*sigh* ok, how does this look?

Specifications
Image

* 2GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x1GB
* 120GB Serial ATA drive
* SuperDrive 8x (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
* Wireless Keyboard & Mouse Set - U.S. English
* iWork '06 preinstalled
* Mac OS X - U.S. English
* 1.66GHz Intel Core Duo
* Intel GMA950 graphics
* Accessory kit

My only fears are the small storage size and the graphics core.

Beautiful. What would you be using this for? If you edit video then you may want to add a larger HD but otherwise that seems good enough. The Graphics, in my opinion, are terrible because I've used several Intel integrated graphics sets and I've had bad experiences with all of them.

Unfortunately, those are the maximum specs for the Mini. No larger hard drive or better graphics offered.

What is the accessory kit?

Why not do the upgrades yourself? The Mini is fairly upgradable, all you need is a putty knife. Apple has outrageous RAM prices...

Don't forget that you could always use a large external hard drive as your primary.

caveatipss said:

Specifications
Image

* 2GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x1GB
* 120GB Serial ATA drive
* SuperDrive 8x (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
* Wireless Keyboard & Mouse Set - U.S. English
* iWork '06 preinstalled
* Mac OS X - U.S. English
* 1.66GHz Intel Core Duo
* Intel GMA950 graphics
* Accessory kit

My only fears are the small storage size and the graphics core.

Click to expand...

looks good to me, since it is the same thing i have :biohazard

-minus the Accessory Kit.

what is the accessory kit?

I am not sure what the accessory kit is. It is not an option - it automatically comes with it. So, how would one configure an external hard drive as the primary, and would it be slow?

caveatipss said:

I am not sure what the accessory kit is. It is not an option - it automatically comes with it. So, how would one configure an external hard drive as the primary, and would it be slow?

Click to expand...

When you get your Mini, plug in the external drive.

Put the OS X install DVD that came with your mini into the disc drive.

Hold down "C" to boot from a disc.

Install OS X on your external drive.

Go into System Preferences and click on "Startup Disc".

Select the external drive.

Reboot.

You can still use the Mini's drive to store things, and of course the external as well. The benefits of the external drive are the cost (usually cheaper than upgrading from Apple) and speed (you can get many drives in much faster/ larger configurations than what is offered by the Mini).

Get a Ministack and use it as the boot drive:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ministack/

$310 = 400gb 7200rpm boot drive. Use Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper to clone the internal drive to the external drive, then use to_tough_to_die's instructions for booting from it. That's it! If you're interesting in cracking the case open and doing the upgrades yourself, I have lots of information in my upgrade thread over here:

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31816

kaidomac said:

Get a Ministack and use it as the boot drive:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ministack/

$310 = 400gb 7200rpm boot drive. Use Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper to clone the internal drive to the external drive, then use to_tough_to_die's instructions for booting from it. That's it! If you're interesting in cracking the case open and doing the upgrades yourself, I have lots of information in my upgrade thread over here:

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31816

Click to expand...

*Lightbulb* Stupid self, I forgot Carbon Copy! Thanks for catching that.

Wow that sounds great! Thanks. My only remaining question is, will the fact that the Mini has to access the drive through firewire or usb make it slower?

caveatipss said:

Wow that sounds great! Thanks. My only remaining question is, will the fact that the Mini has to access the drive through firewire or usb make it slower?

Click to expand...

No, it shouldn't. If anything, a faster drive (7200 or 10,000 RPM) will be better for booting and load faster.