Apple's Mac mini - Tempting PC Users Everywhere
by Anand Lal Shimpi on January 25, 2005 7:39 AM EST- Posted in
- Mac
iLife '05
The Mac mini ships with the latest version of Apple's iLife application suite on DVD-ROM (it is a relief to actually have applications come on DVD; thankfully, it's always easier to turn a smaller ship). The application suite is nothing short of massive, at just under 4GB for iPhoto 5, iMovie HD, iDVD 5, GarageBand 2 and iTunes 4.7. Now, iTunes is free and is available for download outside of the iLife '05 package, but it is included on the DVD just to make sure that all OS X users have a copy installed, which is nothing to complain about.
The relative sizes of the individual applications are as follows:
iPhoto 5 - 163MB
iMovie HD - 63MB
iDVD 5 - 1.46GB
GarageBand 2 - 63MB
iTunes 4.7 - 30MB
As you can see, the individual applications themselves aren't terribly big; however, it's all of the extras that come with the applications that really drive up the total install size. Apple has been touting iLife as the "suite of tightly integrated applications that continues to lead the digital media revolution" - think of them as the digital media version of Microsoft Office. Instead of creating documents and presentations, you're recording music and making DVDs.
The first several months of my Mac experience didn't really involve any of the iLife applications with the exception of iTunes - the rest simply didn't entice me. But with the latest update of iLife, it was time to give all of the applications a try to see what all the hype was about. Unfortunately, due to the length of this article, I've restricted comments on iLife '05 to brief statements about all of the applications, with a longer focus on the one application that I've had the most experience with lately - iPhoto 5.
The application suite does take a pretty long time to install on the Mac mini, thanks to its 2.5" hard drive. On a G5 system, the suite doesn't take nearly as long, but it's still longer than any other individual application that I'd ever installed on the G5, including things like Photoshop CS or even Microsoft Office 2004. On the Mac mini, all of the applications run perfectly fine assuming you heeded my warnings about using less than 512MB of memory. The projects in iMovie HD do appreciate more memory and importing video does get faster with faster CPUs, especially when comparing the mini to something like a G5, but you can use all of the applications in iLife '05 with the mini.
I won't talk much about iTunes, since it's a freely available download and it's been around long enough that there's not much value that I can add to the discussion out there already on it. And regrettably, I'm not much of a talented musician, so GarageBand 2 isn't something that I'm qualified to comment on; although, the more musically-inclined friends of mine seem to be rather impressed with it.
iMovie HD is an application that I have played around with a little bit, but one that I fully plan on using more as soon as more time frees up. Before AnandTech, I was heavily into Video Editing, so there is a bit of a personal attraction to iMovie HD. From my limited experience with it, iMovie HD already seems infinitely easier to use (especially to the first-time video editor) than the professional packages, yet isn't dumbed down like most of the free or equally cheap video editing software solutions out there. The actual process of editing is extremely painless. Although, I am afraid that it makes implementing the Ken Burns Effect a little too easy, and I'm worried that far too many first-time editors armed with iMovie HD will produce movies with an overkill of the effect. On the Mac mini, importing movies takes a significant amount of time. The shorter clips aren't a big deal, but the longer, 30+ minute clips might require a trip elsewhere to heat up a pop tart or two (or ten) to pass the time.
iDVD 5 works along side iMovie HD quite well as it is a nice, equally easy-to-use, DVD authoring application. My experience with iDVD 5 was even more limited than iMovie HD (I figured that I should master creating content before trying to burn it), but from what I've see, you can actually get some pretty professional looking results extremely quickly out of iDVD 5. The main thing here is that it is extremely easy to use and has a number of very professional looking, non-cheesy themes that you can choose from for title screens and menus.
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wildgift - Monday, September 19, 2005 - link
I bought one, and it's nice. It's very quiet (meaning it doesn't add to the noise in the office), reasonably quick, and very easy on the eyes. It is a decent development machine, at least for smaller database driven websites, and is portable enough to tote to the office. There's definitely something to be said for carrying your entire development environment around, but without spending all the $$ for a laptop. The price/performance ratios suck, but the overall fit and finish, and very nice software, more than compensate for the approximaely $150 premium you pay for going with a Mac. A SFF PC / OS combo to match the Mini simply cannot be purchased. A fairly comparable SFF PC (like the AOpen that's quiet) with the same RAM and larger hard drive, and slightly faster CPU, costs almost the same, and lacks the software. (Yes, I'm getting one of those too.)Also, going with any Mac at all gets you the better aesthetics that Windows lacks, and Linux totally lacks. You get better typefaces. You get better color calibration. Printing is smoother (and the addition of gimp-print is a big plus). You can type in any language you know. Even the screensaver photos are nicer. With iWork, you get nicer templates. Even the old AppleWorks clip art is pretty good (not really good, but, ok for "free" clipart). These things matter a lot if you work with documents.
If you're in the Unix niche, a Mac is nice because it has Unix under the hood. It's not quite the standard Solaris, BSD, or Linux environment, but it's close enough for most things.
The Mini is a pretty good computer, and a very good *product*. It's not the monster of spec benchmarks, but, most people, including technical people who you might think would care, simply don't care about those numbers.
steveo561 - Friday, April 1, 2005 - link
Interested in a FREE MAC MINI???I just got mine FOR FREE...EVEN SHIPPING...NO JOKE
Just copy and paste the link EXACTLY as you see it below:
www.FreeMiniMacs.com/?r=16680884
All you have to do is go to the link, sign up for one FREE offer, and have some of your friends do the same and it's all yours for FREE.
www.FreeMiniMacs.com/?r=16680884
steveo561 - Monday, March 28, 2005 - link
Interested in a FREE MAC MINI???I just got mine FOR FREE...EVEN SHIPPING...NO JOKE
Just copy and paste the link EXACTLY as you see it below:
www.FreeMiniMacs.com/?r=16680884
All you have to do is go to the link, sign up for one FREE offer, and have some of your friends do the same and it's all yours for FREE.
www.FreeMiniMacs.com/?r=16680884
MarshallG - Monday, February 28, 2005 - link
I love Anand's Mac articles. It's great to see an obviously pro-Windows guy like Anand look at the platform with such an open mind.Our home PC just died and this looks like a great replacement. I like the fact that I won't worry about viruses or spyware. I might get my 70 year-old mother one for the same reason.
But I'm surprised that Anand makes little if any mention of the Unix core of these machines. This is Linux for people who don't want to deal with driver problems. You can open a shell window, and run Perl or a zilllion other UNIX languages and apps. I'm really impressed by that! Now I can *really* teach my children how to use computers.
WorkingHardMan - Friday, February 11, 2005 - link
The way Tiger has been described by Apple is that Tiger will still handle the pixles if the GPU can not. Having said all that, the mini isn't really being marketed to the kind of people who want or need high quality 20" and 23" displays. One of the Apple desktop computers would make more sense for that crowd.Xmate - Thursday, February 10, 2005 - link
I'm sorry if this issue has already been addressed, I'd apreciate if you could restate the solution if it has been:OS X Tiger is supposed to use to GPU instead of the CPU to render all the pixels on the display correct? Well, while the Mac mini seems to be a very good solution for a PC user wanting to try out OS X, but from what I can see, the mini simply doesn't have nearly enough power in the GPU to power any of Apple's Cinema Displays. I have currently heard that most people are happy with the mini 20" CD combination, and I might (not certain) have heard people being happy with it even with the 23". With Tiger this is almost definetly not going to be the case.
I was wondering if anyone has any input on that, and if they know of some possible solution that could be implemented to solve the problem.
Thank you for your help,
Stefan
Wightout - Tuesday, February 8, 2005 - link
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20050120....PhoenixPyre - Sunday, February 6, 2005 - link
Yeah, that Dell configuration isn't normal. To get those specs normally, you would have to pay well over $499. Not to mention it would be under the Small Business section of Dell.com and you would probably have to pay a good amount for shipping (as noted in #189).jaxcs2002 - Thursday, February 3, 2005 - link
Hey good aricle but you tried to discuss too many things with this article. Two notes:1)The comparison Dell and the mini is fair but Dell doesn't sell any standard configuration computers. Every week (really, not kidding here), they run some kind of a promotion. You were able to snag a free LCD when you browsed the Dell page that day, but did you get free shipping? I guarantee the next week, you won't be able to get an LCD but maybe extra memory and a larger hard disk. They do this obviously to make each week a sale and to induce you to buy immediately.
2) You make note that the comp is not for Apple power users and then promptly seem to forget that fact. What user would buy a mini mac and hook it to a 23" Cinema Display? It is interesting to note that it would not do well, but the Dell standard vidcard (integrated probably) wouldn't either. Judgeing from your article, it would probably be fine on a 15 or 17 inch screen.
I think it would have been helpful, especially since you hint at it anyway to talk about its utility in performing more "average joe" type taks such as usng it in conjunction with the apple air port as a music file server or as video server. You know, those tasks that a buyer of an ipod might do with a mac mini. In every way, you seem to perfer its bigger cousins but this a mini, what tasks does the mini do well?
pitdog - Wednesday, February 2, 2005 - link
sorry for the double post....new to the forums