Dwight F Posted June 3, 2007 Share Posted June 3, 2007 A Mini mac with 2GB RAM and a Hitachi 7200rpm 160GB HDD (priced it out this morning and it's only $230CDN w/shipping+taxes for those upgrades). Plenty of power to run and it should work fine on 32-bit, right? But I've got a 64-bit requirement. Anyone here try that yet? What am I going to get? I expect video'll be fine, should even be able to use Aero. How about the NIC and USB? Those are the critical bits. Bluetooth I assume is going to be dead to Vista? I can live with that, I'll just make sure to get a wired keyboard. How about audio, what hardware does the Mini have in there? I'd rather it have sound. What about firewire? That is actually something I'd really like to have too as I can use it for remote debuging with Windbg (some of what I do involves coding kernel mode drivers) but if I have to I can keep one of the USB ports open for that. P.S. If there is any Open Source for stable 32-bit versions of drivers I'll need I'm up for a little porting to 64-bit, depending on the girth of the driver in question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theofan1960 Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Hi, Somebody correct me if I'm wrong but the Mac Minis still uses Core Duos which are 32-bits processors. There are no Core 2 Duo Mac Minis so no 64 bits Mac Minis. You will not be able to run 64 bits apps or 64 bits Windows on a Mac Mini. So you should maybe wait after WWDC to see if Minis are updated or look for another Mac! Hope this helps, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rollcage Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Hi, Somebody correct me if I'm wrong but the Mac Minis still uses Core Duos which are 32-bits processors. There are no Core 2 Duo Mac Minis so no 64 bits Mac Minis. Apple doesn't sell any minis with Core2duo chips, but you can upgrade them yourself if you really want to. You might as well get a macbook or a low-end imac by the time you buy the new hardware though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwight F Posted June 4, 2007 Author Share Posted June 4, 2007 Keep in mind all $$$ in Canadian.... Oops, forgot to mention that step. $335 for the T7200 2.0GHz replacement CPU. That sounds like a lot but in fact it's only about an extra $100 over the cost of the stock 1.83GHz Mini if you buy the 1.6GHz and upgrade it to the C2D. Total cost for the CPU itself is about $1235+tax (actually less than $1200 if I purchase the Mini at a retailer and not the Apple Store online). It is all getting off topic but I'll address the suggestion of getting something else. To break it down: 1) I need more mobility than an iMac provides, regular near-daily movement. However I don't need an infinite number of locations. Two locations, occasionally a third. 2) A smaller monitor just isn't going to cut it. Minimum 1680x1050. I've tried going back, it just doesn't work. That knocks out using the monitor native to laptops on anything but the $3100 model. Sure that Macbook Pro gives you the 2GB RAM and a somewhat faster yet C2D, but the $1900 difference will buy your a couple of nice 1920x1200 LCDs with change. Or a couple of very, very nice 1680x1050 with $500+ to spare. 3) I loath laptop keyboards and anything but a real mouse isn't going to cut it for heavy use. Once again the laptop doesn't buy me anything there. 4) I have another use for the second monitor in one of the locations as a dual screen for another computer (a PC). So by juicing up a Mini Mac this way I'm spending the cash for in one place having something roughly the equivalent to a 20" iMac. But then being able to have a much, much cheaper copy of the hardware easily portable to a second location with everything set up. I also have an LCD monitor that is likely to outlive the use of the computer itself. Anyway, getting back to the original question....anyone know what the NIC is in a Mini Mac? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tried Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 leopard will be a 64 bit os... does that mean mac minis will not be able to run it? i thought the core processors had em64 (emulation for 64 bit processing ) built in, or is it only for the c2d processors? tried Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwight F Posted June 6, 2007 Author Share Posted June 6, 2007 EM64 (well actually EM64T) stands for Extended Memory 64 Technology and no the Core Duo processors don't have it. Well at least not the T2300/T2400 (Yonah?) in the Mini but IIRC none of the Core Duos have it. For Leopard I had assumed there would be two sets of OS binarys, 32-bit and 64-bit. Just like Vista. Afterall Apple has historically maintaining two OS binarys, Intel and PPC, to kept the legacy machines in the fold and moving forward with the OS development and the Mini isn't the only Mac Apple has sold in the last couple years that doesn't support x64. Remember that Intel was a fair amount behind AMD on that. But I hadn't really looked into it so the answer is probably sitting over in the Leopard forum.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patato Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 EM64 (well actually EM64T) stands for Extended Memory 64 Technology and no the Core Duo processors don't have it. Well at least not the T2300/T2400 (Yonah?) in the Mini but IIRC none of the Core Duos have it. For Leopard I had assumed there would be two sets of OS binarys, 32-bit and 64-bit. Just like Vista. Afterall Apple has historically maintaining two OS binarys, Intel and PPC, to kept the legacy machines in the fold and moving forward with the OS development and the Mini isn't the only Mac Apple has sold in the last couple years that doesn't support x64. Remember that Intel was a fair amount behind AMD on that. But I hadn't really looked into it so the answer is probably sitting over in the Leopard forum.... I would think Lepard would come in 32/64 bit versions becasue Apple said that the old Intel Macs will be able to run it. To clarify:All the Core Duo series lacks Intel 64(or EM64T), so no Vista 64 for you unless you upgrade. The CD2's(Merom) all support it. There is ethernet on the Mini. BT will work fine with Vista. Since the Mini lacks HDMI, is it that important for you to run 64bit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwight F Posted June 6, 2007 Author Share Posted June 6, 2007 My requirement for 64-bit is because one of the more major of the projects I'm working on over the next while is a 64-bit code software product. One that quite ironically includes a kernel mode driver. BT will work fine with Vista. Drawing a blank. What is "BT"? Bluetooth? Looking through this forum I thought that was something that definately didn't work under 64-bit? Oh, and I know there is a gigabit ethernet jack on the Mini. The question is whether or not the standard 64-bit Vista drivers will handle it. Is it a standard intel chipset mobo integrated NIC? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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