Apple Mac mini M9686LL/A (G4 1.25GHz, 512 MB RAM, 40 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW Drive)

The Mac mini works just fine. It's fast, it's quiet, and space-efficient. The one huge problem -- and maybe it's only been a problem for this family! -- is the fan located in the base of the unit. Spill even the smallest amount of coffee, water, or whatever near the unit, and whoosh, up it goes into your computer. Then, nothing. It is broken. Beware.

Macs have had a reputation of great reliability and a great stabile operating system.However the mac mini is very limited. If you are someone who needs a computer for web browseing and
emailing then i guess a Mac mini is for you.But computers these days have become than just emailing tools, they play high performance games, edit video and photos,play video.And unfortunately the Mac hardware cannot keep up. The mini offers a 32 mb video card but most pc systems can offer from 256 to 512
mb high performance video cards for graphic intense aplications like games. The proccessor 1.25 Ghz but high end systems can reach upto 3.0+ Ghz of processing power, basic memory is 256-512 but with a good pc you can expand up to 4 Gigs of ram. Apple admits themselves that the mini cannot compete with medium to high end systems. The mini retails around five hundred dollars but that is the basic system without add ons like monitor and mouse,keyboard, and lets not forget the options like dvd burner which you can only get from apple.These extras can put this system past 1000 dollars and now you have to ask yourselves is it really worth it? sure xp has its faults but the newer versions such as xp pro and xp media center are rock solid.And lets look at compatibility as well , how many programs can you get for a Mac compared to the vast library of games and applications you can get for a PC.upgrading and servicing is also cheaper for a pc. I can go on but i think i have made my point.Most people should just go for a midline pc system, hey i guess its not as flashy as a mac but it gets the job done economically.

I have been a PC user for all my life... For once I decided to change to Apple and Mac OS X to see what was all the fuzz about. My brother in law has an iBook and is a huge Apple fan.

This little machine is great, I am writing my review on it and works like a wonder, no matter how hard I try to crash the little monster it is very hard, the worst it does is slow down. Once I had 15 Safari windows open and 10 Quicktime Movies at the same time this thing didn't even blink. I am doing very fine with the bundled iLife'05 software and free software available in http://coolosxapps.net or other websites.

Things to consider yahoo.com music won't work on Mac OS X -( Not that it ever worked well on my Pentium 4 PC 1GB Ram running Windows XP )-, and a whole other bunch of movies won't run even if you install the third party plugins because as far as I know Mac OS X still can't manage Windows Media Player Rights, my Quicktime now can play .wmv, .wma, .avi, and of-course .mpg and .mov files but no movies with rights. MTV music is not giving support to Mac users as a lot of other websites. A pity Mac OS X is a very good Platform.

If you want peer to peer file exchange over the Internet try Limewire works like a beauty. And as mentioned in other reviews please consider the extra ram it will make your Mini work better, as a matter of fact I consider mandatory 1GB of ram in Mac and PC if not you life is bound to be running in slow motion.

This computer is completely silent. I leave it on all the time and even in my quiet room I can't hear it. It is attractive and doesn't take up any desk space at all.

Be sure to buy the bigger hard drive, if you get the 40GB as I did you won't have much space available. I think with all the stuff it comes loaded with there is only 23GB or so free when you get it. It comes with Quicken which is a great piece of software!

Two weeks ago my wife and I bought a Mac-Mini after our third PC in 6 years crashed and burned. Our last one cost approx. $1200. We were deeply disappointed because we expected it to last at least another two years. Repairing it would have cost $400. As we started looking for a new PC we found the Mac-mini. At first look the price seems ballooned for its size and its specs. But as we delved deeper into Mac vs. PC we were surprised to find how much praise this little machine and Apple's OS got despite complaints about being under powered (RAM, HD...) at its base price. The fact that MAC OS is vastly less susceptible to virus, worms and trojans we bought one. We purchased the 1.45 GHZ, 80 G HD, 512 RAM & super drive model. We love how quiet, small and fast it is. To be honest, having never used apple OS before it can be frustrating learning to use the OS X tiger. But we realize as time goes on and we learn how to use this OS, things will get better. So far we love this little machine and consider ourselves MAC converts. So long PC and your crashy unstable windows OS that has cost me big $$$ in virus, spyware and adware protection that never really worked (Not to mention having to purchase a new PC every 2-3 years).