Analysis Of The 2007 Mac Minis
Apple describes its Mac Minis as "BYODKM," which is an acronym for "bring your own display, keyboard and mouse. Bring your own display is certainly understandable, but I don’t recall every buying (or even seeing for sale) a retail computer without a keyboard and mouse. Given that this is Apple’s entry-level computer, I just don’t understand why Apple doesn’t make life a little easier for the entry-level computer user.
A close up of the Mac Mini and its built in optical drive.
Further, if you choose to go with an Apple-branded keyboard and mouse, you’ll spend at least an extra $100. The good news here is that Apple keyboards do have several cool features: in addition to the somewhat common on-board volume controls, there are also controls for adjusting the monitor. Plus, there are two USB ports conveniently built into the keyboard. The ports can be used for attaching just about any USB device to your Mac, such as your mouse, digital camera, flash drive, and, of course, your iPod.
Providing you have modest computer needs, the Mac Mini definitely serves as a quality entry-level computer, perhaps more than you’d get for your money than from some competing retail brands that are still selling old-generation Pentium fireballs at Mac Mini prices, and equipping Vista-based computers with just 1 GB of RAM. If your needs are sending email, surfing the Web, word processing, watching videos and performing mild photo editing tasks on low- to medium-resolution images, you’d likely be pleased with a Mac Mini.
However, if you’re a typical Tom’s Hardware Guide power user, you’d likely find that these entry-level units are inadequate. Despite using SATA, the 5,400 rpm hard drive is clearly going to be slow compared to today’s standard of 7,200 rpm. There’s no external SATA port available, and for reasons I cannot explain, Apple, which normally runs its Firewire ports using 800 Mb/s 1394b, only enables the Mac Mini Firewire port with 400 Mb/s 1394a. Apple invented Firewire, they really should know better.
Even considering all of the above, the most-significant problem for those of us that enjoy games and 3D rendering quickly becomes clear: the Mac Mini uses a motherboard graphics chip. As much as Intel has improved upon these, particularly with the inclusion of OpenGL instructions, you can still only go so far with on board graphics, and for those of us that frequent this site, that just won’t be far enough.
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"If there are any remaining questions as to just how far Apple has fallen, I believe the image above has the answers."
owww..., apple got OWNED
apple really shouldnt be used by ppl who use thsi site. i mean a 7300, what the hell is that about, 1 GiB of ram. if it wherent for there ipod and iphone, they would go bust and quite rightly, i say get an iLife
apple really shouldnt be used by ppl who use thsi site. i mean a 7300, what the hell is that about, 1 GiB of ram. if it wherent for there ipod and iphone, they would go bust and quite rightly, i say get an iLife
just to reply to a couple of your points...
When you criticise the the mac pro remember this machine has been available for over a year now and it works just as well now as it did then. IF it was a PC running Vista then no, 1gb would be no use but with the Mac it's fine. Yes, more would be nice, but more would always be nice! and those who need it will buy it. Apple have no need to get involved in the PC spec race, and nor should they, and neither do people who use macs. If you want to you can, you can upgrade the mac pro to your heart's content. Or just not bother.
So clearly the fact that the Mac pro offers up to 750 gb drive configurations compared to 1tb for the imac is simply because thats what was available then compared to whats available now. I know you're going to say they should update the spec and maybe they should but does it matter that much? The majority of serious users of the Pro will be using external storage anyway.
It's not really a fair comparison to show a chart of all the Graphics cards released over the last 16 months when the chart would have looked very different at the time the Pro was released...also the radeon1900xt is available as an option but you didnt mention that...look where it falls on the chart.. a bit more respectable... but again i say that apple aren't in that race so what does it matter? If you want a better card then buy one....(isnt that what Tomshardware is all about anyway?)
Saying that Airport and Bluetooth belong in the pro is to misunderstand the market the pro is aimed at. The majority of bigger companies (like the one i work for) are suspicous (and in fact are afraid) of wireless comms so won't touch them so making these an option for a professional machine makes sense.
As for dobby's coment that without ipod and iphone Apple would be dead? Have you looked at Apple's PC market share? 5.6% of the US market? Joint 3rd largest PC maker in the US? I wish i had a company like that!
oh and spuddyt?
How did Apple get pwned when it's an *NVidia* card? Apple supply it but they don't make it...