andrew carter

I’ve almost always had a powerful desktop machine at home. It started with gaming. By necessity, you needed a powerful machine. I typically was building my own machines so I could focus on getting the biggest bang for the buck. Once I got back into the Mac, I started with a PowerMac G4 Dual 1GHz. At the time, this was probably the middle of the PowerMac machines. I upgraded that to a PowerMac G5 Dual 2.7 a few years later.

I began to augment my main machine with a laptop starting with a Powerbook G4 15″ (which I still have). I had Windows laptops from work that were always pieces of garbage. The Powerbook was the first laptop that started to shake my desktop bias. Then I got a MacBook Pro last November. That’s when I started to really think seriously about going laptop all the time.

Earlier this year, I found a buyer for my G5. I decided to sell it for a couple reasons. The first was that the Intel transition was changing the Mac landscape much faster than I think anyone thought it would. Add in virtualization and the PowerPC machines quickly had little value. Given how much the G5 cost, I wanted to get something substantial for it. My intention was to buy a new MacPro. However, I felt at the time that the MacPro was due for an update (and rumors were pointing at that) so I decided to wait. In the interim, my MBP became my primary computer with only an old Dell PowerEdge as a second Linux machine.

It’s been a good and bad experience with the laptop as the primary. But I think I turned the corner and am mostly comfortable with it. The big problem was my work habits had to change a little. I treated my laptop in the past kind of like an iPod — it was always a snapshot of data from a master (in my case, my G4 or G5 desktop). Also, I have enormous iTunes and iPhoto libraries (200 GB and 20 GB). These don’t fit so good on a laptop.

I still want the MacPro as the ultimate multi-boot option (OS X/Linux/Windows). But I’m just not sure I can justify the cost. I have one at work and it is a monster (and I only have the 2.6). I will have a hard time bringing it to its knees for awhile. I run VMWare heavily on it. At home, I do more media processing but I do some development. What I think I really need is a Pro class single Core Duo 2. Something like the MacPro but with slightly less and lower cost. Like the lower end of the Dell XPS line.

However, Apple has never offered this machine. I had little hope that the event this last Tuesday would address what I wanted and I was mostly right. The iMac is close but I don’t want another screen. I upgrade machines and like to repurpose them. iMac’s are good as a desktop only. That leaves the Mac Mini or a non-Mac option.

Why do I want a second machine? Well, sometimes I want to run things that take a long time to do (video conversions usually). I also like Elgato’s EyeTV and would like to record video using that. My laptop is a poor choice for all of these. I’d either be chained to the desk when I’m running these or competing with some intensive processes for time to do anything else.

I found two options. The Mac Mini Intel Core Duo 2 2.0GHz or the Dell XPS 410(n). The mini loaded to the max (2GB RAM/160GB HD) comes in at $963. It’s as good as the machine will ever be. Intriguingly, the base specs are very similar to my MacBook Pro except that my MBP has a 2.3GHz and a much better video chip. Is it safe to assume the raw CPU performance of the Mini is on par with a MBP?

The Dell option highlights the real problem with the Apple hardware lineup. I found two XPS 410 configurations I liked - 410N with Ubuntu (2.4GHz/2GB/500GB) for $930 and a 410 with Vista (QuadCore 2.4GHz/2GB/500GB) for $1329. That means $400 buys another two cores and 0.4GHz per core. Vista of course would be nuked for Linux.

On the surface, the Dell is the clear winner. It is much more hardware for the money. Factoring in software capabilities, the Mini gets better. OS X is a big plus. I have and like EyeTV (Linux has the less refined MythTV). The Mini can be an iTunes server (although RhythmBox on GNOME supports DAAP serving except for DRM tracks). The Mini will use less power and space in my home office.

So, I’ll have to decide how bad I want to run the Mac software stack I guess. I wish Apple had a $1200 “Mini Expandable Pro” or entry MacPro in this price range. Instead, they have a gaping hole. For those of us that think an iMac is not a solution, there is a hole from the top end Mini of ~$900 to ~$2200. That’s insane. At least nail $1500. Apple is practically telling me to buy a Dell.

I’ve been hoping to see some reviews of the new Mini but so far nothing. I wish I could see some benchmarks showing me how fast (or slow) the Mini is. It seems like it would be an excellent workhorse for processing jobs like I described. I’d add firewire hard drives for storage of video. I could also find lots of other uses for a Mini even if I do get a MacPro eventually. The XPS as good as it is might not be enough better than my PowerEdge (P4 2.4/2GB). The PowerEdge makes a very good Linux machine. But I’d have similar problems sharing it with processing jobs when I use it for development.