Customer Reviews

Apple Mac mini MB138LL/A (1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1 GB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, Combo Drive)

5 star:		(62)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I bought this mini to replace a 1.42 GHz G4 mini that just couldn't handle my 6,000+ pictures in iPhoto anymore. It took 1-2 minutes before I could do anything in iPhoto after I opened it.
When I got this machine, I immediately replaced the two 512 MB sticks with two 1 GB sticks that I bought online for about $35 each (much cheaper than Apple). I also had an existing 200GB external drive which is the same form factor as the mini and sits underneath it in addition to a Belkin USB hub (same form factor as well), since you can never have enough USB 2.0 ports.
The machine is great and much faster than my old Power PC mini. iPhoto opens very quickly and I can immediately browse through all my film rolls, even with other programs, such as Safari and Eudora, running. I am glad I waited until Apple changed from the Core Duo to the Core 2 Duo, although I am not sure how much difference there is between the newer and older Intel mini.
I also love the included remote for iLife. It's nice to be able to browse through iTunes, iPhoto, etc. without the keyboard/mouse.
There are rumors that Apple will discontinue this little machine soon, but I hope they don't as it is a great buy for anyone who already has a nice monitor/LCD. I would like to get a 24" iMac but they are too expensive and I would much rather just buy a Mac mini and hook it up to a 20" or 24" external LCD since I don't like all-in-one devices (printers or computers).

Update (11/2011): This Mac mini is still going strong. I have since upgraded the HDD to a 250 GB, 320 GB and recently a 1 TB drive. The upgrades went smootly and I even installed Bootcamp and Windows 7 (needed for work) onto a 300 GB partition without any problems.

I have a 3 year old powerbook and this cheap mac mini runs circles around it!! Even though it's completely low end, it's still fast enough to watch 720P HDTV and movies.

I upgraded it with 3GB of ram (though you have to do that yourself, apple will only install 2GB, but 50% more ram makes it MUCH faster. (the max it will recognize is 3.3GB but you'd have to install 4gb for that.. so it's kind of a waste)

You can EASILY hook it up to an HDTV through DVI-DVI, DVI-HDMI, or DVI-VGA. I do this when I download either a broadcast HDTV show or to watch a recorded show or movie from my cable box. You can record a digital stream to the mac mini through the Firewire connection of your cable box.

I recommend getting an external hard drive, and just using the internal drive for applications.
It seems to keep things snappy.

Anyway, I bought this mainly because I need to do 4 illustrations at 4 feet by 6 feet, I used Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, and Corel Painter X all at the same time with documents ipen in each. I saved them as pdfs, and really never had to wait for any functions.

Only 3D and Video apps take time to render, everything else in real time.

So if you want a fairly inexpensive desktop computer (and understand you have to know a bit about computers to do any sort of upgrades) this is really pretty solid.

This little Mac CPU is perfect for people who want a powerful but inexpensive CPU without the frills. Just 2.5" high and 6.5" square, it fits almost anywhere: on a desk, in a drawer, on a narrow shelf. The unit comes with a Mac SuperDrive for burning and playing DVD/CDs, a remote control, BlueTooth technology, the iLife Suite (iPhoto, iTunes, Garage Band, Photo Booth, iMovie, etc.), and the newest OS X Leopard (on CDs, not installed.) That's it. You have to buy your own keyboard, mouse, monitor, and anything else you'd like to add.

Pros:

-- This little guy is fast and reliable. The 1 GB RAM is good enough for most users, although you can expand to 2 GB. (See Cons.)

-- Size. No more towers!

-- Leopard is utterly fantastic. Make sure you take the "tour" to fully appreciate its capabilities and features since many aren't immediately obvious. It allows easy sharing of files within a network, wireless or otherwise, automatics back-ups to an external hard drive (purchase separately) that can be accessed according to a specific date and time, and in-network video conferencing (again, you have to supply the web cam.) My favorite feature is setting my computer to turn on at the same time every day so it's ready to go when I walk into my home office.

-- The no-frills package allows users to buy their preferred size of monitor. Since monitors bought separately usually cost far less than what Apple charges, this ends up being a cost saver as well. The Apple keyboard works best with the Mac mini since there's a special key for ejecting CD/DVDs, but any keyboard will do.

Cons

-- The memory upgrade is not as easy as it should be. Look online for detailed instructions, including removing the Blue Tooth antenna. (Ignore instructions for the old version of the Mac Mini.) You'll have to take the unit partially apart to get to the memory slots. If you are at all intimidated by working inside a computer, get the extra memory pre-installed.

-- The power button is on the back of the machine, while the Super Drive slot is in the front. This means that the unit must be accessible, both front and back, unless you set the system to turn on automatically. This is the main reason I cannot give this unit five stars.

-- The Super Drive is noisy when it starts up.

For people who want to keep their current monitor and other peripherals, the Mac Mini is an excellent and economical choice. If you need to buy all the accessories, the price can start to add up, and you might want to look at a different computer. Even so, the small size can be a huge bonus for those who are short on space.

I love my Mac Mini, and I've never regretted purchasing it.

I have been a Windows hacker for over 25 years. In that time I have owned many Intel/Windows based computers, several of which I built myself. But I always felt that Windows was a pain, not to mention unreliable. The latest Vista version is a perfect case in point. Hence my decision to invest in the 1.83GHz Mac Mini to see what the fuss with Apple and Leopard was all about. All I have to say is "Wow". This is one nice computer, especially with a couple of minor upgrades that I did myself in about 30 minutes (1G to 2G memory, 80G 5400 RPM hard drive to 100G 7200 RPM hard drive). Coupled with Fusion, which allows all of my critical Windows apps (Office for example) to run virtualized under Leopard, this little jewel is a very solid, impressive unit. It even fit right in with my home network consisting of three desktops, a laptop, and a home server. I will always use Windows for some complicated jobs, but for everyday use, I will be using this Mini and the accompanying Leopard. They are a pleasure to use. I only regret not having tried Apple sooner. If you are even remotely considering Apple, I highly recommend this unit.

Getting my Mac to work the way I want has been a little frustrating. First, I purchased the version with only 1GB of memory with the intention of installing additional 3rd party memory (what Apple charges for additional memory is nothing short of criminal). As I am a very old hand at cracking open PCs, I thought this would be a straight-forward process, but it isn't.

First off, opening a Mac Mini on your own violates the warranty! This is an absolutely ridiculous policy on the part of Apple and harkens back to the days of the old Mac 128K. But I plowed on, and found myself stunned by what I needed to open the case: a spackling knife! I'm trying to upgrade a computer, not a house!

Anyway, I get the case off, and am amazed at what a tight fit everything is inside. Things are even more cramped than in a notebook. The directions I found online on how to proceed at this point had me confused and concerned that I was about to convert this Mac into a $600 doorstop, but I finally found the screws I had to remove (note: they are the 4 black screws in the four corners of the mount that holds the Combo drive in place above the motherboard, after you pop off the WiFi antenna). CAREFULLY, I set the Combo drive aside, removed the old memory, and installed two 1GB modules I bought off Amazon from Crucial.

I put everything back together, plugged a DVI-to-HDMI cable from the Mac to my hi-def TV, powered on and: nothing. Panic-stricken, I swapped the original memory back in place, and everything worked fine. Putting the Crucial memory in place: nothing. So I had bad after-market memory. I went back to the original memory, and I had a working computer.

Setup at this point was almost painless. The OS found my wireless network, plus the wireless Apple keyboard and mouse I bought specifically for the Mini, without a hitch. Before I even knew it, I was wirelessly connected to my old laptop; I didn't even have to configure a connection! Neat.

But the picture quality was sub-par. After a day, I swapped out the HDMI cable for a straight PC video cable, and plugged it into the PC port on my TV (fortunately, it had one). I finally found a screen resolution that worked and that was readable from across the room.

However, I didn't have sound. There was a 1/8" headphone jack on the back of the Mini, along with a Toslink cable jack, but I didn't see anything resembling a stereo out jack. After a couple of days surfing the web, I decided that the 1/8" headphone jack must be a plain old unamplified stereo out jack. I used an old 1/8" stereo-to-RCA analog splitter cable, plugged it into the TV, configured the TV to accept the signal, and I finally had what I wanted: a secondary computer I could run from my living room without having a laptop melting its way into my groin.

Now that I've got it set up right, I'm becoming increasingly happy with my purchase. However, the difficulty of upgrading the memory is just inexcusible. Laptops have a simple access port on the bottom where memory can be swapped out, and Apple should have put a similar port on the bottom of the Mini. That way, you could upgrade without cracking the case, and without voiding the warranty. And the case itself shouldn't require a spackle knife to open!

After doing lot of research whether to go for Apple laptop or Mac mini.settled with Mac mini as the price was good.I would say it is really a good investment.Setup was very easy and got the Leophard DVD from Apple within a week and upgrade took less time.Only thing you need to have in mind is the Monitor which you are using should be DVI compatible then only you can get a better resolution.If you have a VGA monitor the resolution will be ok but not that great/

Installed Microsoft XP using Bootcamp.Install was a snap.no issues Apple have given all the drivers needed to run Windows.Both works fine

Pros:
Light weight
No noise
Fits your desktop
Easy setup
Apple OS

Cons:
Installing Additonal RAM.It is a pain to open the box to do it.

Overall if you are looking to switch to MAC from Windows then go for this.

The Mac mini is a great machine that actually works. It's performance is much better than my PC with similar specs (but much larger case). It has taken a little while to get used to the Leopard OS but well worth it. I can now do virtually everything I did on my PC, but much quicker. I would recommend it to anyone.

I have been toying with hooking up a old laptop with Windows to my new HDTV screen, when the harddrive failed, I decided to try a mac-mini. I am very happy with the purchase, the integrated front row application lets you view pictures off of network drives, movies downloaded from Itunes and radio from Itunes. This was really killer, my wife has a home based business making purses and I created a picture show of her creations with music, this was the hit of the show.

Pros: Small form factor, great software
Cons: Could follow what the laptop industry has done, add more memory by opening up a small compartment, not breaking into the thing with a putty knife.

One last note, I have been a Windows/PC user for most of my life, conversion to this OS is not that hard. The software can be a bit expensive, but you can run some of the opensource products without a problem.

I bought this item 2 weeks ago and just upgraded the memory to 3Gigs. I have a 160GB Ministack (same form factor) sitting under it which serves as an alternate boot drive and a Firewire/USB powered hub. The machine works great and is very silent. It takes up minimal space on the desktop. A great buy for switchers and new users as an introduction the Macs.

Apple's miniMac, although not for power users, makes a great purchase for casual users and those who want to dedicate a computer to a specific purpose (i.g., TIVO type of service, a small network server, controlling lights and security in the house, as in interface between a Ham Radio and the whole world, home theater setup, etc.) Just be sure to purchase as much memory as possible! Windows and Linux can run on this computer in emulation as quickly as on a regular laptop PC. (I have found that VMware's Fusion is simple and almost foolproof! Parallels is more complicated, but it works well, also.) Disadvantages? -- Not enough USB or Firewire ports, and inability to connect 2nd monitor. Also, I wish the on/off button was on the front of the machine instead of the back, but that could be an advantage in some cases!. With Leopard as the operating system, the computer is quick and responsive and can do so much. But don't expect it to do everything as quickly as a PowerMac or one of the faster iMacs. It has it's limits, but they are very high, and the average user will not reach them for a loooong time!