Apple Mac mini review

Indeed, in our desktop benchmarks the standard Mac mini, running Windows 7 in Boot Camp, achieved an overall score of 1.11. That’s a lightweight result by modern standards, but it reveals enough power to make even photo and movie editing perfectly practical, with a little patience.

And when we turned to our 3D benchmarks, the mini fared even better, thanks to its Nvidia GeForce 320M GPU. It tore through our low-detail Crysis test at a slick 51fps, and even in the medium-detail test averaged 19fps — not quite playable, perhaps, but an indication that casual gaming at TV resolutions should be no problem at all. It goes without saying that when it comes to playing HD media the Mac mini doesn't break a sweat.

At the same time, power consumption proved surprisingly low: in Windows the Mac mini idled at just 26W, and even under heavy load peaked at only 53W. In Mac OS X idle consumption fell even lower to 19W, hitting 57W when we pushed the CPU to 100% load. We’re doubtful about Apple’s claim that this is “the world’s most energy-efficient desktop computer”, but it can’t be too far off.

All of which makes the Mac mini a pretty likeable machine. It does get hot, as there’s hardly room in the case for a huge fan; and some of Apple’s design habits are an acquired taste. If we’d designed the Mac mini we’d have given it a hard disk light, an eject button for the optical drive, and put the SD card slot on the side or front. Generally, though, it's easy to get along with.

The problem is the price. Even if you steer clear of Apple’s extortionate upgrades, you’ll pay £553 exc VAT for the basic model, which for a bare box running off a lightweight laptop CPU is preposterous. If you’re into lifestyle hardware, its quietness and low-key looks might mitigate the pain — but with no Blu-ray drive, no bundled remote control and only two analogue audio channels it still feels underequipped. And as a compact personal desktop, forget it: at this price it ought to be far more powerful, and ideally more upgradeable.

We’re puzzled, because it’s not obvious why the price is so high. On paper it looks like it ought to be possible to sell the Mac mini for half the price. Indeed, if Apple could do that, it would have an attractive system on its hands, not desperately powerful but cute and versatile. Asking this much for it, though, is practically an insult.
Price when reviewed: £553 (£650 inc VAT)