Mac mini Impressions

[BWhaler]

Well, Apple shipped my Mac mini a few weeks early, so I wanted to share some initial impressions from a salty ol' Mac guy like myself.

In no particular order:

1. Beautiful and small. It is small in the way the 30" is a "big display."

2. Runs almost silent. No random fan blasts like the Powermac. Only real noise is when the SuperDrive is spinning.

3. Great speed for iLife and MSOffice.

4. I definitely notice the speed difference with only 512MB of memory, but if you are not used to using a Mac with 1Gig+ of memory, it is more than acceptable. I think I am spoiled with my other machines. But, looking at the benchmarks, if you can swing the 1 gig or don't mind opening the case, go for 1 gig.

5. Airport reception is excellent.

6. Snappy and responsive. Like many products, the specifications belie the user experience. I wouldn't use Final Cut Pro on it, but for normal office or family use, I think most people will be pleased.

7. Drives a 23" Alu display very well.

Overall, at 700 bucks ($600 + BT/AE option) I think it is a very solid purchase.

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

Mini is a beautiful little machine. Apple is quality. You can see it in their products before you turn them on. I love the little blue led and the clean aluminum styling. The apple keyboard vs microsofts saved me a ton of desk space and the little JBL Duets match the computer and sound great. The 1.42 seems fast enough and the ati 9200 still manages Halo and UT2003 with candy turned down. I also came off a gig of memory on my powermac to 512 on the mini so a 1 gig stick may be in my near future. The mini runs near silent and thats terrific. Sucking all my info from my old machine saved me a ton of time & aggravation. 64 video would make this machine Perfect. Congratulations BWhaler on a fine little machine.

 

[BLINK]

Think we will ever see a Mac Mini price drop? I think that would be neat. Probably not for a year though.

 

[AliensAreFuzzy]

I'm going to be ordering mine within the week. I'm really excited.

 

[rasp]

I don't see that apple would want to make the mini any less expensive, $499 is nice pricepoint with regard to the perception of value to most consumers.

What would be nice to see is 512 as standard ram in the macine.

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

Here is a picture of mine Its a sweet machine.

 

[edesignuk]

Here is a picture of mine Its a sweet machine.

Still clinging on to that Alienware with the mouse mat

Looks good

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

Very good ,you noticed anyone else it would have gone right on bye! that Apple mouse glides real nice on it. I think ill keep it.

 

[jeremy.king]

Here is a picture of mine Its a sweet machine.

That setup is screaming for a wireless mouse/keyboard

 

[dotdotdot]

That setup is screaming for a wireless mouse/keyboard

Or at least a wireless mouse!