Compiled by Charles Moore
and edited by Dan Knight
- 2006.03.02
This Week's Macintel News
With this week's introduction of an Intel-based Mac mini, Apple has
begun moving their third product line (after iMac and PowerBook) to
Intel CPUs. Now we just need to wait for the iBook, Power Mac, Xserve,
and 12" & 17" PowerBook replacements.
On the OS front, OS X 10.4.5 has already been cracked for generic
Intel hardware, and by using VMware in conjunction with Linux, it's now
possible to run Windows XP on an Intel-based Mac.
PowerBook, iBook, and other portable computing news is covered in
The 'Book Review. General Apple and
Mac desktop news is covered in The Mac
News Review. iPod news is covered in The iNews Review.
Mac mini Goes Intel
Other News
Mac mini Goes Intel
Apple Unveils Mac mini with Intel Core Duo
PR: New Mac mini Delivers Performance Up to Four Times
Faster
CUPERTINO, California -
February 28, 2006 - Apple today unveiled the new Mac mini with the Intel Core Duo
processor, delivering performance up to four times faster than its
predecessor and providing even greater expansion in the same innovative
and incredibly compact design.* Starting at just $599, the Mac mini is
the most affordable way to enjoy iLife '06, the next generation of
Apple's award-winning suite of digital lifestyle applications, and
features the Apple Remote and Front Row so you can play your music,
enjoy your photo slideshows, watch your DVDs, iMovies, music videos and
television shows from across the room.
"With the new Mac mini, Apple has now moved 50% of its entire
product line to Intel within 60 days - a record transition," said
Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product
Marketing. "The new Mac mini is now up to four times faster with the
Intel Core Duo, includes even greater expansion in the same incredibly
compact design, and is the most affordable way to enjoy Front Row and
iLife '06."
Featuring the next generation of Apple's breakthrough Front Row
media experience, the new Mac mini gives customers a simple way to
enjoy their digital lifestyle content on the Mac mini including music,
photos and videos from across the room using the Apple Remote. With the
latest version of Front Row, customers can now effortlessly access
shared iTunes playlists, iPhoto libraries and video throughout their
home via Bonjour, Apple's zero configuration wireless networking built
into Mac OS X.
The new Mac mini offers a
completely new system architecture for performance up to four times as
fast as the previous Mac mini, including a 667 MHz frontside bus and
667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM memory expandable to 2 GB. With the latest
high-performance connectivity options, every new Mac mini now includes
built-in 10/100/1000 Base-T Gigabit Ethernet for high-speed networking,
built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11g WiFi for fast 54 Mbps wireless
networking**, built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) and a
total of four USB 2.0 ports, twice as many as the previous generation.
Mac mini includes a DVI interface and a VGA-out adapter to easily
connect to a variety of displays, including many of today's most
popular flat panel televisions, and now features both analog and
digital audio outputs to easily connect to a home stereo.
The new Mac mini includes iLife '06, the next generation of Apple's
award-winning suite of digital lifestyle applications featuring major
new versions of iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD, GarageBand and introducing
iWeb, a new iLife application that makes it super-easy to create
amazing websites with photos, blogs and Podcasts and publish them on
.mac for viewing by anyone on the Internet with just a single click.
All the iLife '06 applications are Universal applications that run
natively on the new Intel-based Mac mini for maximum performance.
Every new Mac mini comes with the latest release of the world's most
advanced operating system, Mac OS X version 10.4 "Tiger" including
Safari, Mail, iCal, iChat AV and Front Row, running natively. Mac
OS X Tiger includes an innovative software translation technology
called Rosetta that lets customers run most Mac OS X PowerPC
applications seamlessly.***
Pricing & Availability
The new Mac mini is shipping today and will be available through the
Apple Store (www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized
Resellers.
The new 1.5 GHz Mac mini, for a suggested retail price of $599 (US),
includes:
- 1.5 GHz Intel Core Solo processor;
- 512 MB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable up to 2 GB;
- a slot-load Combo (DVD-ROM/CD-RW) drive;
- 60 GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm;
- Intel GMA 950 graphics processor;
- built-in AirPort Extreme wireless networking & Bluetooth
2.0+EDR;
- Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000 Base-T);
- four USB 2.0 ports;
- one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both
optical digital and analog;
- DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included,
Composite/S-video out adapter sold separately); and
- the infrared Apple Remote.
The new 1.66 GHz Mac mini, for a suggested retail price of $799
(US), includes:
- 1.66 GHz Intel Core Duo processor;
- 512 MB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM expandable up to 2 GB;
- a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R
DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
- 80 GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm;
- Intel GMA 950 graphics processor;
- built-in AirPort Extreme wireless networking & Bluetooth
2.0+EDR;
- Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000 Base-T);
- four USB 2.0 ports;
- one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both
optical digital and analog;
- DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included,
Composite/S-video out adapter sold separately); and
- the infrared Apple Remote.
Build-to-order options and accessories include up to 2 GB DDR2
SDRAM, 80 GB, 100 GB and 120 GB Serial ATA hard drives, iWork '06
(preinstalled), AirPort Express and AirPort Extreme Base Station, Apple
Wireless Keyboard, Apple Wireless Mouse, Apple USB Modem and the
AppleCare Protection Plan.
The new Mac mini line is also available to education customers in
the US and Canada through the Apple Store for Education at
www.apple.com/education/store or by calling an Apple education sales
representative at 800-800-APPL.
- * Based on estimated results of industry-standard SPECint and
SPECfp rate tests. SPEC is a registered trademark of Standard
Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC); see
http://www.apple.com/macmini for more information.
- ** Actual speed will vary based on range from the base station,
environmental conditions and other factors.
- *** See http://www.apple.com/rosetta/ for information on Rosetta
supported Apple software. Contact the manufacturer directly for 3rd
party software.
Did the Mac mini Get Better or Worse?
applexnet.com's CG5Addict says:
"Now we get to my headline . . . the Mac Mini. Now I don't have my hands
on one, but reading the spec's I was smiling for a while....
"Then I got to the specs on the graphics card. Hold on, there is
none, well not one you want anyway. It has a Intel integrated graphics
processor. A GMA 950 graphics processor to be exact, with 64 MB of DDR2
SDRAM shared with main memory. Ya shared. According to Apple's website,
Memory available to Mac OS X may vary depending on graphics needs.
Minimum graphics memory usage is 80 MB, resulting in 432 MB of system
memory available.
"Meaning when you buy this Mac, you better max it out with memory
(not from Apple unless you want to pay $300) because working with
iMovie or iDVD will bring up that beach ball we all hate if you
don't."
Link:
Did the Mac mini Get Better or Worse?
Apple Intel Mac mini Hands On
Engadget's Ryan Block reports:
"Meet the new Mac mini,
same as the old Mac mini - we could go on and on about its new ports,
faster processor, etc., but we all know it's an Intel Mac mini, that's
it and that's all. Click on to see some more shots."
Link: Apple
Intel Mac mini Hands On
Mac mini Goes Intel
Macworld's Karen Haslam reports:
"Apple CEO Steve Jobs has announced the availability of a Intel
powered Mac mini, confirming
that 'Fifty per cent of our entire product line is now available with
Intel processors, in less than sixty days.'
"The entry level 1.5 GHz Mac mini with 667 MHz bus, 512 MB RAM, 60
GB hard drive and Combo CD/DVD, features Intel's Core Solo CPU rather
than the Core Duo CPU found in the new iMac and MacBook Pro. A dual
core Mac mini is also available, however, and will feature the Core Duo
chip. This 1.67 GHz version features a 80 GB hard disk and 8x
SuperDrive.
"The new Mac mini appears to have the same form-factor. According to
Apple the 1.5 GHz version is 2.5x faster on integer calculations and
3.2x faster in floating point calculations than its predecessor. The
1.67 version is said to be 4.8x faster in integer calculations and 5.5x
times faster in floating point calculations than it's predecessor."
Link: Mac
mini Goes Intel
Other News
VMware Allows Window XP on Macintel
osxbook.com's Amit Singh reports:
"We now have Windows XP running on the Intel-based Macintosh - as a
guest operating system under the Linux version of VMware. This is quite
exciting and promising, especially since the performance of Windows XP
seems quite amazing (based on our limited test run so far) - mind you,
the kernel and the environment we are using experimental and
unoptimized, so it would not be unreasonable to expect even better
performance.
"To anybody who has used Windows XP under Virtual PC on the PowerPC
version of Mac OS X: you will simply be blown away by how fast
Windows XP runs under VMware on the new hardware."
Link: VMware Under Linux on
the Intel-based Macintosh
OS X 10.4.5 Hacked for Generic Intel
osx86project.org reports:
"Questions about the TPM security of Apple's OS X continue, now that
the infamous Maxxuss has struck again. Patches for 10.4.5 are now
spreading across the web only nine days after the official 10.4.5
release. It seems that Apple included no significant security changes
in this update, which was released on the same day that Maxxuss
introduced his hacks for 10.4.4."
Link:
OS X 10.4.5 Security Broken . . . Already
