I anyone here running blender on the new mac mini?
I’ve been a long time PC fan but, this little box looks pretty sweet!
I’m mostly concerned about the graphics card performance.
I’m using a GeForce 420 or something like that now (not quite sure about the number as it has been a while since I upgraded).
any problems moving .blend files between OSX and Winows/Linux?
It’s great! I can run at full screen 1280x1024x32 with no problems. It’s speedy and runs wounderfully. I use it every day. The Mini is a fantastic machine. I have a PC at work with a huge processor/graphics card (P4 3GHz and 128MB graphics card) that seems not to impress me after useing the Mini. So get one!
Yeah, I got a Mac Mini recently, and it runs Blender fine, and now that the 512MB models are out, it should run even better. I would recommend getting a two button mouse for it, though; Once your used to running Blender with a two button mouse, it’s hard to change.
I upgraded to 1GB specifically for Blender as well as a scroll-wheel mouse.
I have a Mini too and I put 1GB Ram in it from the start. Tiger has a minimum requirement of 256MB Ram so you’re better off with the 1GB.
I’m not sure how the Radeon 9200 will compare to the Geforce 420. The Mini Radeon only has 32 MB Ram. The 9200 should be on par with a GeForce 5200FX. I also get graphical glitches with Blender that are very annoying such as textures mapped onto planes messing up in the background. Blender can even mess up a Quicktime window if it’s in the background.
If I put the resolution higher than 1280x1024, it gets worse.
The problem was worse on my old ibook so I’m guessing it might be that I’m exceeding the VRam. This is why 32MB isn’t very good.
Overall, I’m quite pleased with the Mini. It could have been better by using desktop hard drives instead of laptop drives and using the saving to beef up the graphics to 64MB or so but it’s a nice cheap package.
Hmm… Tiger runs fine on my 128MB Mini. Maybe Apple made an exception for it. Still, I won’t argue about the need for more RAM- I’d really like to upgrade mine, if only I could afford it.
I run Blender on a vintage 2000 Blueberry iMac.
It’s only got a 400 MHz G3 but I’ve maxed it out on memory at 1 GB. (The original factory specs. of 512 MB were published before the advent of 512 MB SIMMS. The computer is capable of addressing a gig. Just be darned sure the memory is 2-2-2 speed.) I replaced the original 10 GB HD with a 30 GB. I also have an external FW drive for an extra 120 GB of storage & backup. It runs OS X 10.2.8 just fine… S-L-O-W-L-Y but just fine.
Blender runs well on this antiquated machine. It takes 30 seconds or more to render one frame. LOTS more if the picture is complex. But, all I do at home is edit. If I need speed for rendering I can take it to work. (At a college.) There, we have a whole lab full of Macs! How I hunger to grid them all together and render some huge stuff! :Z
I have every confidence that a Mac Mini will do the job you ask wtih ease.