Mac mini: Value Mac, Fake Mac, Or Mac Afterthought?

Saturday, March 7, 2009 | What's New | Read or Post a Comment

Love it or hate it, predictions of demise notwithstanding, Apple’s Mac mini remains popular and a steady seller. Why? Is the Mac mini a real Mac, a value Mac, a fake Mac, or Apple’s way of paying lip service to the low price fanatics?

Personally, having owned a few Mac mini’s, and not having much more than an underpowered experience or two, I tend to think it’s all of the above.

I’ve been pricing out new Macs over the past few days. I lust after a MacPro with eight.... (excerpted).

5 Reader Comments

iggy pence said:

Would anybody buy a $599 Mac netbook? Or, would it be priced at $999?

What features? CPU. RAM. Hard drive or flash drive. Small screen, small keyboard. Wireless. A couple of USB ports.

The real issue is, would a Mac netbook steal sales from the MacBook line?

Tom Coppinger said:

Desktop Minis have no relevance in today’s market, which is all about mobility. What we need is a ‘Mini Macbook’, and yes, that means an Apple netbook of some sort.

candymacman said:

The older PowerPC Mac mini models were truly underpowered and under equipped. Not enough power. Not enough RAM. Crummy graphics.

This new Mac mini is pretty slick. It’s Core 2 Duo and finally decent graphics. I would advise people to upgrade the RAM to 2 gigs. 500 gig hard drives are available online for barely $100.

Jason B said:

Welcome back, “Mrs. Brannan. I’m so sorry you’re out of circulation, but happy to see you back to Mac 360, even it it’s just as a fill in role.

Yes, I’m a happy Mac mini user. I’ve got three of them and plan to get me a new one soon. They just sit there and work. Everyone in our house has a mini. I am surprised that you can trick one out to the tune of over $2,000. Whew!! Who needs that much mini?

MrSin said:

Welcome back, Bambi, err, Ms. Brannan . I’m So elated and grateful for your return . Kind of makes losing Kate a little less depressing :(. I so enjoy your articles, posts and always interesting thoughts, views, perspectives and your occasional future visions and predictions. The effort (homework) you put into every article or post is readily apparent and very much appreciated . This must be the reason you get the big bucks <LOL>.

When you said:

“A Mac is more than hardware. A Mac is the most personal of personal computers, an experience sufficient that Mac users keep their Macs longer than PCs users, on average, are more satisfied than PC users, and have stronger brand loyalty.”

You described myself and, I would think, many others to a tee. With your permission, I may like to quote you (above) when Family and Friends so often ask, “what’s so special about Apple / Mac?”

In my personal opinion, Apple Macs are quite simply that damn good, and worth every cent, from the Mac mini to the Mac Pro, as well as everything in between.

Welcome back! I have my fingers crossed you choose to stay with us .

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