A friend has asked me about the Mac Mini.
What's the good, bad & ugly on them?
Mac mini?
Obviously, since it's a \"Mac\", it stand s to reason that it comes from Apple... searching Apple's site for \"Mac Mini\" ... oooh look! The very first link: http://www.apple.com/macmini/
Cuda's right. The Mac Mini was often easier to replace than to repair.
They seem to work alright (not really different from any other Mac) just a little more tendancy towards heat issues (it's all packed in a tight little cube)
However, when you think about it, it's really not much different from the new Macs that the display also contains the computer itself ... just that the Mac Mini doesn't have the display and is packed into a little cube.
Cuda's right. The Mac Mini was often easier to replace than to repair.
They seem to work alright (not really different from any other Mac) just a little more tendancy towards heat issues (it's all packed in a tight little cube)However, when you think about it, it's really not much different from the new Macs that the display also contains the computer itself ... just that the Mac Mini doesn't have the display and is packed into a little cube.
Mmmm ... Good Point.
Here is a review of the Mac Mini from 2005 (when the Mac Mini came out, AFAIK)
A recent mention on Wired
A 2006 review on CNet
2007 review on CNet
Looking at these reviews reminded me ... AFAIK, Apple provides the Mini without a keyboard or mouse ... which means getting those jacks up the price a bit. Always thought that was really cheap of Apple.
Here is a review of the Mac Mini from 2005 (when the Mac Mini came out, AFAIK)
A recent mention on Wired
A 2006 review on CNet
2007 review on CNet
Looking at these reviews reminded me ... AFAIK, Apple provides the Mini without a keyboard or mouse ... which means getting those jacks up the price a bit. Always thought that was really cheap of Apple.
We've got two of them stacked in our on-air booth, one running Windows and the other just OS X. They're fine, a little hot to the touch (no fan) but the external power supplies are a bit of a pain. But they're so cheap, comparatively speaking.
They're definitely not meant to be the average all-purpose computer. Sure, for most people they're fine, but I've had some trouble trying to get Safari, iTunes, and some of our custom apps to run at the same time. Not enough RAM, and the machine isn't user-serviceable so either you pay Apple's ridiculous extortion fee for RAM or you break the warranty and DIY.
All in all definitely a worthwhile purchase. Surely stable enough that we're considering installing them in some elementary schools for our community outreach content production (we have to evaluate just how taxing Pro Tools will be even if it does the processing on the external devices), but don't expect to use it for anything other than your simple word-processing, web surfing, and video.
They're definitely not meant to be the average all-purpose computer. Sure, for most people they're fine, but I've had some trouble trying to get Safari, iTunes, and some of our custom apps to run at the same time. Not enough RAM, and the machine isn't user-serviceable so either you pay Apple's ridiculous extortion fee for RAM or you break the warranty and DIY.
All in all definitely a worthwhile purchase. Surely stable enough that we're considering installing them in some elementary schools for our community outreach content production (we have to evaluate just how taxing Pro Tools will be even if it does the processing on the external devices), but don't expect to use it for anything other than your simple word-processing, web surfing, and video.