Desktop Reviews

Apple Mac mini MC239LL-A Desktop specifications:

• Ships in Frustration Free Packaging
• 2.53GHz Intel Core two Duo Processor
• 320GB SATA Hard Drive, DVD SuperDrive, 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics
• Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard Operating System

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Apple Mac mini MC239LL/A Desktop Description:
Upgraded with a faster 2.53 GHz Intel Core two Duo processor, Apple’s groundbreaking Mac mini desktop is a great choice for home computing tasks and creating a digital media hub. It fits everything that makes a Mac a Mac inside an elegant 2 inch tall, 6.5 inch square just add your keyboard, mouse, and display. The Mac mini also will include excellent video processing power from the integrated NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics chip, an ultra fast FireWire port, and dual video outputs a Mini DisplayPort and a Mini DVI port.

Inside its 2 inch tall, 6.5 inch square anodized aluminum enclosure, the Mac mini houses the fast Intel Core two Duo processor. Officially, Mac mini is a desktop computer. But because it can go places no other desktop can go, it is been used everywhere from boats to server rooms, as the heart of an entertainment center and to power robots. Small, elegant, and unassuming, it has a sleek, anodized aluminum case and clean, white surface. Continuing Apple’s commitment to the environment, the Mac mini exceeds current Energy Star 5.0 prerequisites by consuming less than 14 watts when idle 45 less power than the last generation. It is also made from greatly recyclable aluminum, uses PVC free interior parts and cables, holds no brominated flame retardants, and features smaller packaging. It comes pre loaded with Apple’s Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard operating system an operating system custom designed for the advanced technology inside and it also comes with the iLife ‘09 suite of applications, as well as iPhoto, iMovie, Garageband, and iTunes. Key plans Faster 2.53 GHz Intel Core two Duo processor helps you breeze through everyday tasks like emailing, web browsing, and working with papers, spreadsheets, and presentations in iWork or Microsoft Office for Mac both sold separately. 320 GB hard drive 5400 RPM 4 GB installed RAM 1066 MHz DDR3, maximum capacity NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256 MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with major memory for an remaining everyday graphics experience 8x slot loading SuperDrive with double layer DVD support DVD&plusmn,R DL/DVD&plusmn,RW/CD RW Wi Fi wireless networking based on 802.11n specification, 802.11a/b/g compatible Gigabit Ethernet wired networking 10/100/1000BASE T Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR Enhanced Data Rate for connecting with peripherals like keyboards, mice and cell phones Dual video output alternatives with Mini DisplayPort and Mini DVI includes Mini DVI to DVI Adapter, optional Mini DVI to VGA Adapter Built in mono speaker Combined optical digital output/headphone output also will include line in/microphone jack Dimensions: 6.5 x 6.5 x two inches WxDxH Weight: 2.9 pounds What’s in the box
Mac mini, Mini DVI to DVI Adapter, 110W power adapter and power cord, install/restore DVDs, printed and electronic documentation Limited Warranty And Service
The Mac mini comes with 90 days of free telephone support and a one year restricted warranty. Buy the AppleCare Protection Plan to extend your service and support to three years from your computer’s buy date. Only the AppleCare Protection Plan gives you with direct telephone support from Apple technical experts and the assurance that repairs will be handled by Apple authorized technicians using real Apple parts. Key Features Intel Core two Duo Processor
Experience improved energy efficiency and improved multitasking with the 2.53 GHz Intel Core two Duo processor, which also offers an ultra fast 1066 MHz front side bus FSB and a big three MB L2 cache. An L2, or secondary, cache temporarily stores data, and a bigger L2 cache may help speed up your system’s performance. The FSB carries data between the CPU and RAM, and a faster front side bus will deliver better in general performance. The hafnium infused circuitry which decreases electrical current leakage in transistors conserves more energy. With a considerable three MB of shared L2 cache, data and information may be kept close to the two processor cores, largely rising performance and allowing the complete system to work more proficiently. And, because the processor cores share the L2 cache, either can use the complete total if the other happens to be idle. Graphics Processor
The Mac mini features the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics processor for up to five times better graphics performance than its predecessor, and its dual display support can drive two Apple or third party displays with Mini DisplayPort or DVI connections. The NVIDIA GeForce 9400M shares 256 MB of DDR3 SDRAM with major memory. You will notice the difference when you work with high resolution photos and high definition video, where graphics intensive features in iPhoto and iMovie are smoother. And 3D game play from Spore to Call of Duty is faster and more responsive. Wireless Connectivity
The fitted 802.11n wireless networking gives up to five times the performance and twice the range of 802.11g, but it is also backward compatible with 802.11a/b/g routers, enabling you to communicate with the a large range of Wi Fi resources. It works seamlessly with the new AirPort Extreme with 802.11n. Use the fitted Bluetooth wireless technology to connect to your PDA or cell phone, synchronize addresses, or download pictures from your cell phone. You may also use a wireless headset for iChat audio chats and VoIP calls also as quickly share files with a colleague. Pre Loaded with Mac OS X Snow Leopard and iLife ‘09 Every Mac comes with Mac OS X Snow Leopard, the world’s most advanced operating system, and iLife, Apple’s groundbreaking suite of applications for managing photos, making movies and creating and learning to play music. Snow Leopard builds on a decade of OS X novelty and success with hundreds of refinements, new core technologies and out of the box support for Microsoft Exchange. ILife features iPhoto, to easily manage and manage photos, iMovie with powerful easy to use new features like Precision Editor, video stabilization and advanced drag and drop, and GarageBand which introduces a whole new way to assist you learn to play piano and guitar. Installed software
Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard includes Time Machine, fast Look, Spaces, Spotlight, Dashboard, Mail, iChat, Safari, Address Book, QuickTime, iCal, DVD Player, Photo Booth, Front Row, Xcode Developer Tools iLife ‘09 includes iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, iWeb, iDVD Environmentally Friendly Design Because Apple designs both hardware and software, we can decrease our environmental footprint in ways others can not. For starters, a greatly economical power supply decreases the total of power wasted when bringing electricity from the wall to your Mac. Unlike many of PCs, a Mac uses energy efficient hardware parts that work hand in hand with the operating system to conserve power even between keystrokes. A Mac also does not contain many of toxic materials. All Mac displays are mercury and arsenic free, and the interior parts are free of polyvinyl chloride PVC and brominated flame retardants BFRs. Efficient Power Supply
Mac mini will include a greatly economical power supply that decreases the total of power wasted when bringing electricity from the wall to your computer. Lower power intake decreases energy bills and lessens the environmental affect of greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. Advanced Power Management
Unlike many of Windows based PC systems, Mac mini uses energy efficient hardware parts that work hand in hand with the operating system to conserve power. Mac OS X spins down hard drives and activates sleep mode. And it balances tasks across both central processors and graphics processors. Mac OS X never misses a power saving opportunity, no matter how small. It regulates the processor between keystrokes, decreasing power between the letters you type. That is just one of many ways Apple manages small amounts of power that add up to big savings. Mac mini is a great example of Apple’s energy efficient design philosophy. It uses less than 14 watts of power when idle that’s something no other desktop computer can do.2 ENERGY STAR Qualification
Mac mini meets the stringent low power prerequisites set by the EPA, giving it ENERGY STAR qualification. ENERGY STAR 5.0 sets considerably higher efficiency limitations for power supplies and violent limitations for the computer’s common yearly power intake.

Apple Mac mini MC239LL/A Desktop Reviews:

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42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of five stars
Great, Great Little Box,
November 5, 2009

By&nbsp,Glenn R. Howes Nashua, NH See all my reviews

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1st of all my credentials, I have been writing Mac software since 1992. I have had on my different desks a Mac Plus, Performa 605, PowerBook 100, some number of iBooks, PowerBook G4s, MacBook, PowerMacs 7600, 8100, G3, G4 and G5, a couple recent generation iMacs and a last generation Mac Mini. I have seen Macs come and go, and I just love this little desktop. It’s exactly what I need for collecting a big desktop application using Apple’s development tools. What I need is a reasonably fast processor, Firewire, 4GB of RAM and many monitor support. I don’t need a big box filled with disks. I don’t need many super fast GPU. I don’t need PCI cards. If I did, then yeah, a Mac Pro could be sitting under my desk sucking up the Watts.

My company also has provided me with a monstrous, completely loaded, Dell whose case could hold upwards of 30 Mac Mini’s. In the one processor intensive task I do doing a full rebuild of a big C++ application the Xenon processor and desktop hard drives in the Dell can complete the task in six minutes while the Core two Duo processor and laptop drives in the Mini can do the task in 13 minutes. If I doed that task many times a day as opposed to some number of times a week then I could have to move up to a high end iMac or Mac Pro, but I do not and I can live with the more common single change, compile, link time of 14 seconds on the Mini versus a erratic six seconds on the Dell for whatever reason Visual Studio on the PC will on occasion take over a minute to do this.

Why is this Mac Mini a better value then the MC238LL/A at the lower price? Because it adds more RAM, a bigger hard drive, and a somewhat faster CPU, and I do not have to pop it open to max it out. All three things together make it worth the extra dough. If you’re just going to use it for a home theatre PC, as many people do, then added expense is most likely not worth it and you may want to go with the lesser model.

Why could you decide this over a current generation iMac? The iMacs are great machines, and may be ordered as quite the powerhouses with i5 or i7 processors, and with desktop level graphics engines, but they may be overkill and in the long run it may not seem right to be ordering machines where you can not reuse the last machine’s monitor. If you have a monitor already, the Mini will be some number of hundred dollars cheaper. As well, if the monitor has many inputs, the Mini bought today may be retired as a home server in a couple years with the Mini of the future stacked upon it sharing the same monitor. While the newest iMacs do let there use as an external Display Port monitor, its still a bit rigid tying the computer to the display. Having said this, I like the iMac too, and if you need a monitor and have the room, it can be the way to go.

Why is this Mac Mini much better than last Mac Minis? The Mini has had some number of value adding changes over the last couple years: going from PowerPC to Intel, adding many monitor support, adding FireWire support, and to get a decent GPU in the NVidia 9400M. This is a real computer. Not many dinky Ion laptop. It can do computationally intensive things, like in my case collecting hundreds of thousands of lines of C++ code. And still it’s tiny, and calm.

So, yeah, I like this box.

What about the almost as compact Dell Inspiron Zino HD? Well presumably you could purchase the Mini because it’s a Mac. The Zino is surely cheaper, and is a valid competitor if you setted up a home theatre PC, and could use the somewhat better video card and Blueray choice. If I were purchasing a Mini just to run Windows Media Center, I’d surely be open to to get a Zino. I do not see an overlap between the uses of this non home theatre Mini and the more multimedia centric Zino. I think you’ll find the Mini better made and faster at processor intensive operations: and it is certainly smaller.

Anyway, installation could hardly be simpler. Pop it out of the box, plug in a keyboard and mouse. It comes with a mini DVI to DVI adaptor which will connect to any modern monitor, and you may be able to get a mini Display Port adaptor individually to add many monitor support. Power it up and you’ll soon be computing. It is nice, fast and calm. Lots of USB ports 5. Add up whatever peripherals you need: speakers, external hard drives look at to get drives with Firewire , they’re much faster and dependable than USB 2.0.

My wife has an older Mac Mini which she runs Windows Vista in Boot Camp mode and has done so without problem for over a year. I could think this Mini could be better as a Windows seven box with the much improved graphics chips allowing for better use of the Aero interface.



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Eleven of eleven people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of five stars
Well worth the price,
November 22, 2009

By&nbsp,Jesse Bye California See all my reviews
REAL NAME
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Background: I am a freelance web designer and developer, also as a musician. I mainly use apps for graphic both vector and raster design, coding, testing websites, and notating music.

After debating if I should get a Macbook Pro, Mac Mini, or iMac, I decided on the Mac Mini for some reasons:

+ it’s very compact, taking up little desk space. I also like the fact that it has five USB ports, eliminating the need for a hub.

+ It has the same specifications as the higher class 13″ Macbook Pro, for quite many less money minus the portability, of course.

+ though I like the idea of iMac’s all in one design and simplicity, I do not like the idea of my computer’s parts being tied in with my monitor. With the advent of Display port on the new iMacs, I do not know if the iMac’s display could still function if the other parts died. The Mini is not tied to any specific display, which I like.

+ The cheaper price compared to the iMac and Macbook Pro allowed me to have more money to use up on many apps that I needed.

As part of a goal to change my life, the Mini fits the bill perfectly. It’s nice looking, runs silently although it is not totally silent, and keeps my desk clean.

I also like the world of Mac apps much better than Windows. It looks like Mac developers have more creativity and are not scared to attempt new, different approaches to things. And I really like many of the OS X features like Stacks, Time Machine, Dashboard, etc. It all looks intuitive and simple unlike many things PC. And for development, having access to the Terminal is indispensable. I have also managed to get Internet Explorer six running using WineBottler without having to resort to Boot Camp or a virtual machine, which is convenient for testing my websites.

As far as performance goes, the Mini is fast indeed. In spite of the slow hard drive speed 5400 rpm, booting and loading apps is fast. Thanks to the 4GB of RAM, applications like Illustrator and Photoshop run comfortably side by side. It also performs well on CPU intensive tasks like encoding music or videos. I have still to tax the graphics card , but I imagine that it’ll perform well.

One of the reasons I bought the Mac Mini was because I increasedly disenchanted with Microsoft’s offerings. With each new release of Windows, the enhancements seemed to be fewer and farther between. Newly, I tried Windows seven on my Thinkpad T60. Many of the new features are nice, like Aero snap, but never essential. Many things were downright frustrating. Aero effects could on occasion be sluggish, making it painful to move or resize any windows. Browsing the internet, pages could frequently time out, though they could load perfectly under Windows XP. The more I used Windows, the more I found myself wishing for my old Powermac G4. Those reasons along with some number of others convinced me that Mac was the only way to go.

CONCLUSION:

The Mini is a great little machine that’s perfect for my needs. I can not imagine ever needing a full desktop again after using one of these. And I can confirm the adage that “once you go Mac, you will never go back.”



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Five of five people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of five stars
Very Happy with Mac Mini,
November 17, 2009

By&nbsp,Vox Locus “Vox Locus” Tulsa See all my reviews

Verified PurchaseWhat’s this?

I have lots of Mac computers, both the ones I’m in charge of at work, and my own at home.

This 2.53ghz Mac Mini is my desktop at work, pushing to the side a MacBook Pro 15″ 2.2 ghz

Why?

I used the MacBook Pro usually as a desktop, driving a 24″ monitor, and using the 15″ MBP as the secondary monitor.

I do many of spreadsheet work, and decided the Mac Mini’s capability to drive two 24″ monitors at the same time could be a big help.

And it sure is.

I’m now running a Dell LED 24″ and an HP that offers pivot for when I have to view all of a really long document.

I am happy with the buy. Tho the Mini sits about two feet from my ears, I can not hear it run.



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18 Responses to “apple mac mini”

1. Benjamin I Says:
   May 1, 2009 at 9:27 pm

   I did try Staples, no deals worth mentioning

2. Anne G. Says:
   May 2, 2009 at 2:21 pm

   It’s on all price comparison web sites, just look around if you dont think this is the best deal

3. Christina M. Says:
   May 3, 2009 at 1:53 pm

   wouldnt want to get this one refurbished haha

4. Herbert K Says:
   May 4, 2009 at 8:46 pm

   Where can i find a coupon for apple mac mini valid in Portland

5. Alice I. Says:
   May 5, 2009 at 6:48 pm

   Check any price comparison web sites for lowest price.

6. Jonathan C Says:
   May 6, 2009 at 7:32 pm

   Don’t think closeout prices are a deal, i would buy it now.

7. Maura Says:
   May 7, 2009 at 8:48 pm

   Compare apple mac prices here or on ebay, is my best guess

8. Diana U. Says:
   May 8, 2009 at 8:18 pm

   It’s hard to find it on a discount or closeout sales

9. Phyllis A. Says:
   May 9, 2009 at 4:42 pm

   Check Amazon reviews

10. Irene L. Says:
    May 10, 2009 at 8:42 pm

    price of apple mac is a great deal for desktops

11. Harold76 Says:
    May 11, 2009 at 3:17 pm

    Anyone know of a coupon for Nashville area?

12. Fern Says:
    May 12, 2009 at 3:40 pm

    Very good value for the money.

13. Kieth Says:
    May 13, 2009 at 3:10 pm

    Enough comparisons, just buy it.

14. Henry77 Says:
    May 14, 2009 at 4:50 pm

    Will check local outlet for any discounted deals on

15. Wayne T Says:
    May 15, 2009 at 0:59 pm

    So far the best offer for apple mac can usually be found at an online dealer

16. Annie S. Says:
    May 16, 2009 at 6:59 pm

    What is the warranty like?

17. Troy B Says:
    May 17, 2009 at 4:51 pm

    Looked for coupon sites

18. Eddie B Says:
    May 18, 2009 at 7:56 pm

    I have one on sale, best price, email me if interested