New Mac Minis Released. Time to Buy

[arn]

Anyone who was wondering about the Mac Mini should consider buying it now. It just got updated.

It's not the highest specs, but the new release has some nice upgrades.

http://www.apple.com/macmini/

arn

[Diablohead]

5 usb slots, now that is good

Ah snap, it's also £110 more expensive now, use to be £389 for the entry package and now they are asking £499!

[yourofl10]

Originally Posted by Diablohead

5 usb slots, now that is good

Yes very good

[Zwilnik]

Originally Posted by Diablohead

5 usb slots, now that is good

Ah snap, it's also £110 more expensive now, use to be £389 for the entry package and now they are asking £499!

Yup. Same with the new iMacs too. Apple's re-adjusted their prices to cover the falling £. (prices are roughly equivalent of $-£ exchange + VAT).

The good news is that the entry level Mac mini is now practically the same as the more expensive one in primary features (superdrive as standard) but just has a smaller drive + memory. £30 at Crucial.com and a decent external FW 800 drive and you've got very solid server/devkit/media player.

[Diablohead]

Originally Posted by Zwilnik

Yup. Same with the new iMacs too. Apple's re-adjusted their prices to cover the falling £. (prices are roughly equivalent of $-£ exchange + VAT).

The good news is that the entry level Mac mini is now practically the same as the more expensive one in primary features (superdrive as standard) but just has a smaller drive + memory. £30 at Crucial.com and a decent external FW 800 drive and you've got very solid server/devkit/media player.

Yeah you are easily getting your money's worth with the new mini, better clock speeds and extra usb just to name a few benefits, another 6 weeks yet before I order my own so I will be looking out for what other users say about the new mini.

I would buy a laptop for a few hundred more but i'm extremely tight for cash

[RetroGuy]

Are these actually for sale right now? I know they were announced today. I've been holding off on a Mini purchase for exactly this reason and I'm very pleased with the upgrades for the same $600 as before.

[arn]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy

Are these actually for sale right now? I know they were announced today. I've been holding off on a Mini purchase for exactly this reason and I'm very pleased with the upgrades for the same $600 as before.

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/hom...ni?mco=MTE3MDI

Shipping in 24 hours.

arn

[RetroGuy]

Thanks arn.

Does anyone know how easy it is to upgrade RAM in a mini by yourself, or does that void any warranty? I see from the store I can spend $50 to upgrade from 1gb to 2gb. I'm a PC user and I'm used to buying memory much cheaper.

[Diablohead]

Usually when you open a case you lose all warranty, so up to you.

[Zwilnik]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy

Thanks arn.

Does anyone know how easy it is to upgrade RAM in a mini by yourself, or does that void any warranty? I see from the store I can spend $50 to upgrade from 1gb to 2gb. I'm a PC user and I'm used to buying memory much cheaper.

The official word from Apple (according to MacWorld here http://www.macworld.com/article/4223...iniinside.html ) is that the memory in the Mac mini *is* user upgradeable unless you break something while doing it.

Basically that means you have to follow the online guides and have the right tools or you'll mess the case up, but it's fairly easy to do once the case is open.

*Don't* just buy cheap PC memory for it though. Apple's memory spec is a lot tougher than generic PCs and Macs actually check all sorts of speed and compatibility bits on their memory before letting them work, so generic PC memory has a very good chance of just not working.

Crucial.com is a very good source of memory that's guaranteed to be Mac compatible and they're nice and cheap. (Apple's memory prices are aimed at people who don't want to mess about and just have their new Mac arrive already upgraded for them).