Others say...

"Good, But..."
Ok this is a very good item. But, it is not worth your money. I have (and am typing on) an 1.66 GHz Intel Core Duo Mac mini and it is about 8 times faster than the old one. It is AWESOME. Oh yeah, I also have 2 gigabytes of ram 0:). So, it is the fastest computer I have ever been on. Now, don't underestamate me, i know alot about computers. Again, if you are one of you P.C. Users, and you are saying "my computer has a 2 Ghz Pentium Four! Mines soo much better!", GHz is an Incorecct measurement. You cannot compare with it. Mine is an Inter Core Duo! Duo means TWO. And, the 2 Gigs of RAM helps. I bet that PC user had like 256 Megabytes of ram. So, to make my point clear, if you are going to buy this, get the 1.66 GHz Duo. Added RAM helps.

"Extremely slow and painful to use"
I bought this new Mac mini Core Solo computer thinking it would be better in every way than the last model G4 Mac mini I had bought about 8 months ago. Well it isn't, and not only is it not "4x faster", it is many times slower in critical applications.

At first the computer will feel fast and zippy, and I thought I made a good purchase. Menus open faster, Safari feels faster, Mail works beautifully--there are a lot of good things about this computer. iTunes works great and scrolling anything is much smoother than the previous minis.

However, once I started to do work with the computer, I realized that I couldn't. I timed Microsoft Word once. It took 23 seconds to open. It took 50-70 MB of memory just to open with a blank document. Opening Excel is also slow and also uses 50 MB of RAM. Entourage? It uses a little less, but it is still unacceptable. Once I have my professional apps open (which I am absolutely dependent on), the other apps swap out to disk. So if I am writing a document in Word, not only will the program not keep up with the words I am typing, but when I want to reference a web page, the computer will stall for 10 seconds as Safari is put back into memory.

Speed and memory are the biggest problems. The emulated apps (like Microsoft Office) use a ton of processing power and memory--more than this computer can provide. For me, using this Mac mini is extremely painful and it feels like 1992 again, or worse. If you use Photoshop or Microsoft Office, stay away from this computer.

I had to return this machine, not because it is a bad machine, but because the emulation of PowerPC apps is horribly slow and inefficient. Another problem is that the main memory is also used for graphics. So you automatically lose 64 MB of RAM to the graphics processor. Add in 3 applications that use 70 MB of RAM each, and 5 other apps that use between 10 and 100 MB, and you have a slow computer. But the problem is not only the lack of RAM.

Even opening a context menu in Word takes about 5 seconds. You can see as the screen elements (rulers, toolbars, palettes) are drawn on the screen. I really tried to like this computer... but it is in my opinion the worst computer I have ever owned. It is a big step backwards for Apple, and a terrible user experience, and I want my money back.

"Developing issue"
...many of this model are DOA with power management and startup issues (symptoms are failure to start up properly or failure to wake from sleep.) Be aware of this and be ready to quickly return any machine that acts oddly in those areas.

"Small Design, but Powerful Tool"
Without question, I love Macintosh computers. The ease of use, performance, and design that is Apple makes me productive, keeps the headaches down, and makes working on a computer fun.

Macs are well known for ease of use and capabilities, but they have managed all that for years, with processors that are not always top-notch. That all changed in January 2006, with the introduction of Intel processors inside Macintosh computers.

Processor in the new Mac Mini

This particular Mac Mini features an intel Core Solo processor, which is the little brother to the Core Duo processor. The Solo performs strongly, in everyday computing tasks: browsing your photos in iPhoto, using the Internet, sending email, listening to music in iTunes, etc. In fact, the Solo is a very strong processor. There is certainly a significant increase in performance over the G4, which was previously included with the Mac Mini. The performance increase is noticeable in everyday tasks. I was impressed. The Mac Mini Core Solo also packs enough punch that I was able to play 720p high definition video, but 1080p was a bit too much for it to handle. Nevertheless, the G4 could not play 720p smoothly, which so the strong step-up with this machine.

Design - The Mac Mini is beautiful. I just love looking at this computer. One of the most beautiful computer form factors ever. You will immediately notice how nicely Apple packages the computer, in an impossibly small box. It may be a small form factor, but it has a lot of features. There are plenty of ports too: 4 USB 2.0 ports, 1 Firewire 400 port, DVI Video out, Audio In, Audio Out.

Video Card -

The new Mac Mini has Intel integrated graphics, which isn't usually a great feature. However, it is still a step-up from the graphics on the previous Mac Mini. The graphics on this machine supports Core Image technology, which the previous Mini did not. It does share your system's memory, for video memory, which is even more of a reason why you should upgrade this system's memory.

Video - The Mac Mini includes a DVI-output connector on the back, which can also output VGA, with the included adapter. An analog video out adapter is also available, separately. The DVI and VGA connectors will allow you to connect the Mini to virtually any display.

Memory - The Mac Mini has a very capable processor, but you may not realize its full potential with the limited memory in the machine, 512 MB. Consider upgrading your memory, once your machine arrives. Other World Computing and Crucial are two companies that sale memory, with online selector tools to easily find the right kind.

Applications -

Apple does include iLife '06, which has iPhoto, iMovie, iWeb, iDVD, and Garageband. There is the Safari web browser, some board games, the always useful iCal, AddressBook, iChat, etc. Overall, I was pleased with the included software.

iLife 06 is particularly great. I love the new full-screen photo editing, photo comparing, etc. You can now also order calendars and greeting cards made with your photos, direct from Apple, by using the iPhoto software. iMovie has new themes, which helps make professional-looking home movies, and iDVD now supports widescreen DVDs. iWeb is a brand-new applications, which makes it easy to create professional quality webpages, quickly. I can't wait to rebuild by site using iWeb. Apple continues to make it easy to create music, manage your digital images, make movies, and create web sites. It is important to note this Mac Mini does not include a DVD burner, so the usability of iDVD will not be there, unless you buy an external DVD burner.

A trial (30 day) of iWork '06 is also included, which includes the page layout program Pages, and the presentation program Keynote (which makes presentations that blow away presentations made by rival PowerPoint).

Hard Drive-

This Mac Mini supports a 60 GB hard drive, which will be sufficient for a lot of people. You can certainly hold a lot of documents and music on it. However, you won't fit much video.

Combo Drive -

The Combo Drive in this Mac Mini will allow you to burn music and data CDs, plus watch DVDs. However, you will not be able to burn DVDs.

PowerPC Applications on Intel Machine

If you own a lot of software for Mac, then most of it is probably compiled for PowerPC. Developers are working hard to make titles run natively on both Intel and PowerPC, but many titles are not yet ready. However, many titles you can use on an Intel Mac because Apple has included Rosetta, which translates the PowerPC code into something the Intel machine can read. However, you never see Rosetta for it works quietly in the background and makes running PowerPC applications seamless. Microsoft Office, for example, works perfect under Rosetta. Intensive applications such as Photoshop will run under Rosetta, but it will be slower until Adobe has an Intel compiled version of Photoshop. Rosetta does work and if you add memory to your Mac, Rosetta works even better.

Two titles I use EyeTV and Toast 7 are not yet compiled for Intel, but they run fine on my Intel Mac, under Rosetta. Again, you don't have to open anything special to use Rosetta. Your Mac knows when it needs it and uses it.

Wireless - This Mac Mini includes bluetooth and Airport wireless technologies, standard. Connect wireless keyboards, mice with Bluetooth, and log-onto the Internet with Airport.

Overall, I am very happy with the Mac Mini Core Solo. It should perhaps come with more memory standard, but it is a very impressive machine. It is incredibly fast on Intel-native applications, and it does a very good job running PowerPC applications. The Intel machines are the future of Apple, so there is no question this is a good machine, and this one has enough power to get most tasks completed in a very speedy manner. I'm happy with my Intel Mac, and I look forward to continue exploring it in the coming days