Apple Mac mini M9971LL/B (1.42 GHz PowerPC G4, 512 MB DDR SDRAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, SuperDrive DVD-RW/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: B0009U7YD2
• Item model number: M9971LL/B
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 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 and includes built-in wireless and SuperDrive.

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 1.42GHz G4 processor, 80 GB hard drive, a SuperDrive, 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. And you'll want to, now that wireless comes standard on this model.

Enchanting Enhancements
That means you can surf wirelessly with AirPort Extreme and use wireless keyboards and mice with internal Bluetooth. This model is the ultimate Mac mini, with a SuperDrive that lets you burn DVDs of your home movies or make a backup of the music or audiobooks you buy at the iTunes Music Store. You can also choose up to 1GB RAM.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 Ethernet, modem, or AirPort wireless.

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 the included AirPort Extreme wireless networking and internal Bluetooth. So you get both the power and promise of cable-free computing.

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 SuperDrive - up to 4x DVD-R, 2x DVD-RW, 4x DVD+R, 2.4x DVD+RW, 16x CD-R, 8x 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 Built-in AirPort Extreme (802.11b/g Wi-Fi Wireless Network Adapter) Bluetooth Support

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Mac Value with Superdrive!, August 4, 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 M9971LL/B (1.42 GHz PowerPC G4, 512 MB DDR SDRAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, SuperDrive DVD-RW/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 $699 Mac Mini is a new model, in the respect that previously only $599 and $499 models were offered. The $699 model is indentical to the $599 model, but includes a superdrive, for burning DVDs. This Mac Mini 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.

Bluetooth - Bluetooth is a great wireless technology that Apple heavily backs, and it is included with this Mac Mini, an addition, from the original Mac Minis, when bluetooth was an optional add-on, (...), for $50 more. Purchase a bluetooth keyboard or bluetooth mouse, and they will work wirelessly, with your Mac Mini. It makes for a very clean and uncluttered desktop. There are also many mobile phones and PDAs, which utilize bluetooth technology, which you can sync to your mac using isync, included with Mac Mini.

Airport Extreme - This is the wireless networking card now included with the $599 and $699 Mac Mini, after being a $70+ upgrade (...), on the previous model. Do you have a wireless-b or wireless-g network in your home? If so, the Mac Mini will be able to connect to it, without problem. Again, making the computing experience simpler and less tangled.

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, burn those movies onto DVD with iDVD, 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 1.42 GHZ PowerPC G4 processor makes the Mac Mini a very capable machine. This will satisfy the horsepower needed to complete tasks in the iLife suite, included with your Mac Mini.

Hard Drive - 80 GB is a significant-sized hard drive, so you will be able to store thousands of photos and songs.

Superdrive - The Apple Superdrive not only allows you to burn CDs and watch DVDs, but you can also burn your very own DVDs! Just imagine editing your home movies in iMovie, and then burning them to DVD, with iDVD via your Superdrive. iDVD allows you to make beautiful menus, for your DVDs, so they look professional.

Drawbacks? The $699 version of the Mac Mini does not include a modem, if you want this version of the Mac Mini with a modem, you will have to custom-order it at Apple.com. However, the ethernet port is included on the back, to plug into a DSL or cable modem, plus you have the Airport Extreme, for wireless connections. However, if you don't have broadband, you'll need a modem for dial-up, so you will either need to order a custom-built Mac Mini at Apple.com, or buy the stock $499 model, which includes a modem, but lacks the wireless components, superdrive, 80 gig hard drive, and faster processor.

What is the best value of the three Mac Mini models? The $699 model is *fantastic*, if you want to burn DVDs, or simply backup data to DVDs. Remember, a DVD holds 4.7 GB of data, so that allows you to backup a lot of data. However, if you think you do not need the Superdrive, the $599 model offers the exact configuration to the $699 model, albeit absent the superdrive.

Overall, Apple has created another fantastic product, with the Mac Mini, and the July 2005 update only made it better. You get more memory, plus wireless connectivity via bluetooth and airport extreme. 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.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From Windows to Mac ..., December 14, 2005

By 

BikeChick (SD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apple Mac mini M9971LL/B (1.42 GHz PowerPC G4, 512 MB DDR SDRAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, SuperDrive DVD-RW/CD-RW Drive) (Personal Computers)

I formerly used a Windows computer (not by choice) and decided to make the switch to either Linux or Mac, but when I started using a mac mini at work, I fell in love! Of course, your experience will be different depending on what you will use your mac mini for. My daily tasks on a computer consist of graphic design (Photoshop, Illustrator, Corel, Flash), web programming (Dreamweaver and Text Editors), occasional video editing, composing music, and all the other general stuff like word processing, etc.

I knew, for a fact, that I should NOT get the 512MB ram - since my computer at work uses this and it runs EXTREMELY slow when I have Photoshop and Dreamweaver open. So, I upgraded to the 1 gig ram ... it's perfect! I haven't experienced any lag at all even when I have Limewire, Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, and Flash all open at the same time!

The OS is simple and easy to understand. And best of all, I don't have to worry about stupid blue screens of death, viruses every 5 minutes, and all that weird Windows crap! I am finally at ease with my Mac and use it to control my Windows computer remotely, which works awesome!

The best thing is that there is a ton of open source software out there to download if you need any kind of program. My fear was that I would not find programs to replace the ones on my Windows computer, but Mac has it all AND the programs are much nicer in Mac.

The only downside is that the Superdrive doesn't burn as fast as I would like, but it works really well considering it's such a small drive. You just need to make sure you buy CD-R and DVD-R brands like Memorex and TDK.

AirPort automatically detected my d-link wireless network and I didn't have to do a thing to configure it!

The unit is tiny and makes barely any noise at all. It only breathes when reading a disc. It's easy to pop open, all you need is a puddy knife.

The ONE thing you need if you're going to get a Mini is ... a USB hub, since there are only two USB ports. Well, you only need it if you have webcams, external hard drives, dvd burners, printer, scanner, etc etc.

Above all, it's a great device and well worth the money!!

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No surprise here!, September 7, 2005

By 

chibimaron "tech geek" (CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Apple Mac mini M9971LL/B (1.42 GHz PowerPC G4, 512 MB DDR SDRAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, SuperDrive DVD-RW/CD-RW Drive) (Personal Computers)

Easy to setup. Low price. Small size. And from Apple. What more could I ask? The mini is a wonderful introduction to the Apple line, especially those that already have an available monitor and keyboard. After working for a couple of years as a tech for PCs and Macs, and now as a programmer running on a Mac, I was always trying to find a reason to fork over the money to purchase a Mac for home, but with my 5+ PCs, I could never justify a purchase. But when Apple came out with this monitor-less & keyboard-less mini at such a great price, I had more of an incentive to 'officially' make the crossover. Of course, there are tradeoffs. I don't get the powerful G5 processor, or the ability to upgrade my RAM past 1GB, but the way I use this computer (mainly to house my music and photo collection), it's definitely sufficient. As long as you're not trying to use the mini for heavy video editing, then I would highly suggest this machine. It really is a great buy!