20/23" with Mac Mini question

[Jeff]

Have read that the above combo can cause some nasty rendering issues due to the small video ram residing in the mini. Has anyone actually tried this combo and just how nasty is it? I am pretty nuts about image rendering quality so this may be a little concern but I am just not sure.

A current windows user.

Thanks for ur feed back.

 

[SniperD]

if you are fearful about the Vram, you can customise your setup when you buy it @ Apple shop. Up the Vram to 128mb (and above).. unless you are thinking about the 30" ACD (which is not really possible as you require 2 Vcards).

So far, nothing heard about problems with the default vram having problems rendering on 20"/23" ACD

http://www.macintouch.com/macmini08.html <- another view of the prob?

 

[Jeff]

if you are fearful about the Vram, you can customise your setup when you buy it @ Apple shop. Up the Vram to 128mb (and above).. unless you are thinking about the 30" ACD (which is not really possible as you require 2 Vcards).

So far, nothing heard about problems with the default vram having problems rendering on 20"/23" ACD

http://www.macintouch.com/macmini08.html <- another view of the prob?

Thanks. I thought the Vram is fixed as it's integrated into the MB? Really great if I can UP the VRAM this way. ;p

 

[Jeff]

Just realised that there is a new bundle price now at S$1028 for the 1.42GHz model with 80Gig HD. 1Gig RAM price come down to 399 too. Superdrive priced at 199. But on back order 3weeks.

 

[nad]

if you are fearful about the Vram, you can customise your setup when you buy it @ Apple shop. Up the Vram to 128mb (and above).. unless you are thinking about the 30" ACD (which is not really possible as you require 2 Vcards).

So far, nothing heard about problems with the default vram having problems rendering on 20"/23" ACD

http://www.macintouch.com/macmini08.html <- another view of the prob?

pls lah, mac mini onboard VRAM is FIXED, cannot be upgraded.

also, 30" LCD doesn't use 2 video cards, can only work with dual-link video cards that provides twice the amt of bandwidth per DVI port.

 

[Darren]

Have read that the above combo can cause some nasty rendering issues due to the small video ram residing in the mini. Has anyone actually tried this combo and just how nasty is it? I am pretty nuts about image rendering quality so this may be a little concern but I am just not sure.

A current windows user.

Thanks for ur feed back.

Don't think there is any image quality issue with the Mac mini and Apple 20/23" LCDs. There may be performance issues due to the limited, fixed amount of VRAM (32MB) which may impact if you have too many windows open or you use Expose a lot - meaning slower window redraws or pauses when there is not enough VRAM to render the entire graphic contents thus necessitating some kind of caching to disk.

Having said that, I have had no problems with my Mac mini and 17-in (1280x1024 pixels) monitor with multiple windows and Expose.

The Apple shop at Bishan Junction 8 has the Mac mini connected to the Apple 20" LCD display, so you might want to mosey on down there to test.

 

[Pinoy_SAP]

Have read that the above combo can cause some nasty rendering issues due to the small video ram residing in the mini. Has anyone actually tried this combo and just how nasty is it? I am pretty nuts about image rendering quality so this may be a little concern but I am just not sure.

A current windows user.

Thanks for ur feed back.

you may want to check Apple center at Bishan Junction 8, there is a mac mini with a 20/23" LCD screen. i tried it out once and so far so good. :thumbsup:

 

[Jeff]

Thanks folks. Just been to Funan IT mall to check the combo. Thought wanted to cash and carry one unit with superdrive but they said no stock. Checked all the shops there not one got stock all on back order.

And the RAM pricing difference is huge, online and from the retailer. About 200 diff. :what: Maybe will wait till the stock come in then buy one. So gian yet so long. ;p ;p

 

[Darren]

Thanks folks. Just been to Funan IT mall to check the combo. Thought wanted to cash and carry one unit with superdrive but they said no stock. Checked all the shops there not one got stock all on back order.

And the RAM pricing difference is huge, online and from the retailer. About 200 diff. :what: Maybe will wait till the stock come in then buy one. So gian yet so long. ;p ;p

If you want the SuperDrive, you have to order from the Apple Online Store. The retail shops all have to BTO the SuperDrive option anyway - I understand that retail shops will NOT have SuperDrive as a standard model.

It takes about a week to ship unless you also order the wireless and Bluetooth options which can take longer as there is a shortage of those components right now (as surmised from other Mac forums). I ordered my mini with the 512MB upgrade and SuperDrive and it arrived exactly one week after I placed my order. If you order from retail store, the same config will take (they say) between 3-4 weeks.

If you feel the memory price is too high, then order the stock 256MB and then upgrade yourself.

 

[Jeff]

I see. Am still debating with myself whether to purchase the bare minimum ram and upgrade myself with a 1GB third party or the 512MB online. The box looks really cute, so much that I can't bare to split it open.

BTW, can the 512MB ram take the load from Adobe CS? I do some photo editing and sometimes the file size can be quite big. Just used to plenty of RAMs in windows. Really, it gonna be my PS machine soon.

Thanks again.

 

[Darren]

BTW, can the 512MB ram take the load from Adobe CS? I do some photo editing and sometimes the file size can be quite big. Just used to plenty of RAMs in windows. Really, it gonna be my PS machine soon.

Unfortunately, I don't have PS-CS installed on the Mac as I only have the PC version licence.

Unless you are regularly churning out A1-sized spreads, I don't think that PS-CS will tax the Mac mini too much for normal image editing (resizing, straightening, sharpening, etc). As a general rule, PS-CS normally requires 3-4x the size of the file you are working on to keep it in memory. A 6-megapixel image (3000x2000 pixels) is roughly 17.2MB in size (according to PS-CS); and thus to keep the image comfortably in memory, you need to allocate a minimum of 50-60MB of memory to PS-CS to avoid swapping to disk.

Best way to gauge is to keep an eye on the Efficiency and Scratch Sizes readings on the bottom left of the PS-CS screen (selectable from the list that inlcudes Doc Size, Doc Dimensions, Timing and a couple of others. Efficiency reading less than 100% means that some kind of paging to disk is occuring; and Scratch Size indicates the size of the scratch/paging file being used for undos. Ideally, Efficiency should be 100% all the time. As for Scratch Size it is probably advisable to attach an external FireWire hard disk to the Mac mini to act as Scratch as the internal hard disk of the mini may be slow (understand that it is 4200rpm for the 80GB version and 5200rpm for the 40GB version). Getting an external FireWire enclosure with a 7200rpm HD will speed things up nicely.

Caveat: All the above information is given without any current direct experience with Photoshop CS on the Mac mini, but rather based on past experience with Photoshop Ver 1/2/3/4 on older Macintosh systems.

 

[Jeff]

Thanks Darren. Your input is most helpful. I'll choose the 1GB ram (OEM) then.

Jeff

 

[Jeff]

Just found that I am eligible for S$50 discount per accessory added, includng RAM. Saved a total of S$100/-.