Apple Mac mini MB139LL/A (2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1 GB RAM, 120 GB Hard Drive, SuperDrive)
The Mac Mini features the powerful 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor. It has two cores, so it's like having two 2.0GHz processors in one! Another great feature is the suite of applications in iLife '08. A full-featured collection of programs that are designed to let you easily take control of your creative projects. iPhoto organizes your digital pics, and has a cool feature that groups them by event. iWeb makes it easy to create your own website. iMovie & iDVD lets you edit your videos and make your own DVD movies. GarageBand gives you the tools to make your own music, and even start your own virtual band! All of this and more is packed inside a svelt and stylish 6.5" body that can fit anywhere! 2 RAM Slots (occupied) 120GB 5400RPM SATA HDD Slot-loading SuperDrive with Double-Layer Support - writes to DVD+R & DVD-R DL up to 2.4x, writes to DVD-R & DVD+R up to 8x, writes to DVD-RW & DVD+RW up to 4x, reads DVDs up to 8x, writes to CD-Rs up to 24x, & writes to CD-RWs up to 16x Intel GMA 950 Graphics Processor with 64MB of shared memory (memory is shared with the main system) Ports - 1 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet, 1 Firewire 400 (8 watts), 4 USB 2.0, 1 DVI Out, 1 VGA Out (using included adapter) Built-in Speakers Built-in AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi 802.11g wireless network card Built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) module Unit Dimensions - 2 (h) x 6.5 (w) x 6.5 (d) Unit Weight - 2.9 lbs.Product Details
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Customer Reviews
Great computer!
I have been using the Mac Mini for less than a month, but it has become my primary computer. Out of the box, it is just fine as a general purpose personal computer.
I purchased the Mini to allow me to develop iPhone code. I connected it to a 24" 1080p monitor. Running Xcode, Interface Builder, the iPhone simulator and Safari and supporting 1920x1200 it was a bit slow.
I bought and installed 4GB of RAM. No problems now!
Great little machine
What more can be said that hasn't been said before. This was purchased for my daughters (6 and 4). The only cons that I can give it are:
1) The fan is noisy (much noisier than the Mac Mini G4 that I use)
2) Not all educational software will work natively on Leopard. Reader Rabbit in particular does not support Leopard, it requires Classic Mode to run, and that isn't supported under Leopard.
All that aside, I still think it's a solid 5 starts for form-factor, ease of use and overall value.
Incredibly charming
I am, and always have been, simply enamored with the Mac mini. When Apple tends to "innovate," they create some amazing feats or engineering for a price most cannot afford. What I find wonderful about the mini is that while it is priced higher than I feel it ought to be (by $100-200) and has its share of shortcomings, it's such a pleasant and surprisingly powerful machine that's also affordable. I think true innovation comes when you can not only make something new and exciting but also make it accessible. The Mac mini gives you a fast computer in a tiny, pleasing package for a reasonable price.
The mini is really an anomaly in Apple's product line. Aside from receiving hardware updates less often than any other machine Apple produces, it's one of the few that has received updates with customer wishes in mind. When Apple moved the mini to Intel, they added gigabit ethernet and additional USB ports (for a total of four). They re-engineered the machine to handle more RAM. Things like Bluetooth and Airport became standard (and likely helped Apple justify the price jump). Having owned a Mac mini G4, the move to Intel was welcome and incredibly impressive. The mini can accomplish so much more than you'd expect in such a tiny package. Once, in a bind, I took an older version of this machine (the 1.66 Core Duo) and set it up as a Final Cut editing station. It worked admirably. I use my mini as a media server and not as a typical computer, but when I have it's performed far beyond my expectations.
However you're using the mini, the number of USB ports included is relevant. While not necessarily something to be praised, as Apple is notorious for including too few ports on their machines, the mini has more USB ports than any other Mac in the current lineup. With Firewire 400 and gigabit ethernet, wired connectivity is very good--especially for such a tiny machine. Wireless connectivity is unfortunately not as good, as no draft 802.11n wireless is available without buying a third-party device. This is odd, considering Apple's introduction of 802.11n into the majority of its machines before the mini was refreshed to this current version. One would hope that oversight would be corrected in a subsequent revision.
As with any Mac, you get the latest operating system and the iLife suite. Being a long-time Mac users, I still find this important. While, admittedly, I don't use iLife to the extent some do, applications that I still do use (such as iPhoto) are always welcome. While I don't edit in iMovie, I'm still impressed with the simplicity of the product. With the 2009 update, it's really wonderful. I also enjoy Garageband. While I do most of my music work in Cubase, Garageband is an extremely capable tool and I've used it exclusively, in a few cases, for what it can offer. Apple touts the software suite they include with all their Macs. If your intention is to utilize the sorts of things iLife offers, it's an incredibly important feature of Macintosh computers.
Focusing on the mini, itself, there are still a few unaddressed problems. The most glaring issue is the outdated hardware. While the stale mini (that is the focus of this review) is still a very capable machine, the lack of newer wireless technology, computational and graphics processors, and sufficient RAM is a hindrance. While the CPU in both models of the mini is certainly sufficient for everyday, and even complex, tasks, it falls far short of what it could be at the same price point. Asking $599 was reasonable for awhile, but it's not anymore when the opportunity to include far more powerful processors is cost-effective. Additionally, with Apple's recent marriage of Intel CPUs and NVIDIA's newer graphics hardware, the mini has the opportunity to be far more powerful device in gaming and graphics applications. When Apple releases OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) this year, the mini will not be able to take advantage of the performance boosts the new version of the OS offers without something more powerful than the Intel integrated graphics currently implemented in this version of the mini. Also, 1GB of RAM is sufficient for reasonable use but most people will find it limiting and the main cause of the dreaded pinwheel. The mini works quite well with 2GB of RAM. Given the demands of Leopard (OS X 10.5) and the RAM sharing imposed by the integrated graphics, 2GB ought to be the new standard for all Macs. It certainly seems to be the direction Apple is heading. Speaking of lacking capacity, an 80GB hard drive is silly. While the mini never promised large storage capacities, being a machine that is all-around small, it's hard to find anything offering a hard drive smaller than 160GB. Leave it to Apple to fall behind in disk space and RAM and they won't disappoint, but this is silly even for them. While the mini is a machine you should generally buy with the idea of adding external storage, an 80GB drive wasn't terribly realistic when this refresh came about. It's certainly not realistic now. Lastly, the idea of offering a machine without a DVD burner nowadays is just silly. It was silly years ago, but now there's just no real cost difference. This should be a standard as well, and the price difference between the two models should exist in processor speed, the amount of RAM and hard drive capacity.
Despite all of these shortcoming, the mini is a phenomenal machine. You absolutely have to think about what you tend to do with it before choosing the low end model or the high end model, or even another type of machine entirely. As a primary computer, the mini isn't for everyone. However, at the price point, if you can afford it you should find it difficult to not find a place in your life for such a pleasant little machine. I've owned each iteration of the mini and found them to be extremely useful and reliable. I love these machines. Despite what Apple can and should do to improve them, they are wonderful pieces of equipment. The mini is my favorite Apple computer. It makes the Mac accessible to more people and I think that's Apple's greatest innovation.
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