Customer Reviews on Amazon.com

1. 109 of 136 people found this review helpful

   on  Amazon.com

   By B. Austin

   Hobbled, crippled, can't even play MP3's without skipping 4 December, 2011

   Maybe my expectations were too high, but I'm having a tough time loving this Mac Mini. OS X? Sure, can't get enough of it - but either by design or malfunction my Mac Mini is just not performing as it should when compared to other Macs I've owned.
   
   The biggest...and maybe only problem (I haven't fully diagnosed it yet) is the lack of RAM. Apple ships the base model Mini with 2gb of RAM, which from my past experiences should have been fine. My old, poor, overheating, since deceased Intel iMac had 2gb of memory and worked fine. The difference between this Mini and that iMac was 10.7. Lion apparently takes a lot more RAM so whereas I routinely had over a gig of free memory on the iMac, my Mini is currently cruising at 500mb of space to spare under normal use. But that's not all, since the video card uses some of that RAM, I only have about 250mb of available memory.
   
   This is the fastest processor I've ever used and it's getting soundly beaten by my old HP laptop running a 1.3ghz Core Duo 2 chip and 4gb of RAM. I can't listen to music on iTunes or Rdio without the sound skipping whenever I load a particularly complex webpage. I don't even want to talk about my experiences with photo editing or trying to run a virtual OS.
   
   Of course the answer is more RAM, which I've ordered. However, when you consider how cheap RAM is, there no excuse for Apple to not include at least 4gb. Other computer makers ship sub-$500 desktops out with upwards of 6gb, yet Apple deliberately forces customers to pay for an upgrade to their brand new computer.
   
   Back in 2001 I bought a white iBook G3 at the cusp of Apple's conversion from OS 9 to OS X. While it shipped with OS X, the hardware was pure OS 9 and it showed in its lagging performance, particularly with the video card and display. I think Apple did something similar here, shipping a desktop that doesn't have the specs to run it's most current operating system. You expect something like this from a Packard Bell or eMachines, not Apple.
   
   EDIT: After installing an extra 4gb of RAM (bringing it to 5gb), the Mini runs like it should have. Upon installing the memory, the Mac went from using 1.4 gb of RAM after a reboot to using 1.8 gb. This means the operating system in resting mode needs more memory than is available on the stock Mini. So I'll keep my review at 2 stars since Apple is selling a brand new computer that can't properly run it's newest operating system due to a lack of resources.
2. 3 of 3 people found this review helpful

   on  Amazon.com

   By F. Pasquali

   Doesn't work with my monitors 12 December, 2011

   There is a problem with this computer and monitors. When the computer goes into energy save mode, it may take a long time do "wake up" again. This is a known issue. Just check the Apple Support pages, or make a Google search with the words 'Mac Mini monitor sleep mode' or something similar. I find it strange that I haven't seen any reviews in this site mentioning this problem.
   
   In my case the problem is not only that the monitor won't come out of sleep mode: worse than that, it would enter sleep mode EVEN WHILE I WAS TYPING. I was using the HDMI - DVI adpater that came with the Mac Mini, plus a DVI cable I bought at Best Buy. I tried with three different monitors, one from LG, one from Dell and the other from HP, with the same result. Sometimes I could work for hours without any problem, but sometimes the monitor would go black in my face three or four times in ten minutes.
   
   I live in Brasil, and I bought the Mac Mini in the US, so I have no warranty. I ordered a mini Display Port to VGA adapter from Apple in Brazil, to see if it would solve the problem. Well, it didn't. I changed the setting to make the monitor enter sleep mode after a few minutes (I had changed it to "never"), let the monitor go into sleep and couldn't make it wake up again. I had to access the computer via VNC from my iPhone, turn it off and then turn it on again to be able to use it again.
   
   I've been using the VGA adapter since yesterday, and at least until now the monitor has never entered sleep mode while I was working. I don't know if it will stay this way, because, as I said above, the problem is intermittent. As it is now, I'm using the VGA adapter and I configured the computer to never put the monitor in sleep mode. It is not ideal, but I can live with that.
   
   The Mac Mini has a good price and the design is very nice. I'm new to Mac OS and the track pad, and it has been fun working with them. But I think this issue with the monitors is serious. And it has been happening for some time, and Apple apparently doesn't care. I've been working in the IT sector of a company with more than a thousand employees for several years, and in all this time I have never known of a computer that wasn't able to present images in a monitor. So I cannot give the Mac Mini more than two stars.
3. 1 of 1 people found this review helpful

   on  Amazon.com

   By D

   So-so for my intended use 7 October, 2012

   I bought a Mac Mini with one idea in mind: I was going to transition from DVDs to digital copies of movies and TV shows that I watch. What a great idea...a computer that seems to be specifically geared toward using a TV as the monitor, providing direct access to digital media. Just what I'm looking for, right? Yes and no. I wasn't aware that Apple had done away with the Front Row software, which I find to be a huge head-scratcher. Comparable software products like Plex aren't really an option for me, because they don't play the movies that I've purchased through iTunes. My only option is to use iTunes itself, which doesn't really lend itself to accessing everything easily with the Apple Remote. I've ended up pairing it with the Apple TV, which has a really slick interface and is incredibly easy to use. But I can't for the life of me figure out why the Mac Mini doesn't offer the same functionality, without having to tack on another box. That said, it now does exactly what I want, but not without one huge flaw: the Apple TV frequently drops its connection to the computer, and sometimes it's a struggle to get it to reconnect. I've spent a while researching this issue online, and while many people are experiencing the same thing, there doesn't seem to be any sure solution to fix it. Again, it's really a shame to have to deal with these flaws, when prior versions of the Mini provided the exact functionality that I'm looking for. Not one of Apple's finer moves, I think.
4. 8 of 12 people found this review helpful

   on  Amazon.com

   By Luis Gomez Calcano

   Beware: you won't be able to share cd nor dvd content from another optical drive 15 January, 2012

   The product description is misleading, when it says that "The Mac mini does not come with an optical drive, however OS X Lion offers the convenient DVD or CD Sharing feature, which lets you wirelessly 'borrow' the optical drive of a nearby Mac or PC. So you can install applications from a DVD or CD and have full access to an optical drive without having to carry one around." But actually, after you unsuccessfully try to listen to a CD or watch a DVD, Apple Support will tell you that this function "is not supported by the mac mini" (and other macs). Just like that. They don't explain why, but it probably has to do with DRM. But then it's misleading, if not just lying, to offer "full access" to another computer's optical drive.
5. 1 of 2 people found this review helpful

   on  Amazon.com

   By N. boerma

   Too slow, low memory at this price! 20 March, 2012

   Apple come on! You are selling this product at a premium price with only 2 GB internal memory. This is so slow.
   
   I received the Mac mini today and immediately ordered DDR 3 memory, hopefully that will carry this computer into the 21st century.
   
   My windows computer has 16 GB memory. I would have been happy with 8 GB, but 2 GB ........why bother, why do it? It looks like apple is starting to behave more and more like a monopolist because they believe they can get away with this and consumers will not notice the difference.
   
   If you want to remain market leader for these premium priced products deliver the goods and don't sell it so under powered.
   
   For anybody who wants to buy this, check out youtube and they will show you how to increase the memory.
6. 11 of 19 people found this review helpful

   on  Amazon.com

   By Bruno Leite

   the Mac user nightmare 21 September, 2011

   Bought this new mini a month ago and it has become by far the worst computer experience I've ever had.
   I've used Macs since OS 7 and 8, lately using Leopard and Snow Leopard on various machines from a G4 mini to a 2010 Macbook Pro. (I use Windows PCs too).
   Well, Lion sucks big time. Apple is turning Mac OS into a "big" version of iOS - in a very mediocre way, to say the least. I think it's a really good thing to create some ease for the senior and the kids, or for people who are just kinda afraid of computers... but please don't screw the OS that much, there are many people with two decades of computing like me out there, don't try to convince us an iPhone "way" of doing things is the way to go on a desktop, 'cause it could just sound stupid!
   Besides all the real bugs, there are some false ones: the OS was just designed to behave that way.
   Character repeat is the most annoying, there is no repeat. Holding down a character key makes the OS display accents and other variations of that character, like the iPhone keyboard does - no way to disable that.
   And the rainbow beachball goes all over the place - this is something only Vista users will sympathize. (in that case, Microsoft was reasonable enough to create an official downgrade program for buyers of Vista PCs, so they could step back do XP)
   There are other very serious problems, due to Apple's lack of understanding the principles of competition and consumers choice: no way to downgrade to Snow Leopard, no third-party mouse support!!!
   I found out my USB mouse wouldn't work even within the Apple Hardware Test which is not part of the OS, but the ROM... I called Apple Care, of course, and the Apple rep. asked me (in a very agressive tone): "does your mouse's documentation state it's suported by the new Mac mini?"
   It'd have been funny if it weren't outrageous.
   Don't buy this crap!
   Don't need a Mac? Don't get one until Apple gets Lion and 2011 models out of this mess.
   Need a new Mac? I haven't tried those, but there are reports on the web that new Macbook Pro are at least able to get downgraded to Snow Leopard - although the process to build an "installable" Snow Leopard for i5/i7 models is a very complicated one, requires another Mac running Snow Leopard v10.6.8 and is not aproved/supported by Apple.
   
   **UPDATE** (Sept. 30th,2011)
   My mini was running so awfully bad with Lion 10.7.1 that I decided to install Snow Leopard in it. There are some threads on Apple Support Communities discussion board about getting SL to run on the 2011 Mac mini, one of them has over 21,000 views and 17 pages of posts. The process (there are some different suggested procedures out there) isn't quite simple. I tried some some ways, couldn't get it through at first, I'll leave a step-by-step guide on a comment.
   
   Well, my mini now runs Snow Leopard just fine. I have bought a retail Snow Leopard Family-Pack (the single user wasn't available at my local market) that didn't work for the install, but gave me the extra SL license I needed. I found a close friend has got the early 2011 Macbook Pro 13" with just about the same specs as this Mac mini (Sandy Bridge i5 processor, intel HD 3000, Thunderbolt) that originally shipped with Snow Leopard and used his computer and its original Snow Leopard install disk to get SL running on my mini. Some Snow Leopard users reported problems with the Thunderbolt/miniDisplay Port. I had none.
   
   In fact the only difference I see in Snow Leopard 10.6.8v1 in this new mini compared to the same version on a 2009 mini is the mouse. YEAP, although I just got rid of Lion, the third-party mouse issue persists. So, THIS MUST REALLY BE a fault on the Mac mini firmware (EFI, boot ROM, whatever), not in the OS. Seems the machine itself won't recognize the mouse - so any OS couldn't either?
   
   I've read Dave J's comment below and I found my ancient IntelliMouse Optical 1.1A (how old is this??) that was forgotten deep in some drawer and it works here - with some glitches. So, if you plan to use a third-party mouse or other pointing device, BEWARE: IT'S A LOTTERY!
   
   Other users of SL on this model have been impressed with the low score on GeekBench benchmark software. I tried GeekBench here, got the low score, too, but I don't quite understand it 'cause my system now runs smoothly, no spinning beachballs, no freezes, no crashes... this is scoring high on my chart! :D
7. 3 of 8 people found this review helpful

   on  Amazon.com

   By Timothy P. Johnson

   Crap 13 April, 2012

   Well, I have the iPhone and the iPad so I thought I would finish up my ensemble by purchasing a Mac Mini. So far I think it sucks. It constantly freezes up on me and gives me the spinning color wheel. I am in the process of trying to find a PC to replace it. IT'S A MYTH THAT APPLE DESKTOPS RUN SMOOTHLY! I just wasted $600 on a dead weight. It won't even play blu-ray movies...experiment failed.
8. 7 of 16 people found this review helpful

   on  Amazon.com

   By Reem Banafea

   Hi! I'm a Mac! and I crash just like a PC! 15 September, 2011

   unbelievable! I picked this machine at apple store in london/UK! been using it for 2 months I swear god I didn't install any "free" program and yet it started to slow down and sometime hangs and the infamous "rainbow ball cursor" occurs daily! the dock freezes like a boss! reinstalled the OS and everything went fine! ever since I wonder if mac users are even serious about the system stability! just thank god it works till now!
9. 8 of 19 people found this review helpful

   on  Amazon.com

   By Steven Weaver

   Keep Your Wallet Open 24 December, 2011

   I debated and reviewed countless computers and landed on the Mac Mini because of Apple's reputation of quality and reliability. Yes, it was a little pricey but after adding Photoshop and anti-virus and putting up with the wonders of Windows it wasn't that far over the top. But now that I own it I'm finding out how far wrong I was. My first added expense was the memory. I paid an extra $78 to upgrade the Mac Mini's 2 GB memory to 4 GB, which the rest of the computer world, including Apple, consider the minimum. I wasn't happy about it but I was planning for the future. When I got it home I expected to take it out of the box, plug it in and start playing just like I did with the Mac Mini I bought in 2005. That didn't happen because there was no port to plug in a phone line. I was told by the owner of the Mac authorized store where I bought it that nobody uses phone lines any more unless you're in the middle of nowhere, which I supposed reflects Apple's arrogance and demographics. I ordered the $50 phone modem and it arrived a week later. I also had to buy an adapter to plug into my non-Apple monitor, it was included in the 2005 version, for another 40 bucks. Finally, I got the thing hooked up and running and was able to determine my Word program was not supported by this version of Mac, which was disappointing but not surprising, downloaded and played a solitaire app, and downloaded 2000 images into I-Photo. Unable to get anything else to work and spending a full day hampered by my lack of knowledge about installing programs, I decided to buy the optional optical driver. Lo and behold the Mac version, which sells for $79, only works for this Mac Mini and the Mac Air. Given that I could buy a non Apple drive for $30 less and it would work with PCs and Macs despite not being as stylish or as durable as Apple's version, I decided to do that. Ironically, the optical drive comes with how to instructions on a disc but they also provided a hard copy and once I got that running I was able to download the program to get the phone modem running and voila, I'm on the net! Unfortunately, I will be needing to get out my wallet yet again because this Mac Mini does not support my printer, which is old and not a surprise it won't work, and my scanner, which isn't old and is used much more than my printer. So far my $699 computer cost me over $800 and will probably cost over $1000 before I am done, which was not in the budget. Am I happy with how my Mac Mini works? After being on it for less than a week out of the nearly three weeks I've owned it, yes. Will I buy other Apple products in the future? Probably not. I definitely have buyer's remorse and if I knew then what I know now I would not have made the purchase. Apple screwed me over when they stopped supporting my 2005 Mac Mini in 2007 and now they are doing it again with hidden costs and add ons. They will not get a third chance, especially now that Steve Jobs is gone and the bean counters are taking over.
10. 0 of 5 people found this review helpful

    on  Amazon.com

    By Baggu

    Outdated Hardware and OS 14 April, 2012

    I am using my Mac mini as media server to be used with my 55'' TV. The connections were easy and it worked in less than 5 minutes. But after coming from windows I felt the OS and hardware were outdated.
    
    Since my TV is big I wanted the fonts to be bigger, well it turns out you can't do it in Mac (even windows 95 had this option). The best that Apple guys could recommended me was to reduce the resolution to 720p from 1080p. Ya really!!! That's plain stupid.
    
    I have 5.1 Audio receiver, and to my surprise I only get 2 channel output from HDMI.
    
    So the machine is outdated in both software and hardware aspect.
    
    Apart from the size aspect, and looks, this is just not worth it.