Lowest Price

: 649.99

Brand

: Apple

Model

: MB463LL/A

Reviewer: Andrew Dalzell| Date:2009-11-18

I purchased two of these to use for video playback in a theatre application. I upgraded the RAM in them to maximum and they ran flawlessly. I'm very happy with the addition of these machines to my supply now that Apple has added dual video outputs.

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Reviewer: Edward J. Fleming| Date:2009-11-17

Yes, it's small. Yes, it's SLOW! Oh yeah, it's also really slow, in addition to being slow. Crash? It would probably take 2 weeks before you'd even notice.

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Reviewer: Doreen Appleton| Date:2009-10-27

A problem with the 1gb Imac and the Mac Mini (but not the Macbook, I am told) is folders.

You set your folder with small icons, hiding the toolbar. You come back later, the toolbar is back, the icons are now large, falling all over each other like poker chips -- or, your icons have turned into a list.

You patiently put it back the way you had it, and you click the button that says "Always open in icon view."

You come back later -- the folder has gone crazy again. The toolbar is back, the icons have become a list, the icons are too big -- something.

You end up sighing ten times a day as you use the computer.

Very annoying.

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Reviewer: J. Hietpas| Date:2009-10-19

After years of blindly paying an immense monthly sum for DirecTv and Tivo, I decided to chuck it all and build a homebrew media center.

I know that PC's are the typical go-to device for building a home media center, but I'm a mac fan. So I found a refurb mini intel core duo on sale at Tiger direct for about $400 and I jumped on it to experiment.

Here's what I got:

-Elgato EyeTv hybrid $99 (refurb from J&R)
-Standard rabbit ear antenna $12
-WD Mybook 500gb external harddrive $99
-Wireless keyboard & mouse $30
-Dvi to rca adapter $19
-Universal remote $20

Once I assembled all the elements it took me a weekend afternoon to hook up everything to our standard def CRT tv and install the EyeTv software. My initial cash expenditure was high (nearly $700), but keep in mind I was paying over $1200 a year for DirecTv service. After the first 2/3 of the year the system will have paid for itself, with no recurring bills save broadband internet which I was already paying for. So how did it work? So glad you asked.

I started this over a year ago. DTV broadcasts had already begun, but they were layered over analog. I found DTV reception where I live in NYC to be spotty for certain channels (CBS was dicey and PBS didn't come in at all) and great for others (NBC has always come in exceptionally well). EyeTv was an okay Tivo replacement, but as anyone who has actually used Tivo knows, there is no substitute. It's probably one of the greatest consumer electronics devices of all time. Still, we could schedule recordings and timeshift while watching, and because of the huge external HD we essentially had no limit on how much we could record and save. The only issue was whether the station would actually come in or not.

The real revelation, however, was tv on the net. Hulu had recently launched and many networks were putting content online. Having a computer hooked up to our tv was better than any dvr, since it was essentially tv on demand. A few months later Netflix opened up their Watch Instantly to mac users, and we suddenly had access to a large and growing library of films and tv shows (including content from Showtime, Discovery and other pay networks).

But I was still disappointed by over the air DTV broadcasts. Then the June digital transition happened. Literally overnight the stations amped up significantly in signal strength and we no longer had serious reception issues, every channel came in. This meant that we could schedule recordings on EyeTv with little fear of them being unwatchable due to poor reception.

About four months ago I upgraded from my old Sharp CRT tv to a Panasonic PT-AX200U HD projector (I moved to a new apartment with a giant wall in the living room). I wasn't sure that the mini's paltry video card would be able to handle 720p or 1080i, but I got a DVI to HDMI adapter and hoo boy was I impressed. You've not seen anything until you've seen an NFL game or an episode of CSI (and I don't even like CSI) splashed ten feet wide across your wall in hi-def.

What's great is that EyeTV and Hulu (with the addition of Hulu desktop) can both be controlled by the Apple remote, which means I can use the universal remote to control everything. For those apps I can't control with the remote I use the wireless mouse. EyeTv can still be a little quriky, but I've gotten used to it.

My wife and I also have our entire music collection on the external HD and through Apple's Remote app, we can use our iPod Touch to play any of it through our sound system without having to turn the projector on, sort of a bootleg Sonos system.

So, yeah, I'm really happy I spent that money on the mini a year and a half ago, because I keep reaping the benefits of it every day, and will continue to do so well into the future. And even my (non-techy) wife loves it, believe me - that's validation!

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Reviewer: W. S. Lee| Date:2009-10-09

We have two of these and they work great. Of course, the key is: it's a Mac! And why not be able to take advantage of crashing flat screen prices and the keyboard and mouse you really want (I've never been a fan of Apple's offerings in that department)? Add an external USB drive for extra storage or Time Machine and you are there. And Snow Leopard is really good (I've had Macs since 1985, so I've seen them all).

Review from Review from Amazon