are silentpcreview going to review the mini mac?

jimbobUK · Post by **jimbobUK** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 12:43 pm

I've seen a few peoples mini-reviews of the mini mac in the couple of posts on it, i've also seen a few other sites review it.. I was just wondering if it's going to get a full on silentpcreview review, with mp3 samples, readings etc.

I've never had a mac before and am tempted.. got a few friends always pestering me to give it a go.. along with Mac OS X which is tempting enough on its own... this one looks to fit the silentpc world reasonably well, if not quite perfectly.. just think it'd make a nice review and could possibly get some more readers/members as there aren't that many proper reviews of it out there..

If it will be happening in the near term i'll wait for the review before buying, if its not going to then i will just buy it when i can and hope its quite quiet

rtsai · Post by **rtsai** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 1:16 pm

Do you have an Apple store near you? Wouldn't it be simpler to just walk into a store and listen to one for yourself? No disrespect to SPCR staff, but my own firsthand experience would trump a website review any day (modulo sample variance and longevity issues, if a website can accumulate that kind of information).

I live near an Apple store, so I'd rather SPCR spend time reviewing components, since those are much less likely to be pre-assembled in some B&M store in the combination/configuration I would want to buy ...

jimbobUK · Post by **jimbobUK** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 1:20 pm

I guess so.. tho i wonder how easy it will be to walk out of such places without buying..

Don't know either how quiet such a store is going to be, tho most Apples are reasonably quiet without being under too much load?!

I don't know.. i get that its mostly about modding and getting good silent parts, but the hush tech machines were reviewed... up until now most macs have been far too expensive for what they are (well from the perspective of someone who needs a pc and has yet to really experience them to assess their strengths or not) and i really think that this mac is a good budget system for basic tasks and that off the bat it'll hopefully be quite a quiet built PC.. as such a review here wouldn't be a bad thing as it could be a real good alternative for a quiet cheap system..

Just asking... better to ask and know... there is the whole which speed to get, from the perspective of sound that's interesting as well, tho more expensive to be reviewed..

BlueMax · Post by **BlueMax** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 11:13 am

Apparently the unit is DEAD silent with the exception of the optical drive which is a bit unpleasantly loud.

ScrollLock · Post by **ScrollLock** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 6:09 am

BlueMax wrote:Apparently the unit is DEAD silent with the exception of the optical drive which is a bit unpleasantly loud.

I have a 1.42 Mac Mini here in Singapore, where my room temperature hoovers around 28-30 degrees C.
The Mac Mini is indeed very quiet when doing simple tasks like word processing or web browsing. However, the fan ramps up very quickly when you tax the system, e.g. with iMovie HD or Garageband. It becomes quite noisy then, uncomfortably so when using it for a while at high computing loads. There is wind noise, but also some motor noise. As soon the CPU load goes down, also the fan spins down quickly to quiet levels.
The air coming out of the back of the system is pretty cool all the time, so I guess the fan control is very much on the safe side (e.g. like a Fortron PSU).

just 2 unscientific cents, ScrollLock