mac mini

I'm thinking about replacing my MacPro bought in March 2007 with a mac mini. I don't do videos but I do work with photographs and Adobe CS4 & 5. Any tips pro and con would be appreciated. Thanks.

I have a 2009 Mac Mini that I will gladly trade you even up for your Mac Pro.

Seriously, the new Mac Mini Server with the Quad core i7 is a fairly powerful little machine. Not sure I would personally go that way but if space is a major consideration it might be a good move.
Upgrading RAM on the new Minis is dead simple, and I believe they top out at 16GB (though Apple only claims 8GB).

Yes, space around the desk is a minor issue. I was told that I would not need to upgrade to another MacPro because it offered more power than I need. Since 2000, I've upgraded my Macs every 2 or 3 yrs to keep up with my client's OS. Now that my MacPro is 5 yrs old I began worrying about it dying from "old age." Should I even worry about that at this time? Any opinions on a reliable external HD at least 1T? Using a 5 yr old Iomega 250GB.

My 2007 MBP is still running strong. I wouldn't worry about it dying, just be dutiful about backups.
As far as recommending an external drive. Most of mine are Seagates and Western Digitals but don't know if they are any better than the rest.

I am using a fully beefed up MacMini but not the server version because I needed the better video card so that I could use it to drive all my media. It is my media server via iTunes and AirPlay. I upgraded the processor as far as I could, the RAM as far as I could and the Hard Drive as far as I could. I didnt need a monitor because it is plugged into my main stereo system (7.1 and >1000 watts) and 65" 1080 HDTV. Doing all that, I spent over $1200 on the Mini (with wireless KB and track pad).

If it were just for my desk, I would have gone with an iMac - more power in the video and processor for the same money. But that is not what I needed.

I do think there is plenty of power in the MacMini to do what you are looking for. As for my externals, I just happen to have Western Digital drives.

many thanks

I truly appreciate the tips and feedback from Razormac and Deckyon.
Mahalo.

limu99 said:

Now that my MacPro is 5 yrs old I began worrying about it dying from "old age." Should I even worry about that at this time? Any opinions on a reliable external HD at least 1T? Using a 5 yr old Iomega 250GB.

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My son is using my G5 Mac Tower that I bought in December 2005 and it is working fine. I wouldn't worry much about reliability on your Mac Pro. I would think about replacing a five-year-old HD, though. I've had excellent luck with OWC Elite Pro FireWire cases with whatever drive (WD, Seagate, Hitachi) was on sale at the time.

I had a LaCie external raid die on me when it was two years old. Lost two years of motorsports photos when that happened. I figure it must have been the power supply that scrambled the drives, because the unit would not turn on and I could not recover the data when I placed the drives in a different enclosure. Luckily I had the photos backed up on DVDs, but copying them to new hard drives took forever.

When you replace the Iomega buy a drive with a long warranty. If the manufacturer is confident the drive will last 3-5 years I would be confident my data is safe for that long; but I do have multiple backups now.