Apple Mac mini M9687LL/B (1.42 GHz PowerPC G4, 512 MB DDR SDRAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW Drive)

The 1.42 GHz PowerPC G4 Mac Mini (512 MB DDR SDRAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW Drive) was one of the last PowerPC Macs released before the "Intel invasion." When I purchased mine the week before the Intels were announced, they placed my order on "hold" to give me a chance to buy the Intel version. I declined the upgrade, and haven't looked back since. The Mac Mini has worked like a charm for the past year-plus. For what I use it for (MS Word, web surfing, iTunes, DVD watching, and even Photoshop), I haven't noticed anything that an Intel could improve upon speedwise. The PowerPC is dead...long live the PowerPC!

I've had my mini for about a year and have been very pleased with it. If you are going to do simple computing (managing photos, music, internet, etc.) then this computer will do the job and then some. I've been an Apple fan for a long time and have had several products over the years (two iPods, G3 blue & white, cinema display, etc.) and I have to say the mini is one of my favorites. The compact design is what all computers should strive for. The OS is stable and I've had no technical problems with it. I'm a very satisfied customer.

I bought the Mac Mini, owned it for six months then sold it. Now I'm getting a core duo.

Here's the pro's and cons of this machine:

PRO's
- Great small form factor.
- Quiet
- Nice stable operating system
- Bug resistant, you don't have to buy antivirus software.
- Comes with some nice but basic software.
- Office for MAC is nicer software than Office for PC.
- Great apple keyboard (has extra USB ports to make up for the lack of ports on the back of the mini.
- Awesome apple keyboard -- best in the business.
- Airport extreme wireless works well, easy to configure and picks up well.
- Good machine for "newbies".

CONS
- Maybe just slightly slow.
- Get as big a monitor as possible (19 inches or more) because the software doesn't make good use of monitor real estate.
- If your a power user, this machine will leave you lacking. Better to get a PC.
- Apple mouse is terrible. Go get an optical mouse from Walmart for cheap $$'s.
- Not all printers work with Apple, choose carefully.
- Not really upgradeable.

All in all, it's a nice machine for kids I think, but pretty soon they will be kicking you off your laptop PC as they become more advanced "power users".

-- terry

I just got the mac mini 2 months ago and already a better version is available. Can I exchange this for the new mac mini that just came out and is 4 times faster?!?!?

A lot of the reason I am so pleased with the Mac Mini has to do with Amazon.com. Great customer service, price, shipping. Buying this from the Apple store would have cost me $150 more. Now, about the computer-
First off, I was shipped a unit with upgraded Processor (1.5ghz) and Video. Also the Superdrive is dual layer, not single although I haven't been able to see if it works as a DL. So I'm pretty pleased that I have an upgrade right off the bat.

The slogan says BYODKM, so I'll tell you how I have it set up. Apple bluetooth keyboard and mouse and the display is a 50' plasma TV. This is a really cool setup for my kids, playing educational games.

About 2 days after the unit was delivered, Apple released the new Intel version of the Mini. Initially I was disappointed, but after looking at the new specs I realized I had bought the better PPC version. The Intel version shares video with the 512 main memory and has no dedicated chipset seperate.

The positives are: Small form factor, great performance, price. You just can't beat OS X in terms of reliability. I will not miss being a system administrator on my wife's dell, constantly scanning and removing malware. Price-Got mine with a superdrive for $630 shipped.

Negatives: Memory. Although units shipping now have a standard 512k, I really think I'll need to upgrade to at least 1mb. Also, after having been a Powerbook user, there is a perceptable difference in the build quality. Not bad mind you, but not quite up to par with the Powerbooks.

Overall, a great machine if you already have your keyboard/mouse/display. If not, the new imac is a much better value. Why only 4 instead of 5 stars? Well, the superdrive seems to only want to burn at 2X, not the 8X as advertised. Apple has nothing to remedy this issue yet, but will probably issue a firmware upgrade sometime.

So my advice is to take the plunge and switch over to OS X, you'll be very happy you did.