10-18-2008, 02:20 AM
My position on the mini is no different than it was a few months ago, when I bought a 1.83 refurb to replace my Dual 2.0 tower, because the alternatives have not since improved any either. That's the way I recommend any potential buyer approach the mini.
So yeah, I still think it fills a purpose and yes, a decent value even with the outdated graphics and not quite as fast processors.
But I'll add that it's not clearcut, and that if you need a full setup with monitor/keyboard/mouse the equation rapidly moves in favor of low-end iMac to some extent. But I didn't value the iMac's better performance and FW800 as something I wanted to pay for.
I also admit I spent another $200 on it right away with RAM and HD upgrades. I stopped short of buying the internal DVD burner since I already had a nice external FireWire one. In the end I got a 1.83 that's better than the stock 2.0 for the same money by sacrificing the built-in DVD burner.
So yeah, I still think it fills a purpose and yes, a decent value even with the outdated graphics and not quite as fast processors.
But I'll add that it's not clearcut, and that if you need a full setup with monitor/keyboard/mouse the equation rapidly moves in favor of low-end iMac to some extent. But I didn't value the iMac's better performance and FW800 as something I wanted to pay for.
I also admit I spent another $200 on it right away with RAM and HD upgrades. I stopped short of buying the internal DVD burner since I already had a nice external FireWire one. In the end I got a 1.83 that's better than the stock 2.0 for the same money by sacrificing the built-in DVD burner.