WILDLY positive Mac Mini review: TOM'S HARDWARE!

Macaholic · Feb 16th, 2005, 02:06 PM

The much-respected PC geek's website, Tom's Hardware, has posted an extremely positive review for the Mac Mini.
http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20050216/index.html

So did the also-respected Anandtech:
http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=2328

PC Magazine gave it four out of five starts:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1753962,00.asp

Even Paul Thurrott likes the Mac Mini:
http://www.internet-nexus.com/2005_01_30_archive.htm

What the hell is going on with this world now?? Speed-wise, the Mac Mini can get smoked by ANY PC of equal price (come on; I don't believe that a 1.25gHz G4 with no L3 cache is faster than a 2.8gHz Celeron). And yet, these traditionally PC-centric sites are... actually... loving this thing!

Are they beginning to see the light? Are they finally realizing the superiority of Mac OS X?? Did they get fooled by a cute form factor (never worked before...)??? Does only MONEY speak to these people??!

Whatever. The more thumbs heading north, the better.

da_jonesy · Feb 16th, 2005, 02:24 PM

WOW.... 20 watts of power? That's incredible. My next big purchase was either going to be a new powerbook or a new widescreen TV. This cinches it... widescreen TV with a Mac Mini as a media server! It draws less power than a lightbulb so i can have it on all the time to schedule and record things. Yeah baby, I love it!

Macaholic · Feb 16th, 2005, 02:35 PM

i CAN'T WAIT for my Mac Mini to arrive!

K_OS · Feb 16th, 2005, 02:42 PM

I can't wait for the Best Buy near me to get some Mini's in stock so I can play with it a bit before I pluck down some cash for it.

used to be jwoodget · Feb 16th, 2005, 02:53 PM

Yes, but Apple is still doomed......

Before people dismiss the mini as a cut-down, low cost Mac, they should take a look at one in person. The possibilities are endless. The mini is the perfect "project" machine. I don't even have a keyboard and mouse connected to mine. Just a BlueTooth dongle and Salling Clicker along with a wireless connection to an Airport Express and a cable from audio out to the home theatre receiver. All I have to do now is persuade my wife that its time for an HDTV...... That's the big project.

Macaholic · Feb 16th, 2005, 03:02 PM

Yeah K_OS the BestBuy near me has a Mac Mini on display, and it's a model of "BYOKVM": Kensington keyboard and Bluetooth mouse, couple with a Sony 15" flat panel.

ArtistSeries · Feb 16th, 2005, 03:32 PM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by Macaholic
	The much-respected PC geek's website, Tom's Hardware, has posted an extremely positive review for the Mac Mini. http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20050216/index.html So did the also-respected Anandtech: http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=2328 PC Magazine gave it four out of five starts: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1753962,00.asp Even Paul Thurrott likes the Mac Mini: http://www.internet-nexus.com/2005_01_30_archive.htm

Are your reality field distortion googles on?

1) Tom's Hardware did not post a review - it's only a "guide" - an overview
2) Anandtech had some reservations about the the mac mini "The performance of the Mac mini in its standard form is unacceptable, even for a $499 machine.....here's a ton of stuttering when multitasking (not even heavy multitasking) and it's completely caused by disk swapping.*"
3) Paul Thurrott may love his mini but does have reservations about it citing the Bare Feats article
"he Mac mini is a credible performer when running "normal" productivity applications. Unless you are a speed fanatic with demanding, resource hungry applications, you should be very happy with your mini.

But the mini has weak spots. If you play 3D accelerated games, it won't do as well as its siblings ... The biggest weakness is the hard drive speed. As you know, the size, weight, and price design goals dictated that it have a sluggish 4200rpm 2.5 inch drive. If you aren't on a tight budget, I recommend either upgrading to a 5400rpm or 7200rpm drive.

It's a scandal that Apple still considers 256MB as adequate for entry level Macs. They must know better since they send out review units with 512MB. Mac OS X is a virtual memory operating system, but I don't think you want constant virtual memory hits on your mini ... I think your mini will "feel better" if it had 1GB of memory.

Of course, adding drives and memory can drive the price of the mini up quickly. If you don't have a keyboard, mouse, and display already, you can find yourself spending as much as the cost of an iMac G5/1.6 -- which is a faster machine"

da_jonesy · Feb 16th, 2005, 03:36 PM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by used to be jwoodget
	Yes, but Apple is still doomed...... Before people dismiss the mini as a cut-down, low cost Mac, they should take a look at one in person. The possibilities are endless. The mini is the perfect "project" machine. I don't even have a keyboard and mouse connected to mine. Just a BlueTooth dongle and Salling Clicker along with a wireless connection to an Airport Express and a cable from audio out to the home theatre receiver. All I have to do now is persuade my wife that its time for an HDTV...... That's the big project.

That is it exactly! I use Salling Clicker as well with my 12" PB G4 that and the Mac mini are a perfect combo... now to choose the TV.

da_jonesy · Feb 16th, 2005, 03:39 PM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by ArtistSeries
	Are your reality field distortion googles on? Of course, adding drives and memory can drive the price of the mini up quickly. If you don't have a keyboard, mouse, and display already, you can find yourself spending as much as the cost of an iMac G5/1.6 -- which is a faster machine"

Ummm isn't that exactly the point? If you go to purchase the whole shebang... drop the coin on an iMac. If you already have a monitor get the mini. Sounds pretty simple to me.

monokitty · Feb 16th, 2005, 04:47 PM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by da_jonesy
	Ummm isn't that exactly the point? If you go to purchase the whole shebang... drop the coin on an iMac. If you already have a monitor get the mini. Sounds pretty simple to me.

Yeah, really. I don't know what the hell is difficult to understand that the Mac mini is for those whom already have the monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

I'm with you.. some people just can't grasp such a simple concept.