Slashdot Mirror
Mac mini Review At Macworld
lemonylimey writes "Macworld has the first hands-on review of the new Mac mini along with nicely illustrated step-by-step dissection.
It looks like the mini comes apart easily and (unsuprisingly) uses standard notebook components: a Panasonic DVD-R drive on 'SuperDrive' equipped models, Seagate Momentus 2.5" notebook ATA-100 hard drive and a single, nicely accessible 184 pin DDR DIMM socket. Upgrade options aside, it might not have the clock-for-clock power of the equivalent $499 PC, but you have to ask yourself - If you put them both on a shelf and ask your Mom* to pick one, which one is it going to be? (Yes, I'm sure your Mom is a Doctor of Mathematics and wouldn't buy anything she couldn't run Debian on. You know what I meant.)"
OK, this is just wrong.
1. Linus is not the _only_ person who looks at submitted code for Linux ... there are many people, and i've met some of them. This is just disingenuous to suggest.
2. The kernel source is not available because it's the least complex part of the OS -- it's available partly because it's one of the more complex pieces, and a lot of really smart people who know their stuff in kernel space look at / debug / suggest additions for it.
3. Come on -- on a Linux box, if you don't want to compile from source, use apt or rpm or dselect or whatever.
Hey, I love my Macs (1.33ghz 12" PowerBook, 450mhz Cube, dual 1.25ghz g4) but your points are deceptive -- there are harder methods of doing things on OSX, and easier methods of doing things on Linux. You choose the best method for the desired outcome.
Regards,
John
Falling You - beautiful
A) I am making this post from a TiBook running Debian. Debian has one of the best PPC ports out there. I think the Mini will most likely run Debian very nicely.
B) Everyone is sick of the stupid clock speed per dollar argument. It's lame. Quit assuming that everyone out there cares about raw CPU power first and foremost, or shut up.
The first thing I noticed was lack of an analog monitor connection. This automatically drives up the price for most would be buyers looking to replace their PCs. Most users would rather spend $500 on a new PC and use their existing montior, thna be forced to buy a DVI compliant (read: flat screen) monitor.
True. That why the Mini comes with a DVI-to-VGA adaptor, genius.
I bought my Mac mini this morning (waited in line in the 18 degree temps outside the Apple store in Kansas City so I could be fifth in line!) and have been working with it all day. Of the more interesting things I've noticed: System Profiler indicates that I have 256MB of PC3200 RAM installed... and I thought these things came with PC2700! I am going to buy myself a putty knife and will get back later with info and a picture or two of what I find inside...
For you PC (ab)users (I'm now in recovery on this point!) who are sitting on the fence wanting to get one of these but don't want to loose the functionality of all your Windows software, have no fear. Just go download the Windows Remote Desktop Connector and get cooking. Among the neat features, you can map the drives on your Mac to the remote PC allowing you to move files back and forth between the PC and the Mac with the utmost of ease! :-)
- actually 1GB memory can be had for $85.
l
Overall mini is pretty good, but the disk is roughly like iBook, that is half the speed of eMac, (BTW eMac is a gem, it beats new iMAC G5 in most tests). Going FireWire or USB2 on mini is no solution, they are half as slow as internal even with fast drives (thus 4 times as slow as latest eMac). They have 60Gb/7200 internal on order so check them later to see if this solves disk problem.
http://www.pricewatch.com/h/prc.aspx?i=33&a=4922
- macintouch has a decent performance review. http://www.macintouch.com/perfpack/comparison.htm
You are the one who is confused. That is one of the reasons why it is so cheap.
According to Apple the $499 Mac mini comes with:
- Mac OS X Panther
- iLife '05 (GarageBand, iMovie, iDVD*, iPhoto, iTunes)
- Quicken 2005
- and two games Nanosaur 2 and Marble Blast Gold
* previously, Apple has not included iDVD on systems that do not have a Super Drive, and therefore, no DVD authoring capability.
Thanks for the FUD.
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
Ps2 keyboards / mice have never been used by macs, so it does require a USB/Keyboard and mouse, Apple just dropped the price of its keyboard/mouse from $49 to $29 because of the mac mini. The Apple keyboard also gives you two USB ports so you dont lose any ports when you hook up a keyboard and a mouse. Most people will need to get a new keyboard and mouse but most people wouldnt complain because its not that expensive.
Also the Dvi to Vga adapter comes with the computer so ANY monitor will work, vga or dvi.. Hell Im going to hook it up to my HDTV..
And Apple is just trying to convert PC users that are scared to give up their new $80 dollar wireless usb keyboard and mouse combo they just bought.
Also with the Mac Mini Coming with a free Printer http://apple.com/promo they are going to sell a shit load of these babies.
keanmarine.com
You do realize that OS X Server includes "Server Admin: Remote Server Admin tools let you configure and monitor all key services of Mac OS X Server from near or far." [quote from Apple's site], right? this is a GUI tool. I do think people are buying them so they can have a GUI.