“So why get a Mac mini? It doesn’t have the horsepower of the full-size Mac Pro desktop, or the portability of the MacBook,” Svensson reports. “Well, for one thing, it’s still the cheapest way to get access to Mac software. If you want to do video editing or graphic design, the Mac rules. The new mini starts at $699, up from $599 for the previous model. That’s without a keyboard, mouse or monitor, but it’s still a pretty good value.”
“It could also be a ‘home base’ computer, acting as a backup and file server for the household’s laptops,” Svensson reports. “The basic model now comes with a 320 gigabyte hard drive, enough for most purposes and twice the size of the old basic model.”
Svensson reports, “Third, the mini is a great option if you want to connect your living-room TV to the Internet and your collection of movies, music and photos.”
Full article here.
Nice, BUT…
…STILL has shitty integrated graphics.
How come there’s no 7200 rpm hard drive option? That might help balance out the bum graphics.
Mr. Reeee
The only thing I’ve ever needed a 7200 rpm drive was for recording video or 24 tracks of audio. Simple video editing works fine on a 5400 rpm drive, and who would seriously want to do intensive graphics on this machine? It’s not meant for that, it’s an entry level machine.
Mr. Reeee,
Adding to what Jim – TIV said, you could describe the regular Intel integrated graphics as “shitty,” but the NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics are far better.
Still the worlds best home server. I forget that it’s even there.
the 320 m is a pretty good card , nvidia 3d runs on it no less
overall a sweet update
While the base model is not such a deal, the Server model is a steal. By far the best way to buy SL Server – the only way I think.
Hey reee
have you even seen one these in action? Have you seen its graphics ability? I didn’t think so.
The Nvidia card and Grand Central probably contribute 16 to 24 more processors to the mix. Which is probably 16 to 24 more than the last model.
Integrated graphics, IYO, is “shitty” but do you have to insult everyone who own an Apple product that includes an IG setup?
Yeesh, get over yourself already!
There is no doubt in my mind this machine could handle, with ease, Avatar at 1080p. Not that Avatar is the gold standard, mind you, but that movie is heavily cg’d and at 1920 x 1080, would be impressive.
This product is not for you, we get that. It doesn’t meet your expectations for a sub-thousand-dollar computer, but there are millions out there who will but it, and be very happy with its performance.
As for the speed of the drive, it’s really relative to its intended use. As a home theater, or a home server, only the jaded would recognize the difference and quietly decide its not for them and look elsewhere.
This is Macintosh is ideal for anyone looking for a media center and perhaps a second
computer.
Coming down off my high horse now…
There was one bad thing about the Associated Press review. The title of the article ends with the words “but be careful.” When you examine the text of the article, you discover that the caveat is that “the power button is in the wrong place.”
Why is it that journalists think that “objectivity” means that you must always make up some “bad thing” to counterbalance all the “good things,” even if the bad thing is just ridiculous? Especially when the “review” is a gussied-up press release from the manufacturer, no reasonable person is impressed.
7200 RPM drive Mehhhh
The Notebook drive is the machines main bottleneck but I want to see some benchmarks of this new mini with a good SSD drive. Say a X-25M. 100 Mb/s writes babycakes! (1000 point for anyone that gets that reference)
@ Tim Rosencrans
The Tales of the City series of books.
Brian Hawkins bought an original Mac in 1984.
Note – while it has been pointed out that the new Mini is the same size as the Apple TV its also the same size as the Time Capsule. I say this because the very morning the mini was announced NewEggMall was advertising a dual-drive external designed to match the Time Capsule. Fate, Kismet, Dumb Luck..I don’t know but it’s interesting.
320 GB hard drive?
2 TB or nothing!!!
Well, nothing would be hard.
I heard this thing uses 10 watts when running idle. That’s amazing. Even one of those typical energy-saving fluorescent light bulbs uses around 15 watts. That’s not counting the display, but you could leave this thing on all the time with the display set to sleep, and it would barely be a blip on your utility bill.
Perfect server; there guys are going to need an upgrade
http://www.macminicolo.net/
and fit even more Mac minis per rack (and use less power).
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />
“The above photos show Macminicolo’s server room with roughly 400 Mac minis in operation”
Complaining about the 320M is simply stupid…
No 7200rpm? Well, maybe it has something to do with heat, don’t you think so?
Although integrated graphics can be slower than discrete cards (with discrete memory), it all depends on what you are using the device for. If you are using the new Mini as a media centre, which a significant number end up being, then the integrated graphics is plenty fast enough to play HD video. Even the Intel 950 graphics in my Mac Mini from 2006 works fine. If you are planning to use it as a file server, then graphics grunt is also not a priority.
If you are planning to use the Mini as the ultimate games machine, then you are probably going to be disappointed.
“Still the worlds best home server.”
Better than your pool boy, Jose? I think not.
nvidia 320m is not integrated, its watered down mobile, but not bad.
the only problem with the mac mini is its about $300 too expensive!!
@ Rob
> No 7200rpm? Well, maybe it has something to do with heat, don’t you think so?
People who make issue with 5400 RPM versus 7200 RPM are thinking in the past. Yes, a current 7200 drive is faster than a current 5400 drive, but a 5400 RPM drive today is as “fast” as (or even faster than) a 7200 RPM drive from a few years ago. The reason is much higher data density on the platters. When there is more data packed in the same space, the drive does not need to spin as fast to achieve the equivalent data access rates. They didn’t add more platters to increase storage, they increase how much data was on each platter. Therefore, each spin of that disk provides access to more data.
This increased data density plus larger cache make modern 5400 RPM drive fast enough for most uses. Putting a 7200 RPM drive of the same size in its place will not make a noticeable change for most users, unless they do a lot of data transfers. And that’s why the server Mac mini has 7200 RPM drives, because its purpose is to do a lot of data transfers.
@Mr. Reeee
The Mac mini is my most used Mac. I have a 2008 MP 8Core 3,2Ghz with GTX285 That I use for that ol’ heavy stuff.
Having more than 8GB of ram is nice but not needed at this time with the Mac mini. I run Photoshop and various other apps on the mini! I have a 30 Incher and a 23 Incher that are shared with the MP.
Great Great Video Machine! Puts out a lot less heat than the MP and while not nearly as fast it certainly has the connectivity that goes along with every Mac Laptop.
Less Heat, Less Power used and Less the A/C has to run
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />
Save the $$$!
For a basic game machine and iTunes movie/music use. It certainly is unbeatable. I have the late 2009 2.66Ghz W/Geforce 9400 Mac mini with 8GB RAM and it does very well thank you!
~iQ
Mr. Reeee just won’t STFU about the integrated graphics. That’s the third time I’ve seen him troll a Mac mini article with his whining about the GPU. For one thing, this isn’t the bloody GMA950 we’re talking about here – if that were the case, it would be (and WAS) a valid complaint.
Second, he doesn’t understand engineering, doesn’t understand how much extra power and heat a dedicated GPU would entail, not to mention there’s no PHYSICAL room for it in such a tiny unit. It doesn’t have the luxury of being 15 inches wide like a Macbook Pro does.
So just move along everyone, Mr. Reeee isn’t going to listen, he’s just gonna troll every mini article with “derp derp I hate integrated GPU even though I haven’t tried the 320M”. Hell, I thought the 9400M was pretty damn good – I didn’t have unrealistic expectations, though.
EVERYBODY ESPECIALLY Mr. Reeee SEEMS TO FORGET THAT…..the server version of the Mac Mini comes with 7200RPM Drives.
@Mr. Reeee
I REPEAT, THE SERVER COMES WITH 7200RPM HARD DRIVES.
AND the 320 GPU is not $h!tty. IT is way better than the ( NON integrated >> ATI Radeon 9200, Way Better than the GMA950, and 2X better than the 9400M. Heck, you can’t get a 320M yet on the iMac which still comes with the 9400M.
Really, if there anything negative worth to say, it ought to be Apples’s continued use of the Core 2 Duo and not using a Core i5.
But the 2.66Ghz is no Slouch.
I understand Apple’s desire for small and low power, and the new Mac mini is a good design upgrade, particularly in terms of HDD size and 320M graphics. But I was hoping that Apple would compromise a bit and shift to a 3.5″ HDD form factor. Still, the Mac mini has a good selection of ports, so a FW800 external HDD is just what the doctor ordered.
I wonder if NewEgg or OWC will come out with a matching HDD stackable form factor…
I use CS4 and Final Cut Express to great effect on an “old” mini:
Mac mini
Model Identifier: Macmini1,1
Processor Name: Intel Core Duo
Processor Speed: 1.66 GHz
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Imagine that!
Apple has really disappointed me lately. They’re iPhone has seemed to gain features slower than their competition. They need to get their act together. If you people want to fight with me email me.