The New Mini

It’s just over one year since I saw the Mac Mini in the flesh and I made the statement…if I had a plasma I would buy one without hesitation. Well I’ve got the LCD and a new version of the Mini has just been announced. The mouse has been hovering over the buy now button but I just can’t click it. Doubts have crept in.

The first one is the amount of duplication in gadgets – just what do I really need? The Mini would ideally replace XBMC and also allow so much more. At the same time I’m looking at the 360 which is more powerful than the Mini and the PS3 will be on the shelf in the next year – do I really need another box with similar specs to deliver slightly different functionality?

Second is cost. $799 does not equal £599. That’s £140 above the pound dollar conversion rate. A DVI cable from Apple is £60. Why don’t I bend over and take a humping at the same time. Thanks Apple.

So I will bide my time yet again, but hopefully for only another 3 or 4 months. By then I should know what the PS3 really will deliver and also just how good the small form factor pc’s from Intel will be like. Maybe I should just go with the laptop, scrap having a player at the TV and plug in the laptop when required. Anyone else have a good idea?

0 thoughts on “The New Mini”

  1. Remember that US prices never quote the local sales tax as it varies from city to city, County to County and State to State. San Francisco, the home of Apple, levies 8.5% tax which takes the real price up to $867 which is £495. Still a rip off though, but won’t stop me lusting after some shiny new kit.

    I blame Thatcher 😉

  2. I reckon, given the current debacle that is my Philips PF9986 Component input, I’d be up for buying a mini. If I had the money. Of course, I’d also have to buy a DVI switch box which would add even more money. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your perspective) I don’t have the money for either. 🙂

    The 360 is hopeless as a media center because it limits you on the formats you can view (transcode 360 is hopeless). XBMC is still the king, but it can’t output over VGA or DVI and my TV currently has issues with component, even though component supposed to be fully supported!

    Yes. I’d go for it. 🙂

    PS. It does support a remote control right?

  3. If you mail order something in the U.S. and it comes from out of state, then there is no sales tax. In my experience, most U.S. companies will not ship overseas (here be dragons). In some ways it makes sense, there are all kinds of customs and excise issues with doing that.

    Even when you are buying in the U.S and getting things shipped to a U.S. address many sites will not accept your credit card billing address information. Often it is impossible to enter your postal code correctly as the “zip code� field on the form only allows digit characters, this prevents the transaction taking place.

    One site I tried to use wanted me to scan some photo I.D. with my address on it, as well as both sides of my credit card. I don’t think handing out that much info to someone you have never met is a very smart idea. So told them I would take my business elsewhere. In my experience Amazon is one of the best sites to use for this kind of thing.

  4. It’s £509 without VAT at 17.5%. That’s makes the difference large but not nearly so huge. You’re dead right about the extras though. £70 for a bluetooth mouse and keyboard seems a bit steep to me. And by the time you beef up the RAM you’re not far away from the cost of 17″ iMac. But that’s not the point of the mini. It’s small, silent and unobtrusive. It kind of loses that appeal when there’s a plethora of alternative metal boxes dotted round the room.

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