Which Mac Mini for Media Server

Posted by: Zipperheadbanjo on 14 April 2015

I've been using my laptop (retina macbook pro) + NAS as a media server feeding my NDX.

 

I'm making some changes to my listening space and want to liberate the laptop. I will be buying a mac mini + NAS to use as my media server. The computer will be used exclusively for serving media files and some light web usage. That's it. That's all.

 

I'm wondering if I can get away with the base model, or if I would be better served (no pun intended) getting the intermediate model. Specs for both options are below:

 

1.4GHz Mac mini

Specifications

 

2.6GHz Mac mini

Specifications

Thoughts or comments appreciated.

Posted on: 16 April 2015 by james n

Cheers Tony 

Posted on: 19 April 2015 by jasons

I bought the 1.4 base model just before christmas to replace an ageing 2007 model.

 

Just after Christmas i returned it and swapped it for the next model up as the entry level was painfully slow and crashed ofen on nework access.

Posted on: 19 April 2015 by GregU

Get the basic Mac mini and spend the money saved on a nice shirt

 

trust me here

Posted on: 20 April 2015 by DGH

Hi Zipperheadbanjo

 

Am I understanding correctly that you are using the same physical volume for your data (3.5GB partition) and your backup (on the 4.5GB partition)? 

If so, be alerted that this is very very unsafe! What will you do if your volume crashes? You'll lose your media files and the backup! 

I strongly recommend buying a separate backup volume. 

 

For the rest of your questions, todays Minis have largely enough processor power to manage your needs, so go for the cheapest one except if you're planning using it also for network server tasks. 

 

-dgh