Mac Mini and iPhones to escape Sony & Windows?

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1) The PC and Sony phones my family use are all approaching (or long past) the upgrade stage.

2) I finally heard about the Mac Mini (yes I know they've been around for ages)

3) I never wanted an iPhone unless I could make the jump to a mac desktop

So.... is it worth making the switch to the new Mac Mini and getting on the iPhone train?

Current PC specs
Windows 7 Home Premium
AMD Athlon(tm) IIX2 215 Processor 2.70 Ghz
3 Gb RAM

My typical current PC usage
Lots of web browsing
Some low-tech video editing (I make a 90 min clip show for friends once a year)
Other members of the family play online flash games
My interest in games doesn't extend beyond Valves Orange box :)

Previous Mac Experience
Not much... though back in the early 2000s i worked on a (now long defunct) music magazine and used Quark Express on what may have been a G4.
 

chscag

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2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
You do realize that if you buy a Mac Mini that you also need a monitor, keyboard, and mouse? Any modern monitor should be OK to use and most USB connected or wireless mice will likewise be OK. However, we recommend a genuine Apple keyboard either connected or wireless.

You don't necessarily have to buy an iPhone just because you have a Mac. Other smart phones will work with your Mac. However, if you wish to sync with iCloud and iTunes you would need an iPhone.

You asked if it was worth it? Many of us have come over from Windows and a good number of our forum members use both platforms. The choice is really yours. I believe once you start to use a Mac you won't want to go back. I do suggest though if you have an Apple store nearby or even a Best Buy, that you go on in and play around with the Macs a bit.
 
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Thanks for your response... I already have a monitor which I believe is compatible and a nice new wireless keyboard. Not sure if my mouse is compatible.

If I had a Mac I'd probably need to use iTunes to manage my music I've used it on the PC and found it horrendous but I've been told that it performs/functions far better on Macs since that was it's original platform.

The reason I thought of iPhones as well is that they seem to be increasingly ubiquitous and despite my love for the Sony interface the lack of peripherals/add ons or indeed even a hard case for my current phone is often a pain.

Plus my eldest child has been begging for an iPhone and/or iPad forever...
 

chscag

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Plus my eldest child has been begging for an iPhone and/or iPad forever...

LOL, well in that case... it looks like you're about to be indoctrinated into the world of Macs and iPhones. :) Just get him/her an iPhone 6+ which has a large enough screen to use almost like an iPad.

The mouse is very likely going to be compatible, however, the wireless keyboard unless it's specifically made for OS X, might give you some problems. And don't forget that you'll also need speakers for the Mini.
 
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After Long long discussions with my oldest child and with a Mac devotee at work I'm contemplating the following set-up

1) - New Mac mini with 8GB 1600MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM
2) - iPhone 4s 8gb for my eldest
3) - Liteon external drive
 

chscag

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2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
Sounds good except the iPhone. If possible, get a later model iPhone. You should be able to get an iPhone 5 without too much of an increase in cost. The 5c and 5s are going to be more expensive, however, if you can afford one of those, go for it.
 
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Having a had a brief trip to New York ( and yes I did go to the apple store but weirdly couldn't find any Mac minis??) finances are now a bit stretched.

So.... I may have to go for the Mac Mini basic model with the following spec

"1.4GHz dual-core Intel Core i5, 4GB memory, 500GB HD, Intel HD Graphics 5000"

I'm aware of how Mac architecture is different to PCs so it's difficult for me to know if this would even be capable of running something like Steam. Not that I'm hoping to run any HUGE games but it'd be nice to play Black Mesa Source.

Am I clutching at straws?
 
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Your Mac's Specs
2012 Mac Mini 2.5 ghz i5, 16 GB RAM, 960 GB SSD + 500 GB HDD (5200 RPM)
The Mac Mini is based on laptop components. The cheap entry uses a low-voltage laptop CPU. These are good for battery life and to control heat. Now in a desktop obviously you don't have battery so that part is kind of moot. These things are able to clock up to a regular CPU's speed (Intel markets it as TurboBoost) and while there is definitely a performance hit vs. a CPU that doesn't need to clock up, it's still an i5 CPU which means it is a pretty good chip.

To answer your question: yes Steam will run fine. 4 GB RAM is not ideal but the games you mention are very old and are not likely to have issues. Intel graphics chips are not supported by the Source engine though and Valve games (Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, etc.) are some of the only games I've had major issues with (the HD 4000 cannot render flame effects properly in the source engine) but the games are still playable besides the weird visual artifacting you get from that. Presumably if you're considering gaming on this kind of hardware, you won't really care either as long as the games work. It may be fixed on newer Intel chips like the HD 5000 that comes with the 2014 Mini, but I've not tried it firsthand so I couldn't say.

Mac internals are pretty similar to PC internals. Apple gets custom jobs from Intel on their CPUs, but it is usually fairly easy to match up their CPU offerings to Intel's consumer chips. Their traditional hard drives are a little slow (5400 RPM) but 500 GB+ has enough drive density that it usually performs fairly well (albeit not as well as an SSD or hybrid type drive). OS X throttles the Intel IGP (the HD 5000) and it won't perform as well as it does in Windows (I don't know why Apple does this. Must be a power consumption thing) You won't notice it if you're stuck with 4 GB of RAM though. It was only after upping to 16 GB that I got significantly better performance out of my HD 4000 under Windows than when I'm booted into OS X but w/e Windows is just for games anyway. OS X is for work lol.
 
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2019 iMac 27"; 2020 M1 MacBook Air; macOS up-to-date... always.
Thanks for your response... I already have a monitor which I believe is compatible and a nice new wireless keyboard. Not sure if my mouse is compatible.

Any USB mouse will work fine in OS X. You would need a 3rd party driver to make the most of a 5-button mouse though.

If I had a Mac I'd probably need to use iTunes to manage my music I've used it on the PC and found it horrendous but I've been told that it performs/functions far better on Macs since that was it's original platform.

I doubt that very much. iTunes can be a great way of managing your music, but you really need to fully understand all its options and features as well have a good understanding of how the metadata tags work to make the most of it.

After Long long discussions with my oldest child and with a Mac devotee at work I'm contemplating the following set-up

1) - New Mac mini with 8GB 1600MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM
2) - iPhone 4s 8gb for my eldest
3) - Liteon external drive

An iPhone 4S with only 8 GB of storage would be a VERY POOR choice. If you get anything, no less than 16 GB will do unless you expect him/her to literally do nothing but make calls, check email, and text. There is just very little free space there, especially with iOS 8. Additionally, the display size isn't the "tall" one that is now standardized across the models released since the 4S. You'd basically be buying into a dead-ended model. At the minimum, consider an iPhone 5 with 16 GB of storage (a 5S with 32 GB would be even better and will hold up longer for future needs), unless you just reallllly hate your child. LOL!
 
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Thanks for the info... i'm relatively settled with the mac mini idea (depending on my finances etc) and with a bit of googling I've found some a second hand iPhone 5 32Gb which seems a better option.
 
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I missed the chance for the 5c 32Gb... and mot of the other 5Cs were out of my price range

So I got a 4s 16gb that looked as near mint as any piece of tech can for £110/$170. My daughter is ecstatic with it (not least because of the "My Neighbour Totoro" case I also got for her. She even updated to iOS 8.1.2 via Wi-Fi without any help so all seems to be well.
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So I'm now contemplating getting one of the "hobbled" 8gb iPhone 4s deals mobile suppliers are offering for £15/$22 a month with no upfront cost.

The only apps I use are Facebook/Messenger, Google books and Kindle. As well as music/podcasts.

So will the iOS 8.1.2 install leaves me with 2 or 3 GB free?
 

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