Mac Mini in comparison to Dell

An article on MacWorld.com claims that the Dell isn’t cheap anymore, despite costing $100 less, when you consider all that it lacks in comparison to the Mac Mini.

They’re wrong.

The specs table on their page states compares the Mac Mini’s “Two USB 2.0 ports” with the Dimension 2400’s “USB 2.0 (assumed–Dell doesn’t list this in the specs)”.

The Mac looks better, right? It actually isn’t. The Dell computer has six USB 2.0 ports: two in front, four in the back. As far as USB ports are concerned, it’s superior.

In the wireless category, they say the Mac Mini is “AirPort Extreme- and Bluetooth-ready”, while the Dell has “No wireless”.

The Mac also has no wireless. AirPort and Bluetooth cost extra – a lot extra. Did anyone mention that you can easily get an 802.11g USB adapter for $20? It’s probably about the same for a Bluetooth adapter. And you can use them, too, without an additional USB hub, because the Dell has six USB ports rather than two.

By the way, the Dell also has two PS/2 ports for the keyboard and mouse (you can also use USB ones). On the Mac Mini, you must use a USB keyboard and a USB mouse. That immediately uses up both ports, unless the keyboard has a built-in USB hub (some do).

When we look at audio on their comparison chart, the Mac Mini has “Audio out” while the Dell has “Integrated audio”. Integrated audio, much like integrated video, has the connotation of being low quality. Now, I’m not saying it isn’t – in fact, it is – but guess what?

The Mac Mini’s “audio out” is also integrated audio!

Now, to clarify, I’m not a big fan of Dell, but I just had to post this because the facts were so slanted and skewed.

44 Responses to “Mac Mini in comparison to Dell”

  1. Davide says:

    Well, Apple BOUGHT Xerox’s patent.
    Microsoft BOUGHT Apple’s libraries TO MAKE OFFICE and then STOLE THEM TO MAKE WINDOWS.
    This is history folks, Windows is the result of the unlicensed use if Apple’s patents, while MAc OS is the result of the LICENSED use of Xerox’s patent.

  2. Eric says:

    LOL… Mac mini runs slow like hell! If it doesn’t crash for you even once, that means you only use Mac and let it runs by itself without using it at all. If you want to see Mac mini crash just try some software like Maple, Mathlab…
    I really agree that Mac makes good computer (using it at work) but only if you agree to pay a good price just like any Intel laptop/desktop, which is not the case of Mac mini!
    A perfect work station in my opinion is a Linux/FreeBSD Intel system. Never have any problem with virus/spywares, and OS is FREE…
    So please, cut it off and don’t use Windows to argue about Intel computer and Dell is not the only cheapest Intel desktop you can get.

  3. buttamaru says:

    it runs slow as the default memory is only 256 megs. Which is ridiculous for any graphical OS based on UNIX, as OS X is.

    My mini has 1GB memory and it feels smoother than my P4 2.4 GHz desktop running windows. Enough said.

    Except, of course, for games.

  4. Kevin says:

    “My mini has 1GB memory and it feels smoother than my P4 2.4 GHz desktop running windows.”

    We have to be careful though, does it run smoothly because of the hardware or because a FreeBSD-based OS X? Windows is a piece of crap anyway especially when you’ve already installed tons of applications in it…

  5. joe says:

    dont forget the intergrated graphics on the dell. plus os x is so much better that windows, you dont even know, i feel very bad for you pc users….. sigh. the only thing that is better about the dell is the usb ports. you can get a splitter for 20 bucks. not to mention the apple keyboards have usb ports. how many viruses have there been for windows? dont know? well it is 100,000 in history. 64 for mac. talk now. dell sucks mac is better face it. longhorn is going to be like os x face it. i agree with comment 24, ” Apple makes it. Microsoft copies it.”

  6. KD says:

    ”Apple makes it. Microsoft copies it.” ”

    I think it should be read

    “FreeBSD makes it. Apple copies/uses it”

  7. Tux says:

    I agree, Apple are inovative. They make their own stuff, well, exepct the base OS, that is freeBSD, and the HTML engine for Safari; that is KHTML made by the KDE team, then there is Quartz, based on OpenGL. Hey im sure their web server software is based on their own software, oh they use apache? What about the tools in the comand line, hey! they were made by GNU.

    Meh, I guess they use different processors to us x86 users..oh wait

  8. ANNON says:

    OS X is better than any LINUX OS for an average user, developers may think differenty.
    But there is no average user, who manages their digital photos, video, emails and internet that are better off with a Linux OS.

    KHTML has also recently benefitted massivly from Apples contributions, it’s as much KDE as Apple; well not quite, but almost there.

  9. Mark says:

    Well my first computer, which I have now is a imac G3 500mhz running Panther 10.3.9. with 640 MB ram. I have premium adsl speed 1500/256 and everything is zipping along nicely. I have ordered the new imac 20” 2GHZ but will miss my little G3 which has given me no trouble. As for dell and macs, the only reason I am with macs is because my flatmate had one which i bought from him (G3) and just as well otherwise I am sure I would have fallen into a windows machine (thanks Ivan)…!

  10. mark says:

    No matter what type of good points you can dig up about dell and microsoft. Apple computers will always outrun windows. Macs look better, work better, are easier to use, and have much better software programs. The mac mini might have its downfalls such as the number of usb or other ports but the point of the mini was so be a cheaper solution to owning a mac. If you have a problem and need “100” usb ports then well too bad for you, get a cheap a** dell. Macs may costs a great deal but your getting your moneys worth. If your too cheap or poor to own a mac then buy a dell. Dells can be good but macs are better. period.

    Plus they make dells look like crap

  11. Ricky says:

    Comment 31, I dont get it. My question is, “Isn’t os x based on Darwin?” How is it based on FreeBSD if it’s based on Darwin? or is Darwin based on FreeBSD?

    I have read many good things about mac, and I am buying myself one for Christmas. the Mini. the medium one with wireless… I am beginning to like OS X!

    Why support M$? So Mr. Gates can steal coding for another OS, and put a tag with his name on it? Go OS X!

  12. Anon says:

    Quote:

    Long time known aspect of this oft repeated line: ‘Writing viruses for Mac is not any harder than writing for Win machines, it’s just that the honey pot isn’t there.’

    Sorry, you’re wrong. All M$ OSes have design comprimises that make then unsecure. Add to that, their typical sloppy programming, and you have tons of security holes. Macs are more secure by design. That’s a fact and anybody who says any different, either has no clue about security, has their head in the sand, or makes money off the M$ platform.

  13. Mike says:

    the only reason mac mini runs slow is becuse it uses a laptop hard drive geta a firewire hard drive and is great.

  14. ben says:

    i am typing this on a brand new mac mini that crashes when a CD is put in and iTunes starts to play from it.

    as for it being “silent” obviously you’ve never put a CD in the drive. It is louder than my car.

  15. Anonymous says:

    You know, Dell may end up putting an end to the whole Mac vs Windows BS once and for all if Mike can convince Steve that letting Dell build Macs would be a good move for Apple.

  16. Anonymous says:

    Stop arguing. I had a friend that loved his Mac a lot. And still does, and he would always tell me about how crappy PC’s are. So i told him to come over and I’ll show him my custom build. So he does, and was amazed how fast, easy to work with. I am running xp pro, with different windows style, using stylexp, and its a great system. Runs well and has no problem. I dont really care if MAC is better than PC or vice versa. But what I believe is to each his own. One person might like one way of software/hardware and one the other. Whoever says PC’s suck and always uses DELL as an example is just complete bullshit. Check out Micron PC or even home built system. Mine is a AMD athlon which in actuality runs at 2.4ghz and its faster than a 3.2ghz P4. So it all depends on what hardware you have and the way its being used. I use it for games and writing for college. Listening to music and editing photos.

    But in all seriousness, quit this crap. What the guy meant in that article is that APPLE likes to falcify or sway or skew their wording. I just dont understand how they can compare it to a PC. A mac and pc are completely different, just wait until someone will compare the fasted intel duo core vs a amd athlon dual core or the new AM2 processor. And then we’ll see who’s faster or not. But we must understand that macs and pcs are completely different platforms. The biggest reason why I’m a pc user is the games, my geforce can kick ass, and it works great and i dont have to wait 4 years until an upgrade comes around. And i dont have to worry about buying the wrong hardware that wouldnt work with a mac.

    http://www.newegg.com baby!!!!

    Anyways please quit this argument, its just stupid.

  17. AX says:

    I have a Mac Mini, a PC, and an Intel Mac capable of running Windows, Linux, and OS X.

    “Sorry, you’re wrong. All M$ OSes have design comprimises that make then unsecure. Add to that, their typical sloppy programming, and you have tons of security holes. Macs are more secure by design. That’s a fact and anybody who says any different, either has no clue about security, has their head in the sand, or makes money off the M$ platform.”

    A lot of the security compromises exist not because of mere programming or design flaws, but because of trade-offs. For instance, Windows XP performs far better in terms of responsiveness than OS X, given the same hardware. I know this for a fact since I actually run both Windows and OS X on my one Intel Mac and it’s very clear which OS makes more efficient use of hardware.

    Some of the security compromises like being able to create hooks into code can be very useful to a software engineer. Unfortunately they also leave room for malicious use, but that’s true of many good things. Owning a DVD burner allows one to illegally copy DVDs (and so many people do this), but that doesn’t mean that DVD burners are purely evil.

    Furthermore, limiting flexibility easily allows one to write tighter and more robust software. OS X (as well as X Windows) is often a lot more limited in terms of its API and its UI than Windows. When it comes to interface customization, OS X applications are typically far more limited by nature. For some, that may justify the added robustness one can find, but for others like me, that may not be the case.

    Finally, software isn’t necessarily more stable on Mac than Windows. To make a semi-fair comparison (no comparison can be truly fair), we need to look at software which exists for both platforms. Lightwave, for instance, is FAR more robust on the PC than Mac. Just look at the history of bug reports, and it’s clear that the Windows version is WAY more stable. The same is true of Maya. With Doom 3, aside from the fact that PC hardware of the same price floors G5’s, I also experienced a lot more crashes on the G5 over my PC. When it comes to Photoshop CS, however, my PC version was admittedly less stable. Still, I remember Photoshop 6 in school on the G4 crashed a whole lot.

    For the most part, I’ve found software that exists on both platforms to generally be stable on the Windows side. That’s most likely attributed to the fact that Windows versions have a much higher demand, so developers tend to prioritize the Windows versions when it comes to testing and bug fixes.

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