Mac mini as a server review mac os x#

What it is ideal for is as a small workgroup server or even rackmounting, as shown with its predecessor here. It has a single Gigabit Ethernet port, plus 802.11n wireless and Bluetooth, so it's not going to be a network gateway, either. There's no internal expansion except to replace its pair of 2GB DIMMs with up to 8GB. Alternatively, start up the Mac Mini in Target Disk mode, hook it up to another Mac using Firewire and configure it that way.Д®vidently, the Mini isn't your typical server box. However, there's no optical drive, so youвЂ™ll need to resort to the MacвЂ™s drive sharing option or use an external USB DVD drive.

However, it is possible to do this without reinstallation if you can boot from the System DVD and use the Disk Utility.

Mac mini as a server review mac os x#

The machine comes pre-installed with Mac OS X Server 10.6.3 on one of its hard drives, while the other is left empty вЂ“ so if you want to mirror them, youвЂ™ll have to reformat and reinstal. In comparison, that means the CPU is about 11 per cent quicker than the desktopвЂ™s 2.4GHz chip, and the disks are faster. Yet the Mac Mini server squeezes two 7200RPM 500GB hard disks into its tiny case, along with a 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo. The server price hike has it in third place behind the basic MacBook as cheapest Mac. Apple's Mac Mini Server: no optical drive, but two 2.5in hard drives inside instead