The Apple Mac mini

So Apple's released the details on their new Mac mini, but we know you'd rather see 'em here with all the rest of the gadget goodness, so here you go! (Did we mention their site's been up and down?) So, as you can see, the slick anodized-aluminum box houses a slot-loading drive (DVD/CD-R), DVI (and VGA by included adapter), Ethernet (10/100, not Gigabit, unfortunately), USB 2.0, Firewire, audio out (but no audio in—this is a big deal!), a v.92 56k modem, and is 6 x 6 x 2.5-inches. It will be $499 with a 1.25GHz G4 processor and 40GB hard drive, and $599 with a 1.42GHz CPU and an 80GB drive.

Both will come standard with 256MB RAM, a 32MB ATI Radeon 9200, iLife '05, but can be customized with up to 1GB of RAM, an 80GB drive, integrated Bluetooth and Airport Extreme (what the rest of us call 802.11g WiFi). It should be in stores Jan. 22nd, but some time around Jan. 20th we'll more than likely be getting the first reports of huge supply shortages, and on Jan. 23rd we expect they'll be all sold out—this is going to be a huge seller to Mac first-timers, and a necessity to Mac vets who want a second box in the den. So it goes!

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

Woo-Hoo! I've been reading this Blog at work since Tuesday and it's now thursday afternoon; I can finally close this tab & go order a Mac Mini!

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

i am keeping a lot of my mac mini experiences at my blog, so--if anyone would like to see a chronicle of a real user (as opposed to speculation :) feel free to follow.

so far it's already a love/hate relationship.

http://www.smartbrother.org/archives/category/tech/apple/mac-mini/

j.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

Wow, seems like all of you apple folk have had to search around for the highest prices you possibley good for a comparable PC system. I just built a shuttle box with the following:
SFF box, motherboard, CD/DVD, built in 32MB video: 160
160 GB hard drive: 50 (check out Outpost.com, if you are doubtful)
512 mb ddr - 129
3.0 Ghz processor - 100.
Win XP - 90

Well, my system came to a little over 500, before keyboard, mouse, & monitor. Needless to say, it blows the freaking doors
off the mini.

Oh, and for those who are worried about spyware, viruses, etc, I picked up a copy of PC-Cillin for $30, and have never had piece of spyware on my system for more than a 1/2 hr. Never had a virus.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

I will tell you why this machine is perfect for me,

I am using it as part of a Club DJ system. It fits perfectly into my mixer case. I have resisted using a laptop because I could not risk the damage a drink or other liquid would cause to the keyboard and the entire machine.

This is perfect because you can tuck it away in a case and use external keyboards and mice and monitors.

This is the dream machine for me,

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

#358 so you got built in video RAM that sucks from the CPU and you got Win XP which just sucks. + How big is your machine? Don't see you fitting that in a single DIN car radio slot.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

#358 you also forgot one thing.

i didn't have to build my computer.

i'm a grown man with no time for that part.

j.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

360 and 361. I am a grown man, and it took me about 3 hrs to build the system, including installs. Since you're both mac guys, I won't bore you with the benefits of having parts available from competing companies, the resulting superior quality of the components. By the way, how much do you suckers pay to get these things upgraded?

I know, my computer is huge! Oh, wait, that's the G4 tower. Huh, looks like apple ripped off another design: http://sys.us.shuttle.com/ModelsI.aspx.

An yes, the build in ram does suck from my cpu, but with 1.75 more Ghz than the mini, I think I can spare it. Oh, and I can drop another 150 for a card which is 4 times as good as the mini's, and takes me 2 minutes to install. By myself.
Also, how does XP suck? Other than the licensing (1 copy to 1 comp), I love it. I have two computers running XP professional, and they have never crashed. Can't say that about mac I've worked on.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

build computers suck - if something goes wrong, you have to deal with it - you are your own tech support, and who knows, you could be connecting the wrong parts and the whole thing could overheat and blow up . enjoy your winblows

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

And everyone says the mini can't do any video editing or intensive tasks. But considering the fact that our Mac is a 400mhz G3,340 megabytes of RAM,and a 30 gigabyte hard drive, we do video editing on it, I think these will suit the task plenty well.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

I hate mac and everything about it but i guess i could run linux on it.
\IIIIII\\II\II\\IIII\\\\II\\\II\II\II\II\\\\II\\\IIIIIII\\IIII\\\\II\\\II\II\II\II\\\IIIIII\\II\II\\IIII\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\II\II\II\\III\\IIII\\\IIIIIIIII\IIIII\II\\\\IIIIIII\IIII\\IIII\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\[I H8 MAC]

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

Possibly the smallest cheapest Server on the market today!

I laugh when I see WinTel users struggling to configure Apache, IIS, Mysql, php etc.....

this box is a steel!

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

I am a windows user but i think this might just change me to get my first mac there are loads of good reports about them and its more useful than windows its just is seems a bit low spec to be truthful, but hey for that price who can argue?

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

I am seriously thinking of buying a mac mini... But can anyone tell me which games are compatible w/ Mac OS X panther b/c so far i have seen none... Also, if in fact i were to install games on it, how will it perform?
thanks

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

I agree that the flaunting of how great MAC is, is nothing but peoples inexperienced computer usage talking. Ask any tech like me who has used both systems for years...there isn't any significant difference other than people lacking computer experience. The Mini looks and sounds great but Apple should have considered outfits like DELL who are right now kicking out complete systems for 299!!!! I am dying to make the switch Apple but come on now...for 499 I can't get a basic tool set with screen?...come on guys...you can do better! Unfortunately Windows remains the winner still. MAC being better is still a myth. Windows XP Pro SP2 isn't by far the crap people claim it is...in fact, the other day I was at the shop and guess what?...there was a MAC with crash errors on the monitor...so yes, MAC is not excempt. Apple...lets get real baby!...we are willing to switch but hook us up!!!

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM]

Can You plug this mini mac into your laptop and use the monitor ?

The apple webpage says you can use your pcs side by side with the mini mac..