Maxed Out Mac Mini With Lion Os

[321Rich]

A question for any of you Mac Mini users there in Thailand; Here in Florida, I'm about one mouse click away from ordering a new i5 Mac Mini, 10.7 Lion, 1TB HD, 8GB RAM, released July 2011, for $900.00 USD (no tax). (I think that is about 26,770 Thai Baht).

My 2-part question: Is that a good price or should I wait until I get to Thailand to pick up this system. And could I even find such a system in Thailand as this is a custom build (The Mac Mini normally does not come with a 1TB drive and 8GB RAM.)

Thanks in advance for any useful information, and, No, I don't want to get it from that fake Apple store in China.

Edited July 30, 2011 by 321Rich

[VerbalKint]

- Yes, you can get that in Thailand.

- It will be cheaper in the US

[ignis]

http://store.apple.com/th/configure/MC816TH/A?select=select&product=MC816TH%2FA&mco=MjMzOTUxNjI

Configure your Mac mini

So you add the extra storage + Ram and see the price in Thailand.

[petertucker48]

Check this out:

http://www.apple.com/th/macmini/

[321Rich]

OP's update. That $900 USD price was a little high -- I got a new i5 Mac Mini, 10.7 Lion, 1TB HD, 8GB RAM for US $829.99, delivered. That's 24,559.404 Thai Baht.

[nikster]

Why don't you just do the comparison yourself? Go here and configure as you please, free shipping to anywhere in Thailand:

http://store.apple.com/th/browse/home/shop_mac/family/mac_mini?mco=OTY2ODExMQ

Looks like the mini has a dual voltage power adapter so no issues with the different voltages. Therefore it doesn't really matter whether you buy it here or there.

BTW the price you have looks good, I take it that's from a 3rd party retailer? Apple official charges $600 base price, and $300 for the 8GB alone, and no 1TB option on the base model either.... so - yeah just buy it over there! There are no "deals" from 3rd party Mac dealers in Thailand...

Here you can get the base model from Apple for 20k baht. Add 8GB for BHT 2,000 at any shop. A 1TB HDD will be... not sure but at least 3,000 if not more. So what you get there looks like a good deal.

Edited August 16, 2011 by nikster

[FarangBuddha]

For a Mac Book Air being shipped to California (10% sales tax) it's basically the same price to buy it in Thailand (and if I bought a USA version, would have to have it shipped to Thailand or get a friend to bring it over (and therefore extra costs and/or delays):

Configuration

• 1.6GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5
• 4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM
• 128GB Flash Storage

• Keyboard (English) & User's Guide
• USB Ethernet Adapter
• Accessory Kit

USA Price: US$ 1341.00

Thai Price: TB 39,900 (US$ 1330).

Edited August 16, 2011 by FarangBuddha

[321Rich]

Why don't you just do the comparison yourself? Go here and configure as you please, free shipping to anywhere in Thailand:

http://store.apple.c...?mco=OTY2ODExMQ

Looks like the mini has a dual voltage power adapter so no issues with the different voltages. Therefore it doesn't really matter whether you buy it here or there.

BTW the price you have looks good, I take it that's from a 3rd party retailer? Apple official charges $600 base price, and $300 for the 8GB alone, and no 1TB option on the base model either.... so - yeah just buy it over there! There are no "deals" from 3rd party Mac dealers in Thailand...

Here you can get the base model from Apple for 20k baht. Add 8GB for BHT 2,000 at any shop. A 1TB HDD will be... not sure but at least 3,000 if not more. So what you get there looks like a good deal.

Nikster, Yes, I got the mac min from a third party off eBay, still selling the unit as "New". They open the box, switch out the hard drive and memory, and repackage. (Still eligible for warranty, etc.).

I think if I had to do it over again I would just get the 4gb version from Apple. When this sucker "goes to sleep" it drops into a "coma". Bringing it out of sleep mode is quick but if I check mail immediately or try to go the internet it needs a few more seconds to "catch up". It takes a few more seconds for the CPU to read and validate the massive chunk of RAM and also check the 1TB hard drive or something. Frankly I'm not doing anything that would come close to needing 8gb of RAM. Heck Photoshop can't see that much RAM and I work in photoshop most of the time.

[nikster]

I think if I had to do it over again I would just get the 4gb version from Apple. When this sucker "goes to sleep" it drops into a "coma".

Bringing it out of sleep mode is quick but if I check mail immediately or try to go the internet it needs a few more seconds to "catch up". It takes a few more seconds for the CPU to read and validate the massive chunk of RAM and also check the 1TB hard drive or something. Frankly I'm not doing anything that would come close to needing 8gb of RAM. Heck Photoshop can't see that much RAM and I work in photoshop most of the time.

The computer doesn't verify the RAM when it comes out from sleep, so whatever is causing your delays, that's not it.

The HDD might take a moment to start up but shouldn't be noticeable.

Other ideas on the slowness on wake:

- Are you connected to the internet wirelessly? Then the WiFi might take a while to re-connect. In my experience how fast this is depends on your router. WiFi as a technology kind of sucks, there seem to be many things that can go wrong. You can check connectivity on the WiFi status symbol in the menu bar.

- Do you have an external HDD connected? Those sometimes take forever to re-appear. Depends on the external HDD - some of mine appear and eject instantly, others take 5 to 10 seconds (seemingly forever).

With RAM my recommendation is always this: Keep the original Apple RAM. Buy RAM from a 3rd party where it's way cheaper. RAM can be finicky - I had major issues with OS X 10.6 - and it turned out my 3rd party RAM was to blame, even though it worked perfectly in 10.5. Swapped the original back in, and all was good. Then I bought some other 3rd party RAM which is also fine with 10.6.

[321Rich]

I think if I had to do it over again I would just get the 4gb version from Apple. When this sucker "goes to sleep" it drops into a "coma".

Bringing it out of sleep mode is quick but if I check mail immediately or try to go the internet it needs a few more seconds to "catch up". It takes a few more seconds for the CPU to read and validate the massive chunk of RAM and also check the 1TB hard drive or something. Frankly I'm not doing anything that would come close to needing 8gb of RAM. Heck Photoshop can't see that much RAM and I work in photoshop most of the time.

The computer doesn't verify the RAM when it comes out from sleep, so whatever is causing your delays, that's not it.

The HDD might take a moment to start up but shouldn't be noticeable.

Other ideas on the slowness on wake:

- Are you connected to the internet wirelessly? Then the WiFi might take a while to re-connect. In my experience how fast this is depends on your router. WiFi as a technology kind of sucks, there seem to be many things that can go wrong. You can check connectivity on the WiFi status symbol in the menu bar.

- Do you have an external HDD connected? Those sometimes take forever to re-appear. Depends on the external HDD - some of mine appear and eject instantly, others take 5 to 10 seconds (seemingly forever).

With RAM my recommendation is always this: Keep the original Apple RAM. Buy RAM from a 3rd party where it's way cheaper. RAM can be finicky - I had major issues with OS X 10.6 - and it turned out my 3rd party RAM was to blame, even though it worked perfectly in 10.5. Swapped the original back in, and all was good. Then I bought some other 3rd party RAM which is also fine with 10.6.

Nikster, thanks for the guidance. I isolated the problem to the Apple Airport Extreme setup. It was taking 5 or 6 seconds to settle in to a good connection. It's fixed now... My stool softener is working and all is well with the world. Thanks again.