Source: Macworld UK
Unfortunately, the £499 model’s paltry 1GB of RAM can hamper its performance considerably, even if you mainly use your computer for Web browsing, e-mail, and an office suite such as Microsoft Office or Apple’s iWork. (And the £499 model’s slower hard drive makes it that much more painful, compared to other desktop Macs, to get into heavy virtual-memory disk swapping.) Using iMovie, I was able to get similar performance to that of the £649 model only if I quit all other programs first. And Call of Duty 4’s overall performance was considerably degraded: the automatically-configured settings provided lower-quality video, and I experienced frustratingly frequent stutters and pauses.
Which to get?
While the Mac mini’s tiny size has many advantages over larger computers, this design also makes it the most difficult Mac to upgrade.Unless you’re skilled with putty knives and spudgers, and comfortable forcing little plastic and metal pieces to do things they don’t appear to be willing to do, the mini isn’t a machine you’ll want to take apart. (Apple’s policy has always been that as long as you don’t break anything in the process, you’re free to upgrade your Mac mini yourself. The company confirmed to Macworld that this is still the case.)
And there’s the rub with the Mac mini: The otherwise-attractive £499 model offers a meager 1GB of RAM and only 160GB of hard-drive space - disappointing specs for a computer that’s more than capable of handling movie and photo editing using the included iLife suite.
Opting for the £649 model alleviates these issues to some degree, giving you 2GB of RAM and a 320GB hard drive, but these are its only improvements, and they’re ones that would cost you less than $100 if you installed them yourself. Yet by making the Mac mini so difficult to upgrade, Apple has ensured that many users will pay the £649 mini’s £150 premium.
Thankfully, Apple will upgrade the £499 mini to 2GB RAM for only £40, a fair price considering that Apple performs (and warrants) the installation. And the new mini’s plentiful expansion ports mean you can always add more external storage. In fact, as noted above, by adding (and booting from) an external FireWire drive, the £499 mini’s performance can surpass that of either stock model.
With 750GB and 1TB FireWire 800 drives available for under $150 these days, unless you’re using your mini in a location where you can’t have an external drive attached, you’ll get far more value for your money going this route.
Macworld Buying Advice
The new Mac mini models provide the most significant upgrades to the line yet, offering slightly better CPU performance, considerably improved video capabilities, increased expandability, and better wireless technology. The result is that for the first time, the Mac mini is a computer that’s truly capable of handling the iLife suite.More than ever, it’s an appealing computer for those who already have a display, keyboard, and mouse, or those looking to build a Mac system on the smallest budget (or in the smallest space). It’s also a good upgrade for owners of the PowerPC and first-generation Intel Mac minis. On the other hand, if you purchased a Mac mini in 2007, the new models are compelling upgrades only for those who want to play games or perform other graphics-card-intensive tasks.
Between the two models, it’s tough to justify the additional cost of the £649 mini.
Those willing and able to perform their own upgrades should do so. Otherwise you should consider purchasing the £499 model with Apple’s 2GB RAM upgrade and then attaching an external drive; you’ll get more storage for your money, and if you go the FireWire route, you can actually get better performance than that of even the the £649 mini.
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