First time Mac buyer looking at a Mac Mini - should I wait for Tiger

[roo]

Hi everyone.

Having been one of those funny-looking PC-users forever, I've finally been won over to the white side after a) buying an iPod and b) visiting my friend (a long term Mac-addict) and seeing his Mac Mini. It's sleeky silence will replace the not-as-small and fairly noisy Shuttle in my living room.

All well and good, but I'm faced with one problem: Tiger is fresh out and the Mini is still shipping with 10.3 (Panther, right? Bear with me, I'm a newbie remember). So... should I wait for the Mini to start shipping with Tiger before I take the plunge? Tiger looks sweet, but I don't want to fork out another $150 next month.

Bigger questions: will the Mini even run Tiger? Will it need me to upgrade to 1 gig? I'd been hoping to get away with 512, to keep the price reasonable.

Your thoughts and advice would be much appreciated.

[Luca]

Tiger will ship with any Mac you buy today. Worst case scenario is they include a Tiger install disc in addition to the default Panther install. They did that when iLife '05 came out - very early minis shipped with iLife '05 taped inside the box because it was so new.

Hell, even if they don't include it, it's only $10 to buy an update disc, not $150. And besides, Apple only charges $129, not $150. You'll be fine.

As for the RAM, well... 512 MB is good, 1 GB is better. The mini will run Tiger better than it ran Panther, and any version of OS X needs 512 MB of RAM to perform well. Upgrading to 1 GB is worth it, but only if you're willing to open the case yourself and install it, or pay an Apple store $30 to install a third-party module you buy. Absolutely don't buy 1 GB from Apple, it's just a total rip off.

[Stevuh]

The mini will run Tiger as long as you get 512 there should not be any issues with that. I've Heard that for an extra 10 bucks that you can have Tiger shipped with the new mini, even though it's not preloaded. So if that is true, and perhaps other AN members can verify that, you could and IMO should do so.

[roo]

Thanks. That's very helpful. I didn't realise that Tiger would ship with my purchase (if it's true, their site could do with updating). You're saying even if it doesn't, an upgrade would only be $10 anyway? I didn't realise the upgrade path from Panther would be so reasonable!

[Paul]

1- Now that Tiger has been released, all Macs either come with Tiger installed/with Tiger media to install yourself or through a very easy (and cheap, $9.95) "up-to-date" program.
2- Look into getting a 1GB ram chip outside of Apple to save some $$$.

[roo]

Look into getting a 1GB ram chip outside of Apple to save some $$$.

I had not considered this before, but I'd be quite interested in following this route. If I do, I guess I maximise my savings by buying the mini with just 256M, and doing the upgrade to 1G later.

[Luca]

No, don't upgrade later, upgrade immediately. The mini is essentially unusable with 256 MB of RAM. You will be so frustrated you will want to throw it out the window. Shame on Apple for shipping a computer with so little RAM that it can't even run OS X properly.

If you're sure you'll be getting the mini, order the RAM now so you get it right away. It's not that hard to install it yourself. This site (http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/mac-mini/) has installation videos showing how to install everything, and they sell 1 GB RAM modules for around $120.

[roo]

No, don't upgrade later, upgrade immediately

:lol: Thanks for the tip.

Update: I've been shopping around for UK-based upgrades. Crucial has 1GB or DDR PC2700 ram for £90. This is about £130 cheaper than the upgrade from Apple(!), and means I get a spare 256 MB stick too (which I guess, given the number of people upgrading in this way, is going to be next to worthless). Looks like I'll need to order a putty knife or two as well.

[fxer]

The mini is shipping with Tiger preinstalled now, just check the apple store and look under "what's included" on the mini page, it now says 10.4 Tiger instead of Panther like it did yesterday :)