RE: <http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/10/24/informed_players_say_apples_mac_mini_still_kickin.html>

According to this article, Apple has been making big sales of these small computers to businesses, and was starting to do a re-engineered version. I am wondering if this new machine is on the market yet.

I was considering one as a possible upgrade path, but hesitated due to concern about miniaturized drives being more likely to break down. However, if they are used by the roomful for business data management and number-crunching, I suppose they can't be all that fragile.

One would hope to get at least four years out of a hard drive, even a small one. Is that a reasonable assumption? Or is it a case that businesses like casinos can afford to replace them sooner?

Well, Hello, Mary Sue!

No, no new minis out, a new one was just released at the end of March though - perhaps that's the one you're thinking of. The new minis sport 2/2.26 GHz Penryn processors, up to four gigs of fast RAM, 160/320 GB HDs, and the 9400M video chip set. I don't expect to see much change till late this year/early next year. The only concern with the Mini's hard drives are that they are based on the 2.5 in hard drives more common in laptops. This means a) they don't/can't spin fast (5400 rpm vs 7200 and higher in desktop class HDs), b) they are structurally less robust, and c) they are not intended for lengthy sessions of disk activity - like a server would require - due to heating issues.

In my experience, if you're going to have trouble with a mini, it'll be heat-related - the little guys just weren't designed for continuous "heavy lifting". On the other hand, I have seen server rooms stacked with minis, and I've seen minis used in mobile locations where you wouldn't think they would be hardy enough to survive, yet they do. The mini on my desk runs continuously and has for over a year now with no issues of any kind. I think the engineering has improved quite a bit since the first-gen, G4-based, 4200 rpm models. Newer, more efficient processors, faster, more reliable HDs, and improved heat-flow have reduced a lot of the early risk factors. I still don't think I'd go as far as recommending minis over xserves, but for home use - why not?

I would never expect a hard drive to last four years, though most do, it's just a given that they can go at any time, so always have an external backup system in place just to be sure - the cost of this is well worth the peace of mind no matter what system you choose.

Happy Mac'ing

Dan

Quote from: Mary-Sue on May 11, 2009, 11:55:28 AM
RE: <http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/10/24/informed_players_say_apples_mac_mini_still_kickin.html>
One would hope to get at least four years out of a hard drive, even a small one. Is that a reasonable assumption? Or is it a case that businesses like casinos can afford to replace them sooner?

Well, if you buy AppleCare with your mini, you at least will get a free replacement drive if your mini's drive should fail in the first 3-years.  As a single data point, I use a mac mini at work, and I have run it 24/7 for the past 2-years. I also have an iBook SE 366 firewire (clamshell), circa 2000, and it's original 20GB drive (this was a factory upgrade over the standard 10GB drive), still works running OS X 10.3 - but that laptop is run only intermittently. 

If your mini's drive did fail after 3-years (or your data needs exceeded the space in the mini), you could always use an external drive connected using the mini's usb or firewire ports.

But yeah, in a commercial setting such as a casino, I would expect some % of the mac mini's to experience a failure of their consumer-grade 2.5" internal drives. And as you suggest, I expect they factor that drive failure rate in their business plans, ever-green the mini's after 3-years, and have a backup system to lessen the impact of drive failures.

...b

3.5" hard disks fail too.

I personally administer two Intel Mac Minis, three Thinkpads, and a bunch of desktop computers that use 2.5" disks instead of 3.5" disks. Although any hard disk can fail, I have only had one 2.5" hard disk fail in the last 4 years and it was not a disk from one of the Minis.

One of these Mac Minis is on almost all the time. It does become warm, so be sure to allow air to circulate around it. Excellent little computer.