[Review] Apple Mac Mini

[dan]

Hello everyone.

The purpose of this guide is to tell you about my experience (so far) with my Mac Mini. I have had it for 3 hours now and I was quite suprised no one else had posted a review.

It's been quite the rollercoaster ride with regard to actually receiving it though. Let me be brief...

I ordered the Mac Mini (here on after reffered to as MM) on the day Steve Jobs announced it at Mac World. I opted for the following spec:

G4 1.42GHz CPU

512Mb DDR RAM

80Gb Hard Drive

Combo Drive

Airport Extreme & Bluetooth

Apple Wireless Keyboard & Mouse

I also ordered a 512Mb iPod Shuffle and the total bill was a whopping ?620 pounds sterling (after educational discount).

For the last two years i have had the pleasure of owning a iBook G3. It has served me well and got me into the Mac scene. For the time it was also well specified but in contrast cost ?1200 (which i quite upsetting considering todays iBook's are vastly more powerful and cost half as much).

Apple informed me that my order had been processed and would be shipped on or before February 11th. A long time to wait yes but I am a patient person and as the saying goes @good things come to he who waits"

So to my suprise when Apple announced that my order had shipped on January 29th and would be with me in 2-3 business days. And sure enough it was Monday 31st of January the TNT Delivery arrived: 1 Apple Wireless Keyboard, 1 Apple Wireless Mouse, 1 iPod Shuffle... err "where's the mac?"

The driver had not picked it up. Said he would return Tuesday... Bugger...

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday... No delivery, more alarming when I called the TNT Dispatch Centre the lovely girl i spoke to said they werent sure where it was... more than a cause for concern really considering it cost ?500.

But today it finally arrived and i must say... Nice...

Yes there are cheaper Windows boxes, and yes the spec is hardly bleeding edge, but god damn what a beast of a machine. Setup took 5 minutes and they are right, it's whisper quiet. Although im not so keen on the white top of it, the aluminium side casing is a touch of quality. Even the little white LED on the front is something special.

I must also say how impressive the Apple Wireless Keyboard and Mouse are. Apple provide high quality brand name Energizer lithium batteries and its just the little things, like on/off switches to conserve battery life (my logitech wireless kboard and mouse dont have that). Volume control is convenient and the keyboard is a joy to type on, I swear my words per minute has increase:) :)

In anticipation i did aquire a set of Creative I-Trigue 2.0 2200 speakers. For ?35 they are very nice. Look stylish and clean (blue LED's are cool too). They are also suprisingly loud, i personally was expecting a tinny horrid noise from them but I am quite happy to say I was wrong.

Here is a link to a picture i took of the speakers

ALL IMAGES ARE HIGH RES... APOLOGIES 56K'ERS

Speakers

So comparing the MM to the iBook. The G4 @ 1.42Ghz is 'el rapido' in comparison the the iBook G3 @ 800Mhz. Apple also installed DDR 400Mhz RAM as well, which is nice. Unfortunately the Hard Drive is Toshiba MK8025GAS, which i think is only 4200rpm. Ah well, that is the luck of the draw i suppose. I will be purchasing an external firewire Maxtor or Western Digital HDD soon.

Here is a link to a picture i took of the Mac in action

Mac Mini In Action

I did play the included Nanosaur 2 game to get an idea of how the Radeon 9200 would perform. It was smooth @ 1024x768 but I didnt stick around long cause the game is beyond 5hite, I would have been really p!ssed off if I had paid for that.

If i had been a first time Mac user coming from a very quick PC (P4 or Athlon at 2ghz or higher) i could honestly say i would be impressed. It is quick enough. Dont get me wrong i could not live without my PC (gaming on Mac's is not a great idea unless you have a PowerMac G5).

Coming from having had an older Mac tho i must say the MM is awesome. The speed is phenominal in comparison to the iBook. Even if you have a more powerful mac at home this is worth the investment. Its damned small, silent, and with Airport Extreme networking is a breeze, and relatively quick at 54Mbps.

Here is a photo i took of the MM next to the iBook

Mac Mini & iBook

Well review over. Apologies i do seem to ramble on alot. But i hope you enjoyed this review.

Thank you for your time

Daniel

Edited February 4, 2005 by dan

[ZZOOzzoo]

:woot: Wow! Very nice!

Thanks for the review. :)

[sambrentnall]

amazing i realy want one of these but im taking my GF on holiday in 4 weeks and i sadly cant afford one :(

[dan]

amazing i realy want one of these but im taking my GF on holiday in 4 weeks and i sadly cant afford one :(

585413264[/snapback]

Dude i'd rather have GF with me on holiday than a mac... I hope you enjoy yourselves

[raider360]

Very nice, dude ;)

[FiB3R]

OMFG That is tiny!!! There's no way you can get a PC that small. Not with that sort of spec anyway.

Microsoft make great hardware. Why don't they try somthing like this?

[Hurmoth]

Will the Mac mini work with a KVM?

This is the one I'd like to get: 2-Port KVM Switch with Audio Support and Built-In Cabling, USB

[dan]

Will the Mac mini work with a KVM?

This is the one I'd like to get: 2-Port KVM Switch with Audio Support and Built-In Cabling, USB

585413774[/snapback]

Yes.

[Hurmoth]

Thanks dan!

[planetik]

You can overclock these things apparantly...

Here

Don't have one tho :p

[Chouzan]

OMFG That is tiny!!! There's no way you can get a PC that small. Not with that sort of spec anyway.

Microsoft make great hardware. Why don't they try somthing like this?

585413475[/snapback]

1. There are more powerful x86 based computers built to the same form factor, if not smaller - have been for a while now.

2. Microsoft is not that large of a player in the hardware industry, although they do retail peripherals and input devices commonly enough.

[Detroit]

Thanks for the review :)

[Groovedude]

Hang on a minute have you got your ipod shuffle ? :| :angry:

[GothTeddy]

by the sound of things, yes. and, I got mine on the 25th :p

Nice to see a good review, for a change :)

[Groovedude]

when did you order yours may i ask ???

[Daniel Oskarsson]

I am actually thinking of getting in to the MAC-scene to, thx to Mac Mini. Seems like a great piece of hardware. And the price is affordable.. The only problem is as describe in the review how to really obtain one :)

Edit: Can someone confirm that normalt DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW can be READ in the default combo drive? All I ever read is DVD-ROM, CD-RW.

Edited February 5, 2005 by n3Mo

[threetonesun]

1. There are more powerful x86 based computers built to the same form factor, if not smaller - have been for a while now.

585414556[/snapback]

No there aren't. This has been discussed many times. The best you can do for a mobo/CPU at that size is a VIA chip. And no one seems to be able to rebuild them with an optical drive either.

[multimediatechy]

I hardly noticed the mac mini in that 2nd picture - its so small !!!

n3Mo, I think the best way to get a hold of these things is on the apple website.

I wonder how long these mac mini's will last for??!!? Fan may be the first thing to go...thats my only concern about these due to the compact size.

[GothTeddy]

Edit: Can someone confirm that normalt DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW can be READ in the default combo drive? All I ever read is DVD-ROM, CD-RW.

585417676[/snapback]

DVD?R/RW disks can be read in any DVD-ROM drive - that includes the one in the mini:))

Groovedude: I ordered my shuffle the day it became available.

[thesmallelder]

when did you order yours may i ask ???

585417619[/snapback]

I ordered the Mac Mini (here on after reffered to as MM) on the day Steve Jobs announced it at Mac World. I opted for the following spec:

I really want one of these. I saw them the Apple store when I was trying to buy an iPod shuffle (sold-out before I got there) and it's reallly small and not too bad in terms of speed. You can run about 6-7 apps (iMovie, iDVD, safari, etc..) simutaniously.

[Chouzan]

No there aren't. This has been discussed many times. The best you can do for a mobo/CPU at that size is a VIA chip. And no one seems to be able to rebuild them with an optical drive either.

585417787[/snapback]

Of course there have been, Logisysus and CappuccinoPC are two manufacturers who supply models with optical drives that are of smaller dimensions.

I would still take a Mini Mac over either though. :happy:

[NeoXY]

Dude i'd rather have GF with me on holiday than a mac... I hope you enjoy yourselves

585413278[/snapback]

:laugh: :laugh: .....I would agree....

[Daniel Oskarsson]

DVD?R/RW disks can be read in any DVD-ROM drive - that includes the one in the mini:))

Groovedude: I ordered my shuffle the day it became available.

585418801[/snapback]

Thx. I had to be sure before buying a computer I really don't need. :cool::

[oniq]

Will the Mac mini work with a KVM?

This is the one I'd like to get: 2-Port KVM Switch with Audio Support and Built-In Cabling, USB

585413774[/snapback]

I'd stay away from a Belkin if I was you.. http://www.nonliteral.com/lawson/weblog/ar..._switch_review/

Damaged my LCD -- and others' as well.

[g-n-t]

Dude i'd rather have GF with me on holiday than a mac... I hope you enjoy yourselves

585413278[/snapback]

id rather go on holiday with a guy than have a mac. :pinch: ;)

anyway, i admit, it is pretty small and pretty cool looking. i want to see if that freeminimacs.com thing works, although i wish they had a freepowerbookg5.com :p

has anyone tried that website and have experience with it?

i need quiet computer and hey, free is free. i can live with a mac for basic internet stuff. my pc is giving me a headache(from the noise, not from linux):p