Hardware News

Is the Mac mini good value?

Michael Kanellos and John G. Spooner CNET News.com

Published: 13 Jan 2005 16:40 GMT

When it comes to Apple's new Mac mini, beauty is in the eye of the person holding the wallet.

The Mac mini, unveiled on Tuesday during Apple chief executive Steve Jobs' keynote at Macworld Expo in San Francisco, costs about $100 more than similarly configured PCs from Gateway, HP and others, according to analysts and price checks in the US.

The price delta increases as one factors in the typical standard equipment on PCs -- neither mouse, monitor nor keyboard comes with Apple's spartan box.

Adding features such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth widens the spread even more. As an experiment, IDC analysts added "the stuff you'd want", and the final price came to $1,300. IDC's Roger Kay nonetheless applauded Apple for putting out something that lets the company play in the bargain market.

Price considerations aside, the Mac mini is unlike other PCs on the market. At 16.5cm wide by 16.5cm deep by 5cm high, the unit, which weighs around 1.3kg, is far smaller and more stylish than "small" PCs. Dell's small desktop PC takes up about four times the volume. Small PC specialist Shuttle makes a unit that is 17.8cm by 20.3cm and just under 30cm tall, and weighs under 6kg.

"Intel and some of its industrial-design partners have done a lot of 'concept PCs', but mostly they've been trying to reverse-engineer Apple's sense of style -- and without much success so far," said Peter Glaskowsky, a technology commentator and Newton user.

Sony and others now make handheld PCs complete with screens that beat the Mac mini in size, but these cost $1,600 or more.

The question now is whether consumers will flock to the new box or watch their budget.

"A lot of whether [the mini] is a good value or not depends on who it's targeted at and who is really going to buy it," said Steve Baker, an analyst with The NPD Group. "Is it a good value compared to the entry-level PC that you can find at Best Buy or Wal-Mart? The answer, I think, is clearly no."

Then again, "it fits the phenomenon of people adding PCs to their home -- a PC in the kids' room or in the kitchen -- and in those terms it stacks up pretty well, because when you've finished adding some of the basics to it, it still comes in at the sweet spot [in retail PC pricing] -- the $700 to $1,100 range -- and that's a good place to be," Baker added.

On Tuesday, Jobs told the Macworld crowd that "this is the most affordable Mac ever. People who are thinking of switching will have no more excuses."

For $499, the pint-sized computer comes with a 1.25GHz G4 processor, 256MB of RAM, a 40GB hard drive and a combination CD-RW, DVD-ROM drive. It uses ATI's Radeon 9200 graphics chip, with its own 32MB of graphics memory, and also includes connections such as a FireWire port, two USB ports, an Ethernet port, a modem and digital and analogue ports for connecting a monitor. Apple adds a one-year warranty.

It does not include a keyboard, mouse, display or stereo speakers. An upgraded version with an 80GB drive and a 1.42GHz processor sells for $599.

This puts the two Mac Minis' price tags at about $100 to $150 more than those of similar PCs. Right now, an HP Compaq Presario with an Intel Celeron or AMD Sempron -- configured to match the mini's 256MB of RAM, 40GB hard drive and combination CD-RW-DVD-ROM drive -- sells for $399 or $389, after a $50 rebate, via the company's HPshopping Web site.