Apple Intel Mac mini hands on
By Ryan Block 
posted February 28th 2006 2:58PM
posted February 28th 2006 2:58PM
posted February 28th 2006 2:58PM
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What did you expect? A powerfull system that can run the lastest games?
Its a mac mini, for beginners. Perfect, albeit a bit expensive.
And in all honesty who buys a mac to play games? The only problem I can see with the intergrated graphics is bad video playback. Although some people have said it should play video at a reasonable level.
I bought the $799 one. Why? It's a reasonably priced Mac for home use. I use a PowerMac G5 at work, and now I can continue the OSX experience at home.
I've already got a dedicated home-made PVR (running Windows), and this can stream video from that computer over the network, wirelessly. I can also do all my web development from the same box. I'll keep it in my bedroom, so I can do Photoshop and Dreamweaver work before firing up FrontRow and heading to bed to watch some TV shows I recorded from my dedicated box downstairs. For me, it's the perfect computer for every task. Dedicated video? I don't play games, so I don't care. It'll run Photoshop, iLife, and videos better than I need it to run. Perfect!
Wow people take a deep breathe. The intel Macs were not suppose to be ready until June,I believe this is so the can increase more early intel/universal app adapters. They bump up the specs, enhance software/streaming, and yet some people are crying because they couldn't fit in a microwave oven, and 6 pack holder. They said fun new announcements, not tivo killing/tablet apps. Give them
a little time and they will still come up with better stuff than a 6 year delayed 8 variation of vapor/vista ware others(MS) have to offer.
These products are EXACTLY what the invite sent to VERY FEW people were labeled as, FUN.
Its was not a massive hyped deal, hence the location and small number of invites.
These were not major products, just a couple FUN additions.
The only people looking like idiots are all the retards posting here, because they think they know something. And tech stocks are down across the boards, you webtards.
Will someone try to run Windows on it?
Nope. Never even remotely intimated such a thing. Take a look at the posts above mine – you might note the numerous echoes pursuant to my criticism. I'm editorializing because I am simply stunned at the fact that Apple has chosen to step backward on a critical component. This GPU is not even in the ballpark. But I'm sort of guessing, based on a wee little hunch, that you likely have never owned a system with an Intel based shared memory GPU. I have – on several occasions. Oh well... Enjoy the cool aid. The nearly $1,000 cool aid (for a semi-reasonable configuration).
With intels graphics chip they just made the Mac another PC....
I think it's pretty reasonable to say that the Mac mini was never pitched to consumers for it's 3D abilities. Clearly no geek worth his salt would consider this machine (or any similar SFF box) as a gaming box... especially considering the existence of the X360 with it's lower pricetag and x1900-level graphics.
So what's all the hubbub about the integrated graphics?
As for the $599 base price, this is not the right direction to take the cheapest mac, but it does include gigabit ethernet, bluetooth 2.0 and wifi, as well as the remote. I look forward to the prices of comparable mini clones from Aopen and Shuttle.
The VoodooPC Idol (total mini clone) currenttly sells for over $900 with last-generation single core Pentium M and no wireless support built in.
The fact is, Apple's mass market product is the iPod, which is a price/GB leader. Bargain-basement PC's isn't a business anyone should envy. The platform is doing fine without them.
#9 "I'm looking at the second picture right now and wondering where can i get the same black pad for my keyboard and mouse?"
All the furniture/extra stuff in those pictures is from Ikea, that's the "original desk pad, curved" http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?topcategoryId=15600&catalogId=10103&storeId=12&productId=49657&langId=-1&parentCats=15600*15774*15781
I'm usually the guy saying the hype is just hype but since sentiment has turn the other way my center position now looks positive in comparison. Granted I'm far from an Apple enthusiast so the madness is always a bit, well you know.
The Mac Mini form factor wasn't new (except to Apple) when it was introduced and people loved it then so I'm not sure why people are angry now that it got some improvements. It isn't the right form factor for a media center/home theatre computer. If they made it component width (17"?) they could do much more with it. They could improve the cooling even put the ipod dock in it.
Hmm... just thought... only thing missing is a blu-ray drive ... that would have made this a perfect HTPC... well, maybe in June...
Linux makes their software better.
---
LMAO.. yeah.. cuz.. Vista looks JUST LIKE LINUX.
No, seriously, even if you weren't stupid enough to call it Linux (it's Unix, close) Apple has been adding features like crazy to OS X. And when Vista is sealed up, Apple will kick them in the pants with 10.5...
It's the software stupid.
Wait, you've never heard of iLife have you?
So I ordered a Mac Mini on Friday and well it's the 1.42Ghz older model.... should I keep that or go to the new Intel mini's???
Whats everyones thought?
They should have released a more cut-down version of the Mini for purely media center features. Boot it up fast, no keyboard, no mouse - just the remote. Optical sound output jack, HDMI output (the adapter costs 120$, jeez). There could have been one without a hard drive, you could just stream things from your Mac.
To #24
It is a Sony Wega something something. Im typing this thing in the one that I have in my living room :D
I just ordered mine. If as mentioned above it can do H.264HD decoding then I'm very happy. If will only cope with mpeg2 HD decoding then I'm still happy, just not so much. This is perfect for my use. Integrated graphics are a let down but it's not a big deal. I honestly don't feel it will be an issue. It has DVI which means I can drive my TV with it and optical audio out to plug into my amp. All round it's made for what I want,
Why would you want a TV tuner in there anyway, all my channels are brought in via a Digital STB with a 160gb HDD + Dual Ditial Satelite tuners which does all the PVR work..... adding a tv tuner would be completely worthless, maybe a Scart socket for putting video in or something would have been better.
VOD via the internet is the future, especially when internet speeds of 8mbps+ are now commonplace.
this is a mac MINI rememeber. since when is it supposed to deliver work horse graphics power. this is a low end system for casual users. sheesh.
if you want a tv tuner so bad, buy a G5 and slap one of these in it http://www.welovemacs.com/dvrpcisil.html
problem solved.
wow you guys seriously have to calm down. this was a teaser- a few little things that will get people hyped up for either the april 1 event or in june when the real exciting stuff will come out. and btw, for those of you who say "why did apple make such a big deal for crap?" ok it's not apple who made the big deal, it's you guys with all your predictions about something amazing. they can't come out with mindblowing stuff like every month. that's not possible. just over a month ago they introduced the first intel macs, and in that short a time they already did the mac mini and a high-quality stereo. in my opinion that's pretty amazing. if you guys dont want it, fine don't buy it, but dont go bitching about it to other people
nick
If I wanted to use it as a media center, I'd have to buy the 120$ DVI to HDMI adapter (my TV has Component and HDMI) and the 30$ optical plug for it :(
theres nothing i like listening to more than high fidelity mp3s. oh wait - those dont exist.
hifi ipod is a gigantic contrast in terms. and : flac, and apples losslesswhoever is going to respond saying
macmini would be cool if YOU COULDNT BUY AN F_ING LAPTOP FOR THAT MUCH.
and why bother. i have osx running on my dell deminsion 9100 from a usb hd. (or as my friend who hooked it up likes to call it: 'hackintosh')and the intel systems havent been out that long. how easy is that going to be in like a year? how much longer is all this icrap going to be necessary?
Do you really want a revolution every month??? This new MacMini is really the best thing for my plasma andi'll buy one to play and share my digital life at home!!! It's still cute and tiny but more powerful than before: that's a really good day, not a revolution, but a good day for all home theaters: DD 5.1, new "Bonjour", Front Row... That's perfect for me!!!
XTOF.
To the girl who asked who makes the TV in the photos. Its a Sony Bravia LCD I believe.
To be honest, my main issue is what its always been with these; value.
With Aopen and now Shuttle bringing out similar boxes, why bother with the Mac? Exactly what does this do that a PC can't? Nothing.
Add a 17" LCD to one of these and you're well north of a grand. Its inexcusable to offer such low spec components at this level in the name of aesthetics. I mean, would anybody really be bothered if this thing was just 50% bigger? Bit of space for a graphics processor on a riser card, or a 3.5" hard drive or a mini digital tv tuner.
IMHO, a wasted opportunity to improve the overall concept. What with Canons 30D camera, its twice i've been let down this week by unambitious sucessors.
For the person that asked, the desk pad is from here:
http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=12&langId=-1&catalogId=10101&productId=49657
*
I don't want to bash Apple because they do make some very user friendly and attractive products. I just don't understand why everyone gets so upset when they can't pack TV tuners, graphics cards, 64-bit CPUs, 8 gigs of ram, 4 terabyte harddrives, a ham sandwich, and that hot chick from Dancing with the Stars into a 6" box that runs silently and costs $499.
Mac is good a packaging things that any PC can do. Especially now that Macs are running intel chips in their machines, look for Apple to always be one step behind the rest of the PC world on innovation, and one step ahead on packaging, sales. There is nothing that you can do on a Mac that you have not been able to do on a PC first. They have great software and I am not putting them down, I just don't think anyone should expect them to do anything you can't already do in PC world. If you want a tuner in your mini-computer, there are people that sell computers that have them. Buy one of those - you just won't be able to tell your friends that they are watching "The Office" via your new Mac Mini.
I'll wait for the technical reviews before I pass judgment. I for one was not surprised that they updated the mini this time around. I bet the next event will be primarily an upgraded ibook and everyone will be upset then too, but these devices need to be upgraded to intel chips, so of course that's what is happening. (Not to say that I didn't want to see a PMP or Apple Tablet or whatever.)
I would be surprised if the mini's performance wasn't sufficient to get basic multimedia tasks done, including HTPC / DVR stuff. The dual core chip will also make this more practical to have because it will multitask better. And the TV tuner / video encoding stuff can be done on external hardware and will have to be anyway for cable card support.
As for cost, Apple's cost more because of design, in my mind. You could build a more powerful PC for the money, but I bet it would look like ass and not fit in a little corner of the table.
Boo hoo hoo, I didn't get my easy-bake oven drive, boo hoo hoo.
Ash-
The demo TV looks like a Sony Bravia LCD.
It's a really nice TV. I have the 40" but this
looks like maybe the 32" (hard to tell.)
Not sure where this was originally posted. A friend IM'd it to me. But what a point:
From the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine cache of Apple’s Mac Mini Graphics page from March 5, 2005:
"Go ahead, just try to play Halo on a budget PC. Most say they’re good for 2D games only. That’s because an “integrated Intel graphics” chip steals power from the CPU and siphons off memory from system-level RAM. You’d have to buy an extra card to get the graphics performance of Mac mini, and some cheaper PCs don’t even have an open slot to let you add one."
What a difference a year makes: the new Minis use an “integrated Intel graphics” chip that siphons memory from system-level RAM and doesn’t have a slot for another video card.
"66. If I wanted to use it as a media center, I'd have to buy the 120$ DVI to HDMI adapter (my TV has Component and HDMI) and the 30$ optical plug for it :("
Not at all. You can buy DVI-HDMI converters for about $8 and mini-TOSLINK to regular TOSLINK for about $2. There, problem solved for under $20 with shipping. Go to www.monoprice.com to see prices. It really is that cheap.
Ste3phen:
That was about the 9th or 10th clear, rational post on this thread so far. Previous ones being the one that showed the link to the actual performance of the chip, and the one who reminded us of the fact that the Mini wasn't supposed to be a full desktop. But you swayed be right back to thinking "no not gong to get one" by showing some good old advertising doubletalk. Thanks for saving me about 700 bucks.
-Indolene
Just to add to the tally, I'm a big Apple fan, but I'm totally disappointed about today's big announcement... I think we all hoped an exciting new product would be announced today -- perhaps an Apple Media Player, some amazing new iPod, or maybe something totally unexpected (something other than a boombox for an iPod). Apple should have just quietly added these products to their lineup without any fanfare... Booooooooo!
And here's St3phen's Wayback Machine linky: http://web.archive.org/web/20050305044151/www.apple.com/macmini/graphics.html
Scroll to the very bottom, left text column.
I own an iPod, and I get Apple's concept, but for some products--for the price--I can stand to be conventional.
Dudes the stock is down yes but so is the market, use some perspective and context next time you flip out
So many people here can't see the forest for the trees. I think people can't get over the fact that it looks the same and is therefore the same machine.
No, let's STOP the bitching now and really see what this is .. its a media hub ....
They made bluetooth and wifi mandantory, made the hard drive faster with 5400 RPMs, made the ram DDR2 - HUGE difference - added NICE features like the Front Row, and basically made it a true MAC computer with the fact that its running native x86 dual core code in the kernel.
FU-qn stop the b$tch-slappin. Its a HUGE step above the old Mac mini. I've owned two of the old ones. I've ripped them apart and upgraded them in a great many ways. This is a HUGE jump in native performance on the Apple side of applications - which to be honest - is why I purchased it already.
Block and Rojas:
I find it poignant and not a little ironic that you closed the comments on the "All of today's Apple coverage" blog entry above. Was it a case of getting out the kitchen when the heat was getting to you? Or did 'those that pay the bills' pull the plug when the audience that generates the adsense bucks that goes to 'those that pay the bills' turn on you and call you out for being the apple shills you have now (appear) to be. The product anouncements were woeful, as St3phen pointed out above the aboutface on integrated graphics and the virtues thereof is breathtaking. The company generated, and generates, hype. It cannot possibly be lived up to, especially when you carry on with the likes of 'WWJD3'. Engadget blatantly cashes in on the buzz, and then shamelessly panders to Apple (by proxy) by not calling a spade a spade. I don't care if there will be 30 posts tomorrow about other companies besides Apple. Ryan, open the comments back up and lets see where this goes. As far as I am concerned, you and your blog have lost all 'Editorial' objectivity and the respect of many of your readers. I doubt you will even post this entry. Even the most hated man in blogging (Scoble) has the balls to face his critics. A sad day for Engadget, and indeed, proof positive that if you look down, you'll see the Shark you just Jumped.
Jarad.
My only bone to pick is the integrated graphics chip, but remember, this is supposed to be a budget computer, Apple's not going to put it in a 17" enclosure. It markets to switchers who don't want to spend a lot of money, its not supposed to be a power computer, if you want that, buy a Power Mac.
Jarad:
I think that was because the site was going down, it was a way to keep the site up so that people could still view the updates, but the site couldn't handle the load of the large mass of posts coming in. I don't know, but that's my guess, don't jump to attack.
And quite frankly, I don't think they care what we think of the annoucements, they did their job by reporting it, and quite well. I think your conspiracy theory is very far out.
Would 80% of you here like cheese with that "whine"?
I'd be a rich man if I got a quarter for each piece of cheese since 80% of the comments here are from a bunch of cry baby whiners.
The Mac mini is a bottom end machine with some decent features and a few crappy ones. Yeah you can build your own cheapo x86 box but if that is the case, the Mac mini specs/price should not even get your nuts twisted into a knot (all that does is increase the pitch of your whining to intolerable levels).
Aside from the integrated graphics, the rest of the features are fairly decent. I'm sure they could've made a cheaper $499 box but then 80% of you idiots here would end up screaming about the use of a Celeron M processor instead of the Core Solo/Duo.
*Some* of you people would make rich subjects for study by psychiatrists... in many cases your drooling envy and resentment is so blatant you might as well be wearing signs...
[For the record: we run and suoport just about *everything*, Professionally.]
Look, it's simple. It's just a new mainstream 'Consumer' computer from a company that makes things so good that people actually *love* the bloody things like new puppies - whatever they think of the Company, prices, the weather or Greek food.
*No-one* loves their Wintels. No-one is impressed by yours. You have nothing useful to contribute to this 'debate'. Get over it.
Buy what you want. Use what you want. No one cares.
Leave the Hard stuff - like 'thinking' and 'analysis' to those of us actually *qualified* to do it - and I've been doing it since Mainframes were king - I've seen it *all* before. Twice.
All the new Macs are going to run Windows.
All the new Macs are going to run Windows and UNIX and Os X simultaneously.
All the new Macs are going to multiboot Windows (for Gamers etc.), Linux, UNIX, OS X. They are all going to be 'cool' and 'beautiful' and 'lovable' and 'attractive' and 'capable' and 'easy to use'. It is going to be very, very easy and 'painless' to Switch.
And people *will* 'switch' - whilst having the comfort of keeping all their current Windows stuff, being able to 'Play with/Learn' UNIX/Linux and 'try out' all that cool OS X stuff they've been hearing about. And virtually all of 'em will *stay* there. Because the stuff - despite its many faults - is *that* good.
They are gonna do it in their millions - *this* is what they've been waiting for - and there isn't a thing you can do about it.
But, don't worry, a variety of inertial & market forces will act to endure that Windows-only Boxen remain the 'dominant' OS/box mix for quite a while to come with Open Source continuing its Stellar growth.
The 'Mac Market' is just going to get a lot bigger, that's all.
If you feel that this fact demeans you and your 'expertise' or invalidates your 'life choices' then you either have a psychiatric problem or you are Billy Gates (or possibly, both).
"...The moving finger writes
and having writ, moves on ..."
The Finger's done writ, kiddies.
It's happened. Get over it.
[Go add a new water-cooling tower to that overclocked instantly-obsolescent handBuilt supaBox of yours... *grin*]
The rest of the world will get by just fine... and will continue to progress without the dubious benefit of your uninformed 'thinking.
Thank you for your time and attention.
You may now resume your usual idiocy.
:)
Why buy the $800 mini when for just $500-600 more you can get an iMac w/ a screen? It's better for games.
And sure, we're all crazy for playing games on a Mac, but we'd rather sacrifice a bit of power or availability so that we dont get viruses and a worthless/poorly designed Windows OS.
I've never owned a Mac - but would buy one in a heartbeat if they can add:
>ATSC tuner with CableCard 2.0 support (if it's even out yet - was hoping apple could pull it off with their iTunes DRM)
>since we're waiting for CableCard, lets add Blu-ray while we're at it -
I know they take pride in the size of the mini - but would it be so bad if it was stretched a little bit to replace my cable box?
If you don't like the new mac mini, don't buy it. The specs seem really good to me. I think most of the people posting about the new mac mini know more about whining than anything else. And who cares if today's announcement wasn't "super exciting"? Don't you all have better things to do than get all riled up about a computer product announcement?
"hello video editing, hello photoshop"
Sorry to bust your bubble, but Photoshop and Final Cut Pro are not available on the Intel Macs
Comment # 76 is the highlight of this collection of comments. Thank you. I wish i would have known about these guys sooner...
For the rest of you, why not wait to pan Apple's choice of graphics chip until someone can get thier hands on one and put it through the ringer? But, i suppose waiting for independently verified performance data before rendering judgement just isnt in fashion these days in the infowebsuperhighwayblogosphere-o-dome.
The new mini is overpriced to the extreme, to get a working one (1gb, key/mouse, 120gb disk) you have to fork out 1.229 euro's here in Europe (thats inclusive 19% tax).
That's a sick joke, for 1/5 of that price you can buy a Xbox1 with chip and 250gb harddisk that does the same and more (play games) than this horrible excuse for a htpc.
Did i mention that for around 40 euro's you can buy a Korean dvd player that does pictures/divx/dvd/mp3 and what not in progressive scan ?
The other two "fun" items are a lot of Fun for apple, when Steve falls over from laughing at people who actually buy those overpriced jokes.
#95 is right on...Engadget is simply an Apple shill and I would not be surprised if it is revealed at some point in time that Engadget is tied to Apple with some sort of monetary connection. Imagine the sarcasm a PC would receive if a new model came with downgraded graphics and a $100 price increase. Imagine what a scathing review a $100 case would receive from Engadget if it came from Creative.
There are reviews all over the net on the performance of Intel integrated graphics, including reviews at Tom's Hardware. Hey Engadget, how about a comment or link to the benchmarks???