Customer Reviews

Apple Mac mini M9687LL/A (G4 1.42 GHz, 256 MB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW Drive)

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

For all of the things the Mac mini is, there are some that it is not. As the owner five Macs -- from a iMac G4 to a dual G5 tower -- I'll try to help.

(1) If you need a Mac to surf the Web, send e-mails and IM, write the next great novel or screenplay, organize and fix your photos, encode and hold your music library, and do some semi-serious movie editing, the Mac mini is just your ticket. For these tasks, it's downright snappy -- but, please, bump up the RAM to at least 512 MB. (Remember, the Mac operating system, OS X, thrives on RAM. You'll see a noticeable speed improvement between 512 MB and 1 GB of RAM, for example.) In fact if these are your needs, there is no better personal computer to buy. Period.

(2) If you need a Mac to some serious GarageBand multi-track recording, serious movie-editing with long clips and multiple effects (even under iMovie), or heavy photo manipulation, you probably should look elsewhere. If you want to play serious games on the Mac -- and, yes, you'll be able to do that -- you might also want to look elsewhere. (Doom III, soon to come out for the Mac, requires a G5 processor. The bigger and better games will.) For those who fit these criteria, you should seriously look at the iMac G5, or even a G5 tower. Remember, you can get the iMac G5 for just a little bit more than the Mac mini with a screen, keyboard, and mouse. It's a great computer and a real step up from the Mac mini's G4 processor.

Of course, there are other reasons to want the Mac mini. It's a miracle of engineering -- amazingly small and with so much more functionality than Windows computers costing twice as much ... and taking up five times the space! (Don't just go by price tags. Take a bottom of the line Dell and add up the cost of all the extras that come standard with an Mac mini ... a firewire port (essential for many DV camcorders to off-load video), a CD burner and DVD player (for most PC, you might be able to get one or the other -- as an extra), a full blown graphics card with its own 32 MB of RAM (not one of those "on the motherboard" Intel graphics sets that cannibalizes system RAM and does a lousy job of running even rudimentary games), and best-in-the-business photo and movie editing apps, etc.

And on top of all this, you get the best operating system out there. No viruses. No crashes. No fuss, no muss. OS X is a dream ... built from the ground up on solid UNIX foundations. If you've had Windows PCs, you'll immediately know something's afoot ... an operating system that just ... works. What a wonder! And you don't need to but a single anti-virus program or subscription. Not even a utilities program!

Enjoy!

Apple's introduction of the Mac Mini line of computers has attracted the eyes of both PC and Mac users. I picked up the 1.42 GHz model with the 512 MB RAM upgrade recently, because it was the first relatively affordable and small Macintosh computer to be released by Apple. Humming away quietly next to my relatively loud P4 3.0 GHz, 1 GB RAM, Radeon 9800 Pro PC, I've noticed a few things about the Mac Mini that might help potential buyers realize whether or not they want this system:

Pros:

1) Despite what some people might say, this system is very quick. I've read countless reviews of people saying that its too slow for many tasks - one review even said that animations were choppy when the resolution is above 1280x960. I'm currently using 1280x1024, and I saw a demo of this system at a resolution at least 1500/1600 pixels wide, maybe more. At one point in time, I had iTunes, Safari, GarageBand, and a small (very small) 2D game running, and iTunes never once skipped.

Believe it or not, when you take into account the anti-virus software, graphics card control panel, etc..., that has to load for Windows, this little Mac Mini loads about as fast as (maybe even faster than) my P4 3.0 GHz machine.

2) I know it has been said before, but I'm just going to reiterate it - this system is small, and it's hard to believe that Apple could put such a system together. It's also very quiet - but the CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive is really, really loud when it starts up. It's a minor problem, but overall, the Mini is fairly silent.

Cons:

There is only one real con, but unfortunately for some buyers, it might be a big one - whatever you do, PLEASE, PLEASE do not buy this system IF you are buying a computer to run higher-end games. PLEASE! Despite what Apple would have you believe, this little box is not meant for 3D gaming (2D is perfectly fine). Games like Unreal Tournament 2004 or Call of Duty barely make 20-30 FPS @ 1024x768/1280x1024 and are often unplayable even with a lot of the eye-candy turned off. However, some games also seem to do decently well - like the demo of Jedi Knight II (why it works as well as it does is really strange), MotoTrax, or NoLimits Roller-coaster Simulator. It seems to be a real toss up, but generally if the minimum specifications for the game seem to be pushing the limits (like stating that the game needs a 32 MB graphics card), chances are it won't run that well on the Mac Mini.

It is for this reason (and this reason only) that I deducted one star from overall rating.

Final Words:

The Mac Mini is a really nice little system that suits the average home user or even a small developer perfectly. Diehard gamers should definitely look elsewhere (if you're on a budget, look to the PC side of things) as this system is not meant for games. All in all, the Mac Mini has two defined markets:

1) The average home user who just wants to organize his/her photos, write a document, watch a DVD, and so on.
2) The PC user who has a fairly good PC, but is interested in the Macintosh side of things - not to make a complete switch, but just to see what Macs are like, do some development, learn Mac OS X, etc...

If you fit into one of these groups then I highly recommend that you purchase the Mac Mini. If you are a middle of the road user who wants to run some higher end games, but is still budget-oriented, try looking at a budget PC with an upgrade to a Radeon 9600 or GeForce FX 5600. If you want the latest and greatest with no budget limit, then look somewhere else at a high-end PC or Mac.

I'm certainly not sorry that I purchased the Mini, and I hope that Apple decides to make even more middle-of-the-road, fairly inexpensive computers in the future.

To conclude this review, I'd just like to tell anybody debating between getting a Macintosh or a PC that Windows is not as crash-prone/virus-ridden/difficult as most Mac purists would have you believe.

The price point of the Mac Mini finally convinced me to switch from PC to Mac. Even nicely loaded (bluetooth, airport, 512MB memory, super drive) it only came to about $850 total. If you really sit down, like I did, and do a feature-by-feature cost comparison with a PC, you'll see that this an excellent price, particularly when you factor in the lack of Windows-related spyware, malware, etc. pain.

I am 100% pleased with this device. Set-up was an absolute breeze - I literally unplugged my gnarly cable modem/wireless/wireless music server set-up from my PC and into the mini, and it began to serve wireless internet to my PC laptops, and music to my stereo (you'll need AirportExpress w/AirTunes for this, also recommended) just.like.that. VPN was also easy to install and configure as well - something that had caused me real, ongoing pain with Windows. OS X is rock-solid, relatively simple to learn, and the iLife applications are great.

Let us not forget the bling factor - the thing looks cool, runs cool, is whisper quiet, and consumes minimal power. You'll want to expand your USB ports, and bring them to the front with an external hub - you can do that for $30 or less. I also found that cabling was super-clean - all the ports are placed so closely together at the rear of the machine that you can just run the cables down the back of your desk, cable-tie them into one neat bundle, and forget about it. That was a real, unexpected bonus; the jumble of cables behind my PC often evoked a feeling akin to despair.

Extreme power users, gamers - by all means look elsewhere. For those who want great basic functionality, security, optimal performance and ease of use, I highly recommend looking into this machine.

Pros:

The form factor and power consumption set a new standard for all mass market desktop computers. According to Toms Hardware, the Mini draws only about 20 watts at idle. Watch a dvd and the power consumption rises to only about 28 watts. Again according to Toms, this is about 7 times less consumption than the average pc. The small form factor and power consumption are welcome attributes. By comparison, comparable Mini-ITX and Nano-ITX form-factor pc's with low power consumption have been around for a while but none would be considered mass market products.

The Mini is virtually silent. My pc's are all considered relatively quiet (Shuttle small form factor systems) but are far from silent. There are ways to make pc's silent with exotic water cooling systems, sound baffles, oversize slower fans, cases that act as heat sinks and so on but you'll pay in money or time to get close to what the Mini can do.

I'm using the latest updated version of OSX. It's been rock solid and interesting to use. I've had issues running Firefox but everything else is working well. OSX is a little bit of an adjustment from Windows but it only took me a couple hours to set it up, tweak, do a little reading of the online manual and become comfortable using it. If you're a Windows user, OSX and XP are subjectively just as stable in my experience but OSX is inherently more secure. OSX is a Unix based o/s and as such highly stable with more robust security features than Windows.

Among other things I will be using this as an audio server in conjucnction with the squeezebox II. This is a perfect computer for this purpose with low power consumption and virtually silent operation.

Cons:

The real cost of owning a Mini is going to be significantly higher for most than what the purchase price would indicate. With only two USB ports, most will probably need a USB hub (20-60 dollars). Unless you have a a Mini with built-in Bluetooth for a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, one of the ports on the Mini will be needed for a keyboard and the other for the mouse. That leaves exactly zero USB ports for peripherals.

Since the Mini doesn't come with a mouse or keyboard, you'll have to buy them, a kvm switch or have an extra pc keyboard and mouse. I have a couple extra keyboards and mice but Apple dropped the price of their wired keyboard recently to 29 dollars. It's a high quality keyboard with two USB ports available for peripherals. Well worth the purchase price in my opinion.

You'll want to upgrade the memory immediately. The standard 256 is not enough. Shame on you Apple. Buy at least 512mb's, 1 GB preferred. To save some money, I bought a 1GB stick from Fry's and installed it myself. You'll save about a hundred dollars by doing so. For access to the interior of the mini, use Google. I downloaded a short video that showed exactly how to do it. I wound up using a metal 2" putty knife I sharpended. Worked well but go slow and carefully.

For the Windows users, I'd highly recommend a two button mouse. Mac branded mice are all one button mice. Why Apple continues along this path is beyond me. Once you get used to the functionality of a two button mouse, there's no turning back. Fortunately, just about any two button mouse can be used.

For those that want to record audio or video using the mini, you'll need to buy an external soundcard or video dongle. The Mini has a headphone out you can use for speakers but no microphone or audio input. I'm using the Griffin iMic and am generally satisfied. It doesn't produce the quality I get from my Audigy 2 cards in my pc's but it's not bad either. It connects using USB (another reason you'll want a hub). The iMic runs about 35 dollars.

You'll need a monitor, preferably one with a dvi input. The mini comes with a vga adapter but when I connect using the adapter, the results are disappointing. On my Samsung LCD, the output is dark and less vibrant than when I connect using dvi. Not that you couldn't get used to a vga connection but the difference between the dvi connection is very noticeable.

For users of fast pc's, the Mini is going to seem a little pokey. It's more than fast enough for just about everything except 3d gaming, huge number crunching and video editing however. I'm gradually migrating away from my pc for everything except gaming and have no real complaints.

Bottom line is that the Mini is an amazing computer running a very solid and stable operating system. It comes with a broad range of software for music (iTunes), video and everything else you'll need. The true cost of this computer will likely be much higher for most. For the same 800-1000 dollars you'll get a faster pc with lcd monitor, keyboard and mouse from a company like Dell. But if you're tiring of Windows machines as I am, the Mini is a nice alternative and entry point into the Mac world.

For years folks have complained Macs are too expensive. Apple now can say, "BULL". While cost-of-ownership, for the long haul, has always favored Macs, the average consumer didn't always see it that way.
The Mac Mini comes in two sizes (1.25 GHz & 1.42 GHz). I'd recommend the higher-end model, because it has an 80 GB hard drive (as opposed to 40 GB in the 1.25 model.)
You will need to purchase a mouse, a keyboard and a monitor. Apple, of course, recommends Apple products, but if you are being frugal, any Mac-compatible USB mouse & keyboard will work.
As for a monitor, there are a large number of choices (but don't go up to the 30", extra-wide varieties. There isn't enough video power to drive the behemoths.)
The Mac itself is only 6.5" square and 2" high. Not a large footprint, yet this Mac can compete with PCs at twice the GHz rating.
The Mac Mini is actually a really good value. You get USB-2 (2 ports), A 56Kb v.92 modem, 10/100 Ethernet, FireWire, ATI Radeon 9200 AGP 4x 32MB graphics chipset, hard drive, Combo (CD-RW/DVD-ROM) drive. You also receive Mac OS X, Panther edition (10.3), iLife software suite, AppleWorks and Quicken 2005.
Limitations: The processor is a G4, not the latest G5. There is only one RAM slot. The Mac Mini is rated to handle up to 1 GB of RAM, but that would mean taking out the existing 256 MB card and replacing it with a new one.
Ostensibly, if you want a memory upgrade, a wireless card or a BlueTooth module added, those changes must be performed by an Apple Authorized Service Provider.
The Mac Mini will make an excellent first computer, especially for children. Or, if you want two (or more) computers, this is an affordable option. It does not offer all the expansion capabilites of its tower brethren, but for what you do get, you really can't complain.
At the moment, the 80 GB is the largest (internal) hard drive offered. (You can always add a USB-2 or FireWire external hard drive, if you need more space.)
If you want more memory, initially, or a SuperDrive (combo DVD-RW/CD-RW) you may be better off purchasing from a vendor where a build-to-order option is available.
Apple has finally made affordable technolgy beautiful. What else can I say? It IS a Mac !

I never do this, but I felt compelled to review this product. Hands down, best value in any computer I've ever had, and I've been using them for almost twenty years, from my Commodore 64 to present day. I like it more than the snazzy P4 3Ghz workstation I have next to it, I think it's a much better value than the iMac G5, and I'm about as satisfied with it as I would be with a PowerMac G5-- I know this because I had one before and had to sell due to financial mistak...er, reasons.

On the outside it is a beautiful design, just look at it - what more do I need to say? Put it anywhere, and it looks great.

Where it really shines is when you turn it on- the interface, or operating system-, it runs flawlessly smooth. It is powerful yet easy to use, it's very intuitive, I'd go as far to say that it makes computing fun and not frustrating.

I had some reservations at first, knowing that it has a slower laptop hard drive, that the video card is not as modern as it could be, but all those concerns vanished the moment I booted up and started using it. I can't really begin to describe how impressed I am with this little machine, how much it can do, and how happy I am with this purchase.

Apple has really come full circle these past few years and I am astounded by the ingenuity and design that goes into their products. I know that a lot of PC users shy away from Macs because they think that they're "too simple", when in reality Mac OS X is a power user's dream, with BSD Unix under the hood and powerful utilities at your fingertips. And with those Firewire 400 and USB2 ports, you've got enough ways to expand this baby and have it last you for years to come.

I'm not suggesting it's for everyone. If you like PC games (as opposed to console systems like XBox, PS2, Gamecube), stay away from this one. Not only do Macs have a limited game selection, but even though the Mini's got a heavy duty G4 processor, the graphics chip is not really able to handle the latest games. I'd also say that if you're doing heavy duty video editing or photo manipulation, you'd be better off with Apple's power line of products.

If you're like me, though, and you want a general purpose computer that can manage your digital photos, your music library, handle all your internet needs- browsing, email, chatting- something to do your papers and reports and presentations on, write and produce music (with included Garageband or more professional programs like Logic or Cubase), a computer that'll help you out- manage your schedule and 'to do' items that email reminders to you, where you can master and burn your own DVDs (with optional Superdrive), import and edit your own movies-- all of this, and so much more, the software is all included and easy to use. I know I sound like some Mac salesman, but I'm not, I swear to bob, I am just one extremely satisfied customer wanting to share my very positive experience. Get one!

For those that are curious, my configuration is this model, with Bluetooth and Superdrive option, Apple Pro Keyboard, Logitech MX900 Bluetooth mouse, 1GB RAM, external 200GB Firewire drive, and a Samsung 191T 19" 1280x1024 LCD monitor. I love this computer.

I am a long-time PC user and sometimes VB & MS Access developer. I purchased a 1.4GHz machine with 512K ram, wireless keyboard, and bought a logitech bluetooth mouse since Apple's mouse is supposedly a dog. Also got AirPort. My first Mac.

Reasons: I thought the form factor seemed great, I am sick of malware, and I love tinkering with Unix but don't want to change my religion, so this seemed a good & reasonably priced way to do so (yeah, I know about Linux and I've run it, but I don't like administering it.)

Verdict? So far, so good. The machine is very quiet and energy efficient. It unobtrusively sits in my kitchen, silently waiting for me to issue commands. It seems plenty fast for web browsing, watching DVDs, music streaming and what have you. Certainly seems equivalent to my P4 machine for these tasks. Elements even seems faster. Setting up wireless was a snap. The graphics are great. And yes, there really does seem to be a powerful unix core sitting under the hood. I had frankly always thought of the Mac and it's OS as kind of toy-like, but I actually find so far that it has a more "Cadillac" feel than Win XP. Live and learn.

Though folks like to deride Apple for lack of software, I don't see much besides Access development that I won't be able to do with the Mac. I mean, does any serious writer or spreadsheet jock really care who makes their application, as long as the grunts can ultimately look at it in MS Office when they're done? I think not.

A less-recognized bonus, perhaps, is that Mac OSX also supports X11 windowing, which means great, cheap *nix products like Open Office, emacs, and the gimp can all run on the mini (not that I've tried yet, mind you - I just got the machine a few days ago!) That is really hitting paydirt, since these are terrific applications that can be had for basically nothing.

So? And so, I would recommend this computer to PC users who like to experiment, or who want a cheap, reasonably quick machine for the day-to-day tasks like writing, tracking the ol' bank account, emailing & web browsing and think, like me, that firing up a pentium tower for that kind of stuff is rather wasteful. While this would probably be a very good machine for the novice once set up, a little technical saavy is needed when first establishing user accounts, rights, network and file-sharing protocols and what have you. In other words, plan on helping grandma with setup after you give her one for her birthday. Then again, you'd have to help her with a Dell, too...

Though it could be temporary infatuation, the ease of using the mini (and the fact that it's quiet and efficient enough to leave on and ready all the time) suggests to me that it will receive 75% of my non-development computer attentions, at the least. As for my seven year old daughter, she's leaning towards 100% - she really loves the games and the OS X interface.

I have had an ongoing love/hate relationship with Apple for years. My first computer was an Apple II (which was way cooler than the TRS-80 I had taken the majority of my programming classes on in school) and I have long been convinced that Jobs, Woz and the boys definitely did revolutionize the computer industry back then.

But, like the unwritten rule of odd-numbered Star Trek movies, Apple's product line over the years has alternated between "Wow, that's COOL" and "What the #$*% were they thinking?!???" The obviously superior (and, of course, 'different') thinking that brought forth the iMac which forever changed the way computers look on our desks; the iPod which is currently the hottest-selling media player on the market; Technologies like Firewire (developed by Apple and later adopted by the rest of the world as IEEE1394) and AirPort (developed by Apple and later adopted by the rest of the world as WiFi) earlier software innovations like HyperCard which was an early predecessor to HyperText which changed the way we use the internet; the Newton which paved the way for both PalmPilots and PocketPC's; even the very concept of computing itself was molded by Apple's decision to organize files using a graphical 'desktop' metaphor which was copied back in the day by Commodore, Atari, and most successfully by Microsoft.

Sadly all of the great things Apple did for computing were counterbalanced by products like the LISA and the ill-fated Apple III, the MacTV, Copland, the Pippin, the G4 Cube, the Performa, and even the "blue dalmatian" line of iMacs. Clearly, not every product/design/marketing idea is perfect, and Apple has had its share of losers.

Meanwhile, the Windows-PC world has gathered a comfortably commanding lead on market share by selling a cheaper, less-elegant-but-functional version, consistently keeping prices low, and targeting key market demographics - all strategies that Apple has, until now, been frustratingly inept at.

Even more frustrating was the fact that the worse the Wintel side got, the more impossible it became for me as a professional Windows/PC repair/tech consultant (and yes I did make a very good living supporting Wintel systems for years) to be able to recommend in good conscience that people go out and buy a PC. The past few years have seen rise to more viruses, more spyware, and more miscellaneous problems than I could possibly keep up with, and I had actually begun to turn away business because I was sick and tired of supporting these Wintel systems that constantly crashed, sick and tired of constantly cleaning spyware, viruses, worms etc (and yes it IS that bad nowadays) so everyone who now calls me with problems gets the same answer: "buy a mac."

Only now, finally, I don't have to listen to the one argument that the PC devotees have clung to for years: "Macs are too expensive." The Mac Mini changes that. There is now literally no reason not to own a mac.

This, in my opinion, was the one shortcoming that Apple never clued in on. For years, to my frustration and that of many others, they failed to realize that no matter how insanely great their product was, people wouldn't buy it if they could get something even marginally close to it for less money.

Well, they finally got it. They'll sell these units to people who would never dream of buying a mac at the higher price point. They'll sell them to businesses who need to fit 300 workstations and they'll sell them to home users who need a second, third, fourth (in my case, eighth) computer. They'll sell a lot of them.

I can't find anything wrong with this computer. Sure, it's not the top of the line. But anyone who expects the top of the line for $500 is sorely mistaken. And given the other machines in its price range, the mac mini delivers much more bang for the buck.

As someone who made a living supporting both mac and windows machines for years, I can honestly say that anyone who would choose a $500 e-machine over this mac mini deserves every bit of the mental torment and frustration they'll suffer when they spend hours every week cleaning the spyware off of their machine. Either that or they'll pay someone like me to do it for them and suddenly that $500 windows PC doesn't seem like such a bargain anymore, does it?

Bravo, Apple, please keep it up, and don't let there be another "odd-numbered" Star Trek movie.

This really is an amazing computer for the price & the size & the included bundle of software. Not to mention that this machine is whisper quiet!

A few things to note:

1. Be sure to get at least 512 MB of memory (RAM) for this machine -- 256 MB is really not enough to multitask effectively. But it is not a trivial task to open up this machine and add more memory, so you may want to bring it into your local Apple Store or Apple authorized reseller to have them install the extra memory for you.

2. Some users have complained about "dim video" when plugging in their Mac minis to VGA monitors. A very useful fix for this issue is to simply go into the "Universal Access" system preference, and "enhance the contrast" using the slider bar within that system preference. That should almost certainly take care of the problem, although many users have not found this solution because it is located in an unintuitive place where people would not think of looking for a "contrast" control.

3. If you're on the fence between diving into the world of Macintosh or not, there's a great MacWorld Magazine article comparing the Mac mini to a similarly-priced Dell machine here [...]

Enjoy this machine! It's a great purchase!

My old G3 was coming to the end - slow processor and no more hard drive space. The G5's are nice but they just seemed like overkill for my needs. I have a nice monitor, keyboard, and trackball already. Why get saddled with more stuff when all you need is the computer.
Best operating system - who sez so? PC Magazine in their last Annual Best Of Issue. Nice to be acknowledged by the dark side : ).
It is sitting next to me on the desk and I can't hear it running.
I has been running all day and it is not even warm.
It is about the size of an external hard drive.
Yes, because of the small size it doesn't have 9 million USB ports. If you need more than 4 (remember the 2 on the keyboard), you really should get a hub.
One of the big knocks aggainst the Mac was lack of expansionn in some models. I don't know about other people but I buy it the way I want it and when I am ready to expand, I am really ready for a new machine.
All things to all people - no. A great little machine for most of us - yes.