Apple Unveils Mac mini with Intel Core Duo

by Hadley Stern Feb 28, 2006

CUPERTINO, Calif., Feb. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/—Apple(R) today
unveiled the new Mac(R) mini with the Intel Core Duo processor, delivering
performance up to four times faster than its predecessor and providing even
greater expansion in the same innovative and incredibly compact design.*
Starting at just $599, the Mac mini is the most affordable way to enjoy
iLife(R) ‘06, the next generation of Apple’s award-winning suite of digital
lifestyle applications, and features the Apple Remote and Front Row so you can
play your music, enjoy your photo slideshows, watch your DVDs, iMovies, music
videos and television shows from across the room.
  “With the new Mac mini, Apple has now moved 50 percent of its entire
product line to Intel within 60 days—a record transition,” said Philip
Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The
new Mac mini is now up to four times faster with the Intel Core Duo, includes
even greater expansion in the same incredibly compact design, and is the most
affordable way to enjoy Front Row and iLife ‘06.”
  Featuring the next generation of Apple’s breakthrough Front Row media
experience, the new Mac mini gives customers a simple way to enjoy their
digital lifestyle content on the Mac mini including music, photos and videos
from across the room using the Apple Remote. With the latest version of Front
Row, customers can now effortlessly access shared iTunes(R) playlists,
iPhoto(R) libraries and video throughout their home via Bonjour(TM), Apple’s
zero configuration wireless networking built into Mac OS(R) X.
  The new Mac mini offers a completely new system architecture for
performance up to four times as fast as the previous Mac mini, including a 667
MHz front-side bus and 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM memory expandable to 2GB. With the
latest high-performance connectivity options, every new Mac mini now includes
built-in 10/100/1000 BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet for high-speed networking, built-
in AirPort(R) Extreme 802.11g WiFi for fast 54 Mbps wireless networking**,
built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) and a total of four USB 2.0
ports, twice as many as the previous generation. Mac mini includes a DVI
interface and a VGA-out adapter to easily connect to a variety of displays,
including many of today’s most popular flat panel televisions, and now
features both analog and digital audio outputs to easily connect to a home
stereo.
  The new Mac mini includes iLife ‘06, the next generation of Apple’s award-
winning suite of digital lifestyle applications featuring major new versions
of iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD(R), GarageBand(TM) and introducing iWeb(TM), a new
iLife application that makes it super-easy to create amazing websites with
photos, blogs and Podcasts and publish them on .Mac for viewing by anyone on
the Internet with just a single click. All the iLife ‘06 applications are
Universal applications that run natively on the new Intel-based Mac mini for
maximum performance.
  Every new Mac mini comes with the latest release of the world’s most
advanced operating system, Mac OS X version 10.4 “Tiger” including Safari(TM),
Mail, iCal(R), iChat AV and Front Row, running natively. Mac OS X Tiger
includes an innovative software translation technology called Rosetta(TM) that
lets customers run most Mac OS X PowerPC applications seamlessly.***

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Comments

  • I wish it were the same price as the original Mac Mini, but other than that it looks like a fantastic improvement.  One of my few complaints on the Mac Mini was the lack of USB ports.  They’ve certainly dealt with that issue and KEPT the Firewire, thank goodness.  They’ve also added a much-needed line-in.

    As soon as the Pro apps get proted to Intel next month, I’m going to have to take a long hard look at upgrading.

    Beeblebrox had this to say on Feb 28, 2006 Posts: 2220

  • I understand why the upped the price, but I was hoping we would see a price drop with the switch to Intel. Macs are expensive enough already!

    Regardless of price, it’s still an amazing machine.

    Detritus had this to say on Feb 28, 2006 Posts: 5

  • Oops.  I just noticed that they’ve taken out the graphics card and replaced it with an integrated Intel graphics chip.  Are you kidding me?!  That could be a deal breaker.

    Beeblebrox had this to say on Mar 01, 2006 Posts: 2220

  • I’ve heard tell that the new integrated chip is more powerful than the radeon 9200 that was in the original version… could be wrong though.

    Benji had this to say on Mar 01, 2006 Posts: 927

  • You’ve gotta be kidding me. An integrated chip more powerful than a 9200? That’s one heckuva chip.

    Detritus had this to say on Mar 01, 2006 Posts: 5

  • I’ve heard tell that the new integrated chip is more powerful than the radeon 9200 that was in the original version…

    The only place I’ve heard that is on Apple-apologist sites like MDN.  There are no bench-marks as far as I know, so they’re pulling that out of their asses to cover for Apple. 

    And while it’s true that today’s technology MIGHT make the new integrated chip faster than the OLD 9200, it doesn’t make the integrated chip faster than a dedicated chip they could put in there today.

    Beeblebrox had this to say on Mar 01, 2006 Posts: 2220

  • I have two concerns: the video card and the hard disk speed.  One major performance hinderance of the current Mini is the hard disk.  5400 rpm is just barely good enough.  If they actually allowed the Mini to be used as a PVR this would cause a big problem during recording.  http://gadgetswanted.com/node/11

    veridicus had this to say on Mar 01, 2006 Posts: 6
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