Apple Mac mini (Thunderbolt) ($ 799 list) is the latest iteration of compact desktop PC from Apple. While the iPad and iPhone have a lot of attention these days that the Mac is still an important part of Apple's business. You must use your tablets and mobile phones as you are, and Mac when you want to do serious work, like writing for a period more or watch a movie on the big screen with their families. The new Mac mini updated with a Thunderbolt port, the second generation of Intel Core i5 and new AMD discrete graphics, but it is also known for something you probably do not have to use it: It removes the optical drive chassis. Oh, and it is as strong as a tower PC. Users who used to consider the Mac Mini as a second or third extra computer around the house, instead of a main PC. The new iteration is now strong enough to take over as the main PC in your home. Plus it's still a good base station for your iPod, iPhone and iPad.
For these reasons, the Apple Mac mini (Lightning) wins Editors Choice for compact desktops.
Design and features
The new version of Mac mini is like the previous iteration of Apple Mac mini (HDMI) ($ 699 list, 4.5 stars). It has the same unibody aluminum chassis with an obvious difference. It is no longer an optical drive slot-loading, a feature that played an important role on the Mac mini line since its inception in 2005. Basically, it's as if Apple said "we gave you on the iTunes Store, Safari and Mac online App Store, why would you need an optical drive?" As the original iMac fell so prominent player disks of its desktop computers, Mac mini (Thunderbolt) is a stake into the ground and declare that you do not need an optical drive more. Of course, there have been miniaturized nettops no optical drive for a while now as Giada MiniPC A50 (449 million street, 3.5 stars). But the Mac mini is one of the few premium desktop optical drive compact.
For these reasons, the Apple Mac mini (Lightning) wins Editors Choice for compact desktops.
Design and features
The new version of Mac mini is like the previous iteration of Apple Mac mini (HDMI) ($ 699 list, 4.5 stars). It has the same unibody aluminum chassis with an obvious difference. It is no longer an optical drive slot-loading, a feature that played an important role on the Mac mini line since its inception in 2005. Basically, it's as if Apple said "we gave you on the iTunes Store, Safari and Mac online App Store, why would you need an optical drive?" As the original iMac fell so prominent player disks of its desktop computers, Mac mini (Thunderbolt) is a stake into the ground and declare that you do not need an optical drive more. Of course, there have been miniaturized nettops no optical drive for a while now as Giada MiniPC A50 (449 million street, 3.5 stars). But the Mac mini is one of the few premium desktop optical drive compact.
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| Apple Mac Mini (Thunderbolt) |
The fact is that optical drives are quite useful to install the software and re-construction of the operating system. Apple Mac App Store, and download online nursing programs, and Mac OS X Lion is designed to be installed from the recovery partition, Internet, or from a USB stick. Sure, you can install Windows 7 from a USB stick too, but first you must find a way to create one for yourself: All new Mac mini will be able to install the Lion of the recovery partition or the internet after typing in a combination key at startup. Apple sells the finished product Leone USB key in the near future. If you absolutely need to read an optical disc, you can share lenses from any Mac or PC, you install the program on your LAN client PC or MAC. You can also use the same optional external Apple SuperDrive ($ 79), which was released the MacBook Air. If you have previous versions of the software that you can still install DVD, you can think of to pick one.
However, the 800-pound gorilla of all Mac applications, Adobe Creative Suite 5.5, available for download online.
The layout of the Mac mini is the same as last time: the opening of the bottom panel shows the memory locations (full) with 4GB of memory, and not much else. You can see the Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n antenna, but will go beyond Torx screwdrivers and patience. The Mac mini is not designed to be repaired by users (other than memory), so unless you have a load of value, not replace the 500GB internal hard drive soon. The office has a 500 GB 5400 rpm drive, which operates its compact size for a small show. You can set the mini when the end of Apple's online store for $ 750 a hard drive GB 7200 rpm (150 dollars), a 256 GB SSD ($ 600) or both ($ 750).
On the other hand, many seem familiar: the power switch, power port for AC power cable, Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire 800, HDMI, Thunderbolt port (functional incorporates the former mini-DisplayPort), four USB 2.0 ports, SDXC card reader, and a pair of audio jacks with digital audio capabilities. The power port is remarkable, because the office has an integrated power supply instead of the brick power available on many small computers. It is both a much more practical and much better than the power brick. The Thunderbolt port uses the new Intel interface (think of it as an external PCIe) so that you can theoretically connect multiple monitors, hard drives, and even other interfaces such as USB 3.0 or eSATA. In practice, only devices that can be ordered Thunderbolt Table Pegasus Promise RAID R6 and the next Apple Display Thunderbolt (27 inches). Hopefully we'll see more devices Thunderbolt before the end of the year.
Desktop includes some extras on the disk drive, such as iLife (iPhoto, iMovie, etc.) in addition to the new Mac OS X Lion's operating system. Leone has been optimized for Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad Apple, so the latest features, such as Launchpad and Mission Control are very much in touch with these devices. However, using a mouse is a bit old 'confusion. Scroll wheel acts as the opposite of what you expect (turning the wheel towards you to push the page up, and vice versa), and you certainly can not activate the multi-touch shots with a third part of the the mouse. Settings for the mouse and the trackpad control panel to change the behavior of sliding back to what you're used to. Mac mini (Thunderbolt) is not involved in the HDMI-DVI adapter, so you can use the system to an old monitor, keyboard and mouse. However, to fully benefit from the lion of new features, you have a budget more than $ 69 for the Magic Trackpad.
Performance
The Mac mini (Ray) has an Intel Core i5-2520m and the AMD Radeon HD 6630M discrete graphics, which are certainly powerful enough to run our benchmark tests, including 3D games. We tested the system in Mac OS X Lion and Windows 7 Enterprise (64 bit) using Boot Camp. The Mac mini (Ray) completed the handbrake video in a quick 1 minute 42 seconds in Windows and Mac OS 2:23. The system has also completed the test at 3:47 in Photoshop CS5 Windows and Mac OS 5:10. This is significantly faster than the Core 2 Duo Mac mini PED team since last year, which took about 3:32 to complete the hand brake and 7:14 to complete CS5.
Similarly, the Mac mini (Thunderbolt) was improved 3D graphics capabilities as well: At the time, the Mac mini (HDMI) the most powerful in the 3D PC-compact class, where he scored 21 frames per second ( fps) on Crysis at medium quality. Mac mini (Thunderbolt) completed the same tests on a much more playable 48 fps. It's not quite the ultra-smooth 60 + fps still there, but you should be able to play Crysis at the frame rate on the Mac mini with a few adjustments to the settings. This is important because the only other competitor, as we have seen recently in this price range is the Asus Essentio CM6850-07 (list $ 829.99, 3.5 stars). Asus CM6850-07 is a tower complete with a huge Thurs class discrete graphics card. Even then, Asus did a little better scores 50fps Crysis. Asus got a better score on Lost Planet 2 medium quality (26 fps Asus, Apple 19 fps), but neither scores considered playable.
Asus CM6850-07 was faster than the Mac mini (Thunderbolt) is the benchmark tests, such as the handbrake, CS5, and PCMark Vantage, which is due to Asus CM6850-07 is faster at 7200 rpm (the Mac mini a 5400 rpm). Mac mini (Thunderbolt), has swept away the editor PC Choice compact Dell Inspiron Zino HD (Inspiron 410) ($ 849.99 direct, 4 stars) have the same tests. All this means that the Mac mini to show that there is no need to sacrifice performance, if you want to shrink.
The compact form factor is usually about commitments. You can go really compact, low power consumption, but like Giada PC and Asus Eee Box, or go a little bigger and really cheap as HP Pavilion Slimline s5-1020 ($ 429.99 list, 3.5 stars) . At the upper end are systems like the Dell Zino HD and Apple Mac mini. These systems use high-end multi-core processors like the Intel Core i5 and AMD Phenom II X4 with a separate graphics card to give the office tower class performance in a compact chassis. As the iPhone and the iPad, the Mac mini is now a true extension of the Apple ecosystem, where you can connect to the Internet for the purchase of media, entertainment and online programs and Apple stores. You may not miss the optical media now, which will certainly not in the future. It's not like Blu-ray has not been a concern for Mac users in the past: if you own, you have something else to play with them.
Dell Zino HD, which is worth more than the Mac mini is still available on the Dell site, but is basically the same model similar to quad-core AMD and ATI Radeon HD, the previous iteration, the Dell Zino We have estimated. Blu-ray side, the new Mac mini is a generally much more powerful and capable. That's why Apple Mac mini (Thunderbolt), Editor's Choice is a new compact PC.
However, the 800-pound gorilla of all Mac applications, Adobe Creative Suite 5.5, available for download online.
 |
| Apple Mac Mini (Thunderbolt) |
The layout of the Mac mini is the same as last time: the opening of the bottom panel shows the memory locations (full) with 4GB of memory, and not much else. You can see the Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n antenna, but will go beyond Torx screwdrivers and patience. The Mac mini is not designed to be repaired by users (other than memory), so unless you have a load of value, not replace the 500GB internal hard drive soon. The office has a 500 GB 5400 rpm drive, which operates its compact size for a small show. You can set the mini when the end of Apple's online store for $ 750 a hard drive GB 7200 rpm (150 dollars), a 256 GB SSD ($ 600) or both ($ 750).
On the other hand, many seem familiar: the power switch, power port for AC power cable, Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire 800, HDMI, Thunderbolt port (functional incorporates the former mini-DisplayPort), four USB 2.0 ports, SDXC card reader, and a pair of audio jacks with digital audio capabilities. The power port is remarkable, because the office has an integrated power supply instead of the brick power available on many small computers. It is both a much more practical and much better than the power brick. The Thunderbolt port uses the new Intel interface (think of it as an external PCIe) so that you can theoretically connect multiple monitors, hard drives, and even other interfaces such as USB 3.0 or eSATA. In practice, only devices that can be ordered Thunderbolt Table Pegasus Promise RAID R6 and the next Apple Display Thunderbolt (27 inches). Hopefully we'll see more devices Thunderbolt before the end of the year.
Desktop includes some extras on the disk drive, such as iLife (iPhoto, iMovie, etc.) in addition to the new Mac OS X Lion's operating system. Leone has been optimized for Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad Apple, so the latest features, such as Launchpad and Mission Control are very much in touch with these devices. However, using a mouse is a bit old 'confusion. Scroll wheel acts as the opposite of what you expect (turning the wheel towards you to push the page up, and vice versa), and you certainly can not activate the multi-touch shots with a third part of the the mouse. Settings for the mouse and the trackpad control panel to change the behavior of sliding back to what you're used to. Mac mini (Thunderbolt) is not involved in the HDMI-DVI adapter, so you can use the system to an old monitor, keyboard and mouse. However, to fully benefit from the lion of new features, you have a budget more than $ 69 for the Magic Trackpad.
 |
| Apple Mac Mini (Thunderbolt) |
Performance
The Mac mini (Ray) has an Intel Core i5-2520m and the AMD Radeon HD 6630M discrete graphics, which are certainly powerful enough to run our benchmark tests, including 3D games. We tested the system in Mac OS X Lion and Windows 7 Enterprise (64 bit) using Boot Camp. The Mac mini (Ray) completed the handbrake video in a quick 1 minute 42 seconds in Windows and Mac OS 2:23. The system has also completed the test at 3:47 in Photoshop CS5 Windows and Mac OS 5:10. This is significantly faster than the Core 2 Duo Mac mini PED team since last year, which took about 3:32 to complete the hand brake and 7:14 to complete CS5.
Similarly, the Mac mini (Thunderbolt) was improved 3D graphics capabilities as well: At the time, the Mac mini (HDMI) the most powerful in the 3D PC-compact class, where he scored 21 frames per second ( fps) on Crysis at medium quality. Mac mini (Thunderbolt) completed the same tests on a much more playable 48 fps. It's not quite the ultra-smooth 60 + fps still there, but you should be able to play Crysis at the frame rate on the Mac mini with a few adjustments to the settings. This is important because the only other competitor, as we have seen recently in this price range is the Asus Essentio CM6850-07 (list $ 829.99, 3.5 stars). Asus CM6850-07 is a tower complete with a huge Thurs class discrete graphics card. Even then, Asus did a little better scores 50fps Crysis. Asus got a better score on Lost Planet 2 medium quality (26 fps Asus, Apple 19 fps), but neither scores considered playable.
Asus CM6850-07 was faster than the Mac mini (Thunderbolt) is the benchmark tests, such as the handbrake, CS5, and PCMark Vantage, which is due to Asus CM6850-07 is faster at 7200 rpm (the Mac mini a 5400 rpm). Mac mini (Thunderbolt), has swept away the editor PC Choice compact Dell Inspiron Zino HD (Inspiron 410) ($ 849.99 direct, 4 stars) have the same tests. All this means that the Mac mini to show that there is no need to sacrifice performance, if you want to shrink.
The compact form factor is usually about commitments. You can go really compact, low power consumption, but like Giada PC and Asus Eee Box, or go a little bigger and really cheap as HP Pavilion Slimline s5-1020 ($ 429.99 list, 3.5 stars) . At the upper end are systems like the Dell Zino HD and Apple Mac mini. These systems use high-end multi-core processors like the Intel Core i5 and AMD Phenom II X4 with a separate graphics card to give the office tower class performance in a compact chassis. As the iPhone and the iPad, the Mac mini is now a true extension of the Apple ecosystem, where you can connect to the Internet for the purchase of media, entertainment and online programs and Apple stores. You may not miss the optical media now, which will certainly not in the future. It's not like Blu-ray has not been a concern for Mac users in the past: if you own, you have something else to play with them.
Dell Zino HD, which is worth more than the Mac mini is still available on the Dell site, but is basically the same model similar to quad-core AMD and ATI Radeon HD, the previous iteration, the Dell Zino We have estimated. Blu-ray side, the new Mac mini is a generally much more powerful and capable. That's why Apple Mac mini (Thunderbolt), Editor's Choice is a new compact PC.
