Apple Unveils Newer, Faster, Still Little Mac Mini

[pharge]

[citation][nom]jsloan[/nom]lowest Dell Inspiron 530s $279 (which has hardware comparable to mini $799 and a keyboard which mini does not come with, you have to buy one for an additional $99 for wired one)Date 3/3/2009 4:55:46 PM Central Standard Time Catalog Number 29 Retail 19 Catalog Number / Description Product Code Qty SKU Id Dell Inspiron 530s:Intel® Celeron® processor 450 (2.2GHz, 800 FSB) ST450H 1 [224-3120] 1 Operating System:Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic Service Pack 1 VHB31E 1 [313-5582][420-6436][420-7622][420-8506][420-8873][420-9105][421-0323][463-2282] 11 Office Productivity Software (Pre-Installed):Microsoft Works 9.0 DWRK9 1 [420-8085] 22 Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options:1Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis S111OS 1 [960-3249][982-4330][983-3680][987-3157][987-6238][990-8029] 29 Monitor:No Monitor N 1 [320-3000] 5 Memory:2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz- 2DIMMs 2GB82 1 [311-7319] 3 Hard Drives:320GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™ 320S 1 [341-4946] 8 Optical Drive:16X DVD+/-RW Drive 16DVDRW 1 [313-5365][420-8152] 16 Video Cards:Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100 IV 1 [320-5878] 6 Sound Cards:Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio IS 1 [313-2758] 17 Keyboard and Mouse Bundles😀ell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse EKOM 1 [330-0916][330-3666] 4 Floppy Drive and Media Reader:No Floppy Drive Included NFD 1 [341-5008] 10 Modem:No Modem Option N 1 [313-3137] 14 Mouse:Mouse included with Keyboard purchase N 1 [310-1966] 12 Adobe Software:Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9.0 Multi-Language AAREAD 1 [410-1867] 15 Network Interface:Integrated 10/100 Ethernet IN 1 [430-0412] 13 Labels:Windows Vista™ Basic VBD 1 [310-8625] 750 Entertainment and Editing Software:WildTangent Games WLDTNGT 1 [420-9352] 195 Speakers:No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system) N 1 [313-2198] 18 Security Software:McAfee SecurityCenter with anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, 30-Days MC930D 1 [410-1160] 25 Dell Digital Entertainment:No Entertainment software pre-installed NODE 1 [464-9572] 399 DataSafe Online Backup😀ell Remote Access, free basic service DRAFB 1 [420-9800][993-1919] 813 Datasafe😀ell Online Backup 2GB for 1 year DOB2GB 1 [420-9518][988-0099][988-7707] 34[/citation]

hmm... I don't think it is fair to compair Celeron 450 with Core 2 Due,Graphics Media Accelerator 3100 IV 1 with 9400M, and a 14.2"x3.9"x17.1" computer with a 6.5"x2"x6.5" Mac mini. However, like xxsk8er101xx said, Studio Hybrid is a better compairson but I just can't stand with the Intel X3100.
I build my own desktop. I know how cheap a desktop can be while still being much more powerful. However, I have to admit that there is no way for me (even many of us here) to build a 6.5"x2"x6.5" desktop with the similar performance and without overheating or making a lot of noise. Even if is possible, with all the laptop grad parts, it is not going to be much cheaper than $600.
Of couse whether do we need a desktop like this small is all dependent on our purpose and personal taste. There is no right or wrong answer on that part. However just like having a small powerfull laptop (12" or 13.5")(like Sony VAIO Z or TT) (not those crappy netbook) or a nice laptop with a Sony logo... some extra money is always .... required... it is sad... but very true...

 

[jawshoeaw]

The price is justified by Apple in just this once case (pun intended). The problem here is competition - no one else makes such a compact good looking PC. The Dell studio things are ugly and big - so of course they are cheaper. Of course if they are tucked away where you can't seem them anyway, what difference does it make? Which is why I'm sticking with my Windows tower for now. It's not like I need to save space under my desk - I could put 6 full sized towers under it and I have a small desk.

I also think it's fair for Apple fans to say that you have to include the price of Vista ultimate if you are comparing to Apple. I don't care if you think Home Premium has everything you want - it doesn't have everything it could have, which OS X does. ag3nt smith, I think in the cold war era they would have been impressed with the mini.

One final thought - since there's really no way to upgrade these things (besides HDD->SDD or adding ram) you're kind of forced to keep it longer. OK, sick logic, but my roommate has a 5 year old mac laptop which she uses in grad school. It looks "cool" and boasts the cute Apple on its cover so everyone knows she has a mac. I bet she would keep a Mac Mini 5 years too. Cheaper in the long run for her.

 

[Herbert_HA]

I'm surely disappointed with these new specs for the mini. I remember when they first released it, with a G4 cpu, and back then it was way more appealing than now. I like and use Apple hardware, it is reliable and efficient, but i would be a complete idiot if i bought one of those minis.
Nevertheless is unfair to compare it with a pc with atom cpu. C'mon, you are comparing a Core 2 duo with a Atom...I dare you to say the same thing in a Pc environment and at least it is now capable to handle 4gb of ram.
Well, I digress. Bottom line is this is an already obsolete hardware that is not worth buying, They have to do better than this.

 

[KyleSTL]

good point forgot mini has laptop cpu and not regular desktop cpu... ouch even slower. you know that something the apple website i went to doesnt say. laptop parts, laptop performance...

I don't believe you know what you're talking about.

 

[jsloan]

[citation][nom]KyleSTL[/nom]I don't believe you know what you're talking about.[/citation]

i do, i google first, post second... ;-)

mac mini is basically a laptop without screen. the cpu, gpu, memory, disk, ect are like those found in laptops, not desktops. and you can't upgrade video card, ouch! Plus from what I read Mac Minis are prone to lockups due to heat issues so you won't be overclocking much these babies.

cpu: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0Ghz (P7350) or 2.26 GHz (P8400), (Penryn CPU are mobile, only has 3MB L2, desktop have 6MB L2, FSB is 1066 vs 1333 MT/s for desktops, plus P7350 does not support Intel VT nor Intel Dynamic Acceleration and Penryn-3M-P processors support Dynamic Front Side Bus Throttling between 533MT/s and 1066MT/s, so you may not always be running at 1066MT/s), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Core_2_microprocessors#.22Penryn-3M.22_.28medium-voltage.2C_45_nm.29

gpu: nVidia GeForce 9400M 128MB or 256MB shared memory (M is for Mobile, 16 cores, 128-bit memory interface, 21 memory bandwidth, 54 Gigaflops, 3.6 3.6 Texture Fill Rate, if they had gone with desktop chipset the specs are much better GeForce 9600 GT 55/65nm G94/D9M GPU, 64 Stream Processors, 16 Raster Operation(ROP) units, 32 Texture Address(TA)/Texture Filter(TF) units, 20.8 billion texels/s fillrate, 650 MHz core clock, with a 1625 MHz unified shader clock, 1800 MHz memory, with a 256-bit memory interface, 256 MB or 512 MB or 1 GB of GDDR3 memory, 57.6 GB/s memory bandwidth for boards configured with GDDR3 900 MHz memory, DirectX 10, Shader Model 4.0, OpenGL 2.1, and PCI-Express 2.0.), http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_9400m_g_us.html, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_9_Series, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NVIDIA_Ion

memory: 1GB or 2 GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM (using 1GB SO-DIMM which is what laptop use)

disk: 120GB or 320GB 2.5" 5400 rpm 8 mb hard drive (desktop drives are 3.25", desktop drives are normally 7200 rpm, desktop have larger cache 16MB or 32MB)

read details for yourself:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_mini

here is what insides look like:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/apple-mac-mini,978-6.html

 

[jsloan]

[citation][nom]pharge[/nom]hmm... I don't think it is fair to compair Celeron 450 with Core 2 Due[/citation]

ok, replace with something better, but i dont think it will drive the price over mac mini.

i guess what drives the price up and the spec down is the use of laptop parts, and then they are dated compared to desktop. nvidia has 9600 for desktop, and 9400M is new for laptop/ mac mini.

 

[th_at]

I don't get it. Users, who build high end SLI/Crossfire systems, who build Core i7 rigs and use two Raptors in Raid0 , everytime they bash Apple, it's because of lacking bang for the buck...

This Mini is expensive, because it uses Mobile technology to get it so small. Is it necessary to have a small PC? Not really. But isn't that the beauty of a market economy? Power users can build $5000 monsters with cores aplenty and window kits, design fetishists can have their small desklap thingies.

Do you pay an Apple tax? Of course. Add up the shelf prices of an Eee PC's components and you'll see that there's an Asus tax too.

You don't like Apple marketing and snobby Mac users? Grow some self-esteem and ignore them!

 

[keither5150]

@ th_at

"You don't like Apple marketing and snobby Mac users? Grow some self-esteem and ignore them"!

It's hard to ignore them when they hang out on hardware sites.

Being an avid Mac user is almost like being in a cult. They believe they are right and all others without their views are wrong. I appreciate the Mac OS...... but I will not drink the kool-aid. I have spent hundreds of hours with the Mac experience. I would certainly dual boot with OSX if I could run it on my modern hardware. Somehow I think that Apple might be lacking I7 and 4870x2 drivers.

The Mac mini is cool and small but it is basically a laptop without the screen,keyboard,battery, and mobility.

Someone within the Mac culture will certainly buy it. They will include it on their tour of the house when they entertain. This recently happened to me when I went to a house party. The guy was very proud of his new Imac.

To each his own.

Just because I don't get it doesn't make it wrong.

You can build a screaming I7 box like mine for $1600, not including keyboard. And you will not find my computer on my tour of the house.

 

[keither5150]

[citation][nom]jawshoeaw[/nom] One final thought - since there's really no way to upgrade these things (besides HDD->SDD or adding ram) you're kind of forced to keep it longer. OK, sick logic, but my roommate has a 5 year old mac laptop which she uses in grad school. It looks "cool" and boasts the cute Apple on its cover so everyone knows she has a mac. I bet she would keep a Mac Mini 5 years too. Cheaper in the long run for her.[/citation]


That is sick logic.

Although cool is important to students, you would think money would be more important.

She could have bought a windows laptop for 1/2 the price. It would certainly last five years and she would have more money. The PC that I built back in 2000 is still running fine for my mom. She also never shuts it off because she doesn't want to miss an email. I know..... I tried to explain, but she is old. That reminds me, I should clock it back to stock the next time I visit so it lasts longer.

 

[KyleSTL]

ok, replace with something better, but i dont think it will drive the price over mac mini.

i guess what drives the price up and the spec down is the use of laptop parts, and then they are dated compared to desktop. nvidia has 9600 for desktop, and 9400M is new for laptop/ mac mini.

Yes, I totally agree with you on the price gouging.

However, Core 2 >> Celeron 450
and Geforce 9400 >> Intel GMA 950

And to think that a laptop C2D is much slower than an equally equiped desktop C2D shows your ignorance of computer hardware.
With equivalent clock speeds and cache sizes they will be equivalent. Even if there is a difference in FSB clock the penalty will not be as significant as you seem to believe it will be.

Mac Minis are prone to lockups due to heat issues so you won't be overclocking much these babies.

I just caught this. Overclocking ... Mac ... the idea is just absurd (because you can't - barring risky pin/pad mods or software-based utilities).

 

[Yoder54]

Wow! That is one sexy looking boat anchor! Would make a great computer if you're accustomed to Cold-War era computer technology.

Deja Vu.

Why do companies like Dell, Gateway, etc., borrow the ideas that Apple comes up with? iPod is a culture of its own, and the rest of the Apple line is always the envy of other companies. Balmer even credited Apple's manufacturing model...he only wishes MS could do the same.

You should tell it to the Apple stock holders. They are happy, and they make money.

I would never buy the Mini, but many who do want the small footprint, portability, and the OS. Look what you are stuck with when you buy the Dell...slap Vista Ultimate on that and make a comparsion. Ultimately, the consumers buy what they want and they drive the market.

 

[Yoder54]

Being an avid Mac user is almost like being in a cult. They believe they are right and all others without their views are wrong.

Windows fans are no different. Dogma is what drives conflict.