Apple Mac mini MB138LL/A (1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1 GB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, Combo Drive)

Apple has not updated the lowly Mini in quite awhile and if everything I read online is true, it looks like they're never going to. Lots of people think they might be dropping it. I think that would be a big mistake. They should drop their silly Apple TV instead and keep this baby in their line up, because it's a solid performer.

Well, not solid as a desktop computer, I wouldn't say that, but stick it under your TV, then hook it up via the Video out (you'll have to buy an adaptor so you can hook into one of your TV's HDMI ports), and you're good to go, TVwise that is.

You don't need a Video player, because you can just used the DVD player on your Mini. You can watch Hulu or Joost on your TV. You can even check your e-mail. And if you have your TV hooked up to a good stereo system, mine goes into an old, but still working wonderfully, Yamaha Amp which powers four JBL Studio Monitors, you can listen to your iTunes library on it. Of course, if you have a lot of music, then you'll want an external hard drive. I have two LaCie 500 gig hard drives under my Mini which match it in looks and form factor and I have tons of music as well as lots of movies on them.

Maybe Apple didn't intend the Mini to be an under the TV controller, but it works beautifully as one. So please Apple keep the Mini in your lineup.

Reviewed by Stephanie Sane

The Mac mini is really terrific! I previously had a Mac G4 that I
loved. This is 10X better with lots of new programs, and super fast!

Arrived promptly and in perfect condition. What was especially nice was making the selection I wanted without having to defend my choice to the member of some sales crew or fending off service contract offers.

This is my third mac. I upgraded the RAM to 3gb using other world computing ram. The computer runs great. It was a little slow with the stock 1gb, but I love this thing now. I have two external hard drives. One for media files and one for time machine. I use a xbox 360 for games, so game performance is not an issue. I have done several home videos and it works fine. You do want to get the older version of imovie though because you can put chapters in your DVDs.

I have the 1.66mhz core duo version. It came with 512mb of ram, which I upgraded to 2gb. Doing your own ram upgrade is somewhat of a nightmare, even for someone familiar with the insides of a pc. The mini is not made like a pc, or like a notebook, and is really not designed to be opened by the user. If you want to upgrade your ram from the current 1gb standard, you are probably better off letting a pro do it. Same for the hard drive. There's a video on how its done at macsales.com.

Overall I am happy with this computer. It runs Leopard just fine, boots quickly, and has no difficulty with basic computer software: safari or firefox, iphoto, itunes, open office, etc.

I've tried to use vmware fusion to run xp simultaneously, and it works, but even with 2gb of ram the system performance takes a hit. Alternatively, running xp via bootcamp works well. xp is speedy and has no hardware compatibility issues. It's a hassle to have to reboot into xp and then reboot again back to OSX, but I only use xp once in awhile. If you need to constantly use windows programs, consider the imac or a more powerful mini which should have the power necessary to run virtualization software smoothly.

Don't be fooled by the mini's size. Even though it is very small, and pretty darn cute, it has to be placed on your desk, whereas a standard pc tower is best placed under the desk. Therefore, as small as it is, the mini takes up more desk space than an under-desk pc. All the cables that normally create a mess on the floor attached to a pc tower (monitor, printer, network, mouse, keyboard, ipod, camera, external hard drive, etc.) are going to be on your desk, rather than under it. I pushed the mini as far to the back of my desk as possible so the cables flop behind the desktop and hang down. Doing so eliminates cable clutter on my desk, but means it's a little inconvenient to use the optical drive and the power button (which is on the rear panel).

The mini has built in bluetooth and wi-fi so you might want to consider wireless options to reduce the # of cables.

This isn't really a criticism, but the sound via a standard mini-plug is about as mediocre as you'd get from built-in motherboard sound on a PC. (I haven't used the mini's optical sound option). If you use your computer to listen to music you might want to consider an external sound card, since you can't put a dedicated sound card inside the mini. I have a creative labs xmod, which is a usb device and sounds great.

I've given the mini 4 stars as it's the least expensive way to enjoy OSX, and for basic needs does a great job. It's extremely quiet and stays cool. I subtracted a star in view of the power button placement, and difficulty upgrading the ram and hard drive.