Review: Apple's aluminum Mac mini and Mac mini Server (2010) - Page 2

Seriously almost everything imported into the UK has an inflated price tag on it. Where do you think the term ripoff Britain comes from. So please don't sit in this forum blaming Apple for a problem with your country.

By the way I'm not in disagreement over pricing issues in the UK. It is not however a problem unique to Apple. I'm not sure how it is with the current exchange rates but people I knew would come over here to go shopping in some of the most expensive districts going and chatter at length about how cheap everything is in the US. Mind you they where paying top dollar for the goods they where getting at the time.

The point is it simply isn't a problem unique to Apple. If you really want the issue fixed you have to find out what is wrong in the UK. We can't help you here.



Dave

Too bad that will never happen due to Intel being a giant dick by preventing NVIDIA's chipset from working with their new CPUs.

Daniel,
Are you comparing the 64-bit Geekbench score of the new Mac mini to the 32-bit Geekbench scores of the other Macs? Seems a bit high.

I've been using the previous version of the Mini with SL Server in my law office since last fall. We primarily use it as a file server and Time Machine backup for 7 office computers and it works just great. For a small business, you cannot run a server environment cheaper than you can with the Mini with SL Server.

However, as the author notes, setting up the server software may look easy, but unless you are well versed in servers and networks, you should spend a few bucks hiring a consultant for 2-4 hours to set up your Mini with SL Server. It is money well spent. Once the system is running, most experienced Mac users can work the server and make changes as needed.

But aren't all the Apple on-line orders in Europe processed by Apple Europe (Based in Ireland) and shipped straight from China?


What makes you think that you are such a genius when it comes to doing business in certain countries? Just because you are an Apple apologist doesn't mean you know everything.

Are you actually trying to compare the pricing of a perishable food based item being shipped from UK to the USA, to a computer shipped to both the US and UK from China?

And remember, this so called "good British beer" you allude to is a small production item, it will cost more in the UK as well.

I have a 1.83Ghz C2D MacMini hooked up to my HDTV, at first I tried using regular DVI-VGA adapter going into the TV thru VGA and the picture was darker and didn't look good at all so, I got a DVI-HDMI adapter so now i'm feeding directly into HDMI and I have no black bars on my TV and the picture quality is awesome. Then I use a Toslink cable from the audio port on the MacMini going into my 5.1 surround to give me that digital sound. I'm very pleased with the setup for watching Netflix and Hulu on.

The MacBook Pro's have i5 and 330M graphics. I think you're thinking of paring an i5 with 320M integrated graphics, which Intel will not allow.

I'm one of those who would like to buy it, but it is now about $200 too expensive. I'll now be sticking to my existing Mac minis for another year or two. I might even consider a mini PC as the replacement for the one acting as the home server.

I love the new design, but at the asking price, it needs to have Blu-ray, 500GB HD, and 4GB RAM. The 'green' points of the new mini are great, but with the exception of tree-huggers nobody really gives a damn. I like the 'green-ness', but not for $200 more than it should be.

The SD slot needs to be on the front. I'd be more than happy for 1.6" tall just to get the slot in the front.

Everytime I look at that design I can’t help but think that they didn’t mill that case just for the Mac Mini, that they will using that footprint with a specialized black plastic backing for other devices in the future.

Not unreasonable, just not very likely. That's not where Apple is going. I have had Mini's for ages. These are great. No bricks, silent, hdmi, trivial setup, etc... The only complaint I have it the SD card slot. The location is ok, but you never know if it's in. A couple of times it caused a panic in the OS, and that never happens to my Minis.

Apple has a pretty nice compute lineup now. They need to upgrade the higher end Macs, put more memory into the iPad and get rid of the optical drives on all MacBook's ( or make it optional). Just adds weight and noise. Might as well put a 5.25" floppy in there.

Blu-ray is just not where Apple seems to be going. In fact, other than Avatar is Blu-ray going anywhere? You want to get rid of physical media as much as possible.

philip

None of those things explain why it's not the case with the iMac.

The UK iMac price is £969 so take off VAT and convert it, you get $1250 - just $50 over the US price.

Do the same for the entry level Mini and you get £649 converting into $837. That's $138 over the US price.

Even knocking £50 off the price to bring it to £599 keeps it with a higher premium than the iMac.

£599 with 4GB RAM would be a decent machine. £650 with 2GB is not, because the final price for a 4GB model would be £720 or thereabouts (£730 if you use Apple's BTO).

By the same logic we should all get rid of our Macs, they have a low percentage market share overall, they obviously aren't going anywhere

What the f***?

The article mentions possibly using a Macbook as an alternative to a Mini, but I wonder if people who have never owned one know about Clamshell Mode.

Basically if you plug an external monitor and USB keyboard in to an MBP and close the lid, and then wake it up again using the external keyboard it enters Clamshell Mode. It will shut off the built-in screen and remove it from System Preferences, and switch off the keyboard backlight. So in-effect it just becomes like a little pizza box desktop.

A MBP 13" used in this way would have very similar capabilities to a Mini (though fewer USB ports and no HDMI).

Gotta Hankerin -

"Now I spend $50 a month for 18Mbps internet access"

If I may ask, who are getting this service from? I'm really trying to ditch my cable service but I keep it around for the Internet access. Even with just basic cable TV it's costing me far more than $50 per month.

The black bars only appear on some TVs depending on the set's resolution. My TV is 720p but the actual screen size is something like 1200 x 768 (can't remember exactly) which is why I had black bars. Some TVs have automatic settings that adjust the picture which is my friend, who had the black bars, could click Overscan and everything was fine. Unfortunately I do not have one of those TVs.

I'm using AT&T Uverse. They do not require you to purchase phone service in order to have internet access.

Thanks for the tip!

http://techresearch.intel.com/articles/None/1813.htm

It wouldn't be the first time that Apple is chasing design goals, thus increasing (cost of manufacturing) the ASP until they lose the consumer and instead of refining the product or the price they just kill it all the way (Cube anyone)!

Agreed; however, a macbook isn't a viable server candidate. I'm a new mac user (white macbook) and just purchased a Mac Mini server via Apple Business. It's intended purpose is to act as a data repository for PC-based data for use from the macbook for report generation, as a media center during off-hours, a time-machine host, and a web server. I've been looking for an easy-to-setup-and-admin server for awhile and the mini-server bundle seems to present significant value. If I'm wrong the purchase can be returned within 14 days for refund. My current file/timemachine/media server is a World Book 'white' 4TB box. While a good value for raw storage it's not the easiest web-server to setup/maintain/manage. The server edition of the Mini comes with 2 500GB 7200RPM drives, a feature which no macbook directly supports.

"note that the new twist off bottom means the Mac mini's RAM is easy to steal."
And don't forget that you can reset the firmware password this way.

Why are you being so rude? The guy has a legitimate gripe and expressed it without being insulting or putting the product down. He is not whining (as you put it) or telling Apple to stick it where the sun doesn't shine. Why don't you just take a step back and realize how much you sounding like an A$$!

Did someone piss in your cornflakes this morning or are you always acting like the world's biggest douchebag? Is it such a big deal that you have to blast anyone who doesn't think like you do. Maybe you should follow the old Apple slogan and just "Think Different".

I decided to come here and check out opinions about the new Mini and I come across a bunch of obnoxious assclowns:

No need to apologize or explain anything to those jerks. your questions and comments were completely valid.


I'm sure they will use it for the Apple TV also.
I don't see the need for the new case, making it lower just makes it harder to access the DVD Drive slot, especially if the Mini is in front of your mousepad. They could have used the development bucks to make the innards more like an iMac and give the Mini more value, IMO.
If they were going to increase the price at least use more advanced chips.

Amen, brother.
This guy has his head so far up Jobs' ass he can't see daylight

I actually really like the new Mini. I caved and finally got one as I got a good deal that brought the UK price in line with the US price. Like I say, the UK price is £100 too much. At £550 ($730 without tax vs $700 in the US), this machine is a great buy and gives you room to upgrade the RAM to 4GB.

I would have liked the hard drive to have been easier to replace - this time you need to use torx (6 and 10) screwdrivers to get to it and apparently there isn't much glue on the thermal sensor unlike last time. Anyway, I benchmarked the 5400RPM drive in it vs the 7200RPM in my old one and there really wasn't a great deal of difference so I didn't bother upgrading mine. In some areas, it's 25-30% faster but direct file writes came out the same and the 7200RPM was noisier.

In terms of everyday use, I don't actually notice the difference between my old 7200 RPM and the new 5400 RPM. Bootups and application launch times are quick. Snow Leopard is one snappy OS. Maybe when SSDs become affordable I'll give it a go.

Graphics performance is impressive under Windows. It plays the high end games on medium quality as I expected and they play at very smooth framerates. Crysis you have to set to medium without anti-aliasing but it still looks great and the machine makes absolutely no noise whatsoever while playing it for hours despite very smooth FPS and it doesn't get excessively hot.

The HDMI to DVI adaptor is much better than Mini-DVI as it sits more firmly in the slot as does the power supply. The power cable is a little shorter but it's a standard plug so you can pick up a longer one cheap:

http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop/...cat=175&page=1

It's so much nicer not having an external PSU. The boxed weight of the machine is much lower - it's about 1.5kg vs 3kg for the old one. The box is half the width and the machine is half the height too. This makes accessing the USB ports much easier than before as you had to fumble down past the fan vents. Plugging things in from the front is really easy now.

I miss the extra USB port for the SD slot I don't use but it's not a huge deal. 4 USB ports is ok.

The new Mini also greatly improves sound quality. Old ones were so quiet you could barely hear them at maximum volume. It's not quite iMac quality but certainly much better than before.

The optical drive mechanism is much quieter too. You don't get the loud drive head slamming into everything before it starts reading the disc. Some types of disc still make the usual buzzing but most discs spin far more quietly.

Wifi performance seems to be improved too.

I'm a little disappointed by the Core 2 Duo chips. The P8600 is the same price as the entry Core i5 but the i5 is 50% faster. It's unlikely you'd be doing much raw encoding on these things anyway but 50% would have boosted the odd video render by a decent amount.

There's still the chance they can accelerate this using the GPU though eventually and I'm happier that Apple opted for a fast GPU with a Core 2 Duo than an i5 with Intel HD graphics.

If you live in the US, I would highly recommend this machine at this price. It may still seem a bit pricey if you buy it for a media centre but think of it like a computer that will easily handle most tasks, a great console alternative, a very quiet and power efficient media centre (despite the lack of Blu-Ray - you can get USB BDR drives or a cheap player anyway) all wrapped up in a very attractive little aluminium case.

When I see the Mini developing like this, I know that this box has a great future and mark my words, it will win out over the iMac one day because there is no way that Apple can sell an iMac that allows you to hook it up to your TV, projector, Cinema display and so on in any feasible way. Versatility will always be more cost-effective and suitable for a variety of people.

This is the kind of upgrade that I wanted to see in the Mac Pro. It clearly shows they've put a lot of thought into improving pretty much every aspect of the machine to make it excel in its class. With an easily accessible HDD like the original Macbooks, newer 4 thread CPUs, USB 3, this machine would get a 5/5 rating so perhaps next year's model will get there. AMD Fusion would allow a quad core with a Radeon 5000 series GPU and they are supporting USB 3 in 2011 so it's a definite possibility.

For now, the Mini is a very solid 4/5 but a highly recommended purchase if you get it at a good price.

Thanks for the review.
I have had my Mini for less than a year but I may upgrade if they get a better Chip inside of it. Youtube videos keep stuttering on me which is ridiculous for such a new machine, unless it's something in the OS that is causing this.

I want a Mac Mini whose specs match the low-end iMac (sans screen), instead of the low-end MacBook (sans screen). Why is that too much to ask? It is a desktop computer after all, and doesn't need to be so mini.

A year old Mini should not have any YouTube stuttering unless there is another issue going on. Have you checked your disk, monitored you processes, installed all the Mac updates, installed the latest Flash with HW acceleration and restarted?

That's exactly what I want and what the Mini should be-a headless iMac


Everything is up to date and I checked my hard drive and components with software. As far as I know Flash is the latest version also.

It's not too much to ask, but it is too much to expect it simply because you asked.



Something isn't right and it's because your machine is obsolete. Things you've stated concern me. You've stated no specifics an don't sem to have attempted to resovle the issue. Like that you don't know if Flash is updated and which types of videos from YouTube are affected. Id est, 360p or just 720p or higher; HTML5 video or just Flash; and if this happens with other Flash video sites.

Two possibilities: HW (which can be blocked fans to bad components), SW (which can be a wonky OS/app install to something you did that you shouldn't).

This can be resolved but MacOSXHints.com is an ideal site for such issuea but be prepared to have details.

I did attempt to resolve the issue. I ran diagnostics and techtool pro, both of which show no issues. I ran YASU which performed all needed maintenance, and checked to make sure everything is up to date, which it is.
It is possible that some installed app is causing it and I deleted some newer installations with no luck. I had adblocker extension installed on safari but turned off ad blocking on youtube with no luck. I tried using Firefox instead but same thing.
I would think this Mini should be handle anything on youtube, I have the fastest model with 4Gb RAM. I guess I will have to keep searching for clues. I will try that website also.

I don't think I'm the only one asking for a headless desktop offering instead of a headless laptop offering. How Apple concluded that a small footprint was the number one feature people wanted from a desktop computer probably has more to do with what Steve Jobs wants than what customers want. Similar to how Steve Jobs doesn't want blu-ray, so he doesn't think the option should be available to anyone else, either.

If they built the Mac Mini as a rectangle slab instead of a square slab, they could stuff it with iMac guts instead of MacBook guts. And the world would be a better place.

1) You're not the only one asking, but that still doesnt mean Apple thinks it's a viable option for them, nor a requirement for them to make an xMac.

2) If everything at Apple is simply Steve's whim then he's more in touch with the people than anyone else at any other tech company considering their successes, growth rate and market cap. But that is also saying that Steve has no interest in growing Apple as much as possible, that it's just a company to fulfill his whims. I wouldn't take those odds.

3) Apple isn't going Blu-ray for many reasons, but even now in the 2nd half of 2010 it would still cost over $500 for a Blu-ray drive for nearly all Macs. And, no, Steve is not preventing anyone from using Blu-ray. There are many vendors that use and sell them.

4) Sure, make the case bigger and you an add more stuff. I'd love to have a new Cube with desktop components, but that isn't what they want to do so why force the issue. Either buy the one that beat suits your needs, buy from a competitor if they better suit your needs or make your own. There are no other viable options.

5) Pedantically speaking, squares are rectangles.

When you go from mobile chips to desktop chips, the part sizes go up a fair bit though. The iMac PSU is shown near the end of this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpMw9etHXGM

Check out the motherboard size too. Then you need bigger fans to keep it cool and run them faster so you need to do more work to the enclosure to keep it quiet.

I'd love an i3/i5 Cube but it would likely be this size:



http://www.avadirect.com/product_det...asp?PRID=15615

I reckon Apple would make it look nice but at this point in time, it's going to be short-lived. Quad cores will hit the low end in the next 6-18 months with GPUs that will play Crysis on high quality and 1TB drives. There will still be the need for as much processing power as possible for some types of content creation but the quad core entry level will soon be as fast as an old quad Mac Pro.

Maybe people want a Mac bad enough, that they're buying the only choices available. That was basically the only reason I bought a Mini, back in 2007.

I like the new form factor of the Mini a lot, but I'm not going to spend $700 on a C2D, with integrated graphics, and 2 GB of RAM in 2010. My needs are different, but at the same time, I can't afford a Mac Pro by any stretch. That basically leaves the iMac, but I hate AIO's.

Then there is the MB or MBP, but I don't need a laptop, as my current one is fine. In the end, I just built a new PC back in March, as I wanted a quad-core Core i5, BR, USB 3, and Radeon 5xxx graphics.

To get a Mac, it seems like you have either settle on a few fronts, or spend more than you need.

That's a reasonable statement. I'm sure you aren't alone in your desire to have Mac OS X an have to settle for a less than ideal system.

I've had to deal with an optical drive taking up 25% of my internal space that I simply wouldn't use. I found a solution, but it technically voids my warranty an ld I still don't get any ports along that 5" space the optical drive. But that's life.

I don't feel Apple should make the system I want because me and others are finding the optical drive obsolete, and I don't think their profits and my "knowing" that these machines would sell entitle them to make the exact machine. The entitlement bothers me, not the desire.