It ’s here .
Just two days after writing my heatedly argue comparison of the newMac miniand Dell ’s cheapest Windows PC , the Mac mini ( Best Current Price : 1.25GHz model and 1.42 GHz modelling ) I govern last week arrive on my doorstep . ( Actually , given the sizing of the box seat at my room access , at first I cogitate it was the 1 GB iPod shuffle I ordered the same day . Seriously . The Mac mini ’s box is tiny . )
Being the longtime estimator user that I am , I did n’t expect to be that excited by the miniskirt ; I thought I ’d do my duty as an “ former adoptive parent ” and report back . ( As I stated in my previous column , “ machines like the miniskirt or the flash Dell desktop are underpowered for advanced drug user , but both will suffice for their object market . ” ) But once you see howtinythe Mac miniskirt ’s box is , you realize that there ’s something special about stimulate a operable computer in something the size of a wad of CDs . At only 8.5 - by-8.5 - by-5 inches , the box is smaller than the one for my first portable CD musician back in the late ’ 80s . I really had to express joy that it still has ahandle — c’mon , Apple … my 10 - yr - onetime nephew could pick this thing up with one bridge player . ( OK , just kidding ; the hold is a nice touch . ) So I take that after seeing that box , there was a bit of geeky Christmas - morning - unwrapping fervor ; you ’d have to be incredibly jaded , or vehemently anti - Mac , not to palpate it .
Opening Day
The first thing you see when you launch the box is all the “ paperwork”—Bluetooth Regulatory Certificate , AirPort Extreme User ’s Guide , blah , blah , blah — and the software . You get Apple ’s standard somersault - undetermined CD case , trapping the Mac OS X install / restore / Apple Hardware Test DVD ( two of ’em ) , as well as the Mac mini User ’s Guide , the ubiquitous clean Apple stickers , software licence agreement , and warranty corroboration . ( Boring , I know ; but if I did n’t list it , someone would invariably enquire about it . ) You also get an Apple Software Proof - of - leverage Coupon sheet that , oddly enough , says it ’s for “ iLife ’ 04 + Mac OS X v10.3 . ” I sayoddly enoughbecause the other disk that comes in the boxful is a transcript of iLife ’ 05 , which comes with itsownProof - of - Purchase Coupon sheet . ( Not that these forms are actuallyworthanything — I’ve got a sight of them in my garage , hop-skip that someday Apple will allow me trade them in for something , like Subway does with their sandwich stickers . Heck , I ’d be happy if Apple actually gave me a Subway sandwich for them . Anyway … )
Then you get to the good stuff — the mini itself , as small and light as Apple assure , wrapped in one of Apple ’s signature tune clean-cut pliant wraps that patently have no seam , edge , or tabs to help you remove them . Finally , the bottom of the box holds the Mac mini ’s power supply — a 6.5 - by-2.5 - by-1.5 - inch lily-white brick — office cable length , and DVI - to - VGA display adapter .
Throw the Switch
Since I did n’t want to disturb my Power Mac G5 , I decided to try out the “ switcher ” route . I unplugged my Dell LCD , keyboard , and mouse — I really did BMODKM , as Steve Jobs evoke in his keynote — and connect them to the miniskirt . The DVI connexion plugged into the mini ’s DVI port and the keyboard and mouse took up one of the miniskirt ’s two USB ports . ( If my keyboard had been a PS/2 model , I would have demand a $ 5 to $ 10 adaptor from Radio Shack . ) A insistency of the power button and the mini reboot into the intimate ( to Mac users ) OS X setup mode . Five minutes later , the apparatus unconscious process was complete and the miniskirt was up and running . The Dell display worked cleanly , as did the keyboard and mouse , although I had to call up that the Alt key was equivalent to the Mac ’s Option key , and that the Windows key was used as Command . ( I plan on installing the excellentDoubleCommand , which lets you switch the Alt and Windows key so that they reside in the same relative positions on a Windows PC keyboard as the Option and Command keys do on a Mac keyboard . billet : uControl , which I originally recommended , has n’t yet been updated for Mac OS X 10.3.7 . ) Holding the F12 key down even ejects CDs / DVDs , just like it does on Apple keyboards , and , as with any Mac , the Dell mouse ’s gyre / dawn wheel and right button subprogram as expect .
( Side notation : My Mac miniskirt has the inner Bluetooth module ; I ’ll be testing my Apple Bluetooth Keyboard and Mouse with it later . )
Out of the box , the Mac miniskirt is run Mac OS X 10.3.7 build 7T21 , a later flesh than the one on my Power Mac G5 ( 7M34 ) . However , lead Software Update discover that it does n’t have all the former non - OS X software : I was tell I require to install Apple Bluetooth Module Firmware 1.2 , Apple Remote Desktop Client 1.2.4 , iCal 1.5.5 , iSight Update 1.0.2 , iTunes 4.7.1 , Java 1.4.2 Update 2 , and , most interestingly free-base on the date , iPod Updater 2004 - 11 - 15 . ( These updates took about 15 minutes over broadband . ) In addition , iLife ’ 05 isnotpreinstalled — you need to install it yourself using the included DVD , which for me took about 18 moment thanks to the GBs of iDVD support files . ( Since iDVD ’ 05 lets you save project to disk images for later burning on SuperDrive - equip Macs , the installerwillinstall iDVD ’ 05 on a Combo drive - equip Mac miniskirt . )
Performance Review
So how does the Mac mini perform ? I buy the 1.42GHz/80 GB hard drive version and my initial impression is that it perform at about the same point as a 1.5GHz PowerBook G4 . forge with the Finder is fairly snappy ( although obviously not as quick as on a treble - G5 ) , and applications do well enough , consider that this is a 1.42GHz G4 . iTunes rips songs at or so 15x , and I point out no hiccups when act a DVD while surfing in Safari . The included games run for well , even with iTunes playing in the desktop ; although , to be middling , they are n’t the most demanding titles . And I was pleasantly surprised how well the Mac miniskirt fared with just the descent 256 MB of RAM . ( My 1 GB upgrade has n’t yet go far . )
( Side notes : The giving interrogation around the vane over the retiring calendar week has been about how easy or difficult it is to upgrade the Mac mini ’s RAM . Now that we ’ve assume it apart ; we can tell you whether installing RAM is easy or not . And for those rum about difficult drive infinite , fresh out of the box the 80 GB hard effort has 67 GB of free space with OS X and the included applications installed ; after installing iLife ’ 05 , that drops to just over 65.5 GiB . )
One thing that did surprise me about the Mac mini was the noise level , both good and big . Most of the meter the machine isveryquiet , fundamentally unsounded ; I carry more steady buff interference given the cramped quarters inside the boxful . On the other paw , under the heaviest extended loads — rip a number of candela in a row while perform other processor - intenstive task , for example — the devotee storm up to a surprising volume . Nothing compared to the twist tunnel tier of a crashed Power Mac G5 , to be certain , but louder than I expected . likewise , the Mac mini ’s ocular parkway is about as loud as its PowerBook cousin — it can get noisy when ripping vocal in iTunes . ( Thankfully , it ’s nearly mum when watching DVDs . )
First Impressions
Overall , as I suspected , the Mac miniskirt performs well , but not spectacularly . Itisa $ 600 calculator , after all . But what makes the Mac mini special is something I suggest at in my previous column that is only fully agnize once the mini is actually sitting on your desk : It ’s acomputerthe sizing of some computers ’ power supply , that already includes all the software the average home plate users may ever need — tocopherol - post , Web , Scripture processor , spreadsheet , database , drawing , photo , making and relish music , make and watching film , finances , and even a few games . For the money , I predict it ’s as complete asystem — hardwareandsoftware — as you ’ll find for this damage .
This story has been edit to admit an update on installing RAM upgrades in the Mac mini.—Ed .