Apple Mac mini PPC G4 1.25 GHz

Author's product rating:   

Speed
Design
Manufacturer Support
Ease of use
Value For Money

Advantages:	Good old Apple giving the Mac a sexier bodice, good starting price
Disadvantages:	Not very fast, user upgrading non - existant

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

"Buy MAC OS X 10.3 for £380 and get yourself a MAC MINI for free!"

Lame ploy from a lame company desperate to flog their stock of Mac Mini's to the masses. They failed to mention that if you buy the Mac Mini for the same price you get the MAC OS X thrown in with the bundle. But ah well, nice try guys!

Apple claims Mac OS X is the world's most advanced operating system. It hardly crashes and runs very smoothly. Well in my experience with the Mac OS X I have to agree that is true, but I also know why that's true. 1) Windows XP is more popular therefore is more likely to be exploited and has more programs made for it resulting is variable results that Windows XP may not be able to handle well, 2) Mac OS X is so restrictive that I get cramps trying to access it's system files. Windows XP is much more customisable so you can make it look however you wish it to appear.

I am a PC lover, I will not hide that fact and I will do my utmost to not be too biased in this op (hehe you know what that means). However, besides the IPOD, I have never enjoyed any of Apple's creations. Masters of product design they are, masters of providing raw power in diminutive dimensions they are not. But hey, at least that piece of equipment would look good when your mates pop over for a visit.

Funny thing is... this Mac Mini is so small I would be surprised my mates would spot it amongst the other hi-tech equipment I use i.e. Windows PC. Well, being small and low heat generating, I would want to put it away inside a draw so that I have more room to work with. And if I leave it out - sure it looks pretty - but then it would be dwarfed by the 21" TFT monitor, maybe the MIDI case of my PC, and possibly that massive bee hive of a Sony 'virtual surround' speaker set up. Hmm... you can't have everything right?

My my I must say though, the Mac Mini is one small, sexily designed piece of computing. If anyone says the Mac Mini does not look the dog's bollocks is blatantly been hibernating in a cave for the last 10 years. Pure brushed metal salivating beauty in all it's glory and standing a mere 2 inches high, 7 inches wide, 7 inches in depth and weighing in at a feather weight 1.3KG. What does this mean? It means that if it stops working as a Mini Mac computer you can use it as a spare electric stove, all you need to do is add a heat element to it and voila! No honestly, with its petite bodice you can easily carry it around anywhere you go! But that sort of defeats the fact that it's made for home use...

Being small does not mean it lacks ports for you to stick your peripherals into it. At the front is a thin slot for the DVD/CD-RW drive and a power on LED so that you know that it's on (it is so silent you be wondering if it's on or not). At the rear is a RJ45 network port, RJ11 56K modem port, DVI monitor port (normal DSUB monitor adaptor included), 2 x USB2 ports, a Firewire port and a speaker/earphone port. Yes, although most of these ports will be taken up by necessary peripherals such as a keyboard, a mouse, etc, it's more than adequate because how many extra components can you think of to connect to a MAC computer? Webcam... zip drive... IPOD... hmmm... well no worries most people that have Macs are graphics artists and they only use it for scanning, digicam and printing most of the time.

Ok this Mac Mini that I now own is not the fastest of it's breed as it is a:

1.25GHz G4 CPU Mac Mini
256MB of PC2700 DDR RAM
ATI Radeon 9200 32MB
40GB Hard Drive
Slot-loading Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)

If you haven't noticed yet, yes you only get the Mac Mini, no monitor nor keyboard nor mouse nor speakers. But you do get loads of software with the machine: iLife ‘05 (includes iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD and GarageBand), AppleWorks, Quicken 2005 for Mac, Nanosaur 2, Marble Blast Gold and Apple Hardware Test.

The best member of the Mac Mini family contains a 1.42GHz G4 CPU, 1GB RAM, 80GB Hard Drive, Wireless networking Airport 802.11G and a DVD-RW drive. That set up though would cost alot more than the one I possess, however do not think that the speed would be phenomenally faster. Also you can't manual upgrade the Mac Mini computer either, contrary to what I originally thought. If you open up the machine to upgrade - say - the RAM then you void the warrantee. You must take it to a certified Apple dealer for them to upgrade it for you. That's Apple's way of saying "You should of bought the better version off us in the first place."

So it's not that fast but is adequate for Mac OS X and the applications that run on it. It runs quiet, makes very little heat and the case design is top notch. But as you know I am a PC lover therefore I cannot resist a good ole "Let’s build a Mac Mini Masher PC system". Well so far I have had varied results since I am trying to keep it within the price range and have a stylish enough case to compete with the Mac Mini.

Ok ok... so Windows PCs will never look as good as computers built by Apple, but hey at least at the budget end Windows PCs will never be beaten by raw power hehe! The Mac Mini itself is gorgeous to look at. If they bunged in a G5 CPU and more RAM at the price I got my Mac Mini at I would love Apple so much. As it stands though, it's not powerful enough to satisfy my needs as a tech head but as I said before... you can't have everything! I rate it a 7/10 (most of the score down to design), and definitely an eye opener if you lay it out properly in your home.

Tip: I gave up looking for a good case and instead got Windows XP to run on the Mac Mini via an emulator. Very sluggish but hey, now I can say "I built a PC into the Mac Mini case".