MacWorld has a first look at the Mac mini:
http://www.macworld.com/2005/01/news/minioverview/
The RAM. The most widely criticized aspect of the Mac mini is its meager base 256MB of RAM. However, the RAM slot on the Mac mini seems to be pretty accessible; if it turns out to be fairly easy to crack a Mac mini open, it seems that more RAM would be the easiest thing to install. Keep in mind there’s only a single RAM slot, so if you want to upgrade your RAM after buying a Mac mini, you’ll need to yank the pre-installed module first.
Frustratingly, there are no details (yet) about *how* one goes about cracking a Mac mini open. But I feel confident enough to buy the 1 GB RAM now and wait for the inevitable "how-to" instructions to show up on the internet. Also, I think I'm going to go with Crucial for the RAM. They are somewhat more expensive than other sources, but I've had bad luck with faulty RAM recently, so I think I'd rather go with a known reliable source (instead of cheap generic RAM), one which guarantees compatibility with the Mac mini:
http://www.crucial.com/store/MPartspecs.Asp?mtbpoid=19EA3D8CA5CA7304
[For instance, the OWC RAM we recently got for my girlfriend's 12" PowerBook turned out to be defective. OWC cross-shipped us a new stick right away, so it turned out fine in the end, but even if it is "fairly easy to crack a Mac mini open," I don't want to have to do it more than once.]
The MacWorld article also says:
However, if you order the Mac mini directly from Apple’s online store, you can load it up with extra features that take it far beyond the realm of the $499 Mac. (See the table "Mac Mini Options," below, for a list of options you can choose.)
That means that a $499 computer can become a $1,203 computer very quickly, and a $599 computer can escalate to a $1,253 machine just as fast — and all without keyboard, mouse, or display, mind you.
Hoo-boy. I hear that. My "$599 computer" actually came to $695 (with AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth), and that's including (Lindsay's) educational discount (which turned out to be a measly $33) -- plus tax ($59.94). I could maybe have saved the tax by going to a third-party online retailer, but then I wouldn't have gotten the edu discount (big f-ing deal, as it turns out), I might have had to pay for shipping, I don't know if I could have gotten the wireless options pre-installed, and -- the kicker -- I would have had to wait *much* longer, since the Apple stores get everything first. (There's already a 4 week waiting list, even at the Apple stores, although you could probably get one at a physical Apple store if you lined up early on Jan. 22.)
Also, there's the DVI splitter cable from Pacific Cable (which I'm still not sure will work), which is $57.36, including shipping.
So now, with the memory from Crucial (who also charge tax in NY state -- sigh), that's $246.58 (memory) plus $57.36 (cable) plus $754.94 (computer) = $1058.88. So much for my $599 Mac!
Good thing I already own a wireless keyboard and mouse, plus two LCD monitors.
I complain in jest, mostly. It's still a remarkably good deal. [Or at least, it still *looks* like a good deal to me. I may change my mind if the computer fails to run Finale 2005 + GPO decently, even with the 1.42 GHz G4 and the 1 GB of RAM I'm throwing in... ]
Anyway,
The Noise. True to Apple’s recent hardware-design history, the Mac mini has an independently-controlled fan that turns on and off and adjusts its speed based on the Mac mini’s cooling needs. According to Apple, the fan runs at 22 decibels, essentially whisper-quiet. We had a hard time hearing any noise coming from the Mac mini’s fan, but then, no room at Macworld Expo is quiet in the way that a truly quiet home or office setting would be. We’ll have more on the Mac mini’s noise when we get one into the Macworld Lab.
I also liked this bit:
Apple’s Challenge. It’s clear that Apple used the design and engineering skills that have crammed lots of computer power into the iMac G5, Apple’s laptops, and the iPod to make the Mac mini a solid block of a system. But to hear Apple representatives tell it, the company’s real goal was not just to make a tiny Mac, or a low-cost Mac. It was, to paraphrase one Apple executive, to solve the problem of how to make a $499 computer without it being a piece of junk.
I'll let you all know if it actually turns out to be a piece of junk.
- Darcy ----- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Brooklyn, NY
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