Mac Mini pc alternative

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SL1v3R

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I'm looking for a small footprint pc with a min i5 processor, 4gb ram (pref 8gb) to run Win 7. I plan to use it as a home pc for internet and office and as a media server (plex to Roku 3 and PS3).

The mac mini i5 with 4gb ram is currently R6.5k so thats my budget roughly.
 
SL1v3R said:
I'm looking for a small footprint pc with a min i5 processor, 4gb ram (pref 8gb) to run Win 7. I plan to use it as a home pc for internet and office and as a media server (plex to Roku 3 and PS3).

The mac mini i5 with 4gb ram is currently R6.5k so thats my budget roughly.
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The newly announced Intel NUC mini pcs will suit your needs, but not sure when/if they will be available in South Africa.

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/motherboards/desktop-motherboards/nuc.html
 
SL1v3R said:
I'm looking for a small footprint pc with a min i5 processor, 4gb ram (pref 8gb) to run Win 7. I plan to use it as a home pc for internet and office and as a media server (plex to Roku 3 and PS3).

The mac mini i5 with 4gb ram is currently R6.5k so thats my budget roughly.
Click to expand...

If you like the design mini and it's within your budget why not get it and run windows off it? Adding more RAM yourself is easy and relatively inexpensive.
 
An matx APU build can cost as little as R4000 (without any ssd / optical drives). If you're on a budget then an APU is the best choice, by far.
 
The mATX solutions would be quite a bit bigger than the Mac Mini.

Unfortunately the i5 version isn't available yet (or as far as I can tell): http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/motherboards/desktop-motherboards/desktop-kit-dc53427hye.html

The i3 one comes in at under R4k: http://www.rebeltech.co.za/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=64&products_id=8986

Just take note that both the Intel NUC and Mac Mini do not have DVD-ROM drives!

There is an ASRock Mini PC for ~R8.5k that includes a Blu-Ray reader and i5 CPU: http://www.wootware.co.za/asrock-vision-ht-series-mini-pc.html
 
Thanks guys, mac mini with win 7 (blasphemy I know) is still leading the pack based on my needs. Why doesnt pc have a true competitor?
 
The closest thing you can get to a Mac Mini is to build your own ITX rig, but they're significantly bulkier and fugly. Intel's NUC is nice, but expensive. Gigabyte's upcoming Brix may be a solution, but it's just a NUC clone at best.

Thin-ITX will be a good solution in future, though. It allows for D.I.Y. All-in-one builds and would make up something similar to a Mac Mini.

Intel DH61AG Apple Glen @ R1402
Lian Li PC-Q05 @ R642

Its quite an expense though and Intel's not giving it the attention it needs to take off. In the end, a Mac Mini with Boot Camp is the better option.
 
Value for money and decent specs...? go for the Mac Mini.

2.5GHz Core i5 4x USB 3 ports (NUC has 2x USB2.0 while Brix has 2x USB3.0 ports) Intel HD Graphics 4000 500GB Storage
It also has a DVI port and a stereo headphone / audio out which neither the NUC or Brix have.

SOLD!

I've been keeping an eye on the NUC and Brix. They are still new entries in the market and will improve over time. But right now, go for the Mac Mini. The Brix will outdo the NUC as it has better CPU choices and goes up to an i7 3,1 Ghz processor, but it's still early days amd theses things are way overpriced.
 
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Agreed, it's still very early days, even for the Thin-ITX standard. There's also the fact that the hardware inside the NUC is mostly being sold for Intel's benefit to offset R&D, so its still largely experimental and the hardware is very new.
 
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