Can a Cheap Mac Mini Out-Pi a Raspberry Pi 4?

Thanks PCBWay.com - Now that the Mac Yak PowerPC Challenge is over, it's time to take our community Minecraft server off of the loud and power-hungry PowerMac G5 tower and on to a machine that's a little more reasonable.
Is a 12 year old 2ghz Mac Mini up for the challenge? Or, is a new Raspberry Pi 4 actually a stronger computer now?
Let's install Debian Linux on these two machines, pit them head-to-head with some benchmarks, and transplant our server into a new home!
🍎 Platinum 9.1 theme for XFCE: github.com/timnetworks/Platinum9
🕹 Join our Action Retro community Minecraft server: actionmc.ml/
Proudly sponsored by www.PCBWay.com - easy PCB prototyping with turnaround as fast as 24 hours.
══════════════════════════
💾 For more vintage Apple stuff, please subscribe: kzbin.info?s...
💾 Support these retro computing shenanigans on Patreon! / actionretro
══════════════════════════
Check out my Amazon page with links to my tools, adapters, soldering equipment, camera gear and more: www.amazon.com/shop/actionretro
══════════════════════════
💬 Come talk about old computers on the BitBang Social Mastodon! bitbang.social
══════════════════════════
#MacMini #RaspberryPi #Minecraft

[@Piipperi800]

The Geekbench score was 2x higher on the Raspberry because it has 2x cores, and a Minecraft server is a single core task. Basically a Mac Mini might be a better option if you only want to run a Minecraft server, but Raspberry can run more tasks at the same time so yeah

[@seshpenguin]

Minecraft servers nowadays use multi-core for chunk generation and loading, so the couple extra cores would help prevent lag spikes when people move around or log in!

[@Megabobster]

Looked like the Pi had way higher FP performance. I think that would translate to Minecraft as well.

[@Piipperi800]

@@seshpenguin They really dont actually on vanilla Minecraft. That's why 2b2t for example is using an overclocked i9 so the server is somewhat playable.

[@seshpenguin]

@@Piipperi800 Vanilla 1.13 and above does, but PaperSpigot implemented it for some older versions too (though in the case of ActionMC) it doesn't matter since its such an old version.

[@Piipperi800]

@@seshpenguin I don't think Spigot does that multicore thing by default unless you have multiple worlds. Also, 1.13 and above suck for servers anyway so those are out of the question here

[@maotio]

Also, the raspberry pi 4’s Ethernet is gigabit, not 100 megabit like the raspberry pi 3. Maybe start a separate server to test it and see how it works

[@maotio]

well, I tried it and the cpu does not have enough performance and absolutely dies when generating chunks.

[@rockyhill3]

Great video! Two or Three years ago a co-worker rescued two surplussed mac mini's at work and I installed Xubuntu 18.04 on one and Lubuntu 18.04 on the other. We still use them for productivity. We use one for iridium satellite transmission testing and the other for random equipment testing. I love to see people squeeze more juice out of older tech!

[@ActionRetro]

Nice! Me too!

[@georgemaragos2378]

Hi - i in 2015 i purchased a fair few @2005-2007 early core2duo apple macs / minis and imacs from a school, i cleaned them out and changed the thermal paste Installed 10.6 snow leopard on all of them and they ran great, as most people wanted modern broswer and good youtube playback i used refind to multiboot and installed linux mint ( the current version at the time possibly 17 ) Result is very cheap computers under $100 Australian, very stable and dual boot, they should run another 10 years, 1 sold about 4 or5 of them and gave away to family and friends 4 or 5, i just have 1 x imac and 1 x macbook, the imac runs 24/7 as a local file server for movies and music Regards George

[@lepidotos]

I'm still using an iBook G4 as my daily driver laptop. I'm typing on it right now!

[@strawhousepig]

ProTip: A putty knife makes a great spudger for these minis with clipitis.

[@jasondinger9984]

The mini case was designed by sadists. Keep your putty knife and patience handy during reassembly.

[@soknightsam]

Plastic putty knife can't stress that enough

[@thompsonevergreen8006]

Wtf are you chatting

[@mspeter97]

I'm still amazed at how cheap you got that mac mini for. Over here in France they are still worth 100s of €

[@user-le8ul4nr5t]

At this rate, you might be better off buying an actual used server. It's not going to be the most powerful thing in hte universe, but my old Dell server from 2012 is still great for messing arround and I haven't had any issues running a minecraft server off of it, though I think it has never seen more than 5 people at a time...

[@pietrocavicchioli6128]

@@user-le8ul4nr5t x58 is great dude, I just got a server for 230€, double xeon, 24gb of ram, fantastic!

[@williamrogers5367]

In the US, the majority of Macs are cheaper because there are so many of them over there. Here, I can sell a 2009 Mac Pro with an NVME SSD for almost £1000 whereas I’d get the equivalent of about £600-£700 in the US.

[@user-le8ul4nr5t]

@@pietrocavicchioli6128 x79 and x99 are pretty cool too since they can take xeon e5's which are decently cheap right now.

[@SalvoDan]

@@user-le8ul4nr5t the main reason for taking the minecaft server off the G5 was power consumption. While a vintage sever is ‘better’ hardware, a Mac mini or a raspberry Pi is much more power efficient.

[@soknightsam]

Dude thanks for being so consistent in dropping these Saturday morning vids. Really makes my weekend looking forward to them

[@pnnytx]

So I hosted a minecraft server using an old macbook air with broken screen and it's really capable.

[@goeland4585]

that's not a bad idea actually 👍

[@pnnytx]

@@goeland4585 yea, and I installed Manjaro in it (some says it's unstable lol) and have been running 24/7 for months

[@FuzekiXD]

How did you set it up with a broken screen?

[@pnnytx]

@@FuzekiXD external monitor lol

[@FuzekiXD]

@@pnnytx 👍

[@giovannifurfaro9647]

omg i was not expecting the pi to be basically double the benchmark score, wow!! we have come so far with silicon it’s insane

[@xWindreaderx]

I have actually tried both Mojave and Catalina on my 09' Mac Mini through the "Unsupported Mac" patches by Dosdude and it works surprisingly well for its age! It being a small device that can run as far back as Snow Leopard for the PPC and older Intel support, having Windows XP compatibility, and it being able to unofficially run versions of Mac as recent as Catalina (and Big Sur without GPU acceleration) for the more recent apps was something that I thought was really neat and a big reason as to why I snagged one last year!

[@lovemadeinjapan]

I run all macs on 10.14, including the newer ones with official Ventura support. Still the best OSX ever.

[@daveblake2145]

Where has your channel been all my life. This is all my JAM right here.

[@ActionRetro]

Hahaha thanks Dave!

[@djdeetsdroppingthosefunkyb1236]

Old Chromeboxes are also great for this purpose. You just need to remove the write protect screw, install custom coreboot firmware from Mr. Chromebox in developer mode, and then install a linux distro of choice

[@David_Phantom]

I mean, you don't need the SD Card. The Pi 4 supports both USB booting, and PXE booting.

[@gustavgurke9665]

Apples to apples? More like raspberries to apples!

[@ActionRetro]

This is why I should never work on a farm! 😂

[@MrPGT]

Maybe even Apples to Acorns...

[@chiefobeef]

I installed POP!OS onto a MacBook Pro 2013 and it was not fun - but it was a learning experience. Love this video - I had one of the earlier 1G Mac Minis and it was a lot of fun to mess with.

[@lmanders2]

Hi, just registered for access to the server! Long time follower, first time commenting. Love old macs and own quite a few including a B&W G3 converted to Yikes G4!

[@ActionRetro]

Thanks man!

[@tgpholly]

Something to keep in mind is that up until recently (1.14+) minecraft's server was extremely single threaded and still is to a lesser degree so when running minecraft servers it's usually more about single core performance than number of cores available since barring world generation on newer versions everything still runs on a single thread. Anyway, love the content keep up the good work!

[@steventechno]

This video would have came in handy awhile ago! I got one of these in a trade for a Watch I don't use anymore. I eventually gave up on trying and failing Linux and just installed Windows. It now resides on my desk all pretty-like living as my new Emulation Station, which it does wonderfully. Not to mention, the nostalgia of getting to revisit Win 7 on period-accurate hardware, All in a small corner of my desk!

[@BrandonFreemanAwesome]

Holy cow! I did the same thing with the same Mac Mini back in 2013, running on linux to be a minecraft server! Although, I ended up buying it for $100 from a co-worker. Anyhow, I had the same problem with the video and came to the same solution back in the day, but unfortunately there was very little on the internet as to why I'd get a black screen. I spent about two weeks debugging the issue, and found that when grub and the OS ask the bios/efi for supported resolutions, the Mac returns with absolutely nothing. This leads to a black screen, as no supported mode, no visuals. It make sense, considering Mac OS already knows what resolutions are supported due to the restricted hardware set. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

[@staso28]

What a coincidence....just today I pulled out my 2009 Mac mini, cleaned it and I'm now watching this on it :)

[@TheDustin151]

I learned a lot about linux trying to install new Linux software on an old Dell laptop. It was more annoying than I thought it would be but it does teach you a lot.

[@StephenArsenault]

Thanks Sean, fun comparison :)

[@nathanaelhood7699]

Try using a metal paint scraper! They are fairly wide and can get down in there without really messing up the aluminum!

[@nukelauncher95]

Yeah, I wouldn't use a box cutter like that anymore. I've seen some nasty accidents involving box cutters in the past. Guitar picks are too thick and so are metal spudgers. I like to fix game consoles, especially the PlayStation 3. When I "de-lid" the CPU and GPU so change the thermal paste under the integrated heat spreaders, I use painters knives. They're very thin and have a nice wooden handle. They're thin enough to slip in under the IHS to cut the adhesive without damaging the chip's substrate. They're also perfect for popping those plastic clips when disassembling stuff. You can get a cheap set for $12 on Amazon.

[@ActionRetro]

Thank you! I'm going to pick up one of those

[@Aeduo]

Maybe see about getting a hold of a modern POWER architecture system and seeing if you can get Minecraft going there. :p

[@Lemony1456]

another great vid!

[@knghtbrd]

I wince looking at Sean opening this thing with a box knife. One of my most beloved iFixit tools is the Jimmy, which is exactly what you need for this. I've also got cheaper flat tools, but the Jimmy is so nice to use… (They don't pay me. They did send me one of their tool kits at some point, but I've bought most others.)

[@klokibril]

i absolutely love that theme on the mac mini

[@jba2048]

Good for you, installing your own packages on base Debian. I too like stable operating systems.

[@jameswyma9849]

yay a new action retro video

[@lwvmobile]

Now I'm tempted to subscribe to that magazine. Not that I need to, but if they are throwing in free DVDs then it might be worth the nostalgia.

[@KiraSlith]

You're still technically paying for the DVD since it costs more than a normal magazine, but it's still the easiest possible way to dip your feet into Linux since it also includes a load of utilities and games on the disc ready to run, no need to dig around a software repository or install them permanently.

[@Pendleton115]

The 2009 Mac mini will fly on 10.15 Using the DosDude patcher and an SSD, just saying :)

[@The_Wandering_Nerd]

I was thinking the same thing the other day when I was trying to fix up an old Core 2 Duo laptop into a cheap retro gaming/media box... yeah, I could spend $100 to max out the RAM and storage and processor and put in a USB 3.0 ExpressCard so transferring files isn't such a hassle... but a Raspberry Pi does all the stuff I want this thing to do, and it's faster, has native HDMI, doesn't spin its fans up like a Harrier jet when under load, and uses way less power... it's amazing how much technology has advanced in the last 15 years.

[@mstandish]

It would be interesting to see how the Mac mini runs sustained under load.

[@KOSMOS1701A]

thats cool i want that magazine!

[@mitchelvalentino1569]

Very interesting duel! Raspberry Pi’s are nifty, but I’ll take an old Mac Mini any day.

[@ActionRetro]

Hah me too

[@strategia5613]

I love the Mac mini G4s. Some may want to stay away from Leopard and use Tiger due to the ATI Radeon 9200's lack of Core Image support, but I'm running Leopard and OS 9 (unsupported, patch from MacOS9Lives) right now. These machines can also be overclocked by removing/soldering a few resistors on the logic board. My 1.42GHz mini is currently at 1.5, and I've seen some get as far as 1.83.

[@SudosFTW]

Did this a year ago. Debian Buster, two SSDs, etc. and a Minecraft server patched with PaperMC using a setup script originally designed for use with a RasPi 4. Set it for 7000MB of RAM allowed to be used, text mode only, and you're set. but I was running 1.14/15/16, not anything older. Last September I set up a Wyse 5020 DX0Q thin client with a AMD G-series quadcore embedded APU and never looked back. cut the power usage down to a third and it's more than powerful enough to run a PaperMC-patched Minecraft 1.16.x server, my website, and even a Half Life 2 Deathmatch server instance with a bunch of custom maps. While it's still single-channel for the RAM, it's much faster than the Core 2 in the Mac Mini, and the fact I can use up to 32GB of DDR3 (which would be silly) is a game-changer for me. Add in that it has SATA III and USB3 onboard, and I'm sold. Did I also mention it does all this but is fanless? meaning you can REALLY shove it anywhere you want, and so long as you redo the thermal compound, it shouldn't ever overheat, it sticks around 46-53C depending on how hard you're pushing it.

[@RWBHere]

I run a Mini on Linux Mint Debian Edition 4 as a home music library server. Everything worked, out of the box, apart from having to add the wifi driver after the install. It'easy, because the option is given in a graphical window after install. Check the option and install the driver. And it can dual boot to OS X if desired.

[@Vlad-1986]

Hey, I know that is out of scope for the video, but you can really have any application in the PI on distros like Gentoo or Slackware where you can compile the binaries. It would also be possible to install Chicago95 in Xfce4 there. Is not as logical as the classic look, but sure it's going to confuse a ton of people!

[@Fifury161]

14:50 - ok, I didn't expect that!

[@A7777777lan]

To make that minecraft server easier to manage, install MineOS. it is available as a docker image or as a turnkey iso. Once installed, it will create a web interface for management allowing you to run the mac mini headless (without a monitor attached). MineOS also has some nice features like auto backups, and general user friendliness. The turnkey version runs over-top of Debian without installing a desktop environment, this would create less overhead and no driver issues for the mac mini. I highly recommend especially for resource limited servers, like the mac mini. Anyway, thank you for the great content.

[@ActionRetro]

Oh nice thanks for this!

[@danielrhodes7594]

I really liked your video! Since you brought up the comparison between Raspberry Pi and Mac Mini I was thinking of using the mac mini for a project instead of a Pi. I am looking at building a full size R2-D2 astromech droid. Everyone seems to be using a Pi and arduino for that. Do you think a Mini could be used instead. Take it out of it's case and use it like they seem to use Pi and arduino?

[@ClaireReed]

The MakYak crew are all awesome x

[@BillyTheKidCENTURION]

Ah great! I've been waiting for this comparison. I've often wondered which is better, you've convinced me, I'm buying a Mac Mini M1!!!!

[@MihaiGradin]

I'm not really surprised that the mac mini ran the minecraft server just fine. For a while I've used my old Lenovo G550 laptop from about 2009, with extremely similar specs (a Core 2 Duo T6600 @ 2.2 GHz) as a host for a minecraft server for me and my friends to play on.

[@marcossalinas2914]

First-time viewer here and I really enjoyed this! When you upgraded the hard drive on the Mini, I didn’t see you replace the thermal sensor cable. Just curious if that was overlooked, not necessary, or just got edited out of video.

[@ActionRetro]

Ah yes I did replace it off camera :)

[@maximthemagnificent]

I've a projector in my bedroom (displays onto the ceiling above the bed) that I'm driving with a Chromebook but this has me wondering if my old Mac Mini might be acceptably put to work there instead.

[@Piipperi800]

I run a Pixelmon server on my 2,1 Mac Mmi, it works really well

[@EfficientTrout]

I was expecting you to do video playback comparison. I wanna see whether mac mini can handle 4k video, which the RPi can easily do.

[@KevinAllOver]

Should set the dock to bottom left for max control strip vibes.

[@confusername]

I've run a Rapberry Pi 1.16.5 server for me and 7 other people before on the Pi 4 4gb model, and it worked perfectly. If anyone wants to know, I used the Balena OS method to make the server, and there were no hitches aside from me having to mess with my router settings to get it to work, it should work well with any new or MC version as long as you have the correct .jar. I'd highly recommend a Pi 4 for that use case, though if you decide to go down that route, get some good cooling for the Pi, as a stock Pi 4 runs fairly hot.

[@kaeden7570]

I installed Neptune OS which is a debain distro on my MacBook 6,1 off a USB and it worked just fine (same specs as a mini 3,1)

[@fluffycritter]

Wow, when I had one of the original G4 Mini (back when it first came out) the best-known way of opening them up was by grinding down a putty knife or doing weird things with rubber bands and paper clips. If I’d know all it took was a box cutter I’d have been a lot happier maintaining mine.

[@kaitlyn__L]

I believe they simplified the situation with the first Intel revision, and this was even a later one with miniDP, which were slightly easier again. NB this is just going from vague memories of how-to and mod diary videos from 2008-2011, but I distinctly remember mentions of the G4s being the hardest. The part about it getting slightly easier as Intel revisions went-along could just be the community getting more experienced with it though. But there were still twice as many guitar picks shoved-in at weird angles than seen here - perhaps this has been opened before and made more pliable!

[@Notfound4747]

Hey so I've been try to build a minecraft server on linux for quite a while now and never can menage to run, one of your videos have a guide how to do it or could you do a video showing how to. If anyone know a link to a guide I would appreciate a lot, thx guys and love the video

[@MichaelAStanhope]

Where is the fun in replacing a G5 with a C2D mac mini? Its freakin cold out, I thought you would appreciate having a nice space heater in your house! :).

[@ActionRetro]

😂

[@kevin34ct]

You need a spudger tool. I got 2 out of a cheap kit on Amazon. They look like Guitar picks but have tapered edges. Sorry you got me triggered using a box cutter.

[@caviar_dreamz]

Too thick, I tried a spudger and the plastic just bent so I ended up using a spreading knife. Whatever gets the job done.

[@stevefreeman730]

I had no problem putting linux mint 19.1 on a 2009 macbook pro. software update there is a section for additional drivers which linux handles within it self. When my macbook pro boots I get an nvidia screen. I needed broadband wifi drivers so it was connected to the ethernet.

[@TheBetterTechGuy]

Nice!

[@fl0wedm612]

Hey Sean, would this fix the boot issue on my 2009 iMac? trying to run Debian Bullseye (MATE)

[@radcheckinski6300]

Does the mac mini (2009) have a swapable cpu? maybe a t9900 variant will work

[@zasetenadam]

very nice :)

[@RWBHere]

If you buy an SSD from somewhere like Crucial, they come with a spacer to make installation into a Mini much simpler.

[@alexo1278]

HELP PLS. I have a 7.1 macbook polycarbonate with core duo p8600 and gforce 320m graphics. I install windows, but when i install the drivers it shuts down while aplying the new drivers. That leads to a loop in which it doesnt boot anymore into the user menu. When i first put a ssd with a installation with windows, everything went well. I think its because the UEFI thing you said in the video.

[@danielrhodes7594]

I was looking at trying to transplant or swap out a powerpc tri-core 3.2GHz Xenon onto the processor board of a dual core or quad core G5. Do you think it could be done and work? The G5 was originally used to run everything for the Xbox 360 when in development.

[@virtualtools_3021]

Look at the number of pins are they REMOTELY similar? You would need an interposer board before you have a chance of doing anything, idk if something like JLCPCB or other service could make you one

[@Mampersand]

New to the channel; is that wallpaper available for download? I dig it.

[@ActionRetro]

Welcome! Right here :) www.wallpaperflare.com/outrun-vaporwave-wallpaper-gjedg

[@Drebin2293]

It likely has to do with the videocard bios. It has to support a uefi host. I've had many videocards that would just refuse to work at all. The last one I had that I can remember was the Fury X. I had to update the bios on the card to support uefi because I needed it for vfio. The video card bios is, in many ways, a lot like an option rom. There's a world of difference using something like an Adaptec 71605 raid card in bios mode vs uefi mode.

[@CommodoreFan64]

As a long time Linux user these days I just avoid Nvidia GPUs and systems with integrated Nvidia chipsets, and go for AMD, and Intel, as they are well supported in the latest 5.x kernel updates with the open source kernel modules(drivers) being coded by teams at AMD, and Intel themselves, and I usually have few issues except some old AMD APUs end up with screen tearing on MATE DE, but it was a simple google search for the fix. here is the link for anyone who needs it. learnubuntumate.weebly.com/screen-tearing-on-amd-graphics.html (just replace Intel in the link for the fix for intel, and it will work on Manjaro Mate, and Arch based distros with Mate).

[@daniaviles]

Great theme for XFCE. What's the name of the wallpaper?, thanks.

[@bokexd3173]

5:03 it reminds me to the opening an ipod :D

[@sillystev0n]

Run the server on an old netbook, I would love to see that!

[@resneptacle]

Those atoms really don't have any power whatsoever

[@virtualtools_3021]

My NetBurst xeon has more power than useless atom ñ27p

[@connors3356]

@@virtualtools_3021 woah there were xeons in the netburst architecture? I see my old xeon collection is incomplete after all >:)

[@RegisBodnar]

I mean, as a project or opportunity to tinker, use what you have! If you don't have any old computers lying around, then hardware like this could be an excellent opportunity to mess with things, especially after some research, but Raspberry Pi is definitely more beginner friendly, given the sheer amount of documentation available, and the fact that they were designed from the ground up with education in mind! What are the comparative power draws while running the respective servers? That could be another consideration, especially if you live in an area with higher energy costs.

[@reukiodo]

Raspberry Pi 4 by itself uses maybe 15W max, usually 5W or less, especially if you run it headless with nothing plugged into it

[@lBonaCl]

Honestly having played around with the Pi 4 (I have 2, 4 & 8GB models) extensively, it is quite usable for daily tasks. KZbin still lags a bit every now and then (few frames in 1000), with a decent case (Like the Argon One M.2 or FLIRC) it's totally silent and usable as is. The only thing I'm a bit bummed about is the GPU performance and the Pi 4's hardware acceleration is spotty it times. But since Flash is being dropped and Java applet usage is going down consistently, it's only getting better for daily usage, since the new technologies are usually already embedded into Chromium or Firefox. The biggest issue I have with the Pi for daily use is that services like Spotify won't be able to run, unless you manually insert in Chrome OS libraries to enable the DRM support. With x86, you can easily run most services fine since the DRM packages are included with those builds. Chromebooks use Chrome OS, basically linux on x86 with a skin, so I'm quite puzzled why it ARM variants aren't getting it by default.

[@3amgarage483]

Apple music runs in firefox ESR! just thought it was interesting when I found out I could use it on the pi

[@DavidStahlOLDHAPPyMACs]

Well I Was Correct On My Guess Raspberry Pi 4 Is Faster Then The MacMini But Much Cooler The Run The MacMini As A Server For Minecraft Great Video Sean

[@skraegorn7317]

If I were you I would definitely try the Debian Pi desktop for X86 pc’s on the Mac Mini.

[@aero33888]

I've been running a 1.16 server using PaperMC on my Raspberry Pi 4B with 4 GB of RAM. It runs pretty smoothly surprisingly.

[@ActionRetro]

Oh yeah, we've been doing to same on a Pi 4 4GB for our family and friends Minecraft server. How many people do you have on yours at a given time?

[@aero33888]

@@ActionRetro We have just under 30 players, with the peak players online being around 20.

[@williamrogers5367]

Try running a minecraft server on a Mac Pro 5,1. Mine is a fantastic machine👍

[@microtecture2442]

I have been curious if somehow we could get better optimization for Minecraft. There's surely some more things that can be done to optimize it. I'm no Java expert but considering that modern versions of Minecraft having more modern Optifine features as well as the Fabric mod Sodium getting some users over the 1000FPS mark now, I wonder if optimizations are still possible for PPC Minecraft.

[@UpLateGeek]

I'm actually curious about how the mini compares to the pi in minecraft itself. Looking at the GPU specs, the pi's built-in GPU runs 50MHz faster than the GF 9400M in the mini, but I expect there's a lot more vertex shaders and texture mapping units on the mini's GF (they're completely different architectures, so it's difficult to compare the specs). However, the pi has faster memory than the mini, so that may also help with graphics performance. Anys ways, I think I commented on one of your previous videos about how a higher-end G4 laptop would compare to your 12" model, since they're slightly faster and have a Radeon 9700. Well, I've got a 15" 5,8/A1138 on its way from eBay so I can find out for myself!

[@xasmaniusvolk8416]

16:00 except if you live in the EU - the used Apple Screens Here are so expensive while you can get an old TV cheaply

[@leeashleyanthony]

Installing Arch Linux in EFI mode on a late 2013" Macbook Pro... in order to get graphics to work, I had to add intel_iommu=yes to the list of kernel options to get it to work again.

[@caulijutsu1575]

Does the Mac mini with integrated intel graphics have this problem?

[@nyteshade]

If that is a mid-2007 or earlier Mac Mini you maybe able to drop in a $30 or so 2.33 GHz Core 2 Duo which should bump the geekbench to 3150 or so.

[@jashe369]

The pi 4 actually has full speed gigabit eithernet so aside from the mac mini having an Intel chipset for the mac mini there is zero difference actually given the cpu the mac mini might be slower. I also think trying to run a minecraft server on like a tablet would be interesting, but not mac relevant unless you could maybe jailbreak a ipad pro 2 or higher and then some how install the server there.

[@ActionRetro]

Oh thanks for that!

[@dannyhilarious]

In order to push this to the limit: download the Batocera Image for Macs and write it to a stick. Then boot from that and then install this on the SSD. Then reboot with Gparted-CD and shrink the SHARE partition to a reasonable size. After that boot an Linux install DVD (Ubuntu, PopOS, Mint .. you name it!). When installing, choose "Try something different" and create a EFI, Swap and Root partition manually and then install Linux on it. After finishing Linux install, reboot with the rEFInd CD and install rEFInd onto the system. And voila: you got an elegant Linux and Batocera dualboot machine ready for work and retrogaming.

[@spitefulwar]

On should also note that for $99 you could get a refurb mini desktop (Dell, HP, Lenovo...) usually with 3rd Gen Core Pentium and 8gb ram.

[@alexfinns6162]

Are you sure the latest version supported is El Capitan? I have a 2008 Mac mini and it runs high sierra

[@alexfinns6162]

If I remember correctly

[@williamrogers5367]

‘Apples to apples’ or ‘Apples to arms’? 😂😂😂

[@destroyer6470]

I would love to see more mac vs pi 4 (preferably 8gb) content

[@FS--ew3se]

Nicee

[@miguimau]

Haha I still have an early 2009 Mini in use, with 8GB RAM + 500 GB SSD . At 60 bucks is a bargain.

[@danielrhodes7594]

So would the difference in scores be that it is a quad core, verses a dual core. But isn't the Pi optimized and the mini is not. I also wonder if it helps that the connections are so much closer for each item, (memory, etc) as I heard that unless the leads are a certain idea length the memory speed is cut in half. As it is the Mini has DDR2 ram, the Pi has DR4. A core 2 duo is very slow compared to Quad core and you even overclocked it. My thought is why can a board not be make that is just like the Pi, but with a M1 chip or even an A14 chip to be used in the community like the pi. It would have a lot of uses.

[@tonycosta3302]

There are inexpensive adapters that will let you swap out that CD drive for another SSD. They were made originally for older laptops with CD drives. Less than $20 online.

[@marghtellam7440]

Have you tried dropping the OSX resolution down before starting Minecraft? That could give you a better frame rate. Being Minecraft it doesn't change how it looks eith Also, thanks for the XFCE theme, I'll be adding that to my Linux Mint machines

[@Gamer-wf3jx]

Try the Apple PowerBook g3 pismo for the Minecraft sever

[@baroncalamityplus]

The pcbway link in the description has a typo and isn't working. At least on a pc on the chrome browser.

[@ActionRetro]

Oh thanks!

[@mg86_]

putty knifes work well to open a mac mini

[@brendanhoffmann8402]

I was looking into getting a mac mini recently and saw the $699 price tag for the M1 and thought 'Hey I can afford that!'... but then I realised I was on the American Apple site and it was actually $1100 Australian! Hopes shattered I bought an upgraded Mac mini from 2011 for $300 Australian (about $200 US) postage included. It's still in the mail. I bought an 8 gb raspberry pi 4 for about $200 Australian earlier this year.

[@alexfinns6162]

In what way is the Ethernet better on the Mac? The raspberrypi also has gigabit

[@BRENTGAMEZ_Derp]

Maybe an iMac g3 (maybe even with a custom case shell that's Minecraft themed?)

[@ryanzmuda3167]

What storage did you have In the pi. Sata type and ssd type

[@shad0w_dragon178]

Micro SD. Raspberry pi’s don’t have a SATA interface, they boot off of a normal microSD card, unless you use a USB3 to SATA adapter, which he did not use in this video.

[@WilliamHostman]

The Mini also draws about 5 times the current... 110W vs the pi's typical 15-20W. Capable or not, and that's a concern, too. Increasing the cost by $70 a year in Oregon for 788.4 kWH difference. Your emphasis on cost fails when the first year's savings on electricity for the Pi exceeds the cost difference for hardware.

[@IAMGWH1]

Makes sense!