A new toy - MacMini Core Duo 1.66

Sat, 4 March 2006

I was very excited about the news that new Mac Mini was released on Wednesday morning (Australian time) and was very keen to ordering one. My wife’s Windows PC has already been dead for a while and we were waiting for the macMini moment. She’s been using my G5 iMac for a few months now and has really fallen in love with Mac.

But then I saw the prices and I was not a happy chap. I was sure as hell that the prices will remain the same for the basic model. After all, that’s what happens all the time in the IT industry, things get better and often get cheaper.

After initial disappointment I looked into the specs and thought - well it makes sense after all. Only the processor (RRP) is about one third of the cost and when you compare the performance of the PPC G4 with Intel Core Duo you know where every dollar has gone.

A hot topic in many forums was integrated video. I must admit that I have no problems with that, not a bit. I do not play any games and this computer will be used for internet applications, word processing, and a bit of music, few DVDs and image libraries. No games, no video editing. After all, mini is the entry level computer, the most basic one Apple sells and it is built with this in mind. For anyone who wants to use it for HD video, high end gaming, complex video editing - you’d better save up a bit more for new (Power)Mac Quad Pro, or whatever they will name the beast.

One thing about pricing, though. Basic model Mini in the US was $499 and has gone up to $599, which is 20%. However, in Australia the basic model was A$ 799 and has gone up to A$999 which makes 25% price increase or A$42 more than in the US. This is close to a price of a new Apple keyboard.

Too look on the bright side, I have ordered the Mini on Wednesday evening (8 pm) and it was delivered already on Friday morning (10 am). Since my wife is a student we’ve got the Core Duo Mini for A$ 1,163.00 which in the end is not that bad at all.

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