Home > Consumer Reviews > Apple Mac mini MC238LL/A Desktop

I attached the mini to my HDTV (using mini-DVI to HDMI cable) and an optical digital audio cable. Picture and audio are perfect. It's great.

Let's start with the basics. It's whisper quite, and it uses about as much power as fluorescent light bulb when idle.

I can watch or listen to anything in iTunes using an IR remote (I use a "Logitech Harmony XBox 360" remote) via the built-in Apple Frontrow software or using Apple's magical Remote app for the iPhone (or iPod touch).

Or I can control the mini media center from my laptop across the room using Mac "Screen Sharing" (or VNC on any PC) to watch any video or audio source from the internet (Hulu, Silverlight, Flash, Amazon VOD, Netflix VOD etc.) or use the Apple DVD Player to play VIDEO_TS folders. (Please respect filmmakers and don't pirate movies.) You can watch what ever you want. You name it.

Although it's an option, it really doesn't even need a dedicated keyboard and mouse.

Other non-computer media boxes that are available can only play a fixed set of sources -- e.g. iTunes and YouTube (AppleTV). Netflix or Amazon VOD (Roku) or ripped or downloaded video files (WDTV). Support for anything outside of what those devices do today is just a wishing game or requires a lot of painstaking media format conversion.

The mini as a media center is pretty much obsolescence-proof. So while it may seem a lot more expensive than something like WDTV today, I'll bet I'll still be using the mini media center long after that WDTV has joined the pile at the back of the closet.

This Apple update of the always compact Mac Mini further lifts the model away from being an accessory. It should also silence even more people that the Mini is heading for its demise. The machine has slowly taken a solid place in Apple's line up.

I already had the last generation, Spring 2009 Mac Mini, but decided to go for yet another. The reason being is I use the Mac Mini connected to my large screen television. This allows me to easily look up information in my living room from the couch, using a wireless bluetooth mouse and keyboard. However, most of all, it takes online streaming to the television screen. Whether I want to stream from a TV network's website, or from Amazon, or anywhere in between, the Mac Mini is not limited to a specific box serving one service, but being a full fledge computer can obviously go anywhere on the Internet for streaming content. I like this. Of course, I also show off vacation images, and whatnot on the Mini connected to the big screen. The uses are really unlimited.

The purpose of my second Mini will be to connect it with a bedroom flat panel, for similar uses. The little guy is a hard worker. This entry level model is even more competent now that Apple has bumped its memory to 2 GB, which for your average work in OS X Snow Leopard is an efficient amount. The processor speed has also been bumped and hard drive size, making the entry level Mac Mini an even better value than before. Wi-Fi and bluetooth are built-in once again.

I find the entry level Mac Mini to again be the best value. The higher offering is a couple hundred more, it does give a faster processor, twice as much memory and twice as much hard drive space. If you think you'll need that, it's not a bad value, but it just seems the low end is always an especially good value, and it gets the job done. I find the inputs on the Mac Mini to be fantastic too. It has two display outputs, mini-DVI and Displayport, 5 USB ports, one firewire 800, and of course ethernet. You can plug a LOT of accessories into the Mac Mini. One such thing is an external hard drive, so if you get the entry level and find the hard drive size limiting, you can always connect external USB or Firewire hard drives for extra storage.

This mini has OS X Snow Leopard pre-installed, so you'll have the brand new operating system installed out of the box. Plus, you get iLife 09, which has the great applications like iPhoto, iMovie, Garageband, iDVD, and iWeb.

Overall, I do not use the Mac Mini at a desk as a traditional computer. I use it has a home theatre PC. Nevertheless, the Mac Mini is enough of a workhorse to certainly use it for office tasks, home photo editing, etc. It's not a slouch by any means. If you have a quality display, the Mac Mini makes a competent computer solution, but don't forget a keyboard and mouse too. I recommend it, and I'm excited to have one connected to both televisions in my home.

This is my second Mac Mini. I bought my first Mac Mini when they were first introduced. I have been using that same Mac mini for about 5 years with no problems. I finally decided to get a new one because more and more of the internet features wouldn't work anymore because I needed software upgrades that didn't fit the specs I had. However, I didn't want to make the same mistake I made the first time and buy it right before a software upgrade. This is the perfect time to buy this Mac Mini. Snow Leopard is pre-installed, and there's roughly about $150 worth of extra memory and speed for the same price as the previous model that was just released about 6 months ago.

One complaint I did have with my old Mac mini was that it was a pain to configure my internet connection. The internet setup for this new model is simply plug and play. Absolutely no configuration is needed if your plugging in an Ethernet cable, whether it's hooked up to a router or not.

I basically only use my Mac Mini for the Internet, downloading music and video for my Ipod, digital picture storage, and occasionally typing and printing a paper. If that's all your going to use it for and your sick of all the viruses and hidden internet files that slow down your computer when you use a PC, then buy this entry level Mac Mini.

I bought this to be a media center for my 52" Sony HD LCD set. My media is stored on a NAS device and includes movies, TV shows, photos, home video, etc. The Mini with Front Row does a good job of giving the family a dead-simple way of accessing all of this content. Plus we can do some fun things like create music using Garage Band and play it through the surround sound system. The Apple TV is cheap but also very limited. With a little knowledge the Mini provides a very flexible alternative. Video and sound (using the mini TOS cable) are outstanding. Not seeing any stutter or delays. I run mine without a keyboard or a mouse. On the rare occasion when I want one I just use the Mobile Air Mouse on my iPhone as a combination keyboard and mouse.

This is my first Mac so i can not compare it to others but I do like it. I have been a long time HP man and have been having problems with the HP I have right know. I had my HP custom built from HP a year and a half ago with all the highest performance parts and spent quite a bit on it. It has had a problem from the first week where it runs really slow one day every one or two weeks and none of the programs will respond, I believe it has something to do with a bad install from the factory and I am working with HP to get it fixed. For the amount I spent and the fact that it is not out of date performance wise I am not ready to give up on it and spend big money on another one. I figured I would invest in something cheaper and just use it for my web browsing and leave all my financing, gaming and music to the HP.

As far as the Mac goes I a impressed with it. I like how fast it starts, shuts down and comes out of sleep. The size is really nice since it doesn't take up alot of desk space. The 2GB of memory seems to work good but I will probably upgrade to 4GB in the next few weeks. I like the dashboard more than I liked the sidebar on vista and Snow Leopard more than Vista performance wise. The built in speaker is nice which I didn't realize it had before buying, I didn't really want to have to sets of speakers or switch back and forth between them. The speaker isn't much maybe about like laptop speakers but better than my Samsung netbooks speakers. Some of the thing I didn't like are Safari which was and easy fix with installing Firefox. I didn't give Safari much time since I have heard its security isn't any good and I couldn't get it to maximize to the full wide screen it was just square and had about 2 or 3 inches of open screen on the sides. Probably the only other problem I have found is I don't feel like I can multitask my web browsing like Microsoft. I like to have 3 or 4 Firefox windows opened and have a couple of tabs in each one when I am researching stuff and they are not all spread out on the Mac making it easy to switch from on the the other, instead you have to minimize them to switch. That my be something that can be changed but I have only had this for a couple of days and haven't figured it out. I had a spare Kensington SlimBlade keyboard and mouse that I hooked up to it. I didn't care for the mouse it just seemed to bulky and had bad response so I hooked up a spare Microsoft Arc mouse, which has to be one of my favorite mice. I have both it and the HP hooked up to a Samsung T220 with the HP using the DVI port and the Mac using the VGA port, and just switch back and forth with the source button.

I have not gave up on Microsoft yet either, I have a copy of Windows 7 that I had installed for about a half a day using the upgrade option and had the same problems with it as Vista. It started acting up a couple hours after being installed so I had a chance to test it out and liked it way more than Vista. HP told me to recover my computer to see if that would fix it and I am waiting for it to act up again to contact HP and let them inspect it. I purchased the in home protection plan with HP and they have been really helpful. The DVD-RW went out and they sent a guy that week to replace it at no cost, and the slow running problem they have spent over an hour on the phone with me with no rush to get off.

If you are trying to figure out if the Mini Mac has the performance to run some games or other stuff this is not a review for you. I may try to play some games or start doing my quickbooks on it but like I said I will leave the most of that to the HP. If you are wanting to give Mac a chance without spending alot of money then this is a good choice. Im not a big fan of the all in one PC's so I don't really ever see an IMac being something for me and the desktop mac towers are way more than I would want to spend on a Mac. The Mac notebooks seem to be overpriced since trying to get a decent sized screen cost over $2000. I don't know what the life expectancy is on the mini mac personally but I have read it will last until it is out of date. I just think Macs have been overpriced and are finally reaching a point of lowering their price so in another couple of years they will have something other than the Mini that will be at a decent price. I have never had any problems with viruses on anything running Windows since I run good virus protection and have never had any personal information stolen. There have been times I've done a recovery if I did feel I had a virus just to make sure, but nothing that has ever ruined one of my systems. So either way with a PC or Mac I feel you get the same life out of it which is a year and its out of date and a couple of years and it just can't run the modern programs. Technology moves to fast which is not a bad thing but after a year there is something twice as good as what you have pretty much. I figure three years is my limit and then its time for something new. Just figure up how long you plan on keeping it 1,2,3,4 years and the price as for this I look at about two years which will cost me about .82 cents a day and I spend over a $1 a day on my internet why not have a computer that is that much. As for the HP its about $2.30 a day which is something I think is worth the money. Dishnetwork cost me about $3 a day I spend way more time on the computer then watching TV and there seems to be more to do on here than what there is to watch on TV. Thats just for the Dishnetwork not including what you spent on the TV to watch it.

I hope this helps you decide and I realize I began to ramble. I am happy with my Mini Mac and plan to use it regularly. Sorry if my review has to much Microsoft stuff for you but I am a technology nut and like the Mac and Microsoft worlds both in their on ways. I am also sorry if I had a sentence run on to long, used a comma where I shouldn't have, used bad grammar, paragraphed my review wrong and if reading this gave you a headache. I am aware that I have that problem and try to make it look as good a possible but I was not the smartest kid in my English class. I just know and like electronics and technology and was probably the top of the class on that. I like to research it and try what I think is best.