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.
Good points. But you can get a CD burner for far less than the $100 price difference between the Apple and Dell computers being compared.
To your comment on the Article:Comparing Apples and Oranges (I think they kew that the comparison is skewed, hence the title).
The USB Ports should be checked by Macworld. That’s true. But for Mac Users many USB ports are not as important. I have 2 USB ports on my Macintosh too and it is enough. 1 port for my mouse the other one for the printer. Voila. Firewire is better anyway. And as you mentioned everybody can buy a hub if needed.
To the wireless comparison:
True you can buy a cheap USB Wireless stick and use it. But for the Mac mini you can use the same USB stick. And besides
AirPort Extreme- and Bluetooth-ready means there is a modified PCMCIA-Slot for an Airport PCMCIA card inside and a n Antenna with optimal wide range.
Mac mini: 56K V.92 modem Dell:56K PCI Data Fax Modem
Macs can fax out of the box too(thanks to Panther), but they didn’t mention it. While it’s true that a Mac always has integrated audio, you have to note that: Macs always had a special chip for audio that is superior to PC integrated audio, which often uses the CPU etc.
Did you realize that a Mac mini can burn CDs while the Dell can read them ?
Last but not least the Mac mini has an ultimate advantage:
he was not buildt to be the fastest ( that’s what G5 Macs are for) but to be absolutely quiet. If you have ever seen a n Apple Qube you will realize that Mac mini is its child and again is not detectable. If i compare it to my new PC that sounds like a Jet (Thanks Nvidia !) i congraguate Apple for finding the desired characteristics of a Computer for convienient work.
* Quiet
* Small
* Don’t crash, don’t bother
* Concentrate on creativity not the latest .dll conflicts
Greetings, Madcat
Jesse, I want to clarify that it wasn’t Apple themselves who wrote this article, but someone named Dan Frakes for MacWorld.com.
Either way Apple is the devil.
Although I can’t stand Dell and I prefer Apple over windows, I’m glad to see that someone has brought forward information because Apple likes to misinform (which they really arn’t doing, they are just chosing their words wisely, haha). I give them credit though cause if you think about it, most people don’t actually do the research and they are almost garunteed to sell more then if they would have not fabricated the truth so much, haha.