If you’re not one of the Apple fans obsessing over all the products announced recently, let me tell you about the one that’s peaked my interest the most: the tiny MacMini ( although I keep wanting to call it the MiniMac ). I’ve been a recent convert to the Apple camp, although I still have an AMD desktop machine, so please don’t think I’m just another raving fan boy.
The thing that most intrigues me is the tiny case that it comes in 6.5 inches square and 2 inches tall. For home-theater enthusiasts, this could be a good PC to sit near your receiver and TV to watch TV, stream Music, view Photos, and stream Video/Ripped DVD’s from another PC.
If you’re looking to replace your current PC, either because it is old or infested with spyware/viruses, then the MacMini is a great choice to look at. You can reuse your existing keyboard, mouse, and monitor with it. Starting at $500 you could have a brand new machine, though you’re likely to want to upgrade to the SuperDrive DVD-R/CD-RW drive (+$100), wireless card ( +$79 ), and throwing in some extra memory wouldn’t hurt (512MB+$75). I’m not exactly sure why going to 1 Gigabyte of memory practically doubles the price of the machine, adds $425! Still, you’re looking at an outlay of less than $750 that comes with a great bundle of software, including the new iLife suite.
I hope Apple does a lot to market to user’s who are ready to upgrade. For an all-purpose, PC you can’t beat such a small form-factor with such a stable and secure operating system. Actually, if I had it my way, we’d start replacing our computers at work with these.