Article:		Building the Perfect Budget PC, Part 1
Subject:		Just get a Mac Mini!
Date:		2005-02-15 21:29:45
From:		scottnichol
couldn't you just a Mac mini. this is a 10-minute pickup at a local Apple retail store and you get to save all the time (and subsequently money since time does equal money). for the same $500 you'd get a great computer with CD-RW/DVD drive, a superior video card (ATI 9200), a better processor (G4 with altivec), a clearly superior set of bundled apps (the iLife suite!), and the rock solid Mac OS X that's arguably got all the bennies of Linux with out the spyware dangers of Windows. i just have no patience for a BYO machine. i've got to get to work!

Showing messages 1 through 2 of 2.

• Just get a Mac Mini!
  2005-02-25 07:24:39  farnz [View]
  
  
  I thought the Mac Mini didn't come with a monitor, keyboard or mouse? Using the article's prices, that's $138 extra, pushing the total to $637 (or $79 more than the enhanced specification Intel). Bear in mind that the ES Intel has a DVD writer and an 80GB drive; the Mac Mini has a CD-RW/DVD combo, and a 40GB drive.
• Just get a Mac Mini!
  2005-02-25 07:36:35  Robert Bruce Thompson | [View]
  
  
  Not to mention that the standard Mac Mini configuration doesn't have enough memory to run OS/X at all well, so you can add in a memory upgrade to the Mac cost. And not only is the Mac Mini hard drive half the size, it's a 4,200 RPM notebook drive that is *much* slower than the 7,200 RPM Barracuda.
  
  By the time you get the Mac Mini reasonably well configured, it's an $800 system, at least. And you're still stuck with a slow, obsolete G4 processor and a slow hard drive.