Sam460 V Mac Mini G41.5

[apsturk]

How does the Sam460 hold up to a Mac Mini witha G4 at 1.5mhz anyone have a idea??

Thanks

[SACC-guy]

In terms of age...

SAm is almost new 1 to 2 yrs old...mac mini is many years old and in it's little case has been heating and cooling those caps...

ALL old hardware is getting harder to find parts for...

My family has macs (we discovered they are very expensive to repair)

New SAM are coming as announced by Acube. (if morph is ported sam will be the only new hardware running it)

[rzookol]

http://www.amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2012-02-00011-EN.html

Mac mini is about 2.5 ~ 3 times faster

[wawrzon]

yeah, makes a whole lot of sense to buy a newer almost no-name hardware because its dramatically slower than old abandoned one by a trusted label manufacturer with widespread followership. especially that the new one is magnitudes more expensive that the label one, because the latter is only to be acquired second hand.

[danbeaver]

In only my opinion, the software you run on the computer matters.  While the Mac will run an older version of the Mac OS, Linux, and some other Amiga-like OS that runs in emulation, the SAM 460 only runs Amiga OS 4.1 and Linux.  

"Your mileage may vary" depending on what experience you are looking for -- surfing, word processing, gaming, etc.  When you decide on how you want to use the computer, then the forum members will better be able to help :-)

[Yasu]

... the SAM 460 only runs Amiga OS 4.1 and Linux.

A MorphOS port is also on the works.

[danwood]

...the Mac will run ... some other Amiga-like OS that runs in emulation, the SAM 460 only runs Amiga OS 4.1

It runs MorphOS natively, which is no more "emulation" than OS4.1, in fact they both work pretty much the same way, execute PPC code natively and 68K via a JIT emulation layer.  But as you can see above, the Mini G4 is pretty much on X1000-level performance.

[LiveForIt]

It runs MorphOS natively, which is no more "emulation" than OS4.1, in fact they both work pretty much the same way, execute PPC code natively and 68K via a JIT emulation layer.  But as you can see above, the Mini G4 is pretty much on X1000-level performance.

You need a fast G4 to measure up, not just anyone, I don't think there is any G4 dual core MacMini's.

Anyway G5's are more simular to the PA6T.

Mac Mini runs MorphOS if you like that.
Sam460 / AmigaOne-X1000 runs AmigaOS4.1

So if you don't like MorphOS, it should not be too hard to chose, right :-).

[takemehomegrandma]

How does the Sam460 hold up to a Mac Mini witha G4 at 1.5mhz anyone have a idea??

Thanks

The Mac Mini is at least 2x as fast, probably more in some circumstances. This becomes very obvious when for example watching videos (under MorphOS the Mini can play most x.264 720p streams without frame skipping) and browsing websites of the heavier kind. MorphOS has pretty solid support for the Mac Mini HW, the GFX is for example completely supported (2D + 3D acceleration, Overlay), even the Airport Extreme WiFi card (if present) is supported.

The Mac Mini is a very cool little machine. It's compact and powerful - in PPC terms of course (which honestly is quite weak by today's standards, but then again, the Sam460 is less than half as powerful, so...)

MorphOS is by far the best Amiga NG OS in existence; compared to OS4 (I have both) it has more features, it has better features, it has all the best Amiga standards built in (like Poseidon, CGX, etc, etc), it has better Amiga compatibility, it supports a lot more HW (both in terms of systems and peripheral HW), yet it costs a lot less, and it even comes with a 30 minutes unlimited "try before you buy" demo mode.

To me it's a no-brainer, go for the Mac Mini (if you can find the 1.5/64MB VRAM model). Or why not a laptop? MorphOS supports plenty of models! But if you still want to go the Sam460 route, then you will probably be pleased to know that MorphOS will soon support that HW as well, perhaps already in the next release even...

Happy Hunting!

[takemehomegrandma]

You need a fast G4 to measure up, not just anyone

The 1.5GHz Mac Mini *does* have a fast G4, AFAIK only some PowerBook models (and third party Power Mac CPU modules) are faster. The fastest G4 PowerBook laptops beats (or runs on par) the X1000 in most CPU intensive tasks, the Mac Mini shouldn't fall that far behind.

I don't think there is any G4 dual core MacMini's.

Amiga is single core.

Period.

Anyway G5's are more simular to the PA6T.

In an Amiga context (single core, 32-bit, etc), the fastest G4 Macs are faster than the X1000. And the later G5 models runs it into the ground.

(And just as a parenthesis to illustrate where "the world" is today (while PPC "Amigas" has remained in 2005), the "A8" ARM CPU developed in-house by Apple and used in the iPhone 6 scores just below a 2.5GHz G5 in spec int... )

[danwood]

You need a fast G4 to measure up, not just anyone, I don't think there is any G4 dual core MacMini's..

OS 4 only uses one core of the PA6T.

[danwood]

In terms of age...

SAm is almost new 1 to 2 yrs old...mac mini is many years old and in it's little case has been heating and cooling those caps...

ALL old hardware is getting harder to find parts for...

The Mac Mini G4 was on sale until around 2005/6, that's only a decade old.  You're on Amiga.org where lots of us still use Commodore computers up to 30 years old or more, I really don't think the G4 Mini is old in comparison.

Besides, they made millions of Minis, yours develops a problem, pick up a new one off ebay for $50.  If your Sam develops a fault a few years down the line though, that's going to be an expensive venture to replace.

[pVC]

Mac Mini runs MorphOS if you like that.
Sam460 / AmigaOne-X1000 runs AmigaOS4.1

So if you don't like MorphOS, it should not be too hard to chose, right :-).

And vice versa too, of course

[Yasu]

The cheapest Mac Mini I've seen went for 40 USD (machine and power cord, nothing else). It was of course the lowest specs, but it's hard to argue with the price.

But you do have to add 79 Euro to the price for a registred MorphOS. The good thing about SAM460 is that a AmigaOS 4.1 licence is included. So it's actually a little more expensive than you would first think. However, you can of course try out the 30 minute version for free and as much as you like.

The SAM460 can use better GFX cards as well. The Mini usually have terrible VRAM by todays standard (32 MB). If you want the "Silent upgrade" model with 64 MB VRAM it will cost a lot more than 40 USD. Probably somewhere around 200 USD or more. Plus the MorphOS license. It's still cheaper than a SAM460 motherboard though (and a whole computer will cost much more).

[Spectre660]

It will be interesting to see what graphics and video performance  will be achieved on Sam460 machines with MorphOS and AmigaOS 4.1 with Warp3d and the new RadeonHD v2.4 driver and AmigaOS 4.2 .

The Mac Mini is at least 2x as fast, probably more in some circumstances. This becomes very obvious when for example watching videos (under MorphOS the Mini can play most x.264 720p streams without frame skipping) and browsing websites of the heavier kind. MorphOS has pretty solid support for the Mac Mini HW, the GFX is for example completely supported (2D + 3D acceleration, Overlay), even the Airport Extreme WiFi card (if present) is supported.

The Mac Mini is a very cool little machine. It's compact and powerful - in PPC terms of course (which honestly is quite weak by today's standards, but then again, the Sam460 is less than half as powerful, so...)

MorphOS is by far the best Amiga NG OS in existence; compared to OS4 (I have both) it has more features, it has better features, it has all the best Amiga standards built in (like Poseidon, CGX, etc, etc), it has better Amiga compatibility, it supports a lot more HW (both in terms of systems and peripheral HW), yet it costs a lot less, and it even comes with a 30 minutes unlimited "try before you buy" demo mode.

To me it's a no-brainer, go for the Mac Mini (if you can find the 1.5/64MB VRAM model). Or why not a laptop? MorphOS supports plenty of models! But if you still want to go the Sam460 route, then you will probably be pleased to know that MorphOS will soon support that HW as well, perhaps already in the next release even...

Happy Hunting!