Unboxing the Mac Mini: Singapore Style!

How to get one?
Well, you can get from any local Apple distributor in Singapore or you can do what I did! Online!
I did so because if you are in a tertiary institution in Singapore, you can get a Educational discount via the online store. I originally thought of using my Apple developer discount but it has some issues with the store which constantly hang on my purchase so I went on the Education store instead which was only a few dollars difference. You can go online to check out the price yourself: http://www.apple.com/sg/macmini/

Should you get one?
Honestly, based on the price, any Sim Lim Square DIY or computer seller would be cheaper and you get a full set (display, keyboard, mouse + casing). With this Mac, you only get the computing hardware, the rest is BYODKM: Bring Your Own Display Keyboard Mouse. Apple is marketing this as a prime second computer in the household where you already have a keyboard, mouse and display laying around (somewhere). Another way of looking at this is, if you are thinking of trying out Apple Mac, this is a machine to get, compared to their higher end iMac, Macbooks and Mac Pros.


So why did I get one?
I already own a Macbook and is planning to get a Mac Pro, however, currently I am looking for a simpler desktop Mac to bridge the time till I get a Mac Pro (which is unbelievable expensive in Sing dollars: http://store.apple.com/sg/browse/home/shop_mac/family/mac_pro ) where I can get some development done on XCode. For those who do not know, XCode is the primary software develpment platform for developing software for their Mac and iPhone. And the other point is, I kind of like my desk and the iMac cannot fit (you can see why later in the post.)

Lets Unbox!
The package came via DHL and in addition to the Mac Mini, I ordered the Apple aluminium keyboard and the Magic mouse. A point to note, if you did not explicitly state in your order, these items might be shippped separately even though you purchase on the same date, the mouse and keyboard came in just 2 days after I place the order, the Mac Mini a few days later. This would happen if the product is currently new and has a longer delivery time.

(And before you say anything, yes, the wall is pink colour. @.@  And no, I did not painted it pink. -_-"... The room previously belong to my sis, I move in after she move out. And yes, I am going to paint it. ok, enough of this pink room business back to the unbox)

The Magic Mouse

The mouse just look so cool in the packaging!!! See no scroll wheel! No Buttons! The mouse house a touch surface, all scroll motion uses finger gestures! So freaking cool! One bad thing: The mouse spots a flat surface so it doesn't score well in egornomics, it may not feel comfortable in the long run, it is also a bluetooth wireless mouse so you have to replace the battery in the future but so far so good.

The Apple keyboard (wired based with numeric)

I did not get the wireless version because I already have to replace the mouse battery in the long run so it may not be cost effective to add on a wireless keyboard. And if I lose the mouse due to battery drained, I would still have a wired keyboard to control the system. Plus I do use the numeric keyboard regularly in development so the numeric pad to me is a must.

One thing to do note however: The white keys do get easily dirty quite quickly.

And to the main event: Mac Mini!!!

Ok, I unbox the box that is boxing the Mac Mini box....-_-".....

From the front.

From the back.

Sliding open the cover, reveal the aluminium goodness, FWAH!!!!

The 2010 Unibody Aluminium body encase the contents.

The contents for Singapore market, 3 pin power plug, manuals and the software discs. Do note, it would be best to buy from your country's Apple online store where the right power plug will be package correctly. And yes, there is no power adapter! The power adapter is built into the casing!!!

The contents also comes with a HDMI to DMI doggle, so you don't need to purchase an additional miniport cable. However, if your display only use traditional 15 pin VGA cable, you would need to purchase the additional doggle.

The setup!

 Booted and running!

Sitting next to my Core i7 Windows 7 machine and my R2D2!

Base Specifications:
2.4Ghz Core 2
4 G RAM (I upgrade from 2GB)
320G Harddisk
Nvidia 320M shared 256 RAM

(You can buy separately the RAM for upgrade which is consider easier to upgrade than the previous gen of Mac Mini and is cheaper. I already have spare RAMs for backup and I don't recommend DIY Apple products because if you damage on your own accord, the warranty does not cover. Plus the motherboard and electronics are proprietary, is is near impossible to DIY replace by yourself. So unlike your tower PC, when it is damage, you can buy and throw the old away, Apple Mac, you have to go back to the Apple for every hardware issue)

Comm Specs:
Wirless 802.11n
Bluetooth
1Gbps Ethernet

Specials:
SDCard slot
Firewire 800
It has an onboard speaker (although mediocre by my standard), in addition to headphones and line in.


Software Specs:
Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard
iLife included
iWork (Additional purchased)

Work out of the box, some assembly needed DIY, no software installation (OS/etc) needed on initial boot: This means just plug and boot, you don't need to install any OS.