MacMini
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Brabus's iBusiness is a Mercedes-Benz S600 tricked out Apple style
We've seen the iPad implemented both at school and at work, but in your car? That's the idea behind the iBusiness, a Mercedes-Benz S600 that's been tricked out with Apple gear aplenty by Brabus. Get this -- you can see the two iPads and keyboards in the back seats, but there's also a Mac mini in the back and a 64gb iPod touch as well. The display above is a 15.2" TFT display, and all of the gear connects to the Internet via a high speed 3G system. The iPads can also control the car's multimedia system, navigation systems, and the built-in telephone system. And it's all built into a car that goes from 0 to 62 in 4.0 seconds, with a top speed of 211 miles per hour. Brabus has tricked out those interiors, too -- there's leather everywhere, power-operated curtains, wood trim, color-changing interior lighting, LED running lights outside, and anodized aluminum pedals under the sport steering wheel. Yowza. Brabus doesn't give a price for this made-to-order monster, but the car itself (without any options) starts around $150k, so the entire package runs into the "if you have to ask, you can't afford it" range. What a set of wheels, though. [via Electronista]
How would you change Apple's HDMI-equipped Mac mini?
Apple's newest Mac mini is a distinct and welcome departure from the comparatively bulky white Mac mini of yesteryear, and while we appreciate the unibody construction, inbuilt SD card reader and HDMI port, asking $700 and up for a headless PC without tons of oomph is still asking a lot. We're curious to know if your new Mac mini has been treating you well (as an HTPC or otherwise), and moreover, we want to know how you'd change things even further if given the key to Cupertino's design labs. Would you have added a Blu-ray option? Maybe an OTA TV tuner? Thrown any other ports on the rear? Beefed up the GPU a little? Trimmed things down for a cheaper entry-level model? Go on and vent in comments below -- hugs are free and limitless.
Mac Mini suffers chromatic maltreatment at hands of Colorware
You didn't seriously think the Mac Mini would be spared, did you? The maniacal customizers over at Colorware have added Apple's latest bit of desktop furniture to their stable of "have it your way" electronics, with a $250 price tag for the paintjob by itself and a $1,000 levy if you want them to procure the hardware as well. Hey, we know that's expensive, but somebody's got to be buying all these crazy-hued gadgets for the company to keep going, right? Anyone willing to own up to it?
Switched On: New Mac mini a mixed Apple TV alternative
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. As TVs and Blu-ray players increasingly feature internet connections, content partnerships, and now even open operating systems, they're turning up the pressure on of standalone devices such as Apple TV and the Roku player. Indeed, Steve Jobs has said the demanding existence between the rock of the connected television and the hard place of the closed cable system is what's relegated Apple TV to "hobby" status. In the Windows world, several companies in the netbook space such as Asus, Acer and Lenovo have popped Atom processors into slim desktop enclosures, dubbing them nettops. Dell has gone a somewhat different route, opting for more powerful desktop components in its chunky Inspiron Zino HD desktop/home theater hybrid. And now, the Mac mini has taken a step toward this role as Apple, which has been a strong backer of DisplayPort, has adorned its only display-free Mac with an HDMI port.
Mac mini (mid 2010) review
The Mac mini has long been the oddball child of the Mac family: it's the only consumer-level machine from Apple that isn't a fully-integrated experience, and it's the only Mac to have had a sub-$1,000 sticker price in some time. But people love this little weirdo, and they love to do weirdly awesome things with it -- we've seen Mac minis stuffed into everything from old G4 Cube shells to volleyball-playing robots to pianos to... DeLoreans. Yes, DeLoreans. And, of course, people have longed been connecting Mac minis to HDTVs and using 'em as a media players -- it's small, quiet, relatively powerful, and it's a real computer, so it can play virtually any video file you throw at it. And now it's gotten even more attractive as a home theater PC, since Apple's given the newest Mac mini a striking unibody makeover, NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics, and -- a first for any Mac -- an HDMI port, making it a dead-simple addition to your HDTV. On the flip side, the base price of the only stock consumer configuration has gone up to $699, and to be blunt, much cheaper PCs have had HDMI ports forever. So is the mini worth the premium? Is it the ultimate small PC for the living room -- and beyond? Read on to find out. %Gallery-95254%
iFixit breaks down the new Mac mini
The folks at iFixit have carefully taken apart a mid-2010 Mac mini and documented the process for all to see. This new case is a lot thinner and fatter than its predecessor. The whole thing is machined from a single block of aluminum and impressive-looking. The most striking change to anyone who's opened a previous-generation mini is the screw-off bottom. With a simple counter-clockwise twist, you've got access to the RAM bay and fan. No more putty knife. Well done, Apple! Apple's designers got creative with this machine in a number of ways. The unibody construction required the two antennas to be carefully placed next to the logic board. Also, the fan has a very high number of blades so it can push a maximum amount of air. The fan's screws are isolated with rubber dampers to keep noise to a minimum. Getting at the hard drive (iFixit's unit only had one) is an ordeal. Expect to remove just about every other part before gaining access. And I thought the white iBook was a pain to take apart. Meanwhile, the folks at Macminicolo have taken apart a dual-drive mini meant to be used as a server. That second drive is much easier to get at than that in the single-drive model. They also provided some nice side-by-side shots with a white plastic mini; the aluminum model is so much better looking it's not funny. The whole thing is three pounds, and macminicoloco says, "It feels less like a brick...and more like a laptop without a screen." Finally, Macworld kept their unit in one piece and did a point-by-point comparison to the Apple TV. Could the mini be the next-generation Apple TV in disguise? By comparing features like connections, physical media, content and price (a biggie, as the new mini is seven hundred bucks), Chris Breen fills in the details while letting the readers make final judgement. As for me, I'd love to swap my Apple TV for a sleek new mini.
Unibody Mac mini meets iFixit, gets a delicate teardown exposé
Been wondering how Apple's managed to cram all that goodness into the new (and flatter) unibody Mac mini? Well, look no further, as our friends over at iFixit took no time to acquire said machine for another scrupulous teardown treatment. Just as we saw ourselves, it all begins with a simple twist on the bottom round plate, and with a bit of fiddling the guts can then easily slide out -- you'll see a wondrously dense logic board along with its now-internal power supply and the usual components. We've thrown in iFixit's list of highlights after the break, but as always, hit the source link for the finely detailed disassembly guide.
Mac mini (unibody) unboxing and hands-on
Well you've seen the press photos, but now you can focus on something a little more personal. Yep, we've got the new Mac mini over at Engadget HQ all primed and ready for a full review, but first we thought we'd give you a little taste of what the box actually looks like. We'll admit, while we like the unibody construction of other Apple products, there's something especially serious about this design that speaks to us. We've been expecting the company would move the mini line to the machined aluminum housing, and it's a welcome change for sure. The new iteration also does away with that bulky power supply (it's now built in), and surprisingly allows easy access to the memory via a crazy new twist off rubber base. Like we said, we'll see if this thing is really worth the extra $100 in our review, but for now, feast your eyes on the images below. %Gallery-95254%
Mac Mini gets a sneaky update: spec bump, unibody enclosure, HDMI
The Mac Mini has received far more than a simple spec bump, however. The enclosure itself has been updated to a unibody aluminum construction similar to the MacBook Pro, and the "server" Mac Mini omits an optical drive entirely in favor of dual hard drives [this was the case for the previous server model –Ed.]. Perhaps more important than that, the Mac Mini is now the first Mac ever to include built-in HDMI. You read that right: the Mac Mini has HDMI. The Mac Mini also has an SD card slot in the back. [Ed: This is one sexy little machine!] Apple has also addressed the well-known difficulty of upgrading the Mac Mini's RAM. There's now a removable twist-off panel on the Mac Mini's bottom that allows for easy access to the Mini's RAM slots. We're not sure yet if the hard drive will be as easy to upgrade, but at the very least, a RAM upgrade looks like it'll take less than a minute with this new model. The Mac Mini is available now.
Mac mini updated with HDMI, aluminum unibody, and SD card reader
Would you look at that, some love for the seemingly abandoned desktop crowd. Apple has today unveiled a freshly redesigned Mac mini, which benefits from a unibody aluminum exterior and more grunt under the hood. Prices start rolling at $699, where you'll get a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, 2GB of RAM, and a 320GB hard drive. HDMI-out is finally included, along with an SD card reader, 802.11n wireless, a Mini DisplayPort jack, and what Apple claims is a doubling of graphics performance thanks to an NVIDIA GeForce 320M chip inside. Then again, when you double a little, you still end up with not much. The newly polished nettop is a minimalist 1.4 inches tall, but manages to fit all the power circuitry inside, which means (yay!) there'll be no power brick to spoil your hipster desk space. Don't fret if you were looking to drop the optical drive, Apple retains the config option that allows you to add in a second HDD in lieu of its DVD burner. You can grab two 500GB plate spinners, Snow Leopard Server (we thought Apple only had one OS version?), 4GB of RAM, and a 2.66GHz Intel chip for $999. Finally, the new enclosures will come with user-accessible memory slots courtesy of a removable panel at the bottom of the case. Neat that the designers didn't take the unibody idea too literally.%Gallery-95228%
Smallest Macs in short supply, mini update imminent?
If you're looking to pick up a Mac mini for Father's Day, you might want to consider a nice fishing rod instead. AppleInsider notes extremely constrained supplies of the diminutive white computer, and reports that several bulk purchasers and education buyers have had their orders pushed back to June 14, or been told to simply get the minimum number of units they need to get through the next couple of weeks. What might we see in a refreshed mini? The AI post suggests the possibility of an HDMI port added to the machine, which would certainly make things interesting for the seemingly soon-to-be-replaced 'classic' Apple TV. If you've tried and failed to buy a mini in the past week or two, let us know!
Mac mini supply said to be dwindling, world wonders 'why?'
Need a bit more evidence that Apple has some new Mac minis on the way? Then look no further than Apple Insider, which says that it has "verified four times over" that current Mac mini supplies are running dry, and that new models are all but a certainty. Adding further weight to the story is the fact that these aren't simply reports of delays here and there, but reports from large buyers like educational institutions who say that they've either been advised not to place bulk orders for Mac minis or had their orders pushed back -- in one case to an exact date of June 14th. Needless to say, that all seems to line up nicely, and sounds more than a little familiar. Maybe too familiar?
Why an iPad and a Mac mini are my computing future
Replacing the MacBook Pro will happen first, probably sometime later this summer depending on when the "CFO of Household Expenses" (aka my wife) gives me the green light. The MBP has some "issues" like constantly running fans (yes I've tried smcFanControl and resetting the System Management Controller), the DVD drive doesn't work even after having been replaced, and a corner of the frame is bent from a laptop bag "strap incident" that I would rather not go into here. Once the iPad arrives, the MacBook Pro will live out the rest of its life as my home "desktop" computer, happily hooked to an external monitor and keyboard. For portable computing, the iPad will definitely fit the bill for 99% of what I ever need to do while mobile. (My wife has a black MacBook for those times when I need a portable Mac.)
Windows 7, Mac OS X, and Ubuntu 10.04 meet up for an OpenGL benchmarking session
So these three operating systems walk into a bar one night ... alright, we'll behave. With all the Steamy conversation about gaming on non-Windows desktop platforms going on, we thought you might care to peek at a little OpenGL performance comparison review. As the chief cross-platform API, it's the only way we're going to be seeing the latest games running natively on Mac OS and Linux, but how will that experience compare to the market leader? As it turned out, Windows maintains superiority in this field, with frame rates that were habitually above those on the latest Ubuntu and well ahead of what you might get on Mac OS 10.6.3. It's still early days -- after all, Steam's non-DirectX cupboard is pretty bare right now -- but at this point in time, OpenGL gaming is a crown that Microsoft retains with relative ease. Hit the source for all the line graph evidence, and let's hope things improve for the rest of us in rapid fashion.
OWC offers DIY kits for Mac minis, laptops
Other World Computing (best known on the net as OWC) has released more than 50 storage upgrade kits for laptops and the Mac mini. The kits start at $65.99 and include everything for do-it-yourself replacements including: A new drive ranging from 250GB to 1TB. An enclosure for your old drive so you can use it as a spare external drive. A tool kit The basic OWC upgrade kit utilizes USB 2.0, while the Mercury kits (starting at $87.99 USD, pictured) are Firewire 400/800 and/or USB 2.0 capable. [Via Macsimum News]
IT pros: Macs cost less to manage than PCs
The Enterprise Desktop Alliance (an association of several Mac-centric IT vendors) recently surveyed 260 IT administrators in the US to find out which computing environment is cheaper to manage: PCs or Macs. It turns out Macs cost less to manage than PCs for 65% of the IT admins surveyed. 19% of survey respondents said the two platforms cost the same to manage, while 16% said PCs cost less to manage than Macs. According to the survey, Macs were cheaper to troubleshoot and required fewer help desk calls; system configuration, user training, and servers/networks/printing were all cheaper for a Mac environment than a PC environment. Software licensing fees turned out to be nearly identical for both platforms. The survey doesn't factor in the costs of the Macs themselves; Macs do present a large up-front investment, especially compared to the budget-priced Dells you usually see populating most office cubicles. However, half of the survey respondents noted they switched to a Mac platform because of a lower total cost of ownership. The up-front cost is still a turn-off to many IT admins, though, some of whom clearly haven't even bothered shopping around for a Mac because of the perceived expense: "You can buy a PC for $400, while the cheapest Mac is over a thousand," one admin noted. Apparently someone's never heard of the Mac mini, which ranges from $599 for the cheapest model up to $999 for the server-class Mini. Even the cheapest Mac mini would be a more than capable replacement for a $400 Dell or HP computer. After having worked in a PC-only office environment, I'm not surprised at all that Macs turn out to be cheaper to manage than PCs. The Dell workstations we used at my last job in the US crapped out on us all the time, and software issues cost us hours of lost productivity every week. Between Windows XP, Office 2000, IE 6, and Lotus Notes, our IT admins were kept very busy, especially since almost none of the rank-and-file office workers had the confidence to troubleshoot even the most basic Windows errors themselves. This was at a very large media corporation, too, one that easily could have afforded better hardware and software if they hadn't been so entrenched in the "Macs are too expensive" mindset. Apple doesn't tend to go out of its way to target Macs to the enterprise, preferring instead to focus on everyday consumers. Even so, it looks like IT admins, frustrated with the support issues and high maintenance costs of PCs, are at least starting to consider the Mac as a viable alternate platform. [h/t Infoworld]
Apple rumored to be readying Mac mini with HDMI
A Mac mini with HDMI. Makes sense, right? Well, it hasn't to Apple so far, but it looks like it just might be ready to change its tune. That's according to AppleInsider, at least, which has it from "two people familiar with the matter" that prototypes of a Mac mini with an HDMI port have been seen making the rounds in the usual inner circles. At least one of those prototypes was also said to be based on NVIDIA's MCP89 chipset, which means that any forthcoming Mac mini revision would pass over the latest Core i3, i5 and i7 processors in favor of older Core 2 Duos if it is indeed the chipset used in the final product. Unfortunately, there's nothing more specific than "this year" in terms of a rumored release date, and this is still just one rumor about what would be a fairly big shift in Apple's strategy -- so, you know, keep that in mind before you start ripping apart your current HTPC setup.
Barista-approved mod shoves a coffeemaker, Mac mini and subwoofer into an iMac DV case
Do you have even the slightest clue what you get when you shove a perfectly operational Mac mini, JBL Spot subwoofer and WMF1 coffeemaker into a perfectly defunct iMac DV case? The iMac CS, that's what. In one of the most bizarre and aspirational mods we've seen in quite some time, one Klaus Diebel has managed to combine three devices that wouldn't typically be shoved within the same enclosure... into the same enclosure. The result is a coffee-making media server that just so happens to boast its own inbuilt sound system, or in other words, exactly what you need to start a street corner java shop. The bad news is that a customized version will set you back at least €300 ($431), but the good news is that you can probably build your own for less. Just make sure you know exactly what you're getting yourself into before embarking -- we've got a vague idea that this won't enhance the lives of many.
How to insult a Mac mini: make it warm the wipes for you
How would you insult a Mac mini? Well, one way is to discover that, after you move it across the room, away from toddlers with longer arms than they were born with (the better to yank ill-placed computers to the floor through the crib slats, my dear) the Mac mini makes an excellent diaper wipe warmer. I only stuck the container on top of the mini because I had to do a quick change before someone crawled off the changing table. The next diaper change I discovered the wipes were warm and cozy. The Mac mini is sulking. Already its only job was to run the baby monitor cam. Now it can add another job for which it is woefully overqualified. It can talk to the hand, says the lady with the law degree who is relegated to actually changing all those diapers and watching Yo Gabba Gabba. (Don't click. Seriously. I won't be responsible for the ensuing seizure.) NB: If you're reading this post and screaming inside, "teddy bears? Babies? But I came here for technology!" then have a look at this post detailing my tear-down of the standalone iSight so that it works as a night-vision camera. If that doesn't help at least a little, then you may be in need of a hug. Look at the teddy bear. See? He loves you.
Apple's Mac mini tops chart of 'green' computers
The sust-it website, which provides rankings of energy usage and annual energy cost for thousands of appliances, home entertainment devices, and computers, has announced that Apple's Mac mini fills the top four spots for the most efficient desktop computer in their latest listing. The 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Mac mini is at the top of the chart, sipping just .94W when turned off (power still goes to circuits monitoring the power status of the computer), 1.71W when in sleep mode, and just 12.6W when turned on but in an idle mode. sust-it calculated the energy cost per year for the mini (without a monitor, of course) as US$5.51 when calculated with the average US electrical rate. It's interesting to note that this model is no longer produced by Apple, and that the new 2.26 GHz mini is even more energy efficient. Apple's own environmental report for the mini shows that the revised model uses only .80W when turned off, 1.39W in sleep mode, but 13.4W while in idle mode. Not surprisingly, other Apple models were near the top of the charts in both the laptop and all-in-one computer categories. The 1.86 GHz MacBook Air was barely edged out of first place in the laptop category by the HP Pavilion DM3. Although the two laptops had identical annual energy costs (US$2.39), the HP model had lower sleep and off power consumption than the MBA. In the all-in-one category, the top iMac came in 6th behind eMachines, Acer, Asus, and MSI all-in-ones. Although the sust-it site is citing an iMac model that is no longer produced, even the new iMacs would be a bit behind the list-leading eMachines EZ1601. If the power consumption and CO2 footprint of your computer is of concern to you, the sust-it site is a good place to make comparisons. Be aware, however, that due to the fast-paced changes in the computing world, the lists may be inaccurate at any particular point in time. In addition, it doesn't appear that sust-it looks at the total lifecycle energy consumption of the computers, something that Apple provides in their environmental reports for each model. When energy consumption and CO2 production are factored from raw materials at the beginning of production to recycling of an obsolete machine, Macs may very well lead the pack in all categories.
