Apple's latest Mac mini answers a lot of the issues that have plagued the series over the years. An HDMI port helps it fulfill its potential as a living-room system. An SD card slot gives a nod to digital photographers. A removable panel on the bottom provides user access to the system memory for easy upgrading. We like all of those additions, as well as the sleek, new design. HTPC enthusiasts and the value conscious will find the £649 (inc. VAT) Mac mini too expensive for what it offers. They'll also miss Blu-ray. Even so, we don't expect those reservations will prevent design fans and the Mac faithful from loving the changes Apple has made to both the form and the function of its tiniest Mac.
Say what you like about the new Mac mini's features or its price, but the new chassis further secures Apple's standing as the best enclosure designer in the computing business. The new aluminium case carries with it all of the uber-industrial charm common to the iMac, the MacBook Pro, and the iPhone 4. At 3.6cm thick and 19.7cm square, the new case takes up slightly more desktop space than the older 15.2cm-square model, but it also shaves 1.3cm off its height. Its dimensions also match those of the Apple TV and Apple's Time Capsule networked data backup device.
The old Mac mini was always a living-room-friendly device due to its size. Despite its new measurements, the new model retains that same appeal. A few features and design adjustments push the Mac mini-as-HTPC (Home Theatre PC) concept further. Chiefly, a built-in HDMI port simplifies the process of connecting the Mac mini to a modern television. The previous model required you to purchase a Mini DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapter. Apple has also done away with the older model's cumbersome power brick. By moving to a simple power cable, says Apple, it achieved an overall 20-percent volume reduction in the Mac mini's total hardware.
We never really minded the old Mac mini in-line power brick, since you rarely had to deal with it after the initial setup. Adding HDMI to the video outputs is more crucial, because it means you can new Mac mini as a home theatre system right out of the box. A new Nvidia GeForce 320M graphics chip helps with the video chores, and we found that the system was able to handle HD video in QuickTime, as well as from Amazon Video on Demand, Hulu, NetFlix and YouTube. Apple also provides a convenient underscan slider bar in the display settings, which lets you adjust for the size differences between TVs and standard computer monitors. We were successful in connecting the Mac mini to two different HDTVs via HDMI.
Of course, the Mac mini is not the only small computer out there with an HDMI output. You can find affordable small Windows-based systems equipped with HDMI, and in the hands of a determined enthusiast they can even be made to handle HD video. When you consider that a Dell Inspiron Zino HD more than matches the Mac mini's 320GB hard drive, you can reasonably start to question Apple's value proposition.
Apple offers a few upgrades to the Mac Mini as customisable options at the time of purchase. You can boost the RAM to 4GB and the hard drive to a still-small 500GB for an extra £80 apiece. You can also upgrade the CPU to a faster 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo for an extra £123. There's no Blu-ray option, which is a relatively significant omission at this price. Apple has whittled the Mac mini down to one core configuration this time around, down from the two it has previously listed. It still offers the Mac mini Server model, though, with a pair of 500GB hard drives instead of the optical drive and a 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo for £929.
As far as performance is concerned, our benchmark scores (see below) show that although the (US-only) Gateway SX2840-01 has an advantage over the new Mac mini, the differences are for the most part minor. The Gateway and the Mac mini are basically tied on our older Photoshop test. The Gateway enjoys a minor edge on iTunes audio file conversion, although the Mac mini makes up the difference on our multimedia multitasking test. We suspect that has to do with the Mac mini running more recent, OS X-native versions of the QuickTime and iTunes components of that benchmark.
The Gateway's primary advantage comes on our multithreaded Cinebench test. Its HyperThreaded dual-core Core i3 CPU emulates a quad-core chip, and gives the Gateway a dramatic boost while highlighting the Mac mini's relative weakness on multithreaded programs. It's also worth noting the Mac mini's far superior performance to the Dell and Asus systems.
In addition to the HD video performance boost, the Mac mini's new Nvidia GeForce 320M chip might suggest a decent gaming experience. Apple didn't pitch this system to us as a gaming box, but Apple's reps couldn't resist a brief demo with Team Fortress 2 via Valve Software's newly Mac-compatible Steam download service. Both that demo and our own experience with Portal suggest that the Mac mini, like other PCs in its price range, barely qualifies as gaming-capable. More forgiving titles like Torchlight play smoothly enough, but you can expect choppy frame rates from first-person shooters.
An HDMI output helps the Mac mini achieve its living room potential
You might have better luck with games if you try to play them at lower resolutions than the video outputs' maximums. The HDMI-out supports up to 1080p (1,920 by 1,080), the Mini DisplayPort allows up to 2,560 by 1,600 — the native resolution of most 30in. desktop LCDs. Apple provides an HDMI-to-DVI adapter in the box, and you can purchase a Mini DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter for older displays. You can also configure the Mac mini for dual-display output using both the HDMI and Mini DisplayPort outputs simultaneously.
For audio, the HDMI and Mini DisplayPorts both support uncompressed eight-channel audio, similar to the most recent MacBooks. We confirmed that the HDMI also supports Dolby Digital 5.1 audio by passing it through a receiver. You also get standard analogue/digital in and out jacks.
Benchmarks
Apple Mac mini (2.4GHz, spring 2010)
Mac OS X 10.6.3; 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo; 2GB 1,067MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 256MB Nvidia GeForce 320M; 320GB, 5,400rpm TKTK hard drive
Apple Mac mini (2.53GHz, Fall 2009)
Mac OS X 10.6.2; 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8700; 4GB 1,067MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 256MB Nvidia GeForce 9400M; 320GB, 7,200rpm Fujitsu hard drive
Asus Eee Box EB1501
Windows 7 Home Premium (32-bit); 1.6GHz Intel Atom N330; 2GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 64MB (shared) Nvidia GeForce 9400M integrated graphics chip; 200GB 5,400rpm Seagate hard drive
Dell Inspiron Zino HD
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 1.5GHz AMD Athlon X2 3250e; 3GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 256MB (shared) ATI Radeon HD 3200 integrated graphics chip; 320GB 7,200 rpm Western Digital hard drive
Gateway SX2840-01
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 2.93GHz Intel Core i3-530; 6GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 64MB Intel GMA X4500 HD integrated graphics chip; 1TB, 7,200rpm Western Digital hard drive
Specifications
| Audio | |
|---|---|
| Audio outputs | line out (digital/analogue); HDMI port supports multichannel audio output |
| Cabinet (chassis) | |
| Case form factor | compact |
| Dimensions (W x H x D) | 19.7x3.6x19.7 cm |
| Weight | 1.37 kg |
| Colour | brushed aluminium |
| Tool-free access | yes |
| Hard drive storage | |
| Hard drive interface type | SATA |
| Hard drive type | standard |
| Hard drive size | 320 GB |
| Interfaces & networking | |
| USB | 4 |
| FireWire (IEEE 1394) | 1 |
| Ethernet | Gigabit Ethernet |
| Other | SDXC card slot |
| Memory | |
| RAM installed | 2048 MB |
| Number of memory slots | 2 |
| RAM capacity | 8 GB |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Accessories | HDMI-to-DVI adapter, power cable |
| Other | optional Mini DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter, optional remote control |
| Motherboard | |
| Data bus speed | 1066 MHz |
| Optical storage | |
| CD / DVD type | DVD±RW (±R DL)/DVD-RAM |
| OS & software | |
| Operating system | Mac OS X Snow Leopard |
| Software included | iLife |
| Processor | |
| Processor manufacturer | Intel |
| Processor model | Core 2 Duo |
| Clock speed | 2.4GHz GHz |
| Level 2 cache | 3 MB |
| Service & support | |
| Standard warranty | 90 days |
| Video | |
| Graphics processor | Nvidia GeForce 320M |
| Graphics RAM | 256 MB |
| Maximum resolution | 2560x1600 pixels |
| Maximum monitors supported | 2 |
| Video outputs | HDMI (+HDMI-to-DVI adapter), Mini DisplayPort |
| Expand | |
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