Sorry, folks. It doesn’t have 2^ERRORx10 USB ports.
What its does have is the same graphics part, Nvidia’s 9400M, as used in the latest MacBooks and iMacs. Starting at $600 for a 1GB model with a 2GHz chip and 120GB hard drive, it can be configured with up to 4GB of RAM, a 2.26GHz CPU and a 320GB hard drive–a config that maxes out at $1,049, just shy of the cheapest iMacs.
Oh, yes … it has 5 USB ports!
“Bargain”. I do not think that word means what you think it means.
the claimed 13W power consume is in Idle or Sleep?
I’m surprised — but pleased — that it has FW800. Now, maybe, I can build that DVD library I’ve always wanted… (Well, I also need a MiniDisplayPort to HDMI cable, which doesn’t seem to exist yet.)
@1: The 13w is for idle, according to the press releases. I presume that’s with the hard drive spun down, and the system slowly counting down until it goes to sleep.
Am I wrong to still wish it had ECC?
this is a disappointment.
Disappointed. This should be several hundred dollars cheaper for each model. Might as well go for one of the iMacs.
Hey Apple, “bargain” – yer doin’ it wrong.
So the spy shot was accurate?!
£500 in the UK.
Considering the specs, that’s more of an anti-bargain.
It looks like the spy shots were DEFINITELY real.
The photoshop deconstruction of the spy shots is now retoractively kind of funny, but the engineer that stated what an idiotic design mess that was the ports all raised off the motherboard is now kind of not eligible for a job at apple, I guess.
Aesthetics over standard reliability practices FTW!
(it revolved around the fact that it’s generally considered easier to flush-mount the sockets on the motherboard than try to float the sockets some random distance above the motherboard and increase the ability for the ports to flex. Thus bottom alignment rather than center alignment.)
If this thing was $300, they would sell like crazy. Seriously, why doesn’t Apple just sell the Mini at a loss? It’s a quick and easy way to get a Mac into most homes. And when it’s time upgrade, people might be more inclined to buy an iMac model or a Macbook.
Honestly, I think they count on the “snob factor” that having a more expensive product gives them. Apple fancies themselves a designer brand…and obviously they don’t think that they would get the same kind of sales and respect without the high price tag associated with their products. This is the same kind of thinking that has kept their computers from being a size-able force in the business world for decades.
Yeah, but Apple always has a very high margin, and has consistently had profits since 2001, seeing ridiculously huge profit growth in ’05 and on. They’re smart not to sell anything at a loss when they don’t need the marketing that might give them. A lot of things that Apple does can be questioned, but their business practices have served them very well so far.
I’d love to see a $300 Mac Mini, but unless they can make them for $150-$175, I just don’t see it happening.
Ha!
No more disparaging comments about faux-wood linoleum floors then, eh? Corporate spies are human too!
@ SEAN ERIC FAGAN
Mini-DVI-port
mini-DVI-to-DVI-adapter (included)
a DVI-to-HDMI cable should be easy to obtain, no?
Told you bastards it was real.
Sorry, but it’s got a faster bus? More cache? The base model has the same processor as my current one, and although I only have 1GB of memory that’s ample for X 10.4.11. I bought mine, oh, about two years ago for about the same price? Sorry, I was looking forward to a new mini, but now I’m firmly sticking with my old one.
The DIY similar-spec. All prices from Newegg. Disclaimer: I work with Macs, play with PCs, own a hackintosh. I prefer Linux.
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GIGABYTE GA-E7AUM-DS2H LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 9400 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard: $130
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Wolfdale 2.8GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor – Retail: $120 (1)
Kingston 1GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500): $25
Seagate ST9120817AS 120GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Notebook Hard Drive – OEM: $55 (2)
ENCORE ENLWI-N IEEE 802.11b/g, IEEE 802.11n Draft 2.0 PCI 2.3 Wireless Adapter: $25 (3)
cirago BTA-3210 USB 2.0 Micro Bluetooth 2.1+EDR Dongle – Retail: $20
Sony Optiarc Black SATA slot-loading DVD burner: $70
Athenatech Black Steel A100BB.270 Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case – Retail: $50
Total cost w/o OS: $495
Total cost w/Vista Home Premium OEM: $595
Total cost w/Vista Home Premium retail: $717
Total cost w/OS X Leopard retail: $605
DIY PROS:
Expandability: Supports up to quad-core CPU, max 16GB RAM, PCI-E, RAID 5, eSATA, giving it a feature ceiling that’s not far from the base and mid-range Mac Pros.
HDMI: It’s baked in.
Legacy support: Motherboard includes PATA interface, PS/2 port and DSUB port. (mini does have an optional DSUB adapter.)
DIY CONS:
Form factor and design: Motherboard alone is 9.6″x9.6″; case is 13.5″x5.8″x14.5″ Standards-based motherboard design prevents clever cooling and port-layout tricks. There’s no pretty way to mount that DVD drive. If we were making fun of the mini’s 5 USB ports, this one’s 6 is even more foolish. Seven ports for analog and S/PDIF audio in/out rather than the mini’s two auto-switching ports. Wireless and Bluetooth aren’t integrated and require ugly protruding antennas and dongles.
Future-proofed ports: Integrated FW400 instead of FW800, no Display Port.
Power consumption: DIY’s desktop components draw considerably more power compared to the mini’s laptop and proprietary parts.
Parts don’t make sense: Honestly, $30-$50 could be shaved off the price by using a tray DVD instead of a slot. 3.5″ HDDs provide much more storage and better performance per dollar. Why buy just 1GB of RAM at $25 when 2GB-4GB can go for $20-$35? For the same price or less, the DIY could go higher spec and actually fit the cases designed for a microATX motherboard.
CONCLUSION: You get what you pay for in a mini: relatively elegant design over computing power and future proofing. Would I get a mini? If it had eSATA and HDMI instead of Firewire and DisplayPort, and an easier-to-open case, probably, as its specs are plenty sufficient to push 1080p video for years to come. As it is, I can build an uglier system capable of doing more for about $100 less, and it’d be just as (in)visible behind the TV. I can see the attraction, though.
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(1) This is the lowest-priced and most feature-comparable 45nm Core 2 Duo available on Newegg. The mini’s motherboard and processor are laptop derivatives custom-designed for Apple, IIRC.
(2) The mini uses a 2.5″ laptop HDD. There were no 120GB 3.5″ SATA HDDs on Newegg at 5400RPM; a 7200RPM 3.5″ HDD at 120GB would be $10-$15 cheaper.
(3) Airport Extreme adapters are not available for non-Apple hardware. This device has comparable features; an external adapter that’s more appropriate for a low-profile case would be $15-$25 more expensive.
Phelyan, while I agree that the thing should be cheaper and/or faster, the GPU alone makes a huge difference in processing ability. The 9400M should be able to handle 1080P video which the old Minis choke on. (Don’t they?)
@14: No, that would lose audio. Since it already has a mini-DVI connector, if all I wanted was to hook it up to something, there wouldn’t be a problem. What I’m hoping for is to be able to hook up audio and video with a single cable. (That’s the big advantage, to me, of HDMI. And DIsplayPort can do the same thing. Someone says they’re coming out with a converter cable for it, but I’ll believe it when I see it and see reviews indicating it works
.)
@17:
“As it is, I can build an uglier system capable of doing more for about $100 less, and it’d be just as (in)visible behind the TV.”
This is 100% of the reason I don’t own a Mac. Well said.
@18: All I have are a handful of 1080p trailers, seeing that my ISP’s old traffic shaping made transferring whole 1080p movies rather difficult. That said the trailers play well if you use the right player (i.e. boxee, which copes best). I wouldn’t say they choke, but I wouldn’t say that I’m not getting the full framerate, either. Is that worth another £500?
Mind you, being the little fanboy that I can be, had they given it a new look I might have bought one.
This makes me much less sad about the noise my mini made yesterday.
@17 the key factor you are forgetting is noise. I have the old core solo mac mini, and it is silent. How loud would that DIY be? Noise is a huge factor in a HTPC. Also, the mac mini has the IR remote. I think you forgot that.
Honestly, it’s not a bargain, but clearly, based on the enormous equivalent priced out by #17, it’s not outrageous.
If you want something big, cheap, and noisy, requiring significant labor cost to you, you’re probably not buying Apple products in the first place.
OK, maybe it’s not a bargain. Maybe Apple doesn’t do “bargain”
But the price of a fully tricked out model is just too damn close to the 20″ iMac.
Apple needs to provide more differentiation between the Mini and the iMac, and price is all they got to work with (esp. with the Mini not incl. a display).
Disclaimer: I love OS X (something I sure can’t say about Windows, and I only like desktop Linux “as a friend”). I want Apple to succeed and that’s why I’m being a bit critical of their strategy with the Mini.
@Sean Eric Fagan: Monoprice sells a Mini Display Port-to-HDMI cable. No mention about audio though. Search product ID # 5311.
Mapp@26, they claim they will be selling one. It’s already been delayed on at least one occasion, and — as far as I know — no reviewer has had one to tell how well it works.
Hence my skepticism.