Running demanding applications will require extra RAM, either 8GB or an impressive 16GB boost and then you'll really see the performance value of what you can get for half the price of a MacBook Pro. This is a machine that can hold its own against PCs but now happily sits alongside the MacBook Pro as a desktop companion with similar performance levels for the majority of users. That's down to a new processor and doubled RAM of course but the OS X Mountain Lion OS works well with the spec while the 2011 Mac Mini struggled at times, getting noisy and warm when asked to do anything beyond the norm. The latest Mac Mini is a big performance leap. £240 increases the SSD partition to 256GB.

An extra £200 changes the 1TB drive to a 1TB Fusion Drive, which basically means there's 128GB of SSD inside the drive, so the apps and features you access the most will run super fast.

The i7 model also benefits from possible hard drive upgrades which the basic i5 model doesn't have. With the i7 version of the new Mac Mini, there's an £80 processor upgrade option which bumps the speed to 2.6 Ghz over the standard 2.3 Ghz i7 chip. The RAM upgrades are expensive from Apple, costing roughly four times as much as a third party supplier but, curiously, the External SuperDrive for CD and DVD functions is competitive at £65. The basic £499 Mac Mini is joined by a quad-core i7 version with doubles the storage via a 1TB hard drive for £679 and a 'server' version with a similar spec and two 1TB hard drives. Similarly, if you have a VGA Monitor rather than one with an HDMI socket, you'll need an £21 adaptor which is annoying. If you're using it alongside an old MacBook Pro, you'll feel completely at home and won't notice any difference in performance when using Safari and apps like Pages and Keynote, even while something like Spotify runs in the background.įor a price vs performance level, this is a compelling machine against a home made PC - you may be able to manage a better spec with a PC but Windows won't be as fast or as flawless as this desktop OSX Mountain Lion experience.įollowing the M ac Mini 2011, there's no optical drive here - if you have CDs or DVD to rip or burn, you're going to need to buy an external drive.

OSX Mountain Lion is the standard OS and it runs well. The 500GB hard drive is standard and the only spec downside is the Intel HD 4000 graphics chip which means gaming will suffer when compared to high-end MacBook Pro products but it's an acceptable compromise for the price.

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