155 product ratings - Apple Mac mini A1347 Desktop - MD387LL/A (October, 2012) - 8GB RAM $325.00 Trending at $339.99 Trending price is based on prices over last 90 days.
At $499, the Mac mini is the entry-level Mac computer. It's $400 less than the next least expensive system, the MacBook Air. It's a powerful little computer that's very flexible for many different uses, from general-purpose desktop machine to media server to full fledged file server. Let's have a look at the different configurations to make sense of what Apple's offering. Office 2016 for mac download. Comparing Mac mini models All Mac minis look alike: They're 7.7 inches on a side and 1.4 inches tall, and weigh about 2.7 pounds. Like other Macs, Mac minis lack an internal optical drive - one of the reasons they're so short.
All Mac minis also come equipped with the same external features: Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, two Thunderbolt 2 ports, four USB 3 ports, audio in and audio out jacks and an SDXC card slot, all on the device's back side. For $499, you get a 1.4 GHz dual-core Intel i5 processor, 4 GB RAM and a 500 GB 5400 RPM hard disk drive. Intel HD Graphics 5000 comes standard.
Apple offers two other standard configurations for the Mac mini. The first, priced at $699, upgrades the Mac mini to 2.6 GHz with 8 GB RAM and 1 TB hard disk drive.
The second, priced at $999, bumps the processor to 2.8 GHz and adds a 1 TB Fusion Drive to the mix - a combination of a 128 GB flash drive paired to a 1 TB hard disk drive, to create a fast, big logical volume that combines the best of both worlds. The latest update to the Mac mini puts it on a level playing field with other newer Mac models: It has 802.11ac Wi-Fi networking, up to three times faster than the older, slower 802.11n standard found on older machines. The Mac mini also supports Bluetooth 4.0. For software, Mac minis come with the standard suite of apps included on other Macs: OS X Yosemite and all the requisite general-purpose software like Mail, Safari, various and sundry apps and utilities, as well as Apple's iLife suite, iPhoto, iMovie and Garageband, and iWork: Pages, Numbers and Keynote. Now that we know what the price range is, let's break it down and figure out how to configure your new Mac mini in a way that makes sense. Apple's gateway drug: Mac mini BYODKM (Bring Your Own Display, Keyboard, and Mouse) Unlike Apple's other desktop computers, the Mac mini doesn't include its own keyboard and mouse. You're certainly welcome to buy one - Apple's own Wireless Keyboard, Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad work wonderfully.
You'll also need to supply your own screen. Apple only makes one display: the $999 Thunderbolt Display. Hooking one of those 27-inch behemoths up to a Mac mini is a bit of overkill, but you can attach any commodity monitor to the Mac mini with good results. You just need to use the right Thunderbolt adapter to connect to DVI or VGA (Apple sells them separately). Massive torrent mac. You can also use HDMI directly (also useful if you're using your Mac mini as a media server. More on that in a bit.) Why, you may ask, doesn't Apple include a keyboard or mouse?
It helps keep the cost low, for one thing. But for another, the Mac mini really is Apple's gateway drug for new Mac users. It's the ideal computer to switch from if you have a Windows PC and you don't want to make a big investment in the Mac, but want to see if it's right for you. With the Mac mini, you simply unplug your existing keyboard, mouse and monitor, then plug them into the Mac mini and keep working. It's a nice way to recycle hardware you've already invested in.
When you first turn the computer on, OS X is smart enough to know that a keyboard isn't connected, and it walks you through the process of pairing (if it's Bluetooth) then identifying the kind of keyboard so it knows how the keys work. It'll also try to pair with a Bluetooth mouse if one isn't connected via USB. Faster processors, better graphics, more memory. All Mac minis now use Intel's fourth-generation Core i5 dual-core processor, but the clock speeds are different: the $499 version runs at 1.4 GHz, the $699 version runs at 2.6 GHz and the $999 model runs at 2.8 GHz. Obviously the faster the processor, the faster the Mac is going to work, but that's not the only difference between the machines. The low-end Mac mini also sports Intel HD 5000 integrated graphics, while the mid-range and high-end models sport the peppier Intel Iris integrated graphics.