Thinking about a Mini

I have been wanting a mini for a long time now, and I am just sort of waiting to find out what happens to them with the new updates. I am thinking they are going to get discontinued because I went to my local best buy that has recently created a new Apple section. Among the array of ipods and other crap there is a stand of Apple computers for sale. The ones they were selling were iMacs, Macbooks and Macbook Pros.

No mini's.... :-( This makes me think that apple isn't even shipping or worrying about the Mini's anymore. Before you say "well, there weren't any mac pro's so that doesn't mean anything" I would say, well it seems like the Mini is definitely something that would sell at Best Buy, not a high end Mac Pro. What do you guys think?

I really, really want to see an upgrade to the mac mini, in which case I will instantly go out and purchase one. I was browsing ebay, and I found a really cool site:

http://www.applecoreonline.biz/3.html

They upgrade mini's ! Does anyone have one of these or have any experience with them?

Applecore LLC ... Man a 2.33 Ghz Mac Mini!!! They even have their own warranty. Its $$$ though... Do you think it is worth it? Do you think they will overheat?

I think it is really pricey. It is ridiculous to pay $1700+ for a Macmini with a built-in graphic card. I would use that money for an iMac.

Too pricey

I definitely agree $1795 is way too much for a mac mini. You could buy a fully loaded 20" iMac for that much and the iMac come with a screen which you would have to buy for the mini as well so add on another few hundred bucks right there. The minis are really only meant for entry level users theyre fine for surfing the web and checking your email etc but for anything that require more power you should go for the iMac.

I found out that the best way to do this is to buy a core solo mini (1.5ghz) and then replace the processor yourself.

Core Solo Mini: ~$400
Core 2 Duo 2.16 Ghz: ~$200-300
Other necessary parts: ~$10-15
Extra Ram: ~$100

So somewhere between $700 and $900 for a fully decked out system with c2d 2.16 and 2GB of ram.

Then maybe I can get some mini-stacks or whatever they are. What does everyone think now?

Correct me if my prices are wrong. I am sure they aren't exact yet because I haven't purchased w/ shipping etc.

Btw... Best Buy is selling the mac mini. They put that particular computer with their windows boxes because it sells well as a crossover mac from windows. They have been selling the mini for much longer in their windows section than they have had the apple section.

From personal experience, since I run here at work on a 2.33 Core 2 Duo Mac mini, they're amazing when upgraded. You can always shop around (coughlookatmyblogcough) and see what other folks have to offer. I can say that YMS will even do installation of upgrades too.

You should go to 123macmini.com for Mini-related stuff. A whole site dedicated to the mini and products made for it.

I plan to eventually get one as an entertainment center PC. Unless something better comes out for OS X, I'll probably use Vista Ultimate with Media Center though. There are Windows PCs made like the Mini, but much more expensive.

I tossed in a T7400 2.16GHz C2D that I bought on the Bay for only $250 new. That, plus 2GB RAM ($100 OWC) and a Seagate Momentus 160GB 7200rpm HDD ($110 dellstore) all cost about $460. Add the used Mini at $400 and for about $860 and some sweat I now have Xbench scores of 119. Not to shabby, plus I gained the experience of ripping apart the Mini myself. Definately worth the effort IMHO.