Mac mini (Intel)

From Mac Guides

The Intel Mac Mini with Apple Remote

The Mac mini was the third Mac to move to an Intel processor (after the 15" MacBook Pro and the iMac). It continued to be aimed at the low-end market for those who only do light computing or need a cheap second computer.

Design

After suffering from the commercial failure of the Cube, Apple made sure that the Mac mini was targeted at consumers looking for a budget price instead of professionals which were the target market for the Cube. Ironically, despite the intent of being a low-end budget offering, the Mac mini uses more expensive 2.5" Hard Drives (commonly found in laptops) which offer slower performance and a poorer GB/cost ratio than the physically larger 3.5" hard drive found in iMacs and Mac Pros. Also, the largest hard drive is just 160 GB, while the iMac offers configurations with up to 1 TB of storage space.

The processor used, a Merom-based Core 2 Duo, is also a more expensive laptop component. Despite these shortcomings, the tiny computer measuring a mere 16.5cm/ 6.5" square and 5cm/ 2" tall is almost silent in operation and now proudly boasts that it is "The most energy-efficient desktop computer in the world." - drawing 13W while idle.

Rev. D

Overview

After a wait of over a year and a half, the Mac mini was finally updated on March 3, 2009. Like some of the other minis, the new Mac mini shares almost all of its components with the MacBook. The 9400M was a welcome upgrade from the GMA 950 as well as the addition of a FireWire 800 port and the new Mini Displayport.

Specifications

End-of-life rumors

In May 2007, AppleInsider boldly claimed that the "Mac mini is dead". After Apple's Mac-orientated August event, the Rev. C Mac mini was released to the public. However, Steve Jobs did not mention the update in the main event itself, only announcing it during a Q&A session when directly asked about its status.

In March 2008, AppleInsider backtracked on its original prediction, stating that sources informed them of an upcoming update to the Mac mini in order to keep it in the product line for at least another 12 months.

Rev. C

Overview

The Mac Mini was updated after a media event on August 7, 2007. Like the previous update, only modest changes were made. Core 2 Duo processors were added, a change that the MacBook, MacBook Pro and the Intel iMac had made in 2006.

Specifications

Rev. B

Overview

Released on September 6, 2006, the only change made was the move to Intel Core Duo processors for both models. Pricing and other specifications remained unchanged.

Specifications

Rev. A

Overview

The Intel based Mac mini was announced on February 28, 2006 [1]. At its release, Apple claimed that in some cases it performed up to 5x better than it's PowerPC predecessor. The processor was also upgradeable meaning that some people could potentially increase its effective lifespan.

While the processor boasted increased performance, an integrated graphics chipset provided by Intel meant that it performed slightly worse in almost all cases in games than the previous Mac mini. The integrated graphics chipset uses 80 MB of system RAM while the PowerPC based Mac mini used an ATI Radeon 9200 with 32 MB of dedicated VRAM.

The Intel based Mac minis sold for $100 and $200 more than the G4 models they replaced, respectively. However, the Intel models include an Apple remote ($29), a larger hard drive on the low-end model, Airport Extreme and Bluetooth as standard.

Specifications