What’s Your Favorite New Mac Accessory?

By Carol Mary Miller • Wednesday, October 18, 2006 • Home » Forum Topics »

miniStack Feeling down? Try some retail therapy. It’s good for the soul, helps the economy, and keeps your credit card working.

My therapy sessions got me a new Intel-based Mac mini and a hunger for something else.

What I found is exactly what I needed. A mini Stack.

The first problem I encountered was husband Jack.

“Jack, honey. Don’t you think I need to add something? How about a miniStack?”

I’m sorry. I just wasn’t paying attention to the mud puddle I was slowly walking into.

“Carol, honey. From my point of view you already have a mini stack. Go for something bigger.”

Men.

We don’t review hardware on Mac360 as often as software because we don’t buy as much hardware and it costs more money. Duh, Carol.

Regardless, we decided we needed another Mac to handle day-to-day chores and work for everyone.

Jack has his PowerMac, I’ve got a PowerBook, but there’s not much to share with kids, neighbor kids, visiting relatives, etc.

A brand new Mac mini with a SuperDrive and a gig of RAM now graces the family room.

Uh oh. Backup. Jack suggested an external hard disk.

What I found is the coolest, niftiest, most attractive and useful external hard drive ever. So let me gush a little.

I’ts the miniStack from Newer Tech. $139 got us an external drive with 160 gigs of storage and a few things everyone needs more of.

The miniStack is loaded. On the side is a USB port and a Firewire port. Big whoop, huh Carol? That’s on the side.

On the back are two more USB ports and two more Firewire ports. There’s just not enough of each on any Mac these days.

Hey, we have EyeTV, a new Canon camera (Jack’s idea of retail therapy), an iPod dock, a USB sound system, and other goodies.

Ports disappear faster than attorneys at Macworld Expo.

The miniStack is the same size as a Mac mini and sits undernearth a mini as if it was made to do so (I’m suspecting that it was).

It’s not quite as thick as a mini but looks like it belongs there.

On the back of the miniStack are all those ports, a fan exhaust port (already better than most external hard drives—a fan).

There’s also a smart power switch which lets the miniStack turn on and off with the Mac mini. Seriously. This is a cool piece of hardward.

If you’re in to installing your own hard drives, there’s an empty version for $75, and full versions up to 750 gigabytes.

There’s backup software, more Mac utility applications you may or may not need, a Firewire and USB cable, and a one year warranty.

Cool, huh? Windows users, eat your collective virus-riddled hearts out. This is the perfect Made-For-Mac accessory (yes, it’ll work on a Windows PC, but won’t look as cool as it does sitting under a Mac mini).

The miniStack is my vote for the Best Mac Accessory of the Year. What’s yours?

Click Here to see reader comments on this article in the Mac360 Forums.

Classy Mac360 Photo By Carol Mary Miller | I teach English in Paris, France. My husband works for a US technology company here. He switched from PCs to the Mac 12 years ago. I told him it would improve our marriage, give us more friends, and reduce stress. It did.

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