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Holistic Guidance - Apple Mac mini MB138LL/A (1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1 GB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, Combo Drive)
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List Price: $599.00
Our Price: $595.00
Your Save: $ 4.00 ( 1% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Apple Computer
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Personal Computers
Brand: Apple
CPU Manufacturer: Intel
CPU Speed: 1.83
CPU Type: Intel Core Duo
EAN: 0885909175598
Feature: 1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 667 MHz system bus
Hard Disk Size: 80
Label: Apple Computer
Manufacturer: Apple Computer
Model: MB138LL/A
Processor Count: 2
Publisher: Apple Computer
Studio: Apple Computer
System Memory Size: 1000
System Memory Type: DDR2 SDRAM
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Features
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1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 667 MHz system bus
1 GB DDR2 SDRAM (expandable to 2 GB), 80 GB SATA hard drive, and slot-loading slot-loading Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
One FireWire 400 port (8 watts); four USB 2.0 ports (up to 480 Mbps); DVI output; VGA output (using included adapter); S-video and composite video output
Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit), built-in AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi (802.11g)3; built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) module
Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard, iLife '08, and Front Row software included
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Editorial Reviews:
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A great choice for home computing tasks and creating a digital media hub, Apple's Mac mini desktop PC combines design simplicity with powerful computing resources. Nicely compact at just 6.5 inches square and 2 inches high, the Mac mini offers an affordable avenue to dual-core processing power via the 1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and Apple's latest suite of digital media applications--iLife '08. It also comes with the Apple Remote and Front Row media display software, which enables you to easily play your music, enjoy photo slideshows, and watch DVDs, iMovies, music videos and television shows from across the room. 
Inside its 2-inch-tall, 6.5-inch-square anodized aluminum enclosure, the Mac mini houses the fast Intel Core 2 Duo processor. | This Mac mini also features 1 GB of installed RAM (with a 2 GB maximum capacity), 80 GB hard drive, a combo DVD-RAM/CD-RW drive for watching DVD movie discs and burning your own mixes to CD, Gigabit Ethernet wired networking and 802.11b/g wireless LAN, and the Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard operating system. You'll have to supply your own keyboard, mouse, and display. Preinstalled with iLife '08
Every Mac mini includes iLife '08, the latest version of Apple's award-winning suite of digital media applications, with major upgrades to iPhoto, iDVD, iWeb, and GarageBand and a completely reinvented iMovie. iPhoto '08 now automatically organizes photo libraries into Events that let you more easily manage your growing photo collections, and iMovie '08 can import video from the latest AVCHD, HDV and DV camcorders, as well as from digital cameras, and displays your entire video library whether it's stored on internal or external drives. Both iPhoto and iMovie integrate seamlessly with the new .Mac Web Gallery, Apple's new service for .Mac members to instantly create and host websites for their photos and videos. 
The pre-installed iLife '08 software suite includes a completely redesigned iMovie, which makes it even easier to share your videos on the Internet. | iLife '08 also features iWeb '08, with live web widgets such as Google Maps that let you create even more dynamic websites, and GarageBand '08, with its new Magic GarageBand feature that makes it fun and easy for both musicians and non-musicians to create great sounding songs. Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
The Intel Core 2 Duo T5600 processor has a 1.83 GHz processor speed, fast 667 MHz front-side bus (FSB), and large 2 MB L2 cache. (An L2, or secondary, cache temporarily stores data; and a larger L2 cache can help speed up your system's performance. The FSB carries data between the CPU and RAM, and a faster front-side bus will deliver better overall performance.) The Intel Core 2 Duo's 128-bit SSE3 vector engine handles 128-bit computations in a single clock cycle, accelerating data manipulation by simultaneously applying a single instruction to multiple data. And its two execution cores are designed to share resources and conserve power, helping it to achieve higher levels of performance since it uses fewer watts. Wired and Wireless Connectivity
The small form of the Mac mini features several ports for a variety of different devices. | The Mac mini gives you plenty of room to grow with four USB 2.0 ports on the back--for connecting devices such as cameras, iPod, printer, camcorder, or keyboard--as well as a FireWire 400 port, which enables super-fast connectivity to hard drives as well as digital video camcorders. Share files around your house with built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T Ethernet as well as 54g Wi-Fi (802.11b/g). The integrated Bluetooth wireless connectivity--version 2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate (EDR)--allows you to use a wireless keyboard or mouse, and synchronize peripherals such as cell phones and PDAs. Enjoy high-quality sound on almost any speaker system with double-duty analog/digital audio. Record digital and analog sources through audio line in, perfect for your latest podcast in GarageBand. Graphics and Video
The Mac mini has a DVI video output that supports digital resolutions up to 1920 by 1200 pixels and is compatible with the 20-inch Apple Cinema Display and 23-inch Apple Cinema HD Display. It also supports coherent digital displays up to 154 MHz, and non-coherent digital displays up to 135 MHz. Using the included VGA video adapter, you can connect to analog displays at a resolution up to 1920 by 1080 pixels. Video is powered by the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950, which uses Intel Dynamic Video Memory Technology (DVMT) and provides up to 64 MB of shared video memory. Other Features
- 1 GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300) on two SO-DIMM with a 2 GB maximum capacity
- Slot-loading Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW): reads DVDs at up to 8x speed, writes CD-R discs at up to 24x speed, writes CD-RW discs at up to 16x speed, and reads CDs at up to 24x speed
- Built-in speaker
- Meets ENERGY STAR requirements with maximum continuous power of 110 watts
Included Software
Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard operating system (includes Spotlight, Dashboard, Mail, iChat AV, Safari, Address Book, QuickTime, iCal, DVD Player, Xcode Developer Tools); iLife '08 (includes iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb, GarageBand); Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Test Drive; iWork (30-day trial); and Front Row What's in the Box
Mac mini, Apple Remote, power cord, install/restore DVDs, printed and electronic documentation
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Older Cinema Displays require expensive adapter
Comment: Complaint #1: First thing I discovered when I went to hook up my new Mac Mini: I could not connect my "older" (c. 2004) 23" Cinema Display. Apple doesn't tell you that part. If you have an older Cinema Display with an ADC connection (it looks like it'll fit this DVI connection, but count the pins - it's wider), you'll have to purchase Apple's DVI-to-ADC adapter (P/N M8661LL/B). Unfortunately, it's expensive ($99 from apple or $89 on amazon plus shipping), it's bulky (almost as big as the mac mini), requires use of one of my precious USB ports and yet another electric outlet. Also, when my Mac goes to sleep, both USB ports on the rear of my 23" Cinema Display shut down. AND, because I have a "white-light Cinema Display" (i.e. the power button has a white glowing light behind it rather than a green glowing light), the button will no longer work as a power-on button. It just sort of pulses white light when you touch it. So there's that. Still, I'm able to use my "old" display with the new Mac Mini, which means a lot to these old eyes. btw, you might think you can get one of the other "DVI to ADC" cables that come up with a search here - but take close look at the male and female ends - as far as I can tell they're really ADC to DVI, i.e., for a newer DVI display to an older ADC Mac. Just a warning if you've got an older Cinema Display you want to work with a newer mac.
Complaint #2: Leopard. Sidebar in the Finder is now far less customizable than in Tiger; Sherlock is gone w/inferior Spotlight in its place (it doesn't separate search items in categories--boo); etc.
Complaint #3: My only other complaint on the Mini so far is that because it's basically a notebook without the screen, the ports are very close together. I'd rather see it be an inch or two wider just to accommodate the cords better.
The Mac Mini performance seems, at two days now, almost on par with my old G5 and is SO much quieter. That alone gets 3 stars!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great way to go Mac on the Cheap
Comment: Using monitors, keyboards, and mice I already had, my wife was pleased that she could go Mac at the price of an entry PC. I did upgrade to 2 GBytes of memory by spending $50 at Crucial.
Adding memory is difficult. It may not have been worth the hours spent. You'll feel like a surgeon afterwards. This is why the 4 stars, not 5, were given.
This Mac runs far faster than the Core 2 Duo PC's running at 2.2 GHz.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent System, but overpriced...
Comment: Never had a Mac before, this is great! Way better than my custom-built Vista Ultimate computer! Though I have found glitches in Mac OSX, the glitches are far more minor than those found in Vista. If it weren't for the ease of use and the tiny design, I would have given this computer a four star rating because it is overpriced for what you get. Not a gaming machine, but certainly a reliable computer for all sorts of activities that have minimal hardware requirements. (Such as web browsing, basic photo editing and music production, word processing, and so on and so on.) I am very pleased with this computer. I am now a Mac convert.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Overall great product
Comment: The Mac Mini works great as a simple desktop solution. It was very easy to setup and worked with all of my existing PC components without issue. I was also surprised by it finding and installing my older printer (Epson Stylus Photo 825) and camera, although that speaks more for the MAC OS than the Mac Mini itself.
My only minor gripes is that the system is sometimes slow with only 1 GB RAM and a slow hard drive. I also get annoyed b/c it takes a while to find my wireless network everytime it "wakes up" from going into hybernation mode.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Runs smoother than an 86 Yugo
Comment: So far I am very pleased with my new MiniMac. I switched over from a PC because I was sick and tired of my PC and its continuous problems/viruses. I had little to no experience with MAC's but making the transition was easier than I thought. A quick tutorial and I was up and running. I primarily use it for internet, email, etc. and so far so good. It runs like a top, comes with cool software, and no viruses make this a good buy.
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