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There have been a few rumors today that Apple might be killing off the Mac Mini, stores are unable to order any further systems and there is no word on a replacement.

Some people are prepared to say good riddance, complaining that the Mini hasn’t ben updated in a long time and thus represents poor value, especially compared to PC equivalents (ah that old chestnut!).

So I decided to price up a Mini and its closest competitor. The problem with most mini PC’s is that they’re not especially “mini” in size and they certainly have no class. But Dell seems to have woken up to the concept of design and has a really lovely Mac Mini-like computer called the Studio Hybrid. It’s available in several nice colours, including a very nice bamboo finish (an expensive option but the one I’d have).

So I priced up the base spec DELL but upgraded to Vista Ultimate (Apple don’t cut down their OS’s and include iLife so I figured Vista Ultimate is a fair comparison as it adds features including BitLocker which is the Windows equivalent of OSX File Vault, a standard Mac feature).

The base Dell system includes:

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz processor
1GB 667MHz DDR2 RAM
160GB SATA HDD
Integrated Intel Graphic Media Accelerator 3100
DVD Rewriter
1 Year Warranty
No keyboard, mouse or display
The cheapest case finish option

£569.01 inc VAT and delivery

Then I priced up a Mac Mini to match:

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz processor
1GB 667MHz DDR2 RAM
160GB SATA HDD
Integrated Intel Graphic Media Accelerator 950
DVD Rewriter
1 Year Warranty
No keyboard, mouse or display

£529 inc VAT and shipping

This a great comparison.
Both machines are similar in size, they’re stylish and the hardware spec is virtually identical.

And still the Mini comes in £40 cheaper…

So it doesn’t represent poor value even though the price and specification hasn’t changed in over a year (so much for that “Apple Tax” huh? If it’s still good value now it must’ve been amazing value a year ago).

So let’s hope Apple doesn’t kill it off. The Mini has been the first tentative step into Mac ownership for many of my friends who either can’t or won’t spend the extra on an iMac. Hopefully Apple will simply introduce a new even more competitive Mini. Perhaps that’s what they hinted at last quarter when they mentioned a product transition that would result in reduced margins?

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