Overall great product | Apple Mac mini MB138LL/A (1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1 GB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive,...

Great way to go Mac on the Cheap | Apple Mac mini MB138LL/A (1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1 GB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, Combo Drive)

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	• Apple Mac mini MB138LL/A (1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1 GB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, Combo Drive) Apple Computer Apple Computer average customer review:based on 61 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Older Cinema Displays require expensive adapter

Complaint #1: First thing I discovered when I went to hook up my new Mac Mini: I could not connect my "older" (c. 2004) 23" Cinema Display. Apple doesn't tell you that part. If you have an older Cinema Display with an ADC connection (it looks like it'll fit this DVI connection, but count the pins - it's wider), you'll have to purchase Apple's DVI-to-ADC adapter (P/N M8661LL/B). Unfortunately, it's expensive ($99 from apple or $89 on amazon plus shipping), it's bulky (almost as big as the mac mini), requires use of one of my precious USB ports and yet another electric outlet. Also, when my Mac goes to sleep, both USB ports on the rear of my 23" Cinema Display shut down. AND, because I have a "white-light Cinema Display" (i.e. the power button has a white glowing light behind it rather than a green glowing light), the button will no longer work as a power-on button. It just sort of pulses white light when you touch it. So there's that. Still, I'm able to use my "old" display with the new Mac Mini, which means a lot to these old eyes. btw, you might think you can get one of the other "DVI to ADC" cables that come up with a search here - but take close look at the male and female ends - as far as I can tell they're really ADC to DVI, i.e., for a newer DVI display to an older ADC Mac. Just a warning if you've got an older Cinema Display you want to work with a newer mac.

Complaint #2: Leopard. Sidebar in the Finder is now far less customizable than in Tiger; Sherlock is gone w/inferior Spotlight in its place (it doesn't separate search items in categories--boo); etc.

Complaint #3: My only other complaint on the Mini so far is that because it's basically a notebook without the screen, the ports are very close together. I'd rather see it be an inch or two wider just to accommodate the cords better.

The Mac Mini performance seems, at two days now, almost on par with my old G5 and is SO much quieter. That alone gets 3 stars!

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Overall great product

The Mac Mini works great as a simple desktop solution. It was very easy to setup and worked with all of my existing PC components without issue. I was also surprised by it finding and installing my older printer (Epson Stylus Photo 825) and camera, although that speaks more for the MAC OS than the Mac Mini itself.

My only minor gripes is that the system is sometimes slow with only 1 GB RAM and a slow hard drive. I also get annoyed b/c it takes a while to find my wireless network everytime it "wakes up" from going into hybernation mode.

Great way to go Mac on the Cheap

Using monitors, keyboards, and mice I already had, my wife was pleased that she could go Mac at the price of an entry PC. I did upgrade to 2 GBytes of memory by spending $50 at Crucial.

Adding memory is difficult. It may not have been worth the hours spent. You'll feel like a surgeon afterwards. This is why the 4 stars, not 5, were given.

This Mac runs far faster than the Core 2 Duo PC's running at 2.2 GHz.

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Coolest MAC around!!

This weekend I picked up a Mac Mini (with the above mentioned specs..) after doing tons of research and truly looking at my overall needs. Originally my thought was to pick up a Macbook but after focusing on my needs and seeking a cheaper alternative to jumping into the MAC arena I decided to go this route. After being a PC user for many many years the thought of learning a new operating system seemed rather intimidating but having friends who have made the jump made the task seemed a bit less daunting..

I spent many hours perusing You Tube for Mac reviews...everything from Macbook AIR..to PRO..to Macbook and eventually MINI. There's a lot of good informative stuff out there!! Also reading the reviews on this site and many other online reviews I felt I was armed with enough knowledge to finally visit an APPLE store and ask some intelligent questions. Fortunately I ran into 2 young sales guys who knew their product well and tried to be as objective as possible about the product they were selling...I got the feeling they were truly interested in making sure I understood the differences between Windows Vista and Leopard and spent a great deal of time showing me features in ilife and Leopard in general. This made a difference to me in that the APPLE store staff exhibited such "refreshing" professionalism. I think that in itself made a big difference in helping me make a decision to try APPLE products. Their support was top notch compared to the experience I had received in the past from other vendors.

After I picked up my Mac Mini...set up was a breeze. I had a Dell 17" 1703 monitor that was formerly coupled to my Dell Dimension 8300 that I hooked up to with no problems. I had a made a decision to get the APPLE keyboard due to the Command features and the fact that I liked the way the keys felt and am glad. Dell speakers and a Logitech wireless mouse completed the set up and I was off and running! The OS booted up so quickly that I immediately thought I'll never be able to go back to VISTA again..LOL! And setup was effortless..wireless..email..all very intutive and painless. No wonder APPLE has so many people switching!
Once everything was set up I was working within the OS within minutes and what's cool is on the APPLE website there are many informative video tutorials as well as written support that helps a lot.

For video & pictures the OS recognized both my Sony digital & video cameras and I was able to download all my files seamlessly with iphoto and imovie. Here is where I can see the advantages of having additional memory but generally it wasn't too much of an issue..I will eventually upgrade my memory in the near future..

Overall for the weekend spent acclimating myself to this amazing little computer, the experience has been pretty darn good! I still have much to learn and will follow up with a more detailed review further on down the road...

But for first impressions I'm pretty happy! The bottom line is...look at your computing needs and budget and work within those parameters. You don't really need to pump out a couple of grand for an ideal APPLE experience..If you have a good monitor, keyboard and mouse..and are looking to change to the APPLE OS this would be the best and economical way to go!

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Excellent System, but overpriced...

Never had a Mac before, this is great! Way better than my custom-built Vista Ultimate computer! Though I have found glitches in Mac OSX, the glitches are far more minor than those found in Vista. If it weren't for the ease of use and the tiny design, I would have given this computer a four star rating because it is overpriced for what you get. Not a gaming machine, but certainly a reliable computer for all sorts of activities that have minimal hardware requirements. (Such as web browsing, basic photo editing and music production, word processing, and so on and so on.) I am very pleased with this computer. I am now a Mac convert.

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