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Are Mac Minis suitable for a proper desktop computer?

I've read about a lot of people using their Mac Minis as a file server, or media centre or something similar.

Does the mini function alright as a standard desktop PC? The Mac will be used primarily for web development, that is, it will need to run Coda, Photoshop, possible Firefox and Safari at the same time. So it will need suitable performance.

Or am I better off getting an iMac?

I though the mini looked like a good option because:

• cheaper
• I already have a keyboard, mouse and 24" monitor
• I could use a KVM between the mini and PC

Also, does the mini support multiple monitors?

Thanks

Google Chrome Window Resize "Sticking" on OS X

I'm using the most recent version of Google Chrome (34.0.1847.131 at the time of writing) on OS X 10.8.5, and for a few months I've been having intermittent issues resizing browser windows. There doesn't seem to be any pattern as to why this issue occurs sometimes but not other times.

I'll move my cursor over the right side of the window, then click and drag the window to a smaller size. However, when I let go of the mouse button (or in this case the trackpad) and move the cursor, Chrome continues to resize the window as I move. When this happens, I am unable to click on anything in any of Chrome's windows, and if I switch focus to another program, I am unable to bring Chrome back into focus (unless I minimize all other windows that are in the way.) The only way to stop it from resizing is to Force Quit Chrome entirely, and go back into it.

I've attempted to find a solution to this problem on various message boards and support forums, but I can't seem to find anyone else that's even had the same problem, nevermind someone who has found a solution.

I'm not sure if this helps, but I am using a Mac Mini with two screens, alongside an Apple Wireless Keyboard and Trackpad.

Has anyone had this issue in the past? If so, what steps were taken to correct the issue on a forward basis? If you have not had this issue in the past, what would be some steps that I could take to debug the cause of the issue?

Mac Mini automatically shuts down when booted

My Mac Mini (OS X Mountain Lion) always shuts down when starting it up after the recent upgrade. It displayed as below:

It always shuts down when it reaches 10~20% of the progress bar.

I tried to enter the safe mode by pressing Shift, but the result is the same. Is there any way to avoid the auto upgrade and enter desktop directly?

Using Windows laptop to access Mac mini

Is there a way to access my (headless) Mac mini from my Windows laptop? Via WiFi networking preferred, but if needed I can bring along a hub to connect the 2 machines.

I'm looking either for a good remote desktop solution or a way to use the laptop display for my Mac mini (and plugging in a keyboard into the Mac).

How to upgrade the BIOS of Mac Mini 2007

How to upgrade the BIOS of Mac Mini (2007) with windows 7 Ultimate updated (32 bit, IE version 9.0.8112.16421) and boot camp (no Mac OS) ?

I have installed Windows 7 32 bit ultimate with Boot Camp v3.3 on my Mac Mini (2007) Kindly advise me how to upgrade the BIOS. There is no Mac operating system.

Is my mac hacked? Found weird things

I apologize for posting in length, but I thought being complete would be of more value:

20120822, my browser was not resolving a domain so I went into my terminal to check and lo-and-behold! I find these crazy commands remnant:

mac-mini$ su Password:
sh-3.2# sudo /Applications/TextEdit.app/Contents/MacOS/TextEdit /etc/hosts
Mar 22 23:07:08 my-Mac-mini.local TextEdit[88957] <Error>: kCGErrorIllegalArgument: _CGSFindSharedWindow: WID -1
Mar 22 23:07:08 my-Mac-mini.local TextEdit[88957] <Error>: kCGErrorFailure: Set a     breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.
Mar 22 23:07:08 my-Mac-mini.local TextEdit[88957] <Error>: kCGErrorIllegalArgument:     CGSSetWindowShadowAndRimParametersWithStretch: Invalid window 0xffffffff
2012-03-22 23:07:19.202 TextEdit[88957:7207] PersistentUI: LSSharedFileListInsertItemURL() failed at inserting URL file://localhost/etc/hosts

To make matters worse, I discovered there had been a copy of "logmein" that was deleted. Here is some history:

20  /Library/Application\ Support/LogMeIn/uninstaller.command ; exit;    
21  killall Toolkit    
22  "/Library/Application Support/LogMeIn/bin/LogMeIn.app/Contents/Resources/logmeinserverctl" stop    
23  launchctl stop /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.logmein.logmeinserver.plist    
24  launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.logmein.logmeinserver.plist    
25  launchctl unload /Library/LaunchAgents/com.logmein.LMILaunchAgentFixer.plist    
26  launchctl unload /Library/LaunchAgents/com.logmein.logmeingui.plist    
27  launchctl unload /Library/LaunchAgents/com.logmein.logmeinguiagent.plist    
28  rm -rf /Library/LaunchAgents/com.logmein.LMILaunchAgentFixer.plist    
29  rm -rf /Library/LaunchAgents/com.logmein.logmeingui.plist    
30  rm -rf /Library/LaunchAgents/com.logmein.logmeinguiagent.plist    
31  rm -rf /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.logmein.logmeinserver.plist    
32  rm -rf "/Library/Application Support/LogMeIn/"    
33  rm -rf /Library/Logs/LogMeIn/    
34  rm -rf /Library/Receipts/LogMeIn\ Server\ Installer.pkg/    
35  rm -rf /Library/Receipts/LogMeIn\ Installer.pkg/    
36  rm -rf /Library/Printers/LogMeIn    
37  rm -rf /usr/libexec/cups/backend/LogMeInBackend    
38  rm -rf /usr/libexec/cups/filter/LogMeInFilter    
39  rm -rf /usr/libexec/cups/filter/commandtoLogMeIn    
40  rm -rf "/Applications/LogMeIn/LogMeInUninstaller.app"    
41  rm -rf "/Applications/LogMeIn/StartLogMeIn.app"    
42  rm -rf "/Applications/LogMeIn/Toolkit.app"    
43  if [ -e "/Applications/LogMeIn/LogMeInPluginUninstaller.app" ]; 
    then echo not removing LogMeIn directory; else rm -rf "/Applications/LogMeIn/"; fi  
44  rm -rf "/Library/Receipts/LogMeIn Installer.pkg"     
45  rm -rf "/Library/Receipts/logmein.pkg"     
46  rm -rf "/private/var/db/receipts/com.logmein.logmeinserverinstaller.bom"    
47  rm -rf "/private/var/db/receipts/com.logmein.logmeinserverinstaller.plist"   
48  dscl . -delete /users/LogMeInRemoteUser    
49  killall LMILaunchAgentFixer

I then go in and look for this logmein, but other than the uninstaller, it doesn't exist. The files show an older timestamp from about March, but still just making me nervous..

I check more history as su and find:

5  sudo /Applications/TextEdit.app/Contents/MacOS/TextEdit /etc/hosts            
6  stty -onlcr -echo echonl
7  /usr/bin/atos -p "1" -printHeader 
8  /usr/bin/atos -p "10" -printHeader 
9  /usr/bin/atos -p "11" -printHeader     
10  /usr/bin/atos -p "12" -printHeader     
11  /usr/bin/atos -p "13" -printHeader     
12  /usr/bin/atos -p "14" -printHeader     
13  /usr/bin/atos -p "15" -printHeader     
14  /usr/bin/atos -p "16" -printHeader     
15  /usr/bin/atos -p "17" -printHeader     
16  /usr/bin/atos -p "18" -printHeader     
17  /usr/bin/atos -p "19" -printHeader     
18  /usr/bin/atos -p "21" -printHeader     
19  /usr/bin/atos -p "24" -printHeader     
20  /usr/bin/atos -p "25" -printHeader     
21  /usr/bin/atos -p "27" -printHeader     
22  /usr/bin/atos -p "29" -printHeader     
23  /usr/bin/atos -p "30" -printHeader     
24  /usr/bin/atos -p "33" -printHeader     
25  /usr/bin/atos -p "35" -printHeader     
26  /usr/bin/atos -p "39" -printHeader     
27  /usr/bin/atos -p "40" -printHeader     
28  /usr/bin/atos -p "42" -printHeader     
29  /usr/bin/atos -p "44" -printHeader     
30  /usr/bin/atos -p "46" -printHeader     
31  /usr/bin/atos -p "48" -printHeader     
32  /usr/bin/atos -p "53" -printHeader     
33  /usr/bin/atos -p "90" -printHeader     
34  /usr/bin/atos -p "91" -printHeader     
35  /usr/bin/atos -p "96" -printHeader     
36  /usr/bin/atos -p "108" -printHeader     
37  /usr/bin/atos -p "110" -printHeader     
38  /usr/bin/atos -p "119" -printHeader     
39  /usr/bin/atos -p "122" -printHeader     
40  /usr/bin/atos -p "123" -printHeader     
41  /usr/bin/atos -p "128" -printHeader     
42  /usr/bin/atos -p "129" -printHeader     
43  /usr/bin/atos -p "131" -printHeader     
44  /usr/bin/atos -p "132" -printHeader     
45  /usr/bin/atos -p "133" -printHeader     
46  /usr/bin/atos -p "134" -printHeader     
47  /usr/bin/atos -p "139" -printHeader     
48  /usr/bin/atos -p "141" -printHeader     
49  /usr/bin/atos -p "144" -printHeader     
50  /usr/bin/atos -p "149" -printHeader     
51  /usr/bin/atos -p "154" -printHeader     
52  /usr/bin/atos -p "160" -printHeader     
53  /usr/bin/atos -p "161" -printHeader     
54  /usr/bin/atos -p "164" -printHeader     
55  /usr/bin/atos -p "197" -printHeader     
56  /usr/bin/atos -p "209" -printHeader     
57  /usr/bin/atos -p "212" -printHeader     
58  /usr/bin/atos -p "1593" -printHeader     
59  /usr/bin/atos -p "1594" -printHeader     
60  /usr/bin/atos -p "17892" -printHeader     
61  /usr/bin/atos -p "82995" -printHeader     
62  /usr/bin/atos -p "82996" -printHeader     
63  /usr/bin/atos -p "82997" -printHeader     
64  /usr/bin/atos -p "BezelUIServer" -printHeader     
65  /usr/bin/atos -p "83003" -printHeader     
66  /usr/bin/atos -p "taskgated" -printHeader     
67  /usr/bin/atos -p "83006" -printHeader     
68  /usr/bin/atos -p "83007" -printHeader     
69  /usr/bin/atos -p "83010" -printHeader     
70  /usr/bin/atos -p "com.apple.hiserv" -printHeader     
71  /usr/bin/atos -p "83014" -printHeader     
72  /usr/bin/atos -p "83015" -printHeader

Now maybe I was drunk when all this happened, but I am pretty sure I didn't run all of these commands.

From the first line, I can see they are looking at the hosts file so I cat that and find:

127.0.0.1          localhost
255.255.255.255    broadcasthost
::1                localhost
fe80::1%lo0        localhost

Well, I've changed my su passed and regular passed and I've erased the hosts and hope this will deter further contamination?

Or am I simply fooling myself and should just reformat my whole computer?

720p signal from Mac Mini isn't centered on TV?

I have a Mac Mini as my media center machine, and it's outputing 720p over a DVI to HDMI cable, to my TV. The image is vertically centered, but it's shifted to the left almost completely.

Is there anything I can do to fix this easily, or am I stuck because the TV is crappy (it's a Haier). My Xbox 360 has no problems.

Cannot boot from USB on my Mac mini

Two weeks ago I installed OSX 10.8 on my Mac mini. After that, my system started to hang a lot, so I tried to erase it and install OSX 10.7 again. I used carbon Copy Cloner to make the bootable USB and it can load successfully on another Macbook. However, on my Mac mini, when I press on the option button to select the USB, it loads the white screen with a ban symbol at the center of the screen. After a moment, my machine automatically shuts down. Does anyone know how to solve this problem?

Edit: this is exactly the problem I have now http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-1207168.html

Update 1: the hdd seems ok (from disk utility). I restored the booting partition by disk utility (drag the dmg file to that partition). After restarting and using that partition to boot, prohibited symbol is still there

Update 2: This is my disk utility

I tried to erase the booting partition again and then, got the kernel panic (cpu 2 caller bla bla bla ). This is so ridiculus when I have a thing called "bootable" usb but cannot do anything to save the system. After the panic, my mac sounds 3 beeps in a row continuosly. I turned off the power after all.

Any limitations for putting an SSD in a Mini? How fast would an external HDD be via Firewire? Is Server Edition worth the extra?

I'm considering getting a Mini for web programming. I do a lot of text searches so I want to put a SSD in it. Does the Mini have any limitations that might effect the performance of a SSD?

I'm trying to decide if I should get a Mini Server. I'd like to be able to have two internal drives so one can be SSD for OS and the code I'm working on, and the other can be my storage drive. However, I'm not sure if I'll be using the extra functionality of the server edition OSX or not, so I'm reluctant to pay the $200 premium. In a "regular" Mini I could put the SSD internal and use an external big drive, but would the external drive be fast enough via Firewire?

Thanks in advance for any info.

Is there a way to "Auto-Restore" a Mac on every startup? (OS X Lion)

I have a project where Mac Minis will be used to run different applications. Each Mac Mini will have ONE application that it will ever have to run in its lifetime, and it will have to run it all day every day. Ideally, I would love to have it set up so that the Mac Turns on when power is applied, and automatically runs the application, fullscreens it, etc...

The Minis are running 10.7 (OS X Lion)

I've got most of this taken care of, however, I was wondering if there is perhaps some software out there that will "auto-restore" the Mac's hard-drive to the exact same state on every boot.

Is there any way to auto-restore the hard-drive to an EXACT state on every startup? (I'm thinking something like the software they sometimes use on university computers to make sure the computer gets restored to a clean state after a student uses it. This means there will NEVER be any changes made to anything after a restart. The computer will be cut off from the internet.)

Components needed for VPN

We eventually got our Mac Mini Server. We now want to set up a small Remote Access VPN using this Mac Mini Server.

Firstly we are not sure of the components needed additionally to the server to setup this VPN. We currently have the following:

• 1 Mac Mini Server
• 1 Firewall Router (Billion 802.11g ADSL2+ router with VPN capabilities [it says so on the box])
• 4Mbps ADSL connection (which should have VPN capability enabled by the service provider, or so we heard)

We are not sure what else needs to be included to enable our small VPN. Any advice would be really helpful.

Can I turn my Mac Mini into a Wi-Fi Hotspot without additional tool

I have an app need to test via wifi. I just wonder if there is a way to turn my Mac Mini into a Wi-Fi Hotspot without additional tool. I try to setup airport new network name is"mymacmini'. My iPod Touch also can recognize the network "mymacmini". I set my iPod wifi as "mymacmini" But if I try to connect to Internet, Safari always reports failure and connnection with Wifi.

I hope to know if I need purchase a wireless router for MAc Mini or there are something wrong I did above?

Thanks

interdev

Mac Mini 1.66 (32-bit) no sound on Windows 7

I've tried everything I could to get the sound working. I've tried to install the drivers from the Snow Leopard disk, then I went and got the latest RealTek drivers from the RealTek website. Then I read that old Mac mini's could have an integrated Cirrus chip, and I tried to grab the latest driver from the website, and it appeared to install, but nothing.

There's also nothing listed under Sound and ... in the Device Manager. I've tried to manually include a legacy driver, which worked for RealTek but not for the Cirrus driver. Of course it said there was no RealTek hardware install, which makes me think it's a Cirrus chip.

Any further suggestions or thoughts would be really appreciated.

This is a Mac Mini 1.66. I'm also not sure how to be able to detect what card is integrated into the system, so that would be helpful too (remembering that there's no driver installed). Even just to get the chip type would be great to confirm.

How do I install a microphone on a Mac Mini using iMic Griffin?

As other users before me, I have the problem of getting a microphone to work on a Mac Mini.

See for example:

Getting a microphone to work on a Mac Mini

One suggested option was the use of a USB device like iMic Griffin.

Now, I have an iMic Griffin, and I am pretty sure that everything is plugged in correctly and that the setup is fine, because the audio of my headset works fine and the blue bars on the sound property site visually react to sound from the microphone.

But when I try to use the mic with Skype, it doesn't work. (It is unlikely that Skype or the headset are at fault, because they work together on another computer.)

Do you have suggestions where the problem might lie? I would also be happy if you point out another Mac program that can be used to test the microphone.

My computer's data:

Processor: 2,3 GHz Intel Core i5 Software: Mac OS X Lion 10.7.3

Mac Mini - Monitor gets no signal everytime Mac wakes from sleep

Everything works fine until the Mac goes to sleep, then upon waking it the monitor (Wacom Cintiq interactive pen display) gets no signal and I have to unplug it from the back of the mac and plug it in again. Then it gets signal again and works. The Mac wakes and operates without a problem

I have downloaded the latest drivers for the display and the OS. Using OS X 10.6.2