The mid level Mac Mini, I must admit is a very competitive system stocked with i5 (i7 option), Thunderbolt and AMD 6630M graphics card I think is a very surprising update for under $1K packs a lot of power into a little system. The Geekbench benchmarks gave the i7 model a 9K on their test which by any standard is impressive while considering last years Mac Pro hit 9.5K on the basic model. Really impressive result for a consumer product, still the point with all Apple products how user friendly will hardware updating be if you want to beef up the RAM and HDD?

A point of contention though is the remove of the Optical Drive, many are upset by this move. Personally I think it’s a very good move from Apple I haven’t used the Optical in any of my Macs for years it’s really wasted space not to mention that Apple’s distribution is now nearly all via the internet. Anyway you can also hook up a cheap external drive via the USB for around $50 or hopefully get a Thunderbolt Bluray drive for ripping MKV files.

Overall I think the system for $899 is great value and would suit most home user and many professionals as well. Still I know what I am going to be buying once my tax return is complete because I think it’s going to be great for WoW on my 40” Sharp Quattron.