Apple Mac Mini (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 120GB, Winter 2009)

Apple breathed fresh air into its line of Mac Minis, whose specs haven't changed since an update in August 2007. With this $599 model, Apple adds significantly improved Nvidia graphics, a new 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, and a larger hard drive. Those changes are welcome, and we're also impressed by the Mac Mini's power efficiency, as well as its ability to handle multiple programs at once. We still take issue with the Mac Mini's overall value. The Mac Mini remains a distinctive-looking computer and it has more than a few useful features. We can easily imagine it in a light-duty work role. But if your goal for a lower-cost desktop is core hardware bang for the buck, you're better off with a more well-rounded Windows system.

In terms of design, there's not much here for fans of the previous Minis to get excited about. The case is made of the same aluminum housing and white plastic top, and the only minor differences in the rear panel are an additional USB port (bumping the total up to five), a single FireWire 800 port, a Mini DVI input, and Mini DisplayPort input. That display-standard change is actually significant because it lets the Mac Mini support two displays for the first time, and the internal hardware is also powerful enough to drive a 30-inch, 2,560x1,600 LCD.

At the moment, Apple's 24-inch LED Cinema Display is the only monitor that will connect to a Mini DisplayPort input without an adapter. A mini DVI to single-link DVI adapter comes in the Mac Mini box, and Apple sells a variety of other adapters for both inputs, with prices ranging from $19 to $99.

For $599, the baseline Mac Mini nets you a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with the aforementioned integrated graphics chip, 1GB of DDR3 RAM, a puny 120GB hard drive running at 5,400rpm, a dual-layer DVD burner, and built-in 802.11n wireless networking. You need to add a monitor, a keyboard, and a mouse, as well to build out a complete setup. In comparison, the Acer X1700 slimline PC cuts the price down to $480 for a faster processor speed, three times more RAM, and a staggering 520 added gigabytes of storage space--at 7,200rpm to boot. The Acer lacks the Mac's good looks and wireless networking, but the Acer's hardware becomes even larger when you consider expansion possibilities, both inside and out.

Thanks to its accessible case interior, the Acer system provides room for a dedicated half-height graphics card, along with a spare full-size hard-drive bay and a 1x PCI Express slot. On the outside, its prospects improve even more. Its HDMI video output is more living-room-friendly than the Mac Mini's mini DisplayPort out is, and it also needs no special adapter to connect to a television. Its eSATA input also offers nearly four times the data bandwidth and twice the transfer speed of the Mac Mini's FireWire 800 jack. Those features all give the less expensive Acer more flexibility as either an office or a living room PC, with the potential to add features down the road. In comparison, Apple's traditional closed-box system looks decidedly rigid.

Cinebench
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Rendering multiple CPUs

Rendering single CPU

Dell Inspiron I530-120B

6,501 

3,382 

Gateway DX4200-09

5,819 

1,627 

Acer Aspire X1700-U3700A

4,796 

2,575 

Apple Mac Mini (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 120GB)

4,365 

2,224 

Apple Mac Mini (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 320GB)

4,352 

2,305 

We have mixed feelings about the Mac Mini's benchmark performance. On the one hand, it came in behind the Acer system on three of our four application tests. That's hard to forgive, considering the Mac Mini's higher price tag. The outlier comes in a multitasking environment, where we suspect OS X continues to provide Macs with an advantage by requiring fewer system resources than Windows Vista. We imagine more people will use low-cost desktops for basic word processing, Web surfing, and e-mailing than ripping through large-batch media-file conversions, so though we wish the Mac Mini's performance was more balanced, if we had to pick one area for the Mac Mini to excel, multitasking seems most appropriate.

The Mini's gaming performance is also to its credit, considering the older model's near-total inability to render a 3D image. Thanks in large part to the new Nvidia graphics chip, we were able to run Quake 4 at 1,600x900 at decent image quality with minimal lag. Our gameplay experience wasn't entirely seamless, and more recent games will surely provide a larger challenge. But as a budget gaming system, the Mac Mini is at least respectable.