Apple Mac mini M9686LL/B (1.25 GHz Power PC G4, 512 MB DDR SDRAM, 40 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW Drive)

by Apple

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 9 x 12.5 inches ; 6.5 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 13 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0009U7Y32
• Item model number: M9686LL/B
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 26, 2005

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Live the digital life in stylish simplicity. Just 6.5 inches square and 2 inches tall, Mac mini provides what you need to have more fun with your music, photos and movies—right out of the box. This Mac mini now boasts 512MB memory.

Get a Mac for Less
The modular design of Mac mini lets you upgrade your current system to the elegance, simplicity and reliability of Macintosh. BYODKM:¹ If you already own a monitor, keyboard and mouse, you can get up and running in minutes. Or choose any combination of new devices to match your setup. And yes, Mac mini will take advantage of your two-button USB mouse with scroll-wheel and your favorite USB keyboard. Just plug them in.

Best Operating System At Any Price
Discover the world's most advanced operating system on the world's most affordable Mac. Every Mac mini comes standard with critically acclaimed Mac OS X Tiger, which includes Spotlight, the lightning-fast search tool that lets you find anything on your system as fast as you type, and Dashboard, the home to amazing widgets that access timely information such as gas prices or movie listings.²

It Just Works
iPod and iTunes work great together. So why not take it to the next level with Mac mini and iLife, the simply powerful digital life software that lets you organize and share your photographs with ease. Or connect your digital camcorder to Mac mini and start editing your masterpiece. Or plug in your electric guitar or keyboard and make music. The combination of Mac OS X Tiger and iLife makes it effortless and fun to make stuff.

Inexpensive, But Never Cheap
All that, and not an inch of wasted space. Apple engineers designed this small wonder from the ground up to deliver the most Mac for the least dinero. Inside its petite 2-inch tall, 6.5-inch square anodized aluminum enclosure, this Mac mini houses a 1.25 GHz G4 processor, 40 GB hard drive, a slot-loading Combo drive, 512MB DDR SDRAM, and an ATI Radeon 9200 graphics chip with 32MB dedicated DDR SDRAM—all whisper-quiet.

Connect your digital devices, such as cameras, iPod, printer, camcorder or keyboard to the Mac mini over USB 2.0 or FireWire. Built-in 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet and a 56K v.92 fax modem³ give you access to broadband or dial-up connections to the Internet. A headphone/audio line-out jack lets you listen to stereo sound.

Rearrange the Furniture, Anytime
Believe it or not, all this technology weighs just 2.9 pounds. Imagine, a desktop computer you can easily move from your study to the kitchen on a whim. Mac mini won't break your back when you want to shuffle things around. You can also choose up to 1GB RAM and increase the 40GB hard drive to 80GB.⁴

Sometimes, the wheel really does need reinventing. How else would you end up with a computer so small you can balance it in one hand, yet powerful enough to propel you to digital nirvana?

Designed With Exquisite Finesse
Most low-cost PC manufacturers slap together Frankenstein machines by hacking away features from the high end (of three years ago, anyway) and putting the warmed-over parts in ill-fitting cheap plastic boxes. They don't really have a choice, since they don't design any of the parts, from operating system to motherboard. That's why most budget PC cases seem to be littered with a mish-mash of uncoordinated stickers from every component vendor on the planet. But Apple engineers can handcraft a new machine from scratch. For Mac mini, that means taking the time to decide just which elements make a Mac a Mac and then figuring out how to shrink them. And that process just happened to reinvent the whole concept of a desktop computer.

Pint-sized Perfection
The result? A machine you don't actually mind putting atop your desk. At just 6.5 inches square and 2 inches tall, Mac mini fits anywhere. Its sleek anodized aluminum styling hints at the refined edges and rounded corners of its big brother, the iMac G5. A reflective white cover picks up the tones of your home decor and makes the ideal mate to put next to your iPod dock. Best of all, Mac mini purrs along at a whisper-quiet sound level, so there's no reason to hide it under your desk like an old PC to save your ears. In fact, Mac mini puts the digital lifestyle right at your fingertips. Pop a DVD into the slot-loading combo drive or make a mix CD. Connect your iPod, digital camera, printer, or DV camcorder via FireWire or USB ports on the back. Surf the Internet over the built-in modem.

Densely-packed Power
It's all there. In fact, it's hard to believe that there's any place left for the rest of the computer. But squeezed in under that optical drive and behind all those ports lie a G4 processor, room for up to 1GB PC2700 main memory, a Radeon 9200 graphics chip and 32MB DDR SDRAM for it. And a large enough hard drive to store today's digital media. There's even space for AirPort Extreme wireless networking (not included) and internal Bluetooth (not included). So you get the option of the power and promise of cable-free computing with these added options.

Mac mini looks great no matter how—or where—you stack it up.⁵ The Mac mini. Everything you ever wanted, nothing you don't need. Take it for a spin. Bring it home for a great low price.

¹ Bring Your Own Display, Keyboard and Mouse.
² Gas price, hula girl, and movie listing widgets are not included with Mac mini, but available from third parties via free download.
³ Optional on some configurations.
⁴ Some of these options must be installed by Apple at the factory; others can be added at an Apple Store or an Apple authorized reseller.
⁵ Put Mac mini on the top of the stack for optimal ventilation and optical drive functioning.

Product Description

Includes: VGA/DVI adapter, Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger, iLife '05 (includes iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD & GarageBand), AppleWorks, Quicken 2005 for Mac, & more. Apple Mac Mini - Incredibly inexpensive, but definitely not cheap, this miniature Apple Macintosh Computer is perfect for handling your day to day computing, and then some! The main feature is it's petite exterior. The Mac Mini is only 6.5" square, 2" high, and weighs only 2.9 pounds. Its attractive platinum and white, rounded square design gives it a sophisticated modern look that can't be matched. It also has the convenience of having all of its buttons and ports placed in the back, so cables are kept tidy and neat, giving you a clean overall appearance. But what's even more amazing than its good looks, is the shear amount of technology Apple has packed inside! Slot-Loading CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo Drive - up to 24x CD-R, 16x CD-RW, 24x CD-ROM, & 8x DVD-ROM Ports - 10/100 Ethernet, 1 FireWire 400, 2 USB 2.0, DVI Out, VGA Out, & Headphone/Audio Line Out 56k v.92 Modem

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Mac Value, August 7, 2005

By 

Steve H "books911" (U.S.) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Apple Mac mini M9686LL/B (1.25 GHz Power PC G4, 512 MB DDR SDRAM, 40 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW Drive) (Personal Computers)

The Mac Mini was released in January 2005 at Mac World, and was then updated, for the first time, in July 2005. This Mac Mini is the result of that update.

Improvements - The $499 Mac Mini now sports 512 MB of DDR SDRAM, which is twice the memory the original Mac Mini included. This is a significant upgrade. The majority of users can now buy, out of the box, a machine that performs beautifully and allows a fair amount of multi-tasking. The Mac operating system, Mac OS X Tiger, thrives on memory, and 512 MB helps to create a speedy experience, for users.

Besides the memory, the hardware on $499 Mac Mini has not changed, from the early-2005 version.

The Good Things that Continue to Shine with Mac Mini - A buyer of the Mac Mini will continue to enjoy Mac OS X Tiger, which is the best consumer operating system in the world. It works with the hardware beautifully to provide a simple, fast, elegant, and reliable experience. One of the favorite descriptions of Mac fans, to describe Macs, is simply, "it just works."

The Mac Mini continues to include iLife '05, with great applications such as iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD, iTunes, and Garageband. These are all included, with every Mac Mini. You will be challenged to find any PC that includes applications that come anywhere close to the iLife suite. Manage thousands of your digital images in iPhoto, create home movies in iMovie, and create professional music in Garageband.

Appleworks is included for simply word processing, spreadsheets, etc., but you might want to pick up Microsoft Office for Mac. A student/teacher edition is available, for just over $100.

Speed - The 1.25 GHZ PowerPC G4 processor makes the Mac Mini a very capable machine.

Hard Drive - 40 GB will probably be significant for a lot of people. You can enjoy a few thousand photos and songs with 40 GBs, plus lots of text files, but very little video. However, if you'd like to double the hard drive, pick up the $599 Mac Mini.


ComboDrive - The Apple Combo Drive allows you to burn music and data CDs, plus you can watch DVDs!

Drawbacks? The $499 Mac Mini does not include the wireless functions included, with the $599 and $699 Mac Mini. You will need USB keyboard & mouse, PC USB keyboards/mouses will work. Furthermore, you will need to connect to the internet via either dial-up on the internal modem, or via DSL/cable modem, which can connect to the ethernet port on the back of the Mac Mini.

Best value of the Mac Minis? The $499 Mac Mini is the cheapest way to get your hands on a Mac, and it is a very capable machine. However, the $599 model offers a lot of upgrades, for the extra $100.

Overall, Apple has created another fantastic product, with the Mac Mini, and the July 2005 update only made it better. You get more memory, for the same price. This Mac Mini really includes everything the average user needs to enjoy the internet, manage his or her digital life, and have fun doing it all.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compact, quiet and powerful, October 22, 2005

By 

Electronic Gadgetphile (St. Paul, MN) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Apple Mac mini M9686LL/B (1.25 GHz Power PC G4, 512 MB DDR SDRAM, 40 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW Drive) (Personal Computers)

Waited out the first generation and was rewarded for my wait by picking up an extra 256 MB of RAM and built in wireless and Bluetooth for the same price as the previous model. I am very happy with the performance of this Mac and find that it can drive my Samsung SyncMaster 191T with great resolution (1280x1024) as well as move through my Adobe Creative Suite 2 quite quickly. The unit is absolutely quiet unless you are accessing CD/DVD's which are a bit on the noisy side. The software package is as good as any Mac and is included in the purchase price which makes this even a better value. The only knock I would have on the system is that it has only two built in USB 2.0 ports so when you hook up your keyboard and printer you are out of ports. I found an acceptable solution by adding a Belkin High Speed USB 2.0 4-Port Hub made expressly for the Mac mini and sits directly underneath the unit. I opted not to spend the extra $100 for the SuperDrive as I do not intend to burn DVD's on this unit but the included DVD/CD-RW drive does a great job of burning CD's from iTunes. I am really happy with this purchase.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exactly what you need is now more affordable!, August 9, 2005

By 

Curtis Mitchell (Peoria, AZ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apple Mac mini M9686LL/B (1.25 GHz Power PC G4, 512 MB DDR SDRAM, 40 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW Drive) (Personal Computers)

The Mac Mini was a great little machine, just what someone would need who was thinking of switching to a Mac. And for people doing office work who already had all their peripherals, this little guy was a beauty.

He had one little problem the, that 256 MB of RAM just didn't quite cut it, which meant if you really wanted a solid machine, you were going to have to add some RAM to a custom order. That's all changed now with this Summer '05 launch. Now the Mac Mini comes complete with 512 MB of RAM and, assuming you already have your own keyboard/mouse and monitor, it comes with everything you need right in the box! An excellent suite of software and just the right specifications.

Sure this little guy isn't the most powerful machine, but for someone looking for an entry level Mac, you can't beat the Mini! Recommended for people looking for a low-cost machine that already have old attachments, people looking to upgrade from an older, outdated Mac, or people new to the Mac world. In fact, the Mini was built with the Windows user in mind!

The mini is small enough that it'll fit snuggly alongside another machine, say a Windows Tower, and a whole array of additional accessories are available so that with a little networking you can have both machines use the same attachments! Brilliantly done on Apple's part, it's wonderful to see a computer that is not only affordable for people on a budget, but also isn't a rip-off!