2. digital
  3. 1298600939

Damn Apple..a fence sitter's dilemma

Almost ready to make the'move'...Buy the Mac mini, go with a firewire dac (seems to make more sense to my computer illiterate brain), decided on a simplified Raid backup, still worrying over format to rip cd's....And now Apple introduces a new connectivity mode : Thunderbolt. A zillion times faster than USB 2 and Firewire 800, single connectivity with audio, video, data, etc., and a whole lot of other things I don't understand.
Sure, it's only in the MBP's introduced this week, not the Mini; but trickle down is their modus operondi. Sure, I should get off the fence and make a move 'cause there will always be the next great thing coming down the pipe, but I sure hate to spend my pennies and be obsolete in 16 months. Whaddya' think?
farmdoc
lokie's avatar
lokie
528 posts
 
8 gigs of ram and 60 gig SSD is the TOL. Probably overkill but not an overly expensive "tweak" considering the costs of some other stuff around here.
stevez98
11 posts
 
Regarding the format to use when ripping CDs, go with Apple Lossless. Not only will it sound the same as FLAC (because both are lossless), but the resulting songs will integrate easily with iTunes (and an AppleTV, if you decide to purchase one).

If you have existing FLAC files, you can use XLD ( http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/23430/x-lossless-decoder ) to quickly convert them to Apple Lossless. I used it to convert 1000 CDs worth of music from FLAC to Apple Lossless, and it was done overnight. Also, if you decide later to switch to FLAC, XLD can convert the songs from Apple Lossless to FLAC just as quickly.
mmike84
309 posts
 
8GB of ram and SSD using Snow Leopard has been the best in our experiments with the mini. We also strip off non essential OS. That helps too but probably makes more difference in the older Macs. We're on our 3rd iteration using the new one with 2.4 processor.

I'd burn to Aiff is using Mac, or Wav if using PC.
jsd52756
420 posts
 
Bob; Dont feel bad, I've seen YMMV a plethora of times on A/Gon and havn't a clue what it means...
-John
darkj's avatar
darkj
150 posts
 
Um, what's to wait for. In addition to Thunderbolt, you need a Thunderbolt capable DAC. I can see getting the MBP (Macbook Pro) instead of the Mini as a home machine simply because it's nice to have a screen without turning on the huge Plasma, but I wouldn't wait for a Thunderbolt DAC. You'd miss out on at least a year's worth of enjoyment.
More to discover