Apple Mac mini MB138LL/A (1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1 GB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, Combo Drive)

Apple Mac mini MB138LL/A (1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1 GB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, Combo Drive) Review

Apple Mac mini MB138LL/A (1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1 GB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, Combo Drive) Feature

• 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

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 The Mac Mini features the powerful 1.83GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor. It has two cores, so it's like having two 1.83GHz processors in one! Another great feature is the suite of applications in iLife '08. A full-featured collection of programs that are designed to let you easily take control of your creative projects. iPhoto organizes your digital pics, and has a cool feature that groups them by event. iWeb makes it easy to create your own website. iMovie & iDVD lets you edit your videos and make your own DVD movies. GarageBand gives you the tools to make your own music, and even start your own virtual band! All of this and more is packed inside a svelt and stylish 6.5" body that can fit anywhere! 2 RAM Slots (occupied) 80GB 5400RPM SATA HDD Slot-loading DVD-ROM/CD-RW Combo Drive - reads DVDs up to 8x, writes CD-Rs up to 24x, & writes CD-RWs up to 16x Intel GMA 950 Graphics Processor with 64MB of shared memory (memory is shared with the main system) Ports - 1 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet, 1 Firewire 400 (8 watts), 4 USB 2.0, 1 DVI Out, 1 VGA Out (using included adapter) Built-in Speakers Built-in AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi 802.11g wireless network card Built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) module Unit Dimensions - 2 (h) x 6.5 (w) x 6.5 (d) Unit Weight - 2.9 lbs.