The Mac mini has been one of the most affordable desktop Macs ever made since the original G4 model was introduced in January 2005 at US$499 and $599. The entry-level price has varied over the years, jumping $100 with the first Intel Mac minis in 2006. The 2014 model started at $499 with a 1.4 […]
Tag Archives: Mac mini
The Mac mini seems to be the Mac that Apple forgets about for years between updates. The 2014 model came out two years after the 2012, and the 2018 a whole four years after the 2014. It may have been a long wait, but the new model is a huge step forward from the Late […]
With every story there are two sides. While there was certainly some negative sentiment in my previous article – Original Apple TV: Apple’s Improper Abandonment and What to Do – you have to also take the good with the bad. Change forces us to move forward sometimes and get creative.
Apple left the 1st Generation Apple TV behind as of May 25, 2018. You can no longer connect it directly to iTunes. Even if you attempt to sync authorized content to it through an authorized Mac, it’s over.
Low End Mac began 20 years ago as a way to share my knowledge of the earliest useful Macs with other Mac users. At that point I considered the Mac Plus – the first Mac with SCSI for adding a hard drive and expandable memory – to be the oldest practical Mac. Interesting thing is, […]
Apple released the first Mac mini with a 64-bit CPU in August 2007, although the Mac OS that shipped with it was a 32-bit operating system, whether OS X 10.4 Tiger or 10.5 Leopard. It wasn’t until OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard arrived two years later – in August 2009 – that we had the […]
Apple introduced the Mac mini in January 2005 as the smallest consumer computer on the planet. The original version ran a 1.25 GHz or 1.42 GHz G4 CPU on a 167 MHz bus and accepts a maximum 1 GB of system memory. It shipped with OS X 10.3 Panther and also supports 10.4 Tiger and […]
The first three generations of Intel-based Mac minis used the same Socket M to mount the CPU on a 667 MHz system bus. The CPU is not soldered in place, allowing the Early 2006, Late 2006, and Mid 2007 models to take the same CPU upgrades, bringing speeds as high as 2.33 GHz.
Apple last updated the Mac mini in Late 2014, moving to a 1.4 GHz dual-core low-power Intel i5 CPU that can Turbo Boost to 2.6 GHz on the entry-level model and a very powerful 2.6 GHz i5 on the “better” Mini (power hungry users can upgrade that to a 2.8 GHz i5 or 3.0 GHz i7). System memory can no longer […]
Apple fans have been disgruntled over the past few years with an apparent forced obsolescence of hardware. But how much truth is there in this? How long does Apple support their devices with up-to-date operating systems?
The 2011 Mac mini Server was a normal Mac mini with two hard drives, a quad-core i7 CPU (vs. dual-core CPUs in regular Minis), and OS X Server installed. The 2012 Server is essentially the same as the top-end consumer model, but with OS X Server installed and two hard drives instead of one. You […]
“Way more power” is Apple’s claim for the Late 2012 Mac mini, and that’s certainly true for the top-end quad-core i7-based model. It has the highest Geekbench score yet for a Mini at 10642 (vs. 6741 for last year’s 2.7 GHz dual-core i7 model), which is an impressive 58% better. However, at the entry level, […]
Last year’s Mac mini Server was just a 2010 Mac mini with two hard drives and no SuperDrive. This year’s Server is actually a much more powerful computer with a quad-core Intel Core i7 CPU, twice the number of cores found in the consumer Mini. The 2011 Server ships with OS X 10.7 Lion Server […]
For the first time since the original G4 Mac mini was introduced in January 2005, there’s no optical drive in the Mac mini, which also helped Apple trim $100 from its base price – and $200 from the faster version. The 2011 Mac mini can use the same $79 USB SuperDrive as the MacBook Air. […]
For the first time since the G4 Mac mini was introduced in January 2005, Apple came up with a new form factor for its smallest desktop. Where all previous Minis had been 6.5″ square and 2.0″ tall, the new model measures 7.7″ square and just 1.4″ high. It also uses unibody construction like Apple’s notebooks. […]
Just seven months after overhauling the Mac mini, Apple made some small improvements: The base speed is now 2.26 GHz, 2 GB of RAM is the norm, and the 160 GB hard drive holds more data than the 120 GB drive found in the previous version. And for power users, there’s now a server version […]
After over a year and a half without a change, Apple finally updated the Mac mini in March 2009. As widely anticipated, the new Mac mini adopts Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics, the same GPU found in the MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro – and it finally gets 802.11n WiFi as well (and 802.11a for […]
My first Mac helped to change my life for the better. It was a 1.42 GHz G4 Mac mini, which later became 1.5 GHz thanks to overclocking. I was hooked from that moment on.
Apple “refreshed” the Mac mini the same day it unveiled new iMacs, iLife ’08, and iWork ’08. The updated model finally moves the Mini from the outdated Core Duo to a Core 2 Duo processor, giving it 64-bit capabilities along with faster CPU speeds. Between the newer, more efficient CPU and 8-10% higher clock speeds, […]
We hate to say it, but it appears that the Mac mini is dead.
2007: When Steve Jobs left Apple in 1985, there were only two Macintosh computers: the original 128K and the 512K “Fat Mac”. When he returned in 1997, there were PowerBooks, Power Macs, and Performas – each model name followed by a four-digit number. Jobs decided to simplify and focus the product line with four quadrants: […]
Kudos to Apple for abandoning the Intel Core Solo used in the original entry-level Intel Mac mini. With the September 2006 revision, both models have Core Duo processors. Oddly, these are the only second-generation Intel Macs not to use Core 2 Duo CPUs, something we’ve never understood.
The Mac mini was the third Mac to make the switch to Intel CPUs. Both Early 2006 versions of the Intel-based Mini include AirPort Extreme, Bluetooth 2.0, Apple’s remote control, gigabit ethernet, and Front Row with Bonjour. In addition to this 1.66 GHz Core Duo model, Apple also sold an entry-level Mac mini with a […]
We cannot recommend the Core Solo version of the Mac mini unless you plan to upgrade to a Core Duo or Core 2 Duo CPU. Performance of the Core Solo model is so sluggish that most buyers who have written us express regret at their purchase. We call the Core Solo Mac mini a Compromised Mac. Because […]
The original Mac mini was introduced in January 2005 at 1.25 GHz and 1.42 GHz. In July, Apple bumped base RAM from 256 MB to 512 MB. The Late 2005 model boosts CPU speeds to 1.33 GHz and 1.5 GHz. The SuperDrive is bumped from 4x to 8x, can now burn dual-layer discs, and also […]
Never before had Apple sold a $500 Macintosh. Never before had Apple been poised to grow its market share like it hoped to with the Mac mini. The tiny Mac mini (6.5″ square, 2″ high, 2.9 lb.) has incredibly minimalist design. On the front, there’s just a slot-loading optical drive and a power light. On […]
August 1998: The iMac is an impressive computing value: performance, expansion, and the world’s greatest OS. But it’s not designed for everyone.
