Bare Bones Mini

2THXTRM · 02-25-2005, 09:47 PM

Hey guys, I was wondering if any of you guys have the basic $499.99 mini? I plan on using one as a car pc to play dvd's, mp3's, nes emulators and gps. Will the basic configuration be enough to meet my needs? If anything I would upgrade to the 80gig hd and add ram later. I was thinking of going barebones because I can get them on campus for 479.99. Do any of you guys now how much of the hd is free after formatting, and software installation? Any recommendations on DVD ripping software that will allow me to save the movies to and play them from the hd? Thanks!!

Bugbyte · 02-25-2005, 11:47 PM

The basic mini should have no problem playing mp3's or DVD's. It's much more powerful than some of the G3 macs that can do this with no problem.

My 80 gig Mac drive shows 74.52 gig available after formatting. The "System" disk is 1.37 gigs. The "Library" is another 1.2 gigs and I'd round it up to 5 gigs after software and installations. Leaves about 69 megs for your stuff, including your apps. I've got 12 gigs of apps installed and I've got way more apps than I would ever put on a CarPC.

Ripping DVD's - try "Jack The Ripper"

Delivery_Guy · 02-26-2005, 02:13 AM

For DVD ripping, I like Handbrake. You can google it, usually comes up as the first hit. Of course, I only use it to rip DVD's I own.

2THXTRM · 02-26-2005, 04:49 PM

Thanks for the replysand the refrences on the DVD ripping software. I thought it would be cool to have some dvd's stored on the HD rather than having to carry the disks around. Do any of those solutions allow for compression? Maybe get the movies around 700mb to 1gig? I would imagine that on the 7" Lilliput it would be hard to tell that it has been compressed. Thanks again!!

saletel · 02-26-2005, 05:05 PM

get the memory upgraded to 512. ive got the faster mini and got it originally with 256 and it was horrible with more then 2 apps open.

the 512 stepped up performance a bunch

Delivery_Guy · 02-26-2005, 08:36 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by 2THXTRM

Thanks for the replysand the refrences on the DVD ripping software. I thought it would be cool to have some dvd's stored on the HD rather than having to carry the disks around. Do any of those solutions allow for compression? Maybe get the movies around 700mb to 1gig? I would imagine that on the 7" Lilliput it would be hard to tell that it has been compressed. Thanks again!!

Handbrake lets you specify a desired final file size. 800-900 megs looks good on my laptop...good enough anyway.