Mac mini and performance question

One of the great many appeals of the mac mini is its attractive price. However once you start upgrading the RAM and the hard disk, price comes close to a normal desktop PC. For the mac mini 1.83Ghz with 2G RAM and 160G hd I come to a price of 1427 USD (without protection plan). Is that still a good deal?

If I want it cheap, what combination of processor speed, RAM and hard disk capacity should I opt for? I only want to do normal tasks (everything but gaming and video editing), but I want a responsive system with fast application startups etc.

 

You're better off buying the RAM and hard drive upgrades aftermarket, although it could still end up being kind of pricey.

Frankly I would say that your best bet is to just get a stock Mac mini for not a whole lot, upgrade the RAM, and don't worry about the hard drive (you can always upgrade that component later). It should handle more than enough.

With the Mac mini, part of what you are paying for is the tiny form factor. If you don't necessarily need that Mac mini form factor, the iMac can actually be a better bang for your buck.

 

To keep things affordable I would just upgrade to 1G of RAM. I asked for 1x1GB but the sales rep told me it's either 2x512GB or 2x1GB. Is that for technical reasons or marketing reasons?

 

I would recommend against upgrading the mini's RAM afterwards by yourself, because you will have to physically open up the mini, and thereby voiding the warranty.

But yeah, with the Mac mini you are paying for the small form factor. It is actually not that good value for money (no monitor, not a C2D CPU etc. It's just cheap). If you want good value for money, go iMac (C2D CPU, monitor, fast graphics, etc).

The reason for the 2xhalf RAM is because of dual channeling. The performance of the machine will take a slight hit with just one RAM stick instead of two. There is probably a marketing reason behind it as well.

 

Ahh, thanks Budding. I didn't realize the Mac mini wasn't designed to be user-upgradeable (I think I had assumed it would at least be as easy to upgrade as its spiritual predecessor, the G4 Cube).

 

I'm getting 1249 for that config. Either way it's too much. Get an iMac for that price.

 

just get a smaller internal harddrive and then pick up an external enclosure and drive if you're worried about space.

 

I agree you should check out macmall or newegg the usually have pretty good prices