Computer Desktops Prices and Deals

Mac mini is more of a powerhouse, thanks to a new dual core Intel Core i5 processor, discrete AMD Radeon HD graphics, and ultrafast Thunderbolt technology. It also comes with OS X Lion, the world’s most advanced desktop operating system.   The powerhouse Mac mini, now with high speed Thunderbolt
(view larger).

52 of 63 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of five stars Great performance, July 23, 2011
By Brian Stucki (Las Vegas, NV) See all my reviews
(REAL NAME) This review is from: Apple Mac Mini MC816LL/A Desktop (NEWEST VERSION) (Personal Computers) we have installed a good number of machines at Macminicolo, here is what we learned

A fast list:

The base mac mini now starts at $599. This is a $100 decrease from the last base mac mini.

The Mac mini has kept the same basic form. You may be able to still turn the bottom cover to upgrade RAM easily.

Apple eliminated the optical drive across the board with this release.

There are a good number of build to order alternatives. You may be able to use SSD, upgrade any machine to 8GB of RAM, upgrade both interior drives for a total of 1.5TB. Only offers the three stock machines.(But you may be able to upgrade the RAM easily on your.)

The Mac mini has left the Core two Duo family and now uses Intel i5 and i7 processors. A important upgrade. In many cases doubling the performance.

The RAM changed from PC8500 DDR3 1066MHz to PC10600 DDR3 1333MHz.The Apple avilable bound is 8GB, but we are hoping to test 16GB soon.

The Mac mini gains Thunderbolt. This will be a big deal sooner or later as more ThunderBolt Accessories are released.

The mini machine still uses a ridiculously small total of power and is almost silent in operation.

---

Twelve of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of five stars Best computer I have ever owned, hands down, September 21, 2011
By rbnn (Berkeley, CA United States) See all my reviews This review is from: Apple Mac Mini MC816LL/A Desktop (NEWEST VERSION) (Personal Computers) This was an surprising computer, and I have owned PCs, Suns, and Linux machines (this was my 1st Mac though). It is silent in operation, it has a ton of superb and integrated software, and it is really supported and it can do things PCs can not do, or can not do well. I bought mine from the Apple Store, I’m not sure what is gained by going through Amazon.

Quietness: This thing is silent. I upgraded to the SSD, which I propose everyone do, and I can not hear it at all, except once in a while when the fans come on (only Flash can do that). Then, it is much quieter than my old Dell, which was twice as costly and had that constant whine of cheap fans that is signals a PC like buzzing signals the housefly.

Power: This has a great Unix underneath, that’s easy to access via Terminal and emacs. I had to suffer for many years with Cygwin on the PC (Windows pathetic try to copy Unix the world’s worst Unix, constantly crashing etc., bugs galore). I favor this Unix to Linux on the client side simply because all the polish is there I can access really good sound cards, sequencers, video editors, and so on, without spending all my time researching drivers. Linux of course is excellent on the server side, but for client side work, I found the Mac more nice.

Persistence: This is so calm and so dependable that I really never, or nearly never, have to shut down my apps. I only rarely hard boot the machine. That lets me just keep things up indefinitely I have an emacs that is been up for a week, running stuff. It is really hard to explain this to a PC person, but to have the same app just up for weeks and weeks while you hone it and work on it, it is productive.

Support: With Dell, when I had a problem, after paying for support, they could invariably blame many third party software vendor (e.G. Cyberlink) who in turn could blame the hardware, or just tell me to live with it (e.G. Noisy fans). With Apple, the problems do not occur in the 1st place, or they’re solved.

Usefulness: You just get more stuff done with this. The software just works better.

Cheap: there’s so much free software that comes with this that you just can not get on a PC or could be really costly. Sequencers, video editors. Preview could cost $200 to get on a PC (I know, I paid that to get Acrobat Standard, but Preview already has the same functionality). With Windows, it was so hit or miss if anything you bought or downloaded could work at all, or could be a Trojan or many buggy part of junk.With the Mac I get all types of software tools that could cost a fortune on the PC the whole XCode suite is just free, something comparable for Windows is four figures.

Sound: the sound on this is better than my Dell’s with a higher end sound card.

No Junk! what is on there, works, overall. And it is there for a reason.

One example of the “No Junk” policy helped me.

My (much more expensive) Dell had a Blu Ray player. Sounds great, does not it and you can not get one for a Mac. But this was a common Dell/Windows/PC world Blu Ray player: in other words, junk. It was very noisy, particularly with the noiser PC on. The software Dell shipped was junkier, “Cyberlink PowerDVD”, just, complete, complete junk. The Dell/Cyberlink so called “Blu ray” player not only lacked a step frame feature, and only ever could play about half of Blu Rays at all, but the whole thing stopped working a year after I bought it! seemingly many Cyberlink “upgrade” ruined it. (And dealing with PC software vendors the hours of wasted time, the constant demands to reinstall and reboot everything no matter what, their inevitable conclusion that the problem lies with many other vendor’s product I don’t miss that, I can tell you)

On my Mac, there’s no Blu Ray player, true. Just use up $100 on a separate Blu Ray player. I did this, it works way better and more reliably than the PC blu ray ever did. And the Mac is so calm, I do not have to turn it off to watch a Blu Ray. It is just an example of how on paper , many PC feature sounds great; but in reality , Apple’s implementation saves time because you do not have to fight the junk software and junk hardware with which common PCs are crammed to the gills.

Downsides:

The major downside is the learning curve (for a PC user): it can take some weeks to get the system configured how you want it and were used to where everything goes. And I do not really know a single good reference, other than a friend, experience, Apple Support, and Google. For many Windows programs, particularly games, you need Parallels. Flash is worse on Mac than on the PC. As well, you want at least four GB.

Final hints:

You want at least 4GB RAM. I strongly recommend an SSD also.

I personally favor a gaming mouse+SteerMouse, and a good mechanical touch PC keyboard, to the Magic Trackpad/Apple Keyboard that Apple sells, but I know people who favor the TrackPad.

---

Six of six people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of five stars 2011 Mac Mini is a Winner in comparison to the standard tower PC, September 20, 2011
By RFlyer (Portland, OR) See all my reviews This review is from: Apple Mac Mini MC816LL/A Desktop (NEWEST VERSION) (Personal Computers) When my Windows 6700 Core Duo PC needed a new power supply, new RAM (the old stuff could get hot and hummm), and the fans sounded like a medium range jet powered helicopter trying to take off just from opening email I knew it was time for something new. I have thought about making the Mac jump from Windows for a long time but was put off by the all in one iMac’s since I already have two big dual displays. Having an iPhone and iPad already I thought it can be time to finish the trifecta and the release of the new Mac Mini pushed me to purchase. WOW is this an awesome and powerful little computer. It is easy to setup, its a gorgeous still small design, it does not increase the temp in the room with fans and power intake like my old tower, and its been worry free so far. I didn’t overly enjoy having to learn iPhoto and still recommend Picasa over iPhoto. Good thing Picasa is free in the Mac App store. The Mail app is pretty worthless I believe, stick to webmail and things will stay much simpler. Dual monitor support was a breeze with the buy of a Apple Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter MB570Z/A and the included HDMI to DVI adapter. I also bought an Apple Time Capsule 2TB (4TH GENERATION) simultaneously and it also has been a great N Router also as an auto backup for the Mac. I did not waste the money on an Apple OEM RAM upgrade and went with the Kingston Apple 8GB Kit (2x4GB Modules) 1066MHz DDR3 SODIMM iMac and Macbook Memory (KTA MB1066K2/8G) and bought the upgrade through Amazon. When the memory arrived it was easy to install and now I have got 8G of RAM for a small percentage of the cost that Apple wanted. OSX Lion hasn’t been without issues but Apple is doing a reasonable job with updates.

---

The final All in One Goes All Out. The 27 inch iMac features a smart LED backlit, edge to edge glass display (see bigger image).

81 of 81 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of five stars very fast, beautiful screen, great design, May 13, 2011
By Samer A “Samer” (Texas,USA) See all my reviews () This review is from: Apple iMac MC814LL/A 27 Inch Desktop (NEWEST VERSION) (Personal Computers) A notice of sorts: I write iOS and Mac apps for a living. I have written some apps that I sell in the store, so I work full time with a Mac. I tend to purchase a new computer every year, because that spinning rainbow wheel begins to eat away at my productivity as my projects grow in size, so I like to have the new and greatest as it becomes available. I earlier owned a Macbook Pro 17″ (actually reviewed earlier on by me) but decided to switch to a desktop for the added power and screen real estate. I used “Migration Assistant” to bring over my complete user account to the new iMac so that I was up and running in some hours.

THE SHORT VERSION
Without going into too much back history, I can say the “short version” of this review is that it’s a great, speedy and powerful computer. I loaded it up with another 8GB of memory (Apple offers you an 8gb upgrade for many of money.You can purchase an extra eight to bring this machine up to twelve for half of what they charge you) and it just flies. I notice that apps that used to bounce for some number of seconds (sometimes 10+ bounces) now just bounce once before being completely open and operational. The screen is gorgeous, the all in one design is great and and the 1TB drive is spacious for all types of media.

THE LONGER VERSION

SPEED/MEMORY
As mentioned, I upgraded the machine to 12GB of memory. (Corsair eight GB DDR3 Laptop Memory Kit CMSO8GX3M2A1333C9) I greatly recommend to purchase at least an extra four to put into your computer. It has four slots, which is great, because that is many of room for memory expansion. I am letting you know all this because I have not really booted the computer up with only 4GB. I imagine it is still pretty speedy (thanks mainly in part to the new Intel CPU) but it will not be able to load up as many apps now with ease. Installing memory is really simple (took about 60 seconds start to finish) so I can not recommend it enough.

The new processor is unbelievable. It tears through tasks. My app projects that could literally on occasion take one to two minutes to build on my Macbook Pro take a small percentage of the time on here (as fast as 10 15 seconds) and they are projects that are really big in size. I also noticed that ripping DVDs to mp4s was many smoother and faster on the new iMac. It may go through about two hours of video in 20 30 minutes (at a high quality). There are tons of benchmarks floating around on the internet, so I recommend searching around for the speed of this specific iMac. It is impressively fast.

SCREEN
One of the big reasons I went for an iMac over a new Macbook Pro this year was to get access to the super high res 27″ screen. Whenever I see these in the Apple store, I’m generally in awe at just how much you may be able to fit, and with so much clearness. Its native resolution is 2560×1440 which is much higher than the common “1080p” (1920×1080 or the MBP’s 1920×1200). That means you may be able to fit many windows side by side, or blow up your Safari window to full size and experience the web in a whole new way. I manage many windows of Xcode side by side now with ease and still have room to space for chat programs and Twitter.

The size really is huge. You must stand in front of one and use it to really appreciate just how much screen real estate you get when you go to this size especially at this resolution.

ALL IN ONE DESIGN / PORTS
So one of the other benefits to the iMac of course is its “all in one” design. The box it comes in has styrofoam (which is unfortunate, given Apple’s commitment to being green) but you just pop those out, , then slide out your computer, unravel your power cord, plug in, and you are good to go. With this specific model, you get the wireless keyboard and the “magic mouse.” If you may be able to pay for the extra seventy dollars, I’d pick up the trackpad. It is so much better than the mouse, and really easy to use. It also has a big tracking surface letting you control your apps in interesting ways.

There are four USB ports and two thunderbolt ports. Thunderbolt is great, but it is so new that I have not found anything to really test it. You are supposed to be able power up to two other full size screens which is awesome, but I have not tested it personally and I also do not own any native thunderbolt devices. I am waiting for external hard drive makers to come out with Thunderbolt enabled drives too, because it’ll be way faster than USB.

Speaking of USB, the four are all lined up right beside each other but what is nice is that they’re lined up vertically so it is a bit harder for a fat device to get in the way of two ports, so that is great. You’d have to have something that’s large (which I am sure is possible) but for the most part, the ports seem distanced enough to be able to plug in whatever you want.

Oh, and , you get a fitted SD card reader which is nice. It is below the DVD drive on the side.

GRAPHICS
I tested out many games running in the native resolution and they play without a hiccup of any kind. Games at 2560×1440 are incredible it’s a whole new experience, honestly. You may also search around online for benchmarks for this specific graphics card (the 6970M). It is a able card. (Note: The M means it is really the mobile variant of the desktop 6970, but it is still powerful and will meet most/all of your gaming needs.)

MAC OS X
I will not really talk about too much here. Mac OS X was around for ages, and 10.7 is right around the corner (due this summer.) I used to be a Windows man but after using Macs for some number of years now, I do not see myself ever “going back.” I have transformed many of my friends and family to the Apple world and they all love it. I particularly love that all new Macs come with the new iLife (For photos, videos, etc) and the newly presented Mac App Store. I have loaded up my computer with tons of apps that I could have never recognized existed without the app store. I know Apple did not create software, but packaging it all in an organized store right there on your desktop is great.

OTHER THOUGHTS
The 1st big downside to this computer is the sheer total of heat it produces. I walked outside my home office and noticed that the rest of my house felt about 5 10 degrees cooler. If you touch the iMac after it is been on for a while, you feel like you could cook something on it. It is seriously hot.

The only positive thing about the heat is that the computer remains whisper calm, while running a full Flash video in HD. (Flash is notorious for spinning up your computer’s fans. The new variant is many nicer though, particularly if the web site updated their own Flash video, because its graphics accelerated, so your CPU will not die trying to render).

Another negative I read about this computer all the time is that it has no blu ray drive. I personally do not care that it does not have a blu ray drive because I favor streaming media nevertheless but I can understand why it is viewed as an vital missing feature. The screen size and high resolution really could be nice to see a full 1080p video on, but I really do not think we will ever see Apple supply a blu ray drive, particularly when they’re in the game of selling movies via their iTunes store.


FINAL THOUGHTS
Overall, I think if you are in the market for a computer that will last you a while (or you are like me and generally have to have the new and greatest) then this is a great contender. For me, I was just instantly sold on it when I saw it uses the new “sandy bridge” Intel chips, and its high res screen. If you shop around, a 27″ screen at 2560×1440 can cost upwards of one thousand dollars, so to get one built into a powerful, able computer looks like a steal.


If you have any questions or requests for information, let me know in the comments and I will respond/update!

---

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of five stars An amazing machine what else may be said?, June 4, 2011
By buyer Vote Addict “JZ” (Chi town) See all my reviews () This review is from: Apple iMac MC814LL/A 27 Inch Desktop (NEWEST VERSION) (Personal Computers) The other reviews have hit it right on and I am not sure I can add anything more, but I will give it a shot.

This computer is amazing. Not only is it a sleek and sexy machine, but wow is it powerful! I upgraded from an older Macbook primarily because I wanted a Mac with a powerful video card for video editing, photo editing and many gaming. So far this computer handled everything I have thrown at it. It is fast, calm and takes the imac to the next level. I goed back and forth between this and the cheaper variants and the smaller screen. I am happy I made the choice I did and got the 27″. After spending some hours on the computer, looking at my Samsung 1080p looks the way standard meaning did after you 1st saw HD! The clearness of the super high resolution monitor is by far the best looking screen on the market. I decided if you’re going to use up the money, go for the best. Sure there’s one model higher that may be bought directly from Apple, but as common delivered on the best price out there! For all the Mac haters out there that question the premium price Apple charges, there’s a reason they can command the $$$ they do. They’re powerful machines and works of art. No Windows established machine has the same lines as these beautiful machines. Apple has by far the best designers and engineers in the world.

The computer is much heavier than I projected, primarily because the aluminum case is hard. The great part is though it’s a heavy computer, it tilts with the push of a finger and stays exactly where you moved it. I have read complaints that this computer does not come in a matte screen. Sure the glossy screen does cause reflections in bright light, but so far I think the reflections are worth the trade off for the complete dazzle the glossy screen gives.

Immediately on its arrival I upgraded the RAM to 16 gigs. It is as easy as removing three screws, popping out the old memory and filling all four slots with four gigs of DDR3 1333 mhz RAM.

The only negatives I can list are that the computer runs hot. I did purchase an app to monitor the temps and so far it is in line with my macbook. I think it just looks hotter because the aluminum disperses the heat through the top of the computer. When you touch the top of the computer you’re amazed at the heat coming out. I also wish Apple supplied this computer with a wireless keyboard with the number pad. They do sell the corded variant with the number pad, but I really wanted to stay wireless. I do miss the number pad, I am not going to lie. Entering passwords is strange using the numbers on the regular keyboard! At many point I hope they offer a wireless keyboard with the number pad. The sound is not overly amazing but I generally use external speakers anyway so it is not a problem. It is a step up from the sound out of a macbook for sure, but it’s aimed down and not at you. The bass is decent though for fitted sound if you do not want to add 2.1 speakers.

I can not end my review on a negative note though. The fitted isight camera in HD is an awesome touch. I can not believe the quality of the camera to be honest. I look at myself on the screen and every imperfection of my face is captured. Do I really look that old!

I expect this computer to last me the next five years and I am sure it’ll dont have problem doing just that! I can not wait to see what accessories the Thunderbolt ports wind up behind. I’d like to run and extra two 27″ screens at the same resolution using the ports sooner or later. Apple is typically way ahead of the curve so I dont have doubt it’s a technology that will catch on and will be amazing! There are many manufactures with merchandise in the pipeline that will support Thunderbolt so I hope to see stuff hitting the market in the next not many months.

You only live once, and life is short. You deserve the best, and this machine won’t disappoint!!

Update: I upgraded to the same memory that JFLY referenced in his post. It was cheap, it’s fast, and I dont have complaints at all about it! Better than paying Apple $600 for a 16 gig memory upgrade! Also I can not wait to see what this computer will do with the newest variant of OS X being released in July! nobody really mentioned that this computer is really a 64 bit machine. I have installed windows seven 64 bit and I’m amazed at how it also runs on this computer. XP on my older macbook was never 100. It was good, it just never seemed natural. Windows seven on this machine running in bootcamp is amazing.

---

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of five stars New Apple User For Life, July 3, 2011
By Jared D. Lane (White Pine, TN USA) See all my reviews
(REAL NAME) () This review is from: Apple iMac MC814LL/A 27 Inch Desktop (NEWEST VERSION) (Personal Computers) I’m a long time PC user. I had my doubts about switching to a Mac but I have had such good luck out of iPhones and iPads it seemed like it was worth the risk, I just wish I had done it sooner. The 27″ iMac is a thing of beauty. No cables for keyboard, mouse, and Internet keeps a tidy work/play space. The screen is big and the colors are beautiful. I opted to buy an extra eight MB of RAM from cossair and installed it before I plugged the thing in. Installation took minutes and this thing is speedy. I do many of amateur photography using lightroom 3. My pictures look great on the screen and lightroom responds super fast. Many people complained about the glossy screen, and I see where they’re coming from. But I do all my editing in low light so it just does not make any difference to me. The operating system is really easy to use and the transition from windows was painless. It’s AWESOME to be able to use my computer without constant popups, antivirus updates, or the plethora of unwanted programs that like to run in the background of a windows system. The best way to describe the experience is clean. If I want it, it’s there, if I dont, it stays out of the way. The only issue I have had is many Internet connectivity problems. The iMac connected to my wireless network with no problems but I could sporadically lose connection while browsing the web. A ten minute call to apple support had the problem resolved. I did not drop any stars because I’m really happy that I got a chance to call on apple support. The experience is by far the best I have ever had with ANY technical support. I went to the apple web site, used “express lane support”. The web site asked for the kind of equipment I used, what kind of problem I haved, and the serial number of the computer. They then gave an choice to have a technician call me (no waiting on hold!). I opted for someone to call me “now”. Literally the phone ringed before I could get up from the computer and find it. The tech was from the US, knowledgeable, and had the problem fixed in minutes. I was so impressed I signed up for the three year warranty over the phone. I have nothing but good things to say about the complete experience. I’m now a Mac user for life.

---