MiniMac Meet MiniDell
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For awhile I have been hearing everyone talk about their all wonderful MiniMac. As usual, I ignore anything with the word ‘mac’ in it. I have to admit, I have been curious as to why people think they are so wonderful; but not enough to look into them. Today, Dell announces what I deem as MiniDell.
In addition to forgoing the eco-friendly wood for what appears to be a sleek, orange Plexiglas shell, the system boasts an Intel chipset, 4GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive, WiFi, a DVD+R drive, five USB ports, an HDMI port, S/PDIF, DVI, and a memory card reader. We’re not sure exactly when Dell plans to unleash these on consumers or what the final cost will be, though previously the company had stated plans to offer it later this year for between $500 and $700. Check the gallery below for a few more (blurry) shots of the device.
This seems like an offly powerful computer for the price; especially if it comes out closer to the $500 dollar mark. If the MiniMac is this powerful for the size, I can see why people really like it. This new MiniDell has about the same specs as my custom built PC that cost around $1200 dollars. However, the mini dell does not have a second CD drive, video card, sound card or ample space. Heating could be a major issue. Perhaps this is best for a home/office PC that is not used for gaming.
Have you used a MiniMac? Are you going to buy a MiniDell? Comments welcome,
Justin Capasso,
3 Comments
the oracle
June 20th, 2008
at 11:58pm
I would not get too excited, until you find out what the chipset/processor are. It could very well be the Atom processor, which is slow by todays standards, and a lame chipset like the 915 - that was the one that had absolutely no Vista support, though it was current when Vista was launched.
If you look on NewEgg, the Atom proc and 945 chipset can be had for $77 - the thing will only go to 2GB memory, but adding another DIMM socket to a motherboard is no big deal. That would allow for you to build a capable machine for about $500 - see the article I wrote about media/ HTPCs.
Jake W
June 21st, 2008
at 3:54am
I already have a Mac mini (they’re not called MiniMacs) and I love it. For a Windows user, the MiniDell sounds like a good computer, especially for someone on a tight budget, however I would never think of buying a computer that didn’t run Mac OS X. You don’t realise how good Macs are until you use one for a few months, and then try go back to Windows again.
Oak
June 21st, 2008
at 5:13am
Jake, I own an iMac and 3 other Windows XP boxes. I have tried to fall in love with the Mac OS and just can’t do it. There’s too many things I can do way faster in XP than on the Mac. Although I do enjoy some aspects of the Mac, I would never at this point make a switch to it for many reasons. I do run XP in parallels and boot camp on it and after a year and a half I finally just told the machine to boot straight into XP because it was the only way to get my non-techie wife to like the computer. I love the iMac hardware, but I am glad companies like HP, Dell, Sony, etc… are coming out with really nice all-in-ones.