Lightbridge and Mac mini?

[Severe]

Hello,

I've been looking into possibly purchasing a Mac mini and have some questions about its single firewire port.

I'd like to run an M-Audio Lightbridge interface with it. I've been told that the Lightbridge requires a lot of the firewire bandwidth. So, I'm not sure if daisy-chaining would work.

Someone with a Macbook with the original 5400rpm drive claimed he was able to record audio without any problems. He also mentioned not to worry about having audio (the sessions) on the system drive now that the new Intel I/O controller on the new Mac generation is a lot more efficient then on the G4/5.

Could someone shine any light on this topic? Has anyone had any luck with this configuration?

BTW, I've already purchased the Lightbridge. It's not supported by my old upgraded G4 tower. This whole limited computer i/o thing is new to me and I really can't get myself into a MacPro anytime soon. Also, I currently own a Mercury Elite FW drive. It has 1 FW 400 and 2 FW 800 ports, if this is of any importance.

[stmiller]

Well the new minis have a SATA I controller. But it is a notebook hard drive in there. So depending on your use of this box, it could be fine. But even the nice expensive 7200rpm notebook drives don't have the read/write specs of a standard off-the-shelf desktop 7200rpm drive.

That said, a guy recently posted here about doing some major work for a tv spot just with a macbook pro:

http://discussions.apple.com/message...396686#4396686

[Severe]

Thanks,

I've taken this into consideration. I'm now hoping the hardware can be daisy-chained without any issues.. puter > FW HD > Lightbridge

The LB only has one FW port.

At this point, I think I may have to just go for it. I haven't found anyone that has even tried this configuration, let alone had any success with it.

[edgarbc1]

i would recommend an iMac over a mini any day...
Core 2 Duo (64 bit) and non integrated graphics card (for 20" and 24")
get an iMac if you dont have the scratch for a Mac Pro..

oh by the way... two FW ports! (get the 20" most bang for the buck, not the 24")

[Severe]

Thanks edgar...

It had entered my mind, but I really don't dig the look of it. And besides, I already own a couple of monitors, etc. I don't really like the idea of being locked into its style.

And, believe it or not, the mini has quite a few upgrades available that have been done with great success...if I could only get around this issue.


BTW... i wonder what the word is on the Core 2 Duo minis.

[edgarbc1]

oh by the way, you can also have dual monitors with the iMac
so you can use one of your monitors for a 2nd screen..

sell the other monitor and it will ease the pain for the $$
to purchase the iMac over the mini.

...consider 599 to 799 for a mini + upgrades
more ram say $100 per 1gb stick... $200 total
a faster internal hard drive.. $150
the thin spatula pieces you will need to open the mini yourself
to install said RAM and hard drive (which if you are not
comfortable to do this yourself, then seriously reconsider the mini
because paying someone else to do this is not worth the money)
worst case $1150

if you wanted to swap out the Core chip for a Core2
then I would estimate at least $700 for the chip
as a complete guess.


on the flip side:
a 17" iMac with 2ghz Core 2 Duo chip and Radeon Graphics
is $1199 and the 2gb ram and the connector for an extra
monitor (say $50) you have a total system for
$1450
for a 20" imac $1750

for me looks and style are secondary to price and power
when it comes to computers... and if you dont like the
style of the keyboard and mouse, then sell them on Ebay..

Good Luck with your decision!
Edgar

p.s. wait until July (if you can) for the WWDC to be over, there
are rumors mini and imac will be refreshed with new
models...