8 ms·

Apple releases newly designed Mac Mini

94 points by lyime 16y ago

ukdm 16y ago
And in the UK the price has gone up to £649 for the base model. The last version was £510. That is ridiculous. Mac mini was the cheapest option for iPhone and iPad app submission as fas as I knew. Now it just got a lot more expensive to do so.
- dnsworks 16y ago
  The extra £139 is because it's prettier?
  - ugh 16y ago
    I realize that’s sarcasm but why exactly would that not be a reason to increase the price?
    - bruceboughton 16y ago
      Absolutely, this is how most markets work. Take women's fashion, for example.
      - sliverstorm 16y ago
        No, that's not how women's fashion works. Maybe once upon a time, but price no longer corresponds even to prettiness. Trust me, my ex was way into that stuff.
  - rushiv 16y ago
    HDMI Output, SD Card slot, and the change in the power supply (no more brick) I think the HDMI is what kicks it up, along with an updated gfx card.
  - borism 16y ago
    how is it prettier? i liked previous design much better!
    - sounddust 16y ago
      One reason it's prettier is because it is no longer accompanied by a huge plastic power brick that's almost half the size of the computer itself.
  - jsz0 16y ago
    Yes. Same as comparing a generic $30 ATX case to a lovely $300 Lian-Li case. Apple isn't interested in selling the equivalent to the $30 case.
    - yesimahuman 16y ago
      I would never for a second claim the price for a Lian-Li is just because it's prettier. It's a bad analogy.
- kqr2 16y ago
  For cheaper options, check out http://www.hackintosh.com/ http://www.hackintosh.com/ I'm running Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 which I bought for about $200 on sale.
  - al_james 16y ago
    How does it run?
    - kqr2 16y ago
      Pretty well. It's my favorite computer right now since it's so portable. I also installed xcode + the iphone sdk.
  - enterneo 16y ago
    I am running Mac OS X on Dell Mini 10v and considering buying an external monitor [18.5"]; curious to know how does it perform on the larger display in extended mode?
  - evilduck 16y ago
    With the caveat that the latest OSX releases broke Atom CPU compatibility and you've really gotta pay attention to what you're doing before hitting the 'Update' button. I run OSX on a C2Q machine I built for $450. Works great with everything working 100% except it's not quite the same seamless experience a real Mac is (I've gotta fix my sleep mode nearly every update).
    - tvon 16y ago
      Yeah, it takes a little attention but if you can build a computer and do a little research you can get yourself a fairly inexpensive "Mac Pro".
      - ams6110 16y ago
        Is the trouble really worth it to save $200? It has to be one of those "just because I can" things for most people who do this, right?
- al_james 16y ago
  Yes, it is quite expensive. But then again, the entire Mac range has become more expensive over the last year. You used to be able to get a macbook for about £750, now its £850. At these prices I struggle to recommend Macs to people to who they would be suited, over a £400 dell laptop.
  - borism 16y ago
    yes, but why would anyone buy mini over say macbook? it costs almost as much, doesn't have display nor battery, hardware expansion options are very limited etc.
    - dagw 16y ago
      I'm guessing a major use for mini is some sort HTPC hooked up to your TV, and in that scenario the mini form factor easily beats a macbook.
      - paul9290 16y ago
        Yup reading this via my Mac Mini connected to my LCD TV from my couch(wireless mouse/keyboard). I have one from 2007. I'm liking this new sleeker design and no more power brick on this new one!
      - masklinn 16y ago
        Especially since the new model is even smaller and now has an HDMI out built in. Apple is basically telling people the Apple TV is dead.
        al_james 16y ago
        No its not. Apple can hardly sell the Apple TV concept at at their current price point, these are alot more expensive. People wont pay it. I should imagine these cost more than most people's TVs.
        masklinn 16y ago
- glymor 16y ago
  In 2008 510GBP was around 1000USD. Now 500GBP is 750USD and 650GBP is a 1000USD. It's the exchange rate that's changed not Apple's price.
  - ukdm 16y ago
    I understand that, but why then is the machine only $699 in the US? That difference (£307 according to XE.com) can't all be tax and import duty can it?
    - edd 16y ago
      699 USD in GBP = 474.413 (on xe.com at time of writing) 474.413 * 1.175 = 557.435 (for current vat) So the actual current difference is £91.56 They will put that down to shipping & handling costs, administrative costs of operating in the uk. The iPad has a difference of £52 for a similar priced item (once you take into account vat).
      - ukdm 16y ago
        thanks edd
      - vetinari 16y ago
        This is something I always wondered. How can you add extra s&h and sg&a? This stuff goes from Asia, you ship it either to US or to UK (or whereever). You don't ship it from Asia to US and then to UK. The shipping should be about the same to US and UK. Similarly with sg&a. The US operations does not have it already included in price? Or the UK (EU, whatever) customers pay for that twice?
        sounddust 16y ago
        I would imagine that that £91.56 price difference edd quoted is not for "extra s&h and sg&a", but rather a cushion against currency fluctuation. Apple does not want to start suddenly losing money on their products in the UK if the dollar suddenly gets stronger. Of course Apple could change the price based on exchange rates, but price hikes anger consumers, and there may be laws that make it difficult to suddenly raise the price anyway, especially if they have advertised them in catalogs, etc. And that's not to mention all of the third-parties that would have to sync up with Apple on these changes, and all the wrath they would face from consumers, etc. So I think that their strategy is to set a price that gives them a currency fluctuation cushion and round it to an attractive number that ends in 9.
- pmjordan 16y ago
  It's gone up substantially in continental Europe, too. Weak Euro and Pound (versus USD) to blame I'd have thought.
- awa 16y ago
  I was able to snag a 17" iMac with better specs (4GB RAM) from craigslist < the new Mac Mini cost.
cake 16y ago
It looks really nice, I wonder how well it handles the overheating with its smaller size. No SSD ? No intel I3/I5 ? That's disapointing.
- Andys 16y ago
  Yeah, a G6950 (core i3 2.8ghz 32nm) would have been ideal for this form factor.
- cstross 16y ago
  Why do you need an SSD in a machine targeted at the media player/home hub market? SSDs are good for boxes that are latency-bound or subject to vibration. For a box that sits under a TV set and spends most of its active life throwing 1Gb mpeg4 files down an HDMI cable, not so much.
  - cake 16y ago
    Several reasons at random : - Less noise - Less heat - Smaller - Faster boot time - More bandwidth
    - potatolicious 16y ago
      Cost/benefit doesn't work out in this use case: - Less noise true, but peg a Mac Mini or MacBook Pro's hard drive to max and see if you can hear it from, oh, 5 feet away. - This isn't a mobile device, so heat with regards to user comfort is not an issue. Until it presents a reliability problem, heat is a non-factor for a desktop. - Smaller, and much more expensive per GB. Much more. Shaving another quarter inch off the enclosure also seems like a paltry gain for a much more expensive storage device. - For a machine that reboots very rarely, this is moot. This is clearly meant as an always-on device (hence the low power usage to begin with) sucking down torrents all day or some such. - It's a media-centric device. It will download stuff, listen to music, stream video... what kind of bandwidth does it need? SSDs in a Mac Mini would be a Ferrari in a school zone - cool, and done purely for the sake of style, but let's not pretend that there are significant practical reasons for doing this.
cheald 16y ago
Speaking as someone not intimately familiar with Apple's desktop line, what's "redesigned" about it? From the website, I gather that it now has an aluminum casing rather than plastic, a less archaic GPU, and +$200 on the price tag?
- rushiv 16y ago
  Did the old ones have an HDMI output and SD Card slot? I think that's what new in this model... The re-design is essentially the internals I think
  - cheald 16y ago
    I have no idea. As I said, I'm not too familiar with the previous-generation offerings. The SD card slot is a yawner, since you can do that with a USB reader. HDMI out makes it potentially interesting as a entertainment center device, but at a $700 price tag, it's difficult to imagine justifying it over other more flexible solutions, unless the form factor is a big deal to you.
  - pmjordan 16y ago
    The previous model had a mini-DVI port instead of HDMI - I assume the HDMI port also carries an audio signal now, otherwise the two would be equivalent. (mini-DVI might even support dual-link, which HDMI definitely doesn't)
    - tibbon 16y ago
      However, I think relatively few Mac Mini users are hooking theirs up to 30" displays. I'm guessing that most users either have them hooked up to a small screen for a kiosk, use it with an older keyboard, monitor & mouse as a cheaper upgrade path to an Apple (thinking of doing this for my mother), or hooked up to a 1080p display like an HDTV or a projector.
- jsz0 16y ago
  The previous generation model started at $599 -- gotta go back 5 years to the PPC Mini for the $499 price tag.
al_james 16y ago
The inclusion of a HDMI port is interesting. Probably useless to most people (who have existing monitors or will buy a normal computer display) but does this suggest this might run the new Apple TV service?
- cstross 16y ago
  You're absolutely wrong about the "useless to most people bit", but right about the Apple TV thing. The point about HDMI and the 10w power consumption and the lack of a spare power brick is that this device is being positioned as a living room device, not a desktop machine. Add bluetooth keyboard and mouse, FrontRow, optionally an Apple Remote, and a big TV set and you've got: DVD player, Apple TV substitute for streaming movies/TV via iTunes, household iTunes streaming hub (streaming video to iPads in other rooms, streaming music to Airport Express-driven active speakers in other rooms -- controlled via Remote.app running on your iPhone), and if you enable internet sharing and use Cat5e to your DSL/cable modem you've got a servicable wifi hotspot as well. This isn't being positioned as a desktop, it's being positioned as a replacement for the Apple TV box. And for those of us who're into getting stuff done rather than sacking out in front of the telly, there's th slightly more expensive model with no DVD, more hard disk (RAID 0 or RAID 1, anyone: OS/X has software support for RAID), and a server-grade OS.
  - AndrewDucker 16y ago
    It's a somewhat odd replacement for Apple TV in that it's three times the price. I have an Apple TV, because at £200 it was perfect or my needs. I certainly wasn't going to spend £650 for a media centre when I can get a movie streamer for vastly less than that.
  - paul9290 16y ago
    Im thinking Apple is not repositioning the Mac Mini to be an Apple TV replacement. It's way too complicated to connect a Mac Mini to a LCD TV and use a wireless mouse and keyboard to navigate when compared to the Cable TV experience. Not many in this post seem to be using a Mac Mini for such purpose (I am) and there is no way the avg PC/Internet user would ever think about doing such as it's too complicated over clicking power button on and channel up and down.
fijter 16y ago
I like it, the internal power supply is a great feature also worth mentioning (the old one had a block attached almost as big as the device itself). What I don't like is the pricing, why do I have to pay 799 EUR (=$975!) here in the Netherlands when you can get the exact same device in the US for $699. That's a $275 difference!
- dagw 16y ago
  The US price is without VAT while the Euro price is with VAT. Remove the VAT from the Euro price and the difference is only about $120.
lh 16y ago
Cheapest new model in Finland (and many other european countries) is now 799€. Previously you could get the cheapest one for 549€. Apple seems to think that 150€ price raise won't affect the sales, but I think it will hurt them.
- lh 16y ago
  Some bad calculations by me, of course the price raise is 250€, not 150€ :) Even worse...
- forgottenpaswrd 16y ago
  It seems like no geek here from Europe had noticed this: http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=EURUSD=X http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=EURUSD=X Euro is 1.22USD from 1.5USD months ago. Electronic components prices are given in USD. China yuan is pegged to dollars too. People here seems to think that 150€ is benefit for Apple. Is not.
- cake 16y ago
  You could even get a G4 at 499€ in 2005 There's been a steady increase in the price of the Mini, unlike the Macbook. You had an iBook G4 for 999€ just like you can have a Macbook now for 999€. The Mac Mini went from 499€ to 799€. The Mac Mini's pricing strategy is weird.
morphir 16y ago
Here is the deal: - 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo CPU - 2GB of RAM - 320GB HD (no ssd afaik) - HDMI out (finally) - SD-slot (which is also very "un-mac") In terms of computing power, its overprized. But as a product that sits in your livingroom, problably not making any noise and runs under 10W, then I will actually call this a fair deal. May I add that its ridiculously small.
- pclark 16y ago
  How is the SD-slot"un-mac"? It's on almost every machine, and iPhoto comes bundled on all computers?
  - morphir 16y ago
    because the way I see apples products is not with a bunch of outputs and memory card slots of all kind. They are very conservative in adding anything in which they don't support all over their product-line. Apple got a very holistic product profile so of speak.
    - cstross 16y ago
      Apple intro'd built-in SD card slots with the last round of unibody Macbook Pros. The secret sauce is that the SD card is bootable -- you can install OS/X onto an 8Gb card, add some stuff like Techtool Pro, and use it as an emergency boot device. Use case: your laptop's hard drive fails so you yank it, shove in a new one, boot off the SD card, and use your Time Machine backup -- you've got one, right? You're one of the Saved, right? -- to restore onto the new drive. Total elapsed downtime from hard disk crash to up-and-running again: 1-2 hours plus however long it takes to source a replacement drive. (The fact that you can get photos off your digital camera is an accidental bonus. Because, hey, your camera is an iPhone in Apple-land ...)
      - masklinn 16y ago
        > Apple intro'd built-in SD card slots with the last round of unibody Macbook Pros. Previous, not last (last is mid 2010, SD slot appeared on mid 2009 machines)
sliverstorm 16y ago
Finally, they changed the case! It is annoying having to support minis because you can't easily tell any of the different ones apart! at least this one can be easily differentiated. All the same... nifty, but an extra $200 for an update they should have delivered years ago for no price boost? Not digging it.
- wmf 16y ago
  Keep in mind that they'll use this case for the next four revisions...
d_r 16y ago
I have been using one for the last year as my main coding box, having shedded a monstrous noisy mini-tower, and have never been happier. Most people I mention this to don't realize that you can connect two monitors if you pick up an extra MiniDisplayPort cable. I actually have three after having added a USB video card.
pclark 16y ago
One reason the Mac Mini might not have i3/i5 has a very poor integrated graphics chip. Macs are often hurt by their poor video performance, so that may be the reason we haven't seen the i3/i5 on Macs that don't have an additional graphic card.
- Andys 16y ago
  But.. this Core2duo mac mini isn't using an integrated graphics card anyway? It has an embedded nvidia geforce.
  - pclark 16y ago
    yes, but its better.
warp 16y ago
It's interesting that they ship a version with Snow Leopard Server, that wasn't available at this price point before, was it?
- p0ppe 16y ago
  They released the server model in late 2009, with an extra harddrive instead of the superdrive and OS X Server.
  - telemachos 16y ago
    Yup, and they've consistently marketed it on the website as a server option for small business. (That is, places that don't want to buy or support a full Apple Xserve.) From the site, "Mac mini means business. Small business." I wonder what their numbers are for it. I see zero advertising for this option, but maybe I'm not looking in the right places. And the mention on the Apple site is clear, but not exactly huge. I imagine it's a niche market, but I wonder.
pclark 16y ago
the biggest benefit of this upgrade is you can now (hopefully) drive 2 monitors.
- czhiddy 16y ago
  AFAIK, you could already do this (mini-DVI out and displayport).
  - sgt 16y ago
    That's correct, I'm using the previous model of Mac Mini (2.53GHz 4GB 320GB) and two great 20" samsung widescreens. I have to say it's a really awesome way to work!
    - Luyt 16y ago
      Hmmm, I tried putting 4GB in my Mac Mini, but it wouldn't boot (now running with 2GB). Did you have to do anything special to make it work?
- astrodust 16y ago
  The last revision gave you two video ports, too. With the right adapters (Mini-DVI -> DVI, MiniDP -> DVI) you can drive two screens. It works very well. More screen real-estate than a MacBook pro, a fraction of the Mac Pro price.
ZeroGravitas 16y ago
Their claim to be the most energy efficient desktop seems a bit unlikely, since you can get computers that are basically Atom netbooks in desktop form. They footnote it with "Claim based on energy efficiency categories and products listed within the EPA ENERGY STAR 5.0 database as of June 2010" but I don't really know what that means.
- adbge 16y ago
  I imagine anything ARM-based would blow this out of the water, but I'm not sure if there are any mainstream ARM-based desktops.
- evilduck 16y ago
  I'd measure efficiency as energy vs. work performed. Their C2D at 10w is going to run circles around even the latest Atom processors.
  - icefox 16y ago
    Drives me crazy, Apple is the _only_ company that sells a computer at 10w with this performance. Not one big manufacture has something that competes. They are all stuffing atoms and calling it a day. So I am going to buy a mini to run linux on...
- dzlobin 16y ago
  There was an article on HN a while back about a developer who switched from a desktop to a mac mini and the savings on his electricity bill covered the cost of a mac mini after 18 months
- dzlobin 16y ago
  There was an article on HN a while back about a developer who switched from a desktop to a mac mini and the savings on his electricity bill covered the cost of a mac mini after 18 months
rythie 16y ago
Why did they put the SD card slot on the back?
- masklinn 16y ago
  Because it'd look like crap on the front, probably. The back is already crappy black plastic. Also, the logic board is probably around there so that avoids having to route some kind of cable from front to back in a cramped enclosure.
- evandavid 16y ago
  That was my first "wtf" reaction. Although they don't show it in the photos, the back of a mac mini isn't exactly a fun place to have to poke around all the time. Cables etc. Especially because (at least in older models) the cables tended to get loose after a year or so and could be easily knocked out. I wouldn't want to be reaching around there to pop the card in/out. It also limits the places you can mount the computer relative to where you're using it from. Seems stupid. They should've left it out. However, I guess it provides a good utility for doing occasional tech support (boot from SD etc).
  - mikecane 16y ago
    How often would you slide a disc into it? Thus, just have the back facing front if you intend to access that part more. You'll need the back more too, it seems, since that's where On/Off is too.
    - evandavid 16y ago
      Fair comments, but I'm still not liking it... I've had my existing Mac Mini for about 6 years and I don't really ever turn it off (it now mainly serves media). I would leave the back facing the front, but then I might as well buy a Dell. I love Apple's visual and industrial design, but sometimes the focus on aesthetics impacts the user experience, which I think is more important (and generally something they completely nail). Example: the USB ports on my macbook are too close together to support most flash drives sitting next to any other USB peripheral. I think that this will prove to be another example.
CoachRufus87 16y ago
that is 1 sexy looking machine. it'll go nice in the entertainment center
krugrj 16y ago
So in order to have dual monitors on this new design one would have to have both a miniport to DVI and a HDMI to DVI adapter I take it?
- dagw 16y ago
  Or monitors that have miniport and HDMI ports.
feverishaaron 16y ago
Looks like Apple has finally acknowledged what drives probably a very large percentage of their mac mini sales: Techies who want a mac-based bittorrent box hooked to their home theater. Now, if only it had Blu-Ray...
- altano 16y ago
  Mac Minis make terrible HTPCs. I replaced a Mac Mini + Drobo with a Windows Home Server + External DVD drive and I've never looked back.
  - MikeCapone 16y ago
    Could you elaborate on why they are "terrible"? I've been quite satisfied with my Mini + Plex setup.
    - e40 16y ago
      That's what I use, plus Vuze and FireFox (for Netflix watch instantly... because it's currently broken for me in Plex). The only issue I have is most of my files are on an external FW800 drive, which isn't as quiet as the mini's drive. So, I put the drive enclosure into the cabinet under the TV. Also, Mac OS X is aggressive about putting the external drive to sleep, and because of this I had to set the cache seconds in Plex to 15 just to make there are no pauses in playback. EDIT: forgot to mention that the superdirve in the mini is so loud that it can't really be used to watch a movie. Sounds like a 747 taking off. However, this is not a big deal for me, because I rip the DVD's to get rid of the menus and unskippable crap at the beginning of the disc.
  - mistermann 16y ago
    An "off the shelf" windows home server, or custom box? Off the shelf typically has no video card, no? My HP doesn't anyways.
- javan 16y ago
  Agreed - I won't buy one until they add a blu-ray drive.
jasongullickson 16y ago
It looks like the old Mini mated with an AppleTV; could this be a sign that Apple may be giving up on the AppleTV "hobby"?
- mortenjorck 16y ago
  It's probably safe to say the x86-based, Front Row-displaying AppleTV is over. As for an ultra-thin, A4 ARM-based AppleTV running iOS... I'd watch that space.
  - astrodust 16y ago
    It's amazing what they're doing. Just as the Newton has come back to beat Microsoft at their own game, maybe the Pippin will rise from the ashes of obscurity!
sgt 16y ago
Where is the kensington lock thing? I have a Mac Mini (the previous generation now) and one thing I absolutely need is a way to lock down my stuff. My last laptop was stolen directly from my office because it wasn't locked down.
- illumin8 16y ago
  Sounds like you need a new job too.
  - sgt 16y ago
    I'm in South Africa. I also carry a 9mm. But a 9mm doesn't work when I leave my office for 5 minutes and somebody comes in and grabs my computer.
ilikejam 16y ago
Still no ECC RAM on the server version, I see. Shame.
- jbarham 16y ago
  Intel only supports ECC RAM w/ its Xeon chips, in contrast to AMD where almost all of its chips support ECC (w/ the appropriate motherboard of course).
empire29 16y ago
HDMI .. about time! now i can replace my Dell Zino HD with this for my HTPC.
jcl 16y ago
Hmm... Looks like they made the memory easier to upgrade, but the hard drive more difficult.
- andymoe 16y ago
  I dont think they made it harder. In the old model it took a putty knife to open - now you just have two screws.
  - jcl 16y ago
    So those two hex screws they show in the circular access panel are the only things preventing the guts of the mini from being removed through the back? That sounds pretty slick, actually.
Kilimanjaro 16y ago
As I've said before, drop the dvd drive and gimme a 3x2x2" aluminum soapbar for $299 and it'll set the world on fire.
- padmanabhan01 16y ago
  I don't think it's the DVD drive that is making this bigger. All those parts needed for a comp requires around 7 inches already and they may be just decided to have a DVD drive too.
  - Kilimanjaro 16y ago
    Parts can be shrunk (see iphone, ipad) but a dvd has a fixed size you can't shrink so there you have the weakest link. Btw, it was 3x2x1" what I meant. The perfect size.
jrockway 16y ago
Ah, so this is why there was a line outside the Apple Store today. I didn't think iPads were still that popular.
- tdmackey 16y ago
  iPhone preorders are why there are a line apparently, not this.
ciupicri 16y ago
> And even though Mac mini is ultracompact, there’s no shortage of ports. I don't see any eSATA ports.
ChRoss 16y ago
I need to fork out another $100 to upgrade from 320GB to 500GB?? for 5400 rpm hard drive?
- jolan 16y ago
  Welcome to Apple. If you upgrade the CPU and RAM too you'll be at $1049 in which case you might as well get the $999 model.

94 points by lyime 16y ago

ukdm 16y ago

And in the UK the price has gone up to £649 for the base model. The last version was £510. That is ridiculous. Mac mini was the cheapest option for iPhone and iPad app submission as fas as I knew. Now it just got a lot more expensive to do so.

dnsworks 16y ago
The extra £139 is because it's prettier?
- ugh 16y ago
  I realize that’s sarcasm but why exactly would that not be a reason to increase the price?
  - bruceboughton 16y ago
    Absolutely, this is how most markets work. Take women's fashion, for example.
    - sliverstorm 16y ago
      No, that's not how women's fashion works. Maybe once upon a time, but price no longer corresponds even to prettiness. Trust me, my ex was way into that stuff.
- rushiv 16y ago
  HDMI Output, SD Card slot, and the change in the power supply (no more brick) I think the HDMI is what kicks it up, along with an updated gfx card.
- borism 16y ago
  how is it prettier? i liked previous design much better!
  - sounddust 16y ago
    One reason it's prettier is because it is no longer accompanied by a huge plastic power brick that's almost half the size of the computer itself.
- jsz0 16y ago
  Yes. Same as comparing a generic $30 ATX case to a lovely $300 Lian-Li case. Apple isn't interested in selling the equivalent to the $30 case.
  - yesimahuman 16y ago
    I would never for a second claim the price for a Lian-Li is just because it's prettier. It's a bad analogy.
kqr2 16y ago
For cheaper options, check out http://www.hackintosh.com/ http://www.hackintosh.com/ I'm running Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9 which I bought for about $200 on sale.
- al_james 16y ago
  How does it run?
  - kqr2 16y ago
    Pretty well. It's my favorite computer right now since it's so portable. I also installed xcode + the iphone sdk.
- enterneo 16y ago
  I am running Mac OS X on Dell Mini 10v and considering buying an external monitor [18.5"]; curious to know how does it perform on the larger display in extended mode?
- evilduck 16y ago
  With the caveat that the latest OSX releases broke Atom CPU compatibility and you've really gotta pay attention to what you're doing before hitting the 'Update' button. I run OSX on a C2Q machine I built for $450. Works great with everything working 100% except it's not quite the same seamless experience a real Mac is (I've gotta fix my sleep mode nearly every update).
  - tvon 16y ago
    Yeah, it takes a little attention but if you can build a computer and do a little research you can get yourself a fairly inexpensive "Mac Pro".
    - ams6110 16y ago
      Is the trouble really worth it to save $200? It has to be one of those "just because I can" things for most people who do this, right?
al_james 16y ago
Yes, it is quite expensive. But then again, the entire Mac range has become more expensive over the last year. You used to be able to get a macbook for about £750, now its £850. At these prices I struggle to recommend Macs to people to who they would be suited, over a £400 dell laptop.
- borism 16y ago
  yes, but why would anyone buy mini over say macbook? it costs almost as much, doesn't have display nor battery, hardware expansion options are very limited etc.
  - dagw 16y ago
    I'm guessing a major use for mini is some sort HTPC hooked up to your TV, and in that scenario the mini form factor easily beats a macbook.
    - paul9290 16y ago
      Yup reading this via my Mac Mini connected to my LCD TV from my couch(wireless mouse/keyboard). I have one from 2007. I'm liking this new sleeker design and no more power brick on this new one!
    - masklinn 16y ago
      Especially since the new model is even smaller and now has an HDMI out built in. Apple is basically telling people the Apple TV is dead.
      - al_james 16y ago
        No its not. Apple can hardly sell the Apple TV concept at at their current price point, these are alot more expensive. People wont pay it. I should imagine these cost more than most people's TVs.
        masklinn 16y ago
glymor 16y ago
In 2008 510GBP was around 1000USD. Now 500GBP is 750USD and 650GBP is a 1000USD. It's the exchange rate that's changed not Apple's price.
- ukdm 16y ago
  I understand that, but why then is the machine only $699 in the US? That difference (£307 according to XE.com) can't all be tax and import duty can it?
  - edd 16y ago
    699 USD in GBP = 474.413 (on xe.com at time of writing) 474.413 * 1.175 = 557.435 (for current vat) So the actual current difference is £91.56 They will put that down to shipping & handling costs, administrative costs of operating in the uk. The iPad has a difference of £52 for a similar priced item (once you take into account vat).
    - ukdm 16y ago
      thanks edd
    - vetinari 16y ago
      This is something I always wondered. How can you add extra s&h and sg&a? This stuff goes from Asia, you ship it either to US or to UK (or whereever). You don't ship it from Asia to US and then to UK. The shipping should be about the same to US and UK. Similarly with sg&a. The US operations does not have it already included in price? Or the UK (EU, whatever) customers pay for that twice?
      - sounddust 16y ago
        I would imagine that that £91.56 price difference edd quoted is not for "extra s&h and sg&a", but rather a cushion against currency fluctuation. Apple does not want to start suddenly losing money on their products in the UK if the dollar suddenly gets stronger. Of course Apple could change the price based on exchange rates, but price hikes anger consumers, and there may be laws that make it difficult to suddenly raise the price anyway, especially if they have advertised them in catalogs, etc. And that's not to mention all of the third-parties that would have to sync up with Apple on these changes, and all the wrath they would face from consumers, etc. So I think that their strategy is to set a price that gives them a currency fluctuation cushion and round it to an attractive number that ends in 9.
pmjordan 16y ago
It's gone up substantially in continental Europe, too. Weak Euro and Pound (versus USD) to blame I'd have thought.
awa 16y ago
I was able to snag a 17" iMac with better specs (4GB RAM) from craigslist < the new Mac Mini cost.

cake 16y ago

It looks really nice, I wonder how well it handles the overheating with its smaller size. No SSD ? No intel I3/I5 ? That's disapointing.

Andys 16y ago
Yeah, a G6950 (core i3 2.8ghz 32nm) would have been ideal for this form factor.
cstross 16y ago
Why do you need an SSD in a machine targeted at the media player/home hub market? SSDs are good for boxes that are latency-bound or subject to vibration. For a box that sits under a TV set and spends most of its active life throwing 1Gb mpeg4 files down an HDMI cable, not so much.
- cake 16y ago
  Several reasons at random : - Less noise - Less heat - Smaller - Faster boot time - More bandwidth
  - potatolicious 16y ago
    Cost/benefit doesn't work out in this use case: - Less noise true, but peg a Mac Mini or MacBook Pro's hard drive to max and see if you can hear it from, oh, 5 feet away. - This isn't a mobile device, so heat with regards to user comfort is not an issue. Until it presents a reliability problem, heat is a non-factor for a desktop. - Smaller, and much more expensive per GB. Much more. Shaving another quarter inch off the enclosure also seems like a paltry gain for a much more expensive storage device. - For a machine that reboots very rarely, this is moot. This is clearly meant as an always-on device (hence the low power usage to begin with) sucking down torrents all day or some such. - It's a media-centric device. It will download stuff, listen to music, stream video... what kind of bandwidth does it need? SSDs in a Mac Mini would be a Ferrari in a school zone - cool, and done purely for the sake of style, but let's not pretend that there are significant practical reasons for doing this.

cheald 16y ago

Speaking as someone not intimately familiar with Apple's desktop line, what's "redesigned" about it? From the website, I gather that it now has an aluminum casing rather than plastic, a less archaic GPU, and +$200 on the price tag?

rushiv 16y ago
Did the old ones have an HDMI output and SD Card slot? I think that's what new in this model... The re-design is essentially the internals I think
- cheald 16y ago
  I have no idea. As I said, I'm not too familiar with the previous-generation offerings. The SD card slot is a yawner, since you can do that with a USB reader. HDMI out makes it potentially interesting as a entertainment center device, but at a $700 price tag, it's difficult to imagine justifying it over other more flexible solutions, unless the form factor is a big deal to you.
- pmjordan 16y ago
  The previous model had a mini-DVI port instead of HDMI - I assume the HDMI port also carries an audio signal now, otherwise the two would be equivalent. (mini-DVI might even support dual-link, which HDMI definitely doesn't)
  - tibbon 16y ago
    However, I think relatively few Mac Mini users are hooking theirs up to 30" displays. I'm guessing that most users either have them hooked up to a small screen for a kiosk, use it with an older keyboard, monitor & mouse as a cheaper upgrade path to an Apple (thinking of doing this for my mother), or hooked up to a 1080p display like an HDTV or a projector.
jsz0 16y ago
The previous generation model started at $599 -- gotta go back 5 years to the PPC Mini for the $499 price tag.

al_james 16y ago

The inclusion of a HDMI port is interesting. Probably useless to most people (who have existing monitors or will buy a normal computer display) but does this suggest this might run the new Apple TV service?

cstross 16y ago
You're absolutely wrong about the "useless to most people bit", but right about the Apple TV thing. The point about HDMI and the 10w power consumption and the lack of a spare power brick is that this device is being positioned as a living room device, not a desktop machine. Add bluetooth keyboard and mouse, FrontRow, optionally an Apple Remote, and a big TV set and you've got: DVD player, Apple TV substitute for streaming movies/TV via iTunes, household iTunes streaming hub (streaming video to iPads in other rooms, streaming music to Airport Express-driven active speakers in other rooms -- controlled via Remote.app running on your iPhone), and if you enable internet sharing and use Cat5e to your DSL/cable modem you've got a servicable wifi hotspot as well. This isn't being positioned as a desktop, it's being positioned as a replacement for the Apple TV box. And for those of us who're into getting stuff done rather than sacking out in front of the telly, there's th slightly more expensive model with no DVD, more hard disk (RAID 0 or RAID 1, anyone: OS/X has software support for RAID), and a server-grade OS.
- AndrewDucker 16y ago
  It's a somewhat odd replacement for Apple TV in that it's three times the price. I have an Apple TV, because at £200 it was perfect or my needs. I certainly wasn't going to spend £650 for a media centre when I can get a movie streamer for vastly less than that.
- paul9290 16y ago
  Im thinking Apple is not repositioning the Mac Mini to be an Apple TV replacement. It's way too complicated to connect a Mac Mini to a LCD TV and use a wireless mouse and keyboard to navigate when compared to the Cable TV experience. Not many in this post seem to be using a Mac Mini for such purpose (I am) and there is no way the avg PC/Internet user would ever think about doing such as it's too complicated over clicking power button on and channel up and down.

fijter 16y ago

I like it, the internal power supply is a great feature also worth mentioning (the old one had a block attached almost as big as the device itself). What I don't like is the pricing, why do I have to pay 799 EUR (=$975!) here in the Netherlands when you can get the exact same device in the US for $699. That's a $275 difference!

dagw 16y ago
The US price is without VAT while the Euro price is with VAT. Remove the VAT from the Euro price and the difference is only about $120.

lh 16y ago

Cheapest new model in Finland (and many other european countries) is now 799€. Previously you could get the cheapest one for 549€. Apple seems to think that 150€ price raise won't affect the sales, but I think it will hurt them.

lh 16y ago
Some bad calculations by me, of course the price raise is 250€, not 150€ :) Even worse...
forgottenpaswrd 16y ago
It seems like no geek here from Europe had noticed this: http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=EURUSD=X http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=EURUSD=X Euro is 1.22USD from 1.5USD months ago. Electronic components prices are given in USD. China yuan is pegged to dollars too. People here seems to think that 150€ is benefit for Apple. Is not.
cake 16y ago
You could even get a G4 at 499€ in 2005 There's been a steady increase in the price of the Mini, unlike the Macbook. You had an iBook G4 for 999€ just like you can have a Macbook now for 999€. The Mac Mini went from 499€ to 799€. The Mac Mini's pricing strategy is weird.

morphir 16y ago

Here is the deal: - 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo CPU - 2GB of RAM - 320GB HD (no ssd afaik) - HDMI out (finally) - SD-slot (which is also very "un-mac") In terms of computing power, its overprized. But as a product that sits in your livingroom, problably not making any noise and runs under 10W, then I will actually call this a fair deal. May I add that its ridiculously small.

pclark 16y ago
How is the SD-slot"un-mac"? It's on almost every machine, and iPhoto comes bundled on all computers?
- morphir 16y ago
  because the way I see apples products is not with a bunch of outputs and memory card slots of all kind. They are very conservative in adding anything in which they don't support all over their product-line. Apple got a very holistic product profile so of speak.
  - cstross 16y ago
    Apple intro'd built-in SD card slots with the last round of unibody Macbook Pros. The secret sauce is that the SD card is bootable -- you can install OS/X onto an 8Gb card, add some stuff like Techtool Pro, and use it as an emergency boot device. Use case: your laptop's hard drive fails so you yank it, shove in a new one, boot off the SD card, and use your Time Machine backup -- you've got one, right? You're one of the Saved, right? -- to restore onto the new drive. Total elapsed downtime from hard disk crash to up-and-running again: 1-2 hours plus however long it takes to source a replacement drive. (The fact that you can get photos off your digital camera is an accidental bonus. Because, hey, your camera is an iPhone in Apple-land ...)
    - masklinn 16y ago
      > Apple intro'd built-in SD card slots with the last round of unibody Macbook Pros. Previous, not last (last is mid 2010, SD slot appeared on mid 2009 machines)

sliverstorm 16y ago

Finally, they changed the case! It is annoying having to support minis because you can't easily tell any of the different ones apart! at least this one can be easily differentiated. All the same... nifty, but an extra $200 for an update they should have delivered years ago for no price boost? Not digging it.

wmf 16y ago
Keep in mind that they'll use this case for the next four revisions...

d_r 16y ago

I have been using one for the last year as my main coding box, having shedded a monstrous noisy mini-tower, and have never been happier. Most people I mention this to don't realize that you can connect two monitors if you pick up an extra MiniDisplayPort cable. I actually have three after having added a USB video card.

pclark 16y ago

One reason the Mac Mini might not have i3/i5 has a very poor integrated graphics chip. Macs are often hurt by their poor video performance, so that may be the reason we haven't seen the i3/i5 on Macs that don't have an additional graphic card.

Andys 16y ago
But.. this Core2duo mac mini isn't using an integrated graphics card anyway? It has an embedded nvidia geforce.
- pclark 16y ago
  yes, but its better.

warp 16y ago

It's interesting that they ship a version with Snow Leopard Server, that wasn't available at this price point before, was it?

p0ppe 16y ago
They released the server model in late 2009, with an extra harddrive instead of the superdrive and OS X Server.
- telemachos 16y ago
  Yup, and they've consistently marketed it on the website as a server option for small business. (That is, places that don't want to buy or support a full Apple Xserve.) From the site, "Mac mini means business. Small business." I wonder what their numbers are for it. I see zero advertising for this option, but maybe I'm not looking in the right places. And the mention on the Apple site is clear, but not exactly huge. I imagine it's a niche market, but I wonder.

pclark 16y ago

the biggest benefit of this upgrade is you can now (hopefully) drive 2 monitors.

czhiddy 16y ago
AFAIK, you could already do this (mini-DVI out and displayport).
- sgt 16y ago
  That's correct, I'm using the previous model of Mac Mini (2.53GHz 4GB 320GB) and two great 20" samsung widescreens. I have to say it's a really awesome way to work!
  - Luyt 16y ago
    Hmmm, I tried putting 4GB in my Mac Mini, but it wouldn't boot (now running with 2GB). Did you have to do anything special to make it work?
astrodust 16y ago
The last revision gave you two video ports, too. With the right adapters (Mini-DVI -> DVI, MiniDP -> DVI) you can drive two screens. It works very well. More screen real-estate than a MacBook pro, a fraction of the Mac Pro price.

ZeroGravitas 16y ago

Their claim to be the most energy efficient desktop seems a bit unlikely, since you can get computers that are basically Atom netbooks in desktop form. They footnote it with "Claim based on energy efficiency categories and products listed within the EPA ENERGY STAR 5.0 database as of June 2010" but I don't really know what that means.

adbge 16y ago
I imagine anything ARM-based would blow this out of the water, but I'm not sure if there are any mainstream ARM-based desktops.
evilduck 16y ago
I'd measure efficiency as energy vs. work performed. Their C2D at 10w is going to run circles around even the latest Atom processors.
- icefox 16y ago
  Drives me crazy, Apple is the _only_ company that sells a computer at 10w with this performance. Not one big manufacture has something that competes. They are all stuffing atoms and calling it a day. So I am going to buy a mini to run linux on...
dzlobin 16y ago
There was an article on HN a while back about a developer who switched from a desktop to a mac mini and the savings on his electricity bill covered the cost of a mac mini after 18 months
dzlobin 16y ago
There was an article on HN a while back about a developer who switched from a desktop to a mac mini and the savings on his electricity bill covered the cost of a mac mini after 18 months

rythie 16y ago

Why did they put the SD card slot on the back?

masklinn 16y ago
Because it'd look like crap on the front, probably. The back is already crappy black plastic. Also, the logic board is probably around there so that avoids having to route some kind of cable from front to back in a cramped enclosure.
evandavid 16y ago
That was my first "wtf" reaction. Although they don't show it in the photos, the back of a mac mini isn't exactly a fun place to have to poke around all the time. Cables etc. Especially because (at least in older models) the cables tended to get loose after a year or so and could be easily knocked out. I wouldn't want to be reaching around there to pop the card in/out. It also limits the places you can mount the computer relative to where you're using it from. Seems stupid. They should've left it out. However, I guess it provides a good utility for doing occasional tech support (boot from SD etc).
- mikecane 16y ago
  How often would you slide a disc into it? Thus, just have the back facing front if you intend to access that part more. You'll need the back more too, it seems, since that's where On/Off is too.
  - evandavid 16y ago
    Fair comments, but I'm still not liking it... I've had my existing Mac Mini for about 6 years and I don't really ever turn it off (it now mainly serves media). I would leave the back facing the front, but then I might as well buy a Dell. I love Apple's visual and industrial design, but sometimes the focus on aesthetics impacts the user experience, which I think is more important (and generally something they completely nail). Example: the USB ports on my macbook are too close together to support most flash drives sitting next to any other USB peripheral. I think that this will prove to be another example.

CoachRufus87 16y ago

that is 1 sexy looking machine. it'll go nice in the entertainment center

krugrj 16y ago

So in order to have dual monitors on this new design one would have to have both a miniport to DVI and a HDMI to DVI adapter I take it?

dagw 16y ago
Or monitors that have miniport and HDMI ports.

feverishaaron 16y ago

Looks like Apple has finally acknowledged what drives probably a very large percentage of their mac mini sales: Techies who want a mac-based bittorrent box hooked to their home theater. Now, if only it had Blu-Ray...

altano 16y ago
Mac Minis make terrible HTPCs. I replaced a Mac Mini + Drobo with a Windows Home Server + External DVD drive and I've never looked back.
- MikeCapone 16y ago
  Could you elaborate on why they are "terrible"? I've been quite satisfied with my Mini + Plex setup.
  - e40 16y ago
    That's what I use, plus Vuze and FireFox (for Netflix watch instantly... because it's currently broken for me in Plex). The only issue I have is most of my files are on an external FW800 drive, which isn't as quiet as the mini's drive. So, I put the drive enclosure into the cabinet under the TV. Also, Mac OS X is aggressive about putting the external drive to sleep, and because of this I had to set the cache seconds in Plex to 15 just to make there are no pauses in playback. EDIT: forgot to mention that the superdirve in the mini is so loud that it can't really be used to watch a movie. Sounds like a 747 taking off. However, this is not a big deal for me, because I rip the DVD's to get rid of the menus and unskippable crap at the beginning of the disc.
- mistermann 16y ago
  An "off the shelf" windows home server, or custom box? Off the shelf typically has no video card, no? My HP doesn't anyways.
javan 16y ago
Agreed - I won't buy one until they add a blu-ray drive.

jasongullickson 16y ago

It looks like the old Mini mated with an AppleTV; could this be a sign that Apple may be giving up on the AppleTV "hobby"?

mortenjorck 16y ago
It's probably safe to say the x86-based, Front Row-displaying AppleTV is over. As for an ultra-thin, A4 ARM-based AppleTV running iOS... I'd watch that space.
- astrodust 16y ago
  It's amazing what they're doing. Just as the Newton has come back to beat Microsoft at their own game, maybe the Pippin will rise from the ashes of obscurity!

sgt 16y ago

Where is the kensington lock thing? I have a Mac Mini (the previous generation now) and one thing I absolutely need is a way to lock down my stuff. My last laptop was stolen directly from my office because it wasn't locked down.

illumin8 16y ago
Sounds like you need a new job too.
- sgt 16y ago
  I'm in South Africa. I also carry a 9mm. But a 9mm doesn't work when I leave my office for 5 minutes and somebody comes in and grabs my computer.

ilikejam 16y ago

Still no ECC RAM on the server version, I see. Shame.

jbarham 16y ago
Intel only supports ECC RAM w/ its Xeon chips, in contrast to AMD where almost all of its chips support ECC (w/ the appropriate motherboard of course).

empire29 16y ago

HDMI .. about time! now i can replace my Dell Zino HD with this for my HTPC.

jcl 16y ago

Hmm... Looks like they made the memory easier to upgrade, but the hard drive more difficult.

andymoe 16y ago
I dont think they made it harder. In the old model it took a putty knife to open - now you just have two screws.
- jcl 16y ago
  So those two hex screws they show in the circular access panel are the only things preventing the guts of the mini from being removed through the back? That sounds pretty slick, actually.

Kilimanjaro 16y ago

As I've said before, drop the dvd drive and gimme a 3x2x2" aluminum soapbar for $299 and it'll set the world on fire.

padmanabhan01 16y ago
I don't think it's the DVD drive that is making this bigger. All those parts needed for a comp requires around 7 inches already and they may be just decided to have a DVD drive too.
- Kilimanjaro 16y ago
  Parts can be shrunk (see iphone, ipad) but a dvd has a fixed size you can't shrink so there you have the weakest link. Btw, it was 3x2x1" what I meant. The perfect size.

jrockway 16y ago

Ah, so this is why there was a line outside the Apple Store today. I didn't think iPads were still that popular.

tdmackey 16y ago
iPhone preorders are why there are a line apparently, not this.

ciupicri 16y ago

> And even though Mac mini is ultracompact, there’s no shortage of ports. I don't see any eSATA ports.

ChRoss 16y ago

I need to fork out another $100 to upgrade from 320GB to 500GB?? for 5400 rpm hard drive?

jolan 16y ago
Welcome to Apple. If you upgrade the CPU and RAM too you'll be at $1049 in which case you might as well get the $999 model.