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Apple Mac Mini MC815LL/A Desktop (NEWEST VERSION) Review - Good MAC MINI!, By KSBAY: "The Mac Mini has been updated on July 20th 2011. It no longer includes an optical drive. The price has also been reduced by $100. There are some major upgrades and minor changes between the 2011 base Mac Mini and 2010 model which I've detailed below.
Major Upgrades
2.3 GHz Intel Core i5 dual-core processor - a major upgrade over 2010's model which used the antiquated Intel Core 2 Duo processor.
Intel HD Graphics 3000 integrated graphics processor - An upgrade but not really as benchmarks show that the I.G 3000 is worse or at best equal to the Nvidia 320m integrated graphics processor in last years model.
Thunderbolt port - a super fast data transfer port. Data transfer speeds (in daily use) are supposed to be as fast as USB 3.0 and firewire 800 if not more. As of now, no consumer level thunderbolt compatible products are available but should be available soon. The TB port also functions as a Minidisplay port. For connecting your Mac Mini to an external monitor, you'll need a Syba High Quality Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter If you want to connect it to a tv, you'll need a Kanex iAdapt MDPHDMIV2 HDMI V2 - Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Adapter with Audio Support
Bluetooth 4.0 technology - the latest version of Bluetooth. Useful for transferring data off your mobile phone and connecting other Bluetooth peripherals (keyboards, magic trackpad etc) to your Mac Mini.
500 gb (5400 rpm) hard drive - last years model had a 320 gb hard drive. A minor upgrade.
NOTE - the Mac Mini no longer has an optical drive (Superdrive)
STANDARD FEATURES - from last years model (minor changes noted in brackets) are
Unibody enclosure
2gb of 1333 MHz DDR3 Ram - 1gb ram sticks x 2 (It supports up to 8 GB. In the 2010 model it was 2gb of 1066 Mhz DDR3 Ram.)
HDMI audio/video output with support for up to 1920 x 1200-pixel resolution and multichannel audio output (HDMI to DVI output adapter included if required to connect to a DVI only monitor)
Four USB 2.0 ports
One FireWire 800 port
Combined optical digital output/headphone output
Secure Digital memory card slot compatible with SD, SDHC, and SDXC media
Gigabit Ethernet wired networking (10/100/1000BASE-T)
Wi-Fi - 802.11n specification; 802.11a/b/g compatible
Software included is OS X 10.7 Lion and a 1 year warranty on parts and 90 day telephone technical support is standard.
The new Intel i5 processor in the base Mac Mini is a speed demon, allowing the Mac Mini to obliterate 2010's model in performance benchmarks as well as real world usage. The Mac Mini is excellent when it comes to watching full HD videos, working on documents, listening to music, streaming movies / music, surfing the web and other regular computing tasks.
Something to be aware of though,there is no optical drive in this year's Mac Mini. If you need one, you'll have to purchase an external DVD drive and connect it to the Mini through one of it's USB 2.0 ports. Apple expects you to download all software from the internet (Amazon digital downloads,Itunes Store, etc etc). Taking away choice from the buyer is never a good thing in my humble opinion.
Apple is still including 2 gb of ram in this machine - which is shameful for a product being sold in 2011 but I'm sure they have their reasons (Upsell to the mid level Mac Mini or the Mac Mini Server. Higher profit margins. Etc etc) but this leads to a degraded user experience out of the box. I'd recommend adding 4gb (2 x 2 sticks) Corsair 8 GB DDR3 Laptop Memory Kit CMSO8GX3M2A1333C9 of ram if you want to multitask smoothly. It's easy to replace the ram, just twist the bottom cover, open it up, pull out the old ram sticks and add the new sticks. (I suggest reading through the manual once before you do so though) Apple has also bumped up the hard drive capacity from 320 to 500gb but it's still a 5400rpm hard drive. Another helpful way for contributing to a degraded user experience as programs take longer to launch.
Thunderbolt is a good addition to the machine but as of now, no consumer level (affordable) Thunderbolt products exist. The products that do exist like the Apple Thunderbolt Display and the Promise Pegasus NAS Hard Drive Array, both cost $1000. The Thunderbolt cable itself costs $50.
Last year, when I wrote my review of the 2010 Mac Mini. I said that the Mac Mini was a horrible value for the price considering it contained an antiquated C2D processor(and rightly so). However the changes in this year's model make the Mac Mini a worthy purchase at this point in time. With a $100 price drop and the new machine being twice as powerful as the old one due to the Intel i5 processor, the base model 2011 Mac Mini is recommended if you're looking for a capable, non obtrusive,power saving machine that will handle your daily computing tasks.
Notes of Interest - The power supply of the Mac Mini is still internal. This may look cleaner from a design standpoint but it can also be considered a design flaw. If the power supply ever malfunctions, instead of a power brick, you'll have to take your entire Mac mini in to an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider and leave it there for repairs which may lead to more downtime.
No optical Drive - From now on, it's basically BYOMKM and D (Bring your own Mouse, Keyboard, Monitor and Disc burner) If you need to buy an optical drive, that will be $50 - $80 extra. Although you can wireless borrow another computers optical drive through the DVD/CD sharing feature. Certain reviewers are claiming that Apple was able to drop the optical drive which is why they have reduced the price by $100. That's not true. Keep in mind that that the Mini has always had an optical drive before this model. The Mac Mini when launched, first cost $499, then went up to $599 and finally $699. At all those earlier price points, an optical drive was included in the machine. Now the machine costs $599 but doesn't include an optical drive. So if you read a review telling you that Apple could reduce the price by $100 only because they removed the optical drive, that's not true. Apple removed the optical drive for their own reasons ( To push users towards digital downloads from their App store, etc etc)
Also, the standard Mac Mini now has space for a second hard drive due to the removal of the optical drive. So if you wanted, you could add a second hard drive. It's a complicated process (Why? Cus Apple wants it that way) and it may void the warranty IF you break something while doing so but it's possible. You'll also need a special SATA cable. For detailed instructions on how to, check iFixit.com
Value Equation - Even though the Mac Mini is the cheapest mac desktop, it can get expensive fast. Cost is an important aspect to consider before you jump into Apple Land. If you decide to upgrade the ram ($60) and also need to purchase a LCD monitor ($100 to 300) keyboard and mouse ($30 to 60) and optical drive ($50 - $80) and AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac Mini (NEWEST VERSION) ($144) once you total it all up, the Mac mini will end up costing almost as much as a Macbook Air (low end model which is more portable) or the entry level iMac (21.5 inch screen, 4gb of ram, dedicated graphics). If that's the case, you better off examining those machines as purchase options instead of buying a Mini or purchasing a Home.Theater.PC by any reputed PC maker."
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