MacBook Pro or Mac Mini as music server

Okay, I went back and took a closer look. I did find the 8GB option on the 2.66GHz model. But not the 512GB SSD option. But you're saying that the SSD can still be added?

Rutgar, I don't think Apple offers a preconfigured mac mini with a 512 SSD option, but you can easily add your own or have an Apple approved tech do it for you. I can assure you it would be much less expensive then buying a mac mini preconfigured with an SSD. You may be able to ask the Apple store to instal the oem 512gb SSD and maintain the warranty, but it would be ridiculously expensive.

I installed my 64gb SSD and it is working great. The SSD is for the operating system and apps only. I use the oem 320GB hard drive in a bus powered firewire enclosure for my music files. The music player (Audirvana) loads songs into memory before playing them, so I don't need a large capacity SSD for my music files. This is much more cost effective than buying a large capacity SSD and there is no audible hard drive noise when the music file is playing since they are loaded into memory first.

Apple made it very easy for the customer to upgrade ram in the new mac mini. It is as simple as rotating the bottom base a few degrees and inserting the new memory. No screws to remove and can be done in a couple of minutes if that. I paid $100 for 8gb of ram compared to $400 from Apple. Considering the premium you pay for ram from Apple, I would definitely buy the base version with 2gb ram and install your own sticks of ram. This is a no brainer since it does not void your warranty according to Apple.

I see. Thank you for the information. I can see pros and cons of both methods. But I understand what you're saying about not needing such a large SSD.

My problem is all my experience is on PC's. Macs are like a foreign language to me. But a friend of mine has a Macbook Pro using Amarra, and I was impressed with its performance. The problem with the Macbook, is that it would require a very long USB cable to connect to my player's internal DAC. So I also like the idea of Mini, being able to be placed close to my player, and using a remote device such as an I-Pad. Of course, I have never used an IPad, or any other Apple hand-held. So I'm not familiar with all of the ins and outs involving such a configuration.

Volume question... if I'm using the Mac Mini and Arcam rDac going into a mixer board 30 feet away and in the next room, can the remote pad/pod app allow me to control volume without having to put another rf remote controlled volume box in the mix?

ssd is way overkill for a music server. right now, i'm using Pure Music and i have it setup to read the song into memory and then it plays the song from ddr. you can see the light go on for a couple of seconds then the song starts then the disk light goes off. i have 2-2TB disks attached to the mini (1 for backup) and if i swapped that out for ssd (2TB), it would be many $$$ and a waste. plus, the ssd's that you buy for pc's are the cheaper kind. as the dealer you buy it from if they over-provision the storage? a good ssd ($10k) will over-provision up to 50-100% for longevity. see if you buy a 128GB ssd and how much room is allocated to you out of that 128GB.