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Several readers responded to The Perfect Mac: MacBook Pro or iMac?
by asking why I had overlooked the Mac mini. They reasoned that it
was a better choice than an
iMac for someone who already had a keyboard, a mouse, and a monitor
they were happy with - and for a lot less money than a 20" iMac.
Also, they argued, iMacs are an expensive choice because you're
paying for a display every time you buy one. And with the Mac mini, you
can change to another display any time you want to.
Why didn't I name the Mac mini the best desktop Mac?
Enough Processing Power
The March 2009 upgrade gave the Mac mini Nvidia GeForce 9400M
graphics, just like every Mac made today except for the Mac Pro. The Mac mini has a decently
powerful 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, includes an 8x SuperDrive, and can be
expanded to 4 GB of RAM, which should be plenty for most
users.
The 20" iMac costs twice as much, has a 2.66 GHz CPU (33% more
power) with twice as large a level 2 (L2) cache, ships with twice as
much memory and tops out with twice as much, has a built-in 1680 x 1050
display, and uses a 320 GB 7200 rpm hard drive. LIke the Mac mini, it
has an 8x SuperDrive.
Compare that to the Mac mini with its 120 GB 5400 rpm notebook
drive. It ships with just 1 GB of RAM, of which 128 MB is used for
graphics. When you upgrade RAM - and you need to for best performance -
the video card ties up 256 MB of system RAM. Of course, the iMac also
gives up 256 MB of system memory for video.
Macworld benchmarked the Mac mini and the 2.66 GHz iMac in March,
and the iMac had a 35% higher Speedmark 5 score than a mini with
2 GB of RAM - just a bit more than you'd predict based on clock
speed alone.
That said, I don't find my dual 1.6 GHz Power Mac G4 slow, so I'm
sure the 2009 Mac mini has more than enough power for anything I'd
throw at it. And, like the iMac, it can support two displays.
That Notebook Hard Drive
Those 2.5" notebook hard drives cost a lot more than 3.5" drives for
equivalent storage. Here are some current prices from DealMac and Amazon.com:
High capacity 7200 rpm 3.5" drives are commodity items - that 500 GB
Travelstar drive works out to 9¢ per gigabyte. A 2.5" drive with
the same specs costs four times as much, and scaling back to a 5400 rpm
drive with a smaller cache is still twice as costly per gigabyte.
Laptop hard drives are expensive relative to desktop drives at any
capacity.
Apple uses 120 GB 5400 rpm drives with 8 MB buffers from Hitachi
and Fujitsu. The Hitachi Travelstar has an average Xbench drive score
of 37.0, the Fujitsu 47.3. Big difference, but you have no way of
knowing which you'll get.
There were two reports on 7200 rpm notebook drives, both with a 16
MB buffer. The Seagate Momentus scored 54.94, while the Western Digital
toasted it at 71.70.
All four iMac scores used the same 320 GB 7200 rpm Western Digital
Caviar hard drive with an 8 MB buffer. The average score:
78.3.
Someone put a Vertex solid state drive (SSD) with a 64 MB buffer in
his Mac mini, achieving a drive score of 217.45! I don't know whether
this is the $400 or $1,300 version, but it's not something you're
likely to put in a $600 Mac mini.
The big point is that even the fastest 2.5" hard drive had a lower
score than the run-of-the-mill $59 hard drive used in the low-end iMac.
On the plus side, the 320 GB Scorpio Black laptop drive only costs $17
more than the 320 GB Caviar desktop drive. If you want a speedy
notebook drive, Scorpio Black looks like the winner - but it's only
available up to 320 GB.
End Cost
You can pick up an entry-level 2 GHz Mac mini for $579 shipped. For $58 you
can max out RAM to 4 GB, and another $76 gets you that 320 GB
Scorpio Black hard drive, bringing your total to $713.
You can buy the entry-level 2.66 GHz iMac for $1,079 shipped (after
mail-in rebate). It already has a faster hard drive than the Scorpio
you can put in a Mac mini. Boosting RAM to 4 GB adds $66, for a
final cost of $1,145.
For $430 more, you get a 20" 1680 x 1050 display (over 30% more
space than my 1280 x 1024 display), a Mighty Mouse, and Apple's current
keyboard (either the small version or the one with a numeric keypad).
The extra screen space would be nice, but I don't see the 33% faster
CPU as a big factor for my own use. Compared to my aging, reliable,
generally fast enough G4 Power Macs, even that 2.0 GHz Mac mini is
going to seem like a speed demon.
I have a keyboard and mouse that I love, which eliminates the
disadvantage of the Mac mini shipping with neither. I would like a
higher resolution display, but I can find 1680 x 1050 displays starting
at about $115. At that point, the Mac mini still saves me $315 compared
to the iMac. (Add in $15 for a Mini DVI-to-DVI or Mini
DisplayPort-to-DVI adapter.)
Even Cheaper
If you're fortunate enough to find these models refurbished, you
save even more. The base Mac mini sells for $499 refurbished, and the
2.26 GHz version for $649 - just $70 more than the best price you'd pay
for the 2.0 GHz machine. You could trim your Mac mini price to $613
with a refurb from Apple.
When the Apple Store has refurbished 2.66 GHz iMacs, they sell for
$999, saving you $80 over the best post-rebate price. Refurb to refurb,
you get an extra $20 in savings with the Mac mini, coming it at $335
less vs. a similarly configured iMac - or $450 if you don't need a new
display.
Where's the Value?
Those who wrote in to extol the virtues and value of the Mac mini
were right. In terms of out-of-pocket expense, the Mac mini provides a
lot of value. And the best notebook drives are coming close to matching
desktop performance, which is a pleasant surprise.
In addition to saving you money up front, the Mac mini is the
world's most energy efficient desktop computer. When idling, it uses
45% less power than the previous Mac mini - and a whole lot less than
my Power Mac G4 (which does help keep my office warm in the
winter).
The Mac mini is small, but it does mean a bit more cable clutter due
to the separate display. On the plus side, there are some great
external hard drives with the same footprint as the Mac mini. (Newer Tech's miniStack is a personal
favorite, as it includes powered USB 2.0 and FireWire 400 hubs. We use
them with Power Macs and eMacs at Low End Mac headquarters. The current
miniStack
v2.5 ships with a FireWire 800 to FireWire 400 cable, while
miniStack
v3 includes FireWire 800 and SATA ports.)
Looking Ahead
There's another big plus with the Mac mini: When you decide its time
to move to USB 3.0 (Macs should have it sometime in the next year),
you'll buy a replacement Mac mini, move everything over, and be up and
running for about $600. And you'll have a used Mac mini to sell, a
computer that holds its value remarkably well. It's very likely you
could get $450 for it, dropping your net cost to $150.
Compare that to spending $1,200 for a new iMac and reselling your
old one for $750 (a typical price for a used 20" Intel iMac). Your net
cost comes to about $450, a lot more than with the Mac mini.
Granted, the iMac will probably always be significantly more
powerful than the Mac mini - say 25% to 35% - but for most users the
Mac mini should be more than sufficient. If you upgrade RAM and the
hard drive yourself, it's a very economical choice, and when it comes
time to move to a newer model, the net cost for buying new and selling
used also works to your advantage.
Dan Knight has been using Macs since 1986,
sold Macs for several years, supported them for many more years, and
has been publishing Low End Mac since April 1997. If you find Dan's articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.
Links for the Day
Mac of the Day: Performa 630, introduced 1994.07.01. The first desktop Mac with an IDE hard drive could accept a TV or radio tuner.
