[DM-MUG] Question about Mac Mini

[Jon Thompson]

It is possible that it is overheating and going to sleep to protect  
itself, as decoding video is a hard task for those little guys.   
However,  I _encode_ video on the little guys in real time, and have  
never had an overheat issue with that, so I would say that either you  
have not given it adequate ventilation, or you have it placed in a  
location where the air is naturally warm.  A few notes on cooling minis.

- the intakes are on the bottom, and the exhaust are on the back.   
Make sure there is plenty of airspace for the air to be gathered in.   
Make sure there is even more airspace in the back for the exhaust air  
to circulate with the rest of the room.
- If you have it in a cabinet, you need to be cutting holes for  
airflow.  If it is right up to the edge of the back, three holes the  
size of the mini itself should be sufficient.
- make sure you are not setting things on the tops of the minis if  
they are on their feet.  This adds downward pressure to a tight  
space.  The expansion of materials as they heat may make them come in  
contact in ways that were not intended.
- All of mine are on their left (from the front, starboard) side.  My  
archival pool has about an inch between them (7 minis), my new video  
recorders are mounted to the walls with H-squared's mounting kit in a  
vertical configuration.  The mounting kit adds space between the  
"foot" of the mini and the wall, so I have them packed tightly in a  
vertical space.  Furthermore, they are in a room that is constantly 65  
degrees, so overheating due to a warm room is not an issue.
- Depending on the model, this may be what you have to live with  
without even more drastic cooling strategies.  Modern web games and  
video are some of the most processor intensive things that I've seen  
people try and put their computers through in recent years.  A good  
rule of thumb is that the intels can handle it, the G4s struggle, and  
the G5s barely get by.

On Nov 13, 2008, at 10:18 PM, Stuart Thiessen wrote:

> Just wondered if anyone had any thoughts on this?
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>> From: Stuart Thiessen <thiessenstuart at aol.com>
>> Date: November 13, 2008 11:56:15  CST
>> To: "Des Moines Mac Users Group <dmmug at dmmug.org>" <dmmug at dmmug.org>
>> Subject: [DM-MUG] Question about Mac Mini
>> Reply-To: Des Moines Mac Users Group <dmmug at dmmug.org>
>>
>> I have a Mini that I use for our home computer. Since I have a Mac  
>> laptop from work, I tend to use that more and my wife and kids use  
>> the Mini. Anyway, they are now complaining that it falls asleep  
>> during video clips or web-based games. I did some browsing on the  
>> web for this and they said to vacuum the computer. So, I did vacuum  
>> it out, but it didn't seem to help. Some websites also said to  
>> elevate the mini so that it has better airflow, so I have a stand  
>> that I use to make sure there is clear airflow to the Mini. Still  
>> no difference. Any thoughts?
>>
>> It is not the energy saver or the screen saver. I already did check  
>> that at the beginning. :)
>>
>> Stuart
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