.S.:

OWC Value Line USB2.0/1.1 SuperDrive up to 2... (VLU2SD22X) at OWC

Not sure what it would cost you on your end. But this would be the the lowest cost option.

You haven't really said that you [size=+1]NEED[/size] a newer & faster computer...a low cost option like an external DVD drive may make the most sense, although it will take up a bit more space (but your Mini & the external drive could be stacked) to save space.

- Nick

I'm not quite sure if you can. If they both have Firewire or Ethernet on it, then most definitely. If you already have an external HD, depending on what size it is, you could just back everything you need to move up there.

I would buy a new mini. It looks as if the repair is going to cost close to the cost of a new machine, so I would buy a new mini.