ArsTechnica Reviews The Intel Mac Mini (Core Solo)

phaedo00 writes "Ars Technica has put together a review of the recently announced Intel-powered Mac mini. The model reviewed was the public's first look at a Core Solo desktop from Apple and the results are promising: 'Up until Apple's "fun" announcement on the last day of February, there was really no indication of how Apple's low-end Intel offerings would be presented. Now that Apple has disclosed the specification and price points for their entry-level machines, we can get a better idea of where Apple is trying to take their product line. For those people who might be unaware, two new Mac Mini models were released and by most accounts, the products have been well received aside from a few quibbles over specifications.'"

Comments

My complaint: integrated video.

[Hamster Lover]

I have a 1.42 G4 Mac Mini with 512 MB and was very impressed with the Intel version. Apple managed to counter every complaint with an improvement -- SPDIF audio in and out, additional USB ports, SATA hard drive, etc. I expect to buy one within the next few months and retire my G4 to the living room for use a VLC media centre.

My only disappointment was the integrated video. I was hoping for something better than the Intel chipset, and it's shared video memory to boot.

Someone convince me I am wrong...

Re:My complaint: integrated video.

[Golias]

Someone convince me I am wrong...

Wish I could. It seems to be everybody's "only problem" with the machine. It would be a sweet little media unit if they even managed to slap in fair-to-middlin' 128 MB video card.

As it is, it's an awesome li'l feller for a lot of headless tasks (as an example, my old G4 mini has been rack-mounted as an audio processor, and is only accessed via VNC on the Airport card), but it still falls just barely short of being a media center "dream system."

Lucky for me, with my projector at the back of the room and a re-arranged coat closet next to it, I have plenty of space for a dual-G5 tower... but I feel a little sympathy for mac-heads who need something small and unobtrusive in their living-room TV cabinets, yet still want full HDTV resolutions and maybe the occasional 3D gaming experience. The new mini seems to come about 90% of the way to meeting their needs.

Re:Upgradable

[BenjyD]

I think a lot of Slashdotters are going in the other direction, linux to OSX.

Re:Graphics Irony

[Golias]

They weren't wrong when they said that either. The new mini is not a very good game system.

The real question is, why do you keep posting this exact same quote on every single Mac mini story? Are you just trying to get more hits for the "free mini" pyramid scam in your sig file?

You must not think it's that bad of a computer if you are willing to turn yourself into a total whore to get your hands on one.

Incomplete benchmarks: no Mac Mini CoreDuo

[Lord Satri]

Interesting article (since I'm a potential buyer :-), however, they didn't included the new Mac Mini CoreDuo for most of their benchmarks, only the new Mac Mini CoreSolo. I don't understand why, but that's clearly a limitation of the review.