The iMac Mini. Billed by Steve Jobs at MacWorld as the “no excuses” model for switching PC users to Mac.
Well, let’s see. The mini comes with:
1. A G4 @1.25 GHz
2. 256 MB RAM
3. 40 GB HD
4. Built in firewire 400, USB 2.0, on-board sound and video, on board networking
5. DVD Burner (DVD-R)
All for $499.
Huh. Well, let’s compare that with the recently-launched web server for scaredpoet.com:
The Loki server; a shuttle Xpc model SK43G. It has:
1. An AMD AthlonXP 2600+
2. 512 MB of RAM
3. 120GB HD
4. Built in firewire 400, USB 2.0, on-board sound and video, on board networking
5. SPDIF In/Out
6. S-Video out with a component video-out converter, should I ever decide to plug this sucker up to a TV.
7. DVD Burner (+/- R… and I threw in a dual layer drive)
Total cost? According to current newegg.com prices: $454.00, though with a few spare parts already on hand I was able to knock that down to $290. As I no longer use floppies (and neither do Macs), I built the machine without a floppy drive, but if you really want one, you can add it for around $10.00 and still come out ahead.
Okay, so the Loki server is a little taller than the Mac mini. But considering it has a faster processor, double the memory, and three times the HD space, yet is $45 cheaper assuming you buy everything new, I’ll gladly sacrifice a couple inches of headroom.
Not to mention the huge contrast in usability. Let’s say you want to convert your Mac mini into a nice, compact, small-footprint web server, as I have done with the Shuttle. Mac OS X is fine for serving up a web site if you want a static, basic “Lookit me! I just lurned thuh intarweb!” web page. However, if you want something with a little more oomf… something that creates content dynamically and can interact via queries and stand up to quick, repeated updates, as this site can, Mac OS X suddenly isn’t so accomodating without some serious hacking-up.
In fact, as I agonizingly learned the last time I tried to help someone set up a web server on a Mac (and god do I hope it’s the last time I do that… sorry onezumi), true power users just aren’t welcome in the world of Mac. It was downright maddening the way Apple has taken a perfectly good Unix kernel and hobbled it, much as you would take a Ford Mustang and permanently weld training wheels, take out any gear above second to limit its speed and power, and attach five foot wide layers of ugly, encumbering foam padding along the exterior so that a 5 year old can drive it without having an owie.
The shuttle? Throw an OS on it (linux if you’re a real geek), and the installation of Apache, PHP and MySQL took a tenth of the time it took for me to pour through Apple developer documentation and discover that Macs come shipped with the root login disabled… causing hair loss to many a power user as they rip it out trying to get the damn thing to serve a php query.
Lastly: is the Mac mini upgradeable? Probably not. And I’m sure it is built with Apple’s usual legendary quality. Oh yeah, Apple equipment is really built to last.
Nope, no excuses here. And no regrets, either.