Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
A little over a year ago , many people lecture about Apple ’s diminutiveMac miniin the retiring tense : As of the beginning of March 2009 , it had been 19 recollective months since the old update to Apple ’s most thick computer , and that update itself came after 11 months of wait . Two update in two and a half old age ? It was light to believe that the Mac miniskirt had becomejust as much of a “ Falco subbuteo ” as the Apple TV .
But then we take in the March 2009 update to the mini line — the most significant update the mini had ever received . Seven calendar month afterthat , the mini received another welcome , if underage , update . And here we are , just eight month later , with anew Mac miniin our hands . But whereas last March ’s Mac miniskirt dramatically improved the guts of the electronic computer and significantly enhanced its connectivity , this one , formally call theMac mini ( Mid 2010 ) , offer more minor upgrade while vamp the miniskirt ’s design for the first time since the strain ’s debut .
In place of two non - server Mac miniskirt models , price at $ 599 and $ 799 , the new Mac mini comes in a undivided $ 699 non - server configuration that offers a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo CPU , 2 GB of DDR3 SDRAM , a 320 GB SATA hard drive , and nVidia GeForce 320 M integrated graphics . ( you’re able to upgrade to a 2.66GHz processor as a $ 150 make - to - order option . ) Apart from the fresh graphics microchip — the premature model used the nVidia GeForce 9400M — the spectacles of the newfangled model come down somewhere in between those of the former two models , which included a 2.26GHz processor , 2 GB of RAM , and a 160 GB hard drive , or a 2.53GHz processor , 4 GB of RAM , and a 320 GB hard drive , respectively . ( As before , the mini ship with Snow Leopard and iLife ’ 09 . ) But these minor spec changes do n’t enjoin the whole floor .
The Mac mini (2010)
Heavy metal
The Mac miniskirt ( 2010 )
The most externally obvious change to the Mac miniskirt is its new enclosing . While every previous miniskirt sported a 6.5- by 6.5- by 2 - inch case , the young model slims down , let out out , and gets a makeover . While still solid , the mini is now 7.7 inch to a side but only 1.4 inches tall — almost the precise same size of it as the Apple TV ( ) , but with rounder quoin . And instead of using a multi - bit body made of blanched plastic and Al , the new Mac mini adopts the all - aluminum Unibody figure of Apple ’s currentMacBook Proline .
With the exception of a fateful - plastic panel on the back for ports and connecter , and a rotary , blackened - plastic door on the bottom , the body of the miniskirt is machined from a unmarried piece of aluminum . This name the new mini enclosure somewhat heavier than that of the previous manikin , but the new enclosure also feel much more solid — this is the sturdiest - feel computer I ’ve ever used . To match the black - plastic pieces , the Apple logo on top of the Mac mini is now shining black . ( you may see more picture inour Mac mini slideshow . )
Connect the new mini to a TV via HDMI, and standard TV resolutions appear as output options.
Thanks in large part to this atomic number 13 enclosure , Apple claim the fresh miniskirt is “ one of the most material - effective desktop computers usable . ” The company alsostates thatthe new miniskirt is the most vigor - efficient desktop computer on the grocery store , using just over 9W of index when idle but alive , and less than 1.5W when sleeping . It ’s also a bit quieter , and carry at least as coolheaded — at least in my testing — than the previous model .
Notably miss from the new Mac mini ’s box is the bulky , gravid power brick of old mini manakin . As part of the computer ’s redesign , and thanks to its lower power employment , Apple was able to reduce the size of the Mac mini ’s baron supply and hide itinsidethe computer itself . Like the Apple TV , the Mac miniskirt now requires only a thin power electric cord that plugs directly into the back of the computer . Because of this modification , even though the new miniskirt is slimly heavier , at 3 Irish punt , than the premature model ’s enclosure , once you take into account the weight of the previous model ’s outside king supply , the young miniskirt is really about a Irish pound lighter overall .
Media-friendly connections
The smooth - alloy front of the mini is interrupted only by a slot for the 8x SuperDrive ; on the proper - hand end of that time slot is the infrared receiver forApple ’s Remote , which remains an optional ( $ 19 ) accessary .
The mini ’s back panel hosts all other port wine and connectors , and there are some skillful additions here , as well as a couple expiration . Perhaps the openhanded change is that while Apple has kept the Mini DisplayPort connector that debut last class , the companionship has dropped the mini - DVI port in favour of an HDMI output — in some ways an acknowledgement that many people expend their Mac mini tie to a television in a home plate - entertainment center , but also a reflection of the fact that HDMI connections are becoming more coarse on computer displays . Apple include an HDMI - to - DVI video adapter that passes the HDMI larboard ’s digital video recording signal ( but not audio ) to a stock DVI display ; a Mini DisplayPort - to - DVI adaptor is again a$29 accouterment .
As with the 2009 Mac mini model , you may connect two displays at the same time and use either extended- or mirrored - background mode . The HDMI port supports displays up to 1920 by 1200 pixels , and the Mini DisplayPort connector supports up to 2560 by 1600 pel . ( Apple and other seller sell Mini DisplayPort adapter for connect to VGA , DVI , or Dual - nexus DVI displays . ) And , as mentioned above , the Mac mini ’s graphics are powered by the same nVidia GeForce 320 M unified graphics as Apple ’s current MacBook line ; this chip , which uses a minimum of 256 megabit of your system RAM , offers notably in force performance than the desegregate computer graphic in the previous mini strain , and it ’s also optimized for HD output .
The new Mac mini’s back panel hosts an array of connections, including HDMI output and an SD-card reader.
touch base the new miniskirt to a video via HDMI , and standard television resolutions appear as production choice .
When you colligate the new Mac mini to a TV via HDMI , the Displays pane of System Preferences and the systemwide Displays menu automatically show availableTVresolutions for that TV : 720p , 1080i , 1080p , and so on . In addition , Apple has fine-tune the Displays pane of System Preferences to allow you adjust the underscan layer so the mini ’s video production well fits your television projection screen . These are welcome features for those who use the miniskirt in an Ab organization , although the include Front Row package continues to provide only the most introductory of mass medium - shopping mall functionality , and you ’ll require to bet elsewhere for Blu - beam playback .
The other big add-on to the Mac miniskirt ’s back instrument panel is a built - in SD - card reviewer . According to Apple , the time slot work with standard SD ( Secure Digital ) cards of 4 MB to 4 GB capacity , SDHC ( Secure Digital High Capacity ) cards of 4 GB to 32 GB mental ability , and SDXC ( Secure Digital Extended Capacity ) cards of 32 sarin or higher electrical capacity . As anyone with a recent MacBook Pro can tell you , it ’s quite commodious to be able to stick a memory carte du jour straight off into your computer for easy transfers of photos and telecasting . However , by place the card reader on the rear of the Mac mini , Apple has made enter the one-armed bandit at best inconvenient ; if your Mac miniskirt is in an AV cabinet , hidden under your desk , or otherwise less accessible , you may end up not being able to use the one-armed bandit at all .
You can upgrade the RAM on the 2010 Mac mini with a simple twist-and-lift of its bottom panel—putty knives are no longer necessary.
( To be fair , Apple toldMacworldthat the compact intent of the Mac mini limits where port and connectors can be placed . train out theteardown photos of the new mini , from our friends at iFixit , for a good look at the engineering required just to fit everything inside the Mac mini ’s tiny enclosure . )
The Modern Mac mini ’s back instrument panel hosts an regalia of connections , including HDMI production and an SD - card reader .
The rest of the Mac mini’scrowded back panelis filled with a magnate button , a power - electric cord jack , an motorcar - sensing gigabit ethernet jack , a FireWire 800 porthole , four USB 2.0 ports ( served by two heap ) , auto - sense analog / optical - digital audio input and output minijacks ( both of which corroborate Apple ’s current iPhone headset with distant and mic ) , and an exhaust system vent for the mini ’s cooling system . ( The air inlet is near the front of the miniskirt , on the bottom , providing what should be an improve , front - to - back chill system . )
Longer bars are better. Blue bars in italics represent reference systems. Macworld Lab testing by James Galbraith and McKinley Noble.
Especially attentive reviewer will notice two back - panel absence compared to the previous Mac mini : a fifth USB port and a security - lock one-armed bandit . These were apparently eliminated due to space constraints .
Internally , the new Mac mini provides Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR and 802.11a / b / g / n wireless — Apple did n’t formally patronise 802.11a on the previous model . As I note in my manus - on , Apple says the Modern fashion model should provide better wireless public presentation thanks to the placement of its two antennas : one in the rear behind the moldable back panel , and the other on the bottom , near the front of the miniskirt , also behind a plastic cover .
Easiest. RAM. Upgrade. Ever.
The new design of the Mac miniskirt has one other benefit , and it ’s a huge one : prosperous RAM upgrade . The RAM - upgrade procedure for previous Mac miniskirt models was such an undertaking — postulate putty knives and producing nerve - rack crack sound — that we ’ve written at least half a dozen articles on the topic over the years . With the new mini , not only do you not need putty knives , you do n’t need any tools at all .
you may upgrade the RAM on the 2010 Mac mini with a simple twist - and - lift of its bottom jury — putty tongue are no longer necessary .
The mini ’s circular , black - plastic base sport two modest indentations . If you place a thumb in each one and spread out the radix a few degrees counterclockwise , the root word lifts off to break the computer ’s SDRAM slot . Pop out the two strain chips , snap in the raw chip , and interchange the base — you’re done . Not only is this procedure dramatically easier than with the premature miniskirt , but , looking back , I ca n’t call back of a Mac that ’s been well-fixed to advance — at least for random memory .
That say , the mini ’s gillyflower 2 GB of RAM will be sufficient for many Mac mini owners , and Apple charges only $ 100 at the time of leverage to bump up to 4GB — avery sensible price — so you may never necessitate to open up the mini . But it ’s nice to know that if you want or take to spring up to 4GB — or even 8 GB , which is now an officially back contour — it ’s wanton to do so .
On the other hand , the subprogram for replacing the Mac mini’shard movement , which was even more unmanageable on the late mannikin than upgrade RAM , does n’t get the same twist - and - tonic treatment . It for sure requires just as much disassembly this clock time around , as iFixit ’s teardown shows . We ’ll have more on this after we get a chance to operate on our own miniskirt . ( As with late Mac mini models , Apple has confirmed toMacworldthat you ’re free to upgrade national component part [ including the hard parkway ] yourself , provided you do n’t damage the estimator in the procedure . Such damage would not be covered by the Mac mini ’s guarantee . )
Of of course , as I noted with the 2009 models , it ’s moot whether or not you ’d even want to promote the hard effort : The mini ship with a 320 GB drive , which will be expectant enough for many people , and those who need more storage will likely be well served by buy an external driveway : Thanks to the Mac mini ’s employment of 2.5 - in , 5400 - rpm laptop crusade , last year ’s model perform better when booted from an external FireWire 800 drive than when booted from the home intemperate drive , and there ’s nothing that would make me cogitate this has changed with the recent model . ( The server interpretation of the Mac miniskirt now ship with duple 7200 - rpm ride . )
For similar grounds , I recommend against pay Apple $ 100 to switch the stock 320 GB driving force for a 500 GB model . With 1 TB FireWire 800 drive uncommitted online for or so the same Leontyne Price , unless you ’re using the mini in particular circumstances that prevent the use of an external driving force , there ’s little intellect to compensate a premium for — or take the endangerment establish — a larger internal drive .
Mac mini (Mid 2010): Speedmark scores
Longer bars are better . Blue Browning automatic rifle in italics represent acknowledgment system . Macworld science lab testing by James Galbraith and McKinley Noble .
Despite using a much good graphics Saratoga chip than its predecessors , the Modern Mac miniskirt falls squarely between the two Late-2009 Mac mini model when it comes to processor f number : 2.4GHz compared to 2.26GHz and 2.53GHz . As such , I did n’t gestate to see huge execution gains in most programs and , in fact , suspect the latest miniskirt might not be able to match the 2.53GHz Late 2009 exemplar at some undertaking .
And that turned out to be the event . AsMacworldlab manager James Galbraith reported in ourbenchmarks of the new Mac mini , the unexampled miniskirt best both Late 2009 poser in our Aperture import , iMovie import , iMovie export , Finder double - a - folder , and Call of responsibility tests . But it come in between the two Late 2009 models in our Cinebench render , Mathematica 7 , Compressor encode , iTunes encode , Finder postal code - archive , Finder unzip - archive , Parallels multi - undertaking , iPhoto 9 importation , and Pages opened - Scripture - document tests . In only one test , our HandBrake DVD - rip trial run , was the new miniskirt bested by both Late 2009 models , and that outcome was so dramatically different than the other figure that we ’re doing further testing .
New Mac mini 2.4GHz Speedmark scores
Best results inbold . Reference system initalics .
How we tested . Call of Duty score is in frame of reference per second ( higher is dear ) . Speedmark and MathematicaMark are carrying into action score ( higher score are better ) . All others are in minutes : seconds ( lower is better ) . The newfangled Mac mini was tested with OSX 10.6.4 , the MacBook was tested with OS X 10.6.3 and the the residue were tested with 10.6 . The Photoshop Suite exam is a set of 14 scripted labor using a 50 MB file . Photoshop ’s memory was coif to 70 percent and History was set to Minimum . We recorded how long it took to render a scene with mulitprocessors in CinemaBench . We used Compressor to encode a MOV file to the software ’s H.264 for video recording podcast setting . We timed the import and thumbnail / preview universe time for 150 photos . In iMovie , we import a camera archive and exported it to iTunes for Mobile Devices setting . We convert 90 minutes of AAC audio files to MP3 using iTunes ’ High Quality context . We Unzipped a 2 GB archive in the Finder . We run WorldBench 6 multitasking test on a Parallels VM . We import 150 JPEGs into iPhoto . We used HandBrake to rip a DVD chapter to the hard parkway . We opened a 500 - page parole document in Pages ’ 09.—Macworld Lab testing by James Galbraith and McKinley Noble
It ’s deserving noting that , despite these results , the raw exemplar ’s graphics carrying out was meliorate enough that it play the 2010 Mac mini ’s overall Speedmark score , shown above , within a single spot of the 2009 higher - ending simulation , 117 versus 118 , respectively .
In real - world use , the new mini handled everyday project — Web browsing , vitamin E - ring armour , Bible processing , and Apple ’s iLife cortege — without trouble . Only when I had many of these programs open at the same time did the stock 2 GB of RAM become a limit . If you do tend to keep many applications running simultaneously , I advocate upping the mini ’s Aries to at least 4 GB .
I also used the new Mac mini to bet several game . In line with our benchmarks , the carrying out of Call of Duty 4 with recommended graphics background was perceptibly better on the newfangled miniskirt than on the 2009 models . This is n’t a gambling rigging , but for casual gamers who do n’t heed dialing back contingent and texture , it will let you bask most game .
In a somewhat challenging mental test , I also playact Half - Life 2 via the newly - Mac - compatible Steam service while the Mac mini was connected to a 1920 by 1080 - pixel ( 1080p ) Dell expose via HDMI . At the video display ’s aboriginal 1080p resoluteness , video and audio were both jerky , but reducing the biz ’s solving to 1280 - by-720 ( 720p ) alleviated this stuttering dramatically . However , accord to Valve , the developer of Steam , there ’s aknown proceeds with nVidia graphics chips under Mac OS X 10.6.4that adversely regard carrying out in some game , so take the results of this special run with a caryopsis of salinity — it ’s possible that the new miniskirt will perform considerably at this test once the hemipterous insect has been fixed .
A better mini, but a better value?
As I ’ve take down in premature Mac mini review , the mini line has always been about size and value rather than performance — last year ’s model were actually the first that were powerful enough to amply take advantage of Apple ’s iLife suite and provide hefty gaming performance . But while most Mac models — and , indeed , most computers in universal — have gotten sleazy over the past five years , the damage you pay up for a canonic Mac miniskirt has creep up since the first model debuted in 2005 . As of late as other 2006 , you could get a mini for $ 499 , with a high - end model uncommitted for $ 599 . Those number jumped to $ 599 and $ 799 , respectively , in February 2006 and hold steady for the next four and a half year . Now your only choice is a exclusive $ 699 modelling .
grant , today ’s Mac mini blows the door off any Mac miniskirt you could have purchased for $ 499 , and easily outflank all former $ 599 models . And , in fact , thanks to performance and feature upgrades , the new mini gives you a computer that’sbetterin most respect than last yr ’s $ 799 mannikin — for $ 100 less . But whereas the original Mac miniskirt was a financial statement product—”a actual Mac for under $ 500”—and legitimate switcher bait , the high toll of entry for today ’s Mac mini throws up a considerable genial hurdle , and , for some the great unwashed , even a budgetary one . AsChristopher Breen and I discussed on last week ’s Macworld podcast , $ 599 stillfeltinexpensive , as if you were still within range of that sorcerous $ 500 toll decimal point . But $ 699 feel more like $ 700 , and $ 699 is only a few hundred bucks away from a MacBook and $ 500 away from a more potent , and far better - equipped , iMac .
Would I expend $ 699 on this Mac mini ? Probably . But I ’ve always been a rooter of a “ real ” Mac in a bantam parcel . For someone take care for an inexpensive Mac who does n’t manage as much about the miniskirt ’s miniature profile , the high introductory toll is a more unmanageable case to make than before , even if it does give you a good computer . I ’d like to see Apple make for back the $ 599 ( or , heck , the $ 499 ) introduction point .
Macworld’s buying advice
The Mac miniskirt remains an impressive feat of computer hardware engineering and invention , fitting decent computing power and a solid readiness of features in a tiny software system . And apart from the dim stock backbreaking drive , there ’s not much to kvetch about with the late model — this is as full - featured a computer I ’ve seen in a package this small , and the new enclosure look smashing and is build like a tank . As with last class ’s mannikin , the Modern mini make for a great starter or whipper Mac , and it ’s a solid ascent for those looking to replace an age Mac . In gain , the new HDMI outturn make the miniskirt even more appealing as part of a home - entertainment organisation , and the improved graphics chip avail the mini perform well enough to love most games .
In other words , the late Mac miniskirt is Apple ’s most versatile desktop information processing system , and an likable option for those who do n’t need workstation - level performance . If you ’ve been considering a mini but passed on the 2009 models , now is a great time to make the jump . On the other mitt , the fresh mini does n’t offer a major jump in carrying into action over the previous generation — only AV fancier despairing for a true HDMI output , or people who ’d care to be able to act as some of the more - demanding games without splurging for a Mac Pro , should consider upgrading from one of last class ’s models .
The biggest disconfirming about the new Mac miniskirt is , in fact , its cost . While you get a computer that ’s better than last class ’s $ 799 Mac mini for only $ 699 , that ’s your only option — the price of entry is $ 100 higher this yr than last , and it ’s now $ 200 higher than when Apple bluster the Mac miniskirt as the first Mac for under $ 500 .
[ Dan Frakes is a Macworld fourth-year editor program . ]
Updated 6/23/10 , 1:03pm : Corrected storage use of GeForce 320 M and added note about build - to - order processor option .
