Mini

Macworld decided to put a decked out Mac Mini Mid-2011 against a current baseline iMac 2.5GHz to see what kind of performance could be gotten from Apple’s diminutive little machine when an SSD is added.

When we say “decked out”, we’re referring to the $100 2.5->2.7GHz CPU improvement + $600 SSD upgrade which almost doubles the price of the $799 ($769) high end Mini and pushes it above the price of the base model iMac. Minis start out at around $568.

The results are pretty apparent: when running simple tests, especially ones that rely only on CPU and disk access, the Mini beat the iMac handily (above). That’s almost entirely due to the added speed of the SSD compared with the iMac’s 3.5-inch HDD. When doing more graphics intensive tests (below), the iMac and its more powerful GPU took over.

The takeaway on this however is that a HDD to SSD upgrade can make a heck of a lot of difference in performance. For those handy out there, adding an SSD to a Mac Mini doesn’t have to be a $600 proposition either. Reasonable SSDs can start out at $100 and can be added to the new Minis’ hard drive configuration (not swapped) with a simple kit.

Another important tweak not detailled in these tests is adding 8GB of RAM to the Mini which will run you somewhere south of $40. Added RAM really improves performance when lots of windows or applications are open at the same time.

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From 9to5Toys:

We noted before the release of the new Apple products that it often pays to wait a week before buying Apple’s new products.  Not only don’t you get “the first ones off the line”, but prices drop significantly over the first week.

A number of Apple Authorized Retailers/affiliates are new selling Apple’s new MacBook Airs and Minis at prices up to $100 lower than Apple.  MacMall and Amazon appear to be the lowest.

MacMall has the MacBook Air for the following prices (note: $30 more is taken off at checkout):

1.60GHz 11″ MacBook Air 2GB/64GB  $940.89
1.60GHz 11″ MacBook Air 4GB/128GB $1,129.07
1.70GHz 13″ MacBook Air 4GB/128GB $1,216.37
1.70GHz 13″ MacBook Air 4GB/256GB $1,502.52

 

 

Update: The MacMall deals are over.

Mac Minis are lowest at Amazon, however…

2.30GHz Core i5 Mac mini $569.00
2.50GHz Core i5 Mac mini $769.00

And the 2.00GHz Core i7 Mac mini Server is lowest –  $959.99 at MacConnection.  

For RAM upgrades, you aren’t going to do better than this 8GB for $45

Note: Best Buy will often match these prices.

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We’ve been getting word from some international Apple retailers that not only are MacBook Airs, Minis and White MacBooks getting updated soon, but those Macs are also going to see modest-significant price drops in some countries we’ve polled.  While we can’t get into the specifics of where and how much, we can tell you some models are being reduced more than the equivalent of $100.

A few things to consider: One, the US Dollar has dropped significantly against Pacific currencies like the Japanese Yen and Korean Won (below) in the past year.  Apple has in the past adjusted its products against currency fluctuations.

Also, Apple has been streamlining operations across the globe over the past few years and has been able to bring its prices more in line with US prices.

While these price drops are great news for our friends overseas, it doesn’t necessarily correlate to price drops in the US.

But we wouldn’t rule price drops out either, there have been unreliable reports of a $899 base price of a MacBook Air.
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