READ ME FIRST: How to setup the ultimate Mac Mini supercomputer

The mac mini is basically a laptop without a screen and no keyboard or mouse included. You would think to yourself, who the heck is going to use this thing? However, this computer uses less electricity than most light bulbs, works sublimely well, and of course uses the mac os x operating system, which means unix at its core. Therefore, anything that can be done on a unix computer, can be done on this one.

Well, as I have found, having a mac mini and working as a home jack of all trades server provides loads of great advantages. You can setup that computer to share your music over the internet, provide a large photo album site, even talk to your roomba, or play movies on your new 42" flat screen tv. Let you're imagination go wild!

I've segmented this into loads of other instructables and grouped them together as one cohesive group. Each instructable is mostly independent, so you choose which ones you like.

I will probably continue to always be updating these, so post in the comments what other information is needed in each one.

This part of a compendium. Check out the other parts at:
http://www.instructables.com/id/READ-ME-FIRST-How-to-setup-the-ultimate-Mac-Mini-/
http://www.instructables.com/id/Setting-up-the-ultimate-Mac-Mini/
http://www.instructables.com/id/Different-ways-to-connect-to-your-Mac-Mini/
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-access-your-music-from-anywhere-with-your-M/
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-share-your-photos-from-your-mac-mini-on-the/
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Setup-the-Ultimate-Media-Player-with-the-Ma/

Step 1 How to make a super mac mini

First thing is first, you need a mac mini. In order to make the most out of this computer and especially for the upcoming updated system software that apple is releasing, I would recommend you stick with the intel mac minis.

For my money, I found the best deal on apple's refurbished store. People somehow believe that their 4 year-old mac mini with a power pc chip is still worth $300, or that last years model is worth $500 because it was upgraded at the time of purchase. In my mind, its only worth premium money if it comes with a year warranty, has an intel core two duo chip and technology from the last two years. Also the newest model has a mini-dvi so only buy one if you know you're getting a mini-dvi to dvi connector (this will come in handy when connecting to a tv).

The next step is to turn it into franken mac mini, by adding more ram a much bigger hard drive and the will to destroy.

Then you need to setup the software. For this one step, its nice to connect it into a monitor and a keyboard. I happened to have these things for my regular computer, so it wasn't much of a problem for me.

Make sure you're operating system is completely up-to-date: Apple menu>Software update

The instructable below also details how to:

Become a mac developer member and install the developer tools
Install all needed quicktime codecs
Install fink for the open source software
Install VLC for your secondary movie player

The last step is to set all the needed system preferences and settings so you never have to plug in a keyboard again.

Check it out at:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Setting-up-the-ultimate-Mac-Mini/

Comments

[Computothought]

Great instructable, but I am not a Devotee of Mapple......
What a used $20 if not free dell gx1(pentium II) can do:http://www.instructables.com/id/Uses-for-your-own-private-cloud/

[KT Gadget]

The cheaper way to not spend 800 is to buy a used mini from ebay (or better from your neighbor if their throwing one out) and replace anything that needs replacing. Newegg has the ram so thats answers that. HDD: I'm not sure if Mac minis use the standard drives 3.5", or laptop HDDs,  so that needs research. Optical Drive: also needs research.

Depending on how much the mini you pay for, it will be cheaper for the most part.

At some point Im hoping to get the money to do this ible myself.

[dancmarsh]

That I can help you with, not sure of connections though, probably sata.

Hard drive is 2.5" laptop
dvd is standard, slot loading laptop drive with no bezel.

[brawns214]

I continue to find new uses and better ways of doing things, so maybe I should go back through and update these. They weren't really well received, but I'm guessing thats because they aren't so eye catching and aren't fun reads.

Anyway, I was suprised to find the best value for me was through Apple's Clearance (or refurbished) store. They had 1 generation old equipment that was covered under warranty and priced around $400. With a student discount that can be 10% less.

This was the experience with both my friend and myself, that people are asking a lot for these computers when they are used. Those computers aren't covered under any warranty and are generally a couple years old, so upgrades are necessary. While this route won't cost you $800, it seemed to me that I was going to spend $400-$500 anyway. Why bother?

Mac minis use 2.5" hard drives, which are also coming down in price and going up in capacity. I got a 500GB for pretty cheap.

I would be weary of old mac minis that don't have a core 2 duo processor. Finding one with this processor will guarantee that it will endure much longer as your media center/server/roomba controller.

[nanonano58]

800 thats too much, you can get a laptop whit HDMI for that price

[nanonano58]

and not refurbished

[brawns214]

I was definitely surprised to find them going for that much online. I found one on mac clearance for $450 that was just the previous model, so it worked out great. I agree $799 is way too much. I just needed a photo for the space