New Technology Reviews!.: optical

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The Apple Mac mini has come a long way since it was first introduced in 2005.</div>
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The 2011 Mac mini refresh represents a radical change for Apple's small form factor computer. The ageing Core 2 Duo is gone, replaced by second-generation Sandy Bridge Core i5 processors.</div>
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This is a substantial improvement in processing power for the Mac mini, which was forced to skip the first-generation Core iX chips because its onboard graphics weren't up to scratch, there was no room for a discrete graphics chip and a legal dispute prevented an integrated Nvidia chipset being used.</div>
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Early Mac minis featured aluminium casings with a polycarbonate top and base, and used a G4 PowerPC processor. The Mac mini made the inevitable switch to Intel processors in 2006, switching from Core to Core 2 Duo chips the following year.</div>
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The 2010 Mac mini dropped the polycarbonate case sections in favour of a wider, flatter aluminium unibody casing. This revision also brought the transformer into the main body of the Mac mini, so those who used it as a portable machine didn't have to carry around a large power brick.</div>
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The Sandy Bridge Core i processors' Intel HD Graphics 3000 integrated graphics on the 2011 Mac minis are more powerful than any before, allowing the mini to switch to the more modern processors.</div>
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But it's not all about the CPU. The new Mac mini has also lost its optical drive, allowing a substantial price drop for the entry-level 2011 model, and freeing up room for a discrete graphics processor in this high-end release.</div>
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The Mini DisplayPort video-out socket has been replaced by the powerful and versatile Thunderbolt port, which can handle both data and video, and can daisy chain up to six peripherals on a single port.</div>
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The new Apple Mac mini is the first computer to come with OS X 10.7 Lion preinstalled, on both the £529 entry-level mini and the more powerful £699 2.5GHz 4GB mini we tested.</div>
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Unlike the 2010 release, the 2011 refresh brings us two Apple Mac mini models. The entry-level mini costs £529, and features a 2.3GHz Intel Core i5 processor and 2GB of RAM.</div>
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The higher-end model reviewed here costs substantially more, at £699, but it increases the processor speed to 2.5GHz, ups the memory to 4GB of 1333MHz DDR3 and adds an AMD Radeon HD 6630M discrete graphics processor with 256MB of GDDR5 memory.</div>
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If that's not enough, those who buy from the Apple online store can opt for a 2.7GHz Core i7 processor for an extra £80, which seems like a very good deal.</div>
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You can also increase your onboard memory from 4GB to 8GB for £160, which is expensive considering Crucial is currently selling an 8GB kit for £50. Unlike the part-polycarbonate Mac mini, the unibody mini's RAM is user-upgradeable, although other components such as the hard drive cannot be easily accessed.</div>
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Both 2011 Mac mini models have a 500GB 5400rpm SATA hard drive, configurable to 750GB if you order through the Apple Online Store. This higher-end 2.5GHz model can also be customised with a 256GB solid state drive (SSD) instead, or even both a 256GB SSD and a 750GB HDD.</div>
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This is an excellent configuration that enables you to use your SSD as a boot volume and your more capricious hard drive for data storage, although it costs an extra £600.</div>
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For the first time in an Intel Mac mini, the high-end 2.5GB 2011 model has a discrete graphics processor – an AMD Radeon HD 6630M. This makes the new release far better at graphics-intensive tasks such as gaming.</div>
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Around the back, the new Mac mini is very much the same as the previous generation, offering generous connectivity options.</div>
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For connecting to a monitor, the Mini DisplayPort gives way for the Thunderbolt port. If you have a Mini DisplayPort screen, you can plug it straight into the Thunderbolt port, with no adapters required. There's also an HDMI port, which is ideal if you want to put it under your TV and use it as a media Mac, and an HDMI-to-DVI cable for connection to DVI displays.</div>
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For peripherals, alongside the new Thunderbolt port there's a FireWire 800 port and four USB 2.0 ports. It's a generous quantity, but they're a little close together – a large USB plug might well block an adjacent port. An SDXC card reader is included too, although it's awkwardly positioned around the back.</div>
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For internet connectivity, wireless N is joined by Bluetooth 4.0.</div>
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As mentioned before, the optical drive has been removed, allowing extra space for more under-the-hood technology. If you need to access a CD or DVD on your mini but only occasionally, you can use Apple's Remote Disc feature to 'borrow' the optical drive of a Mac or PC on the same network. If you're likely to do so more often, it's best to buy an Apple SuperDrive USB optical drive for £66.</div>
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The 2011 Apple Mac mini comes with the new OS X 10.7 Lion operating system preinstalled, but a few applications have been dropped.</div>
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Lion doesn't support Rosetta, Apple's dynamic translator that allows PowerPC applications to run on Intel processors. As a result, software written purely for PowerPCs (as opposed to universal applications, that run natively on both architectures) can't be installed on the new minis.</div>
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If you're still using Microsoft Office 2004, for example, it's time to upgrade or abandon it before moving to Lion.</div>
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iLife Mac App Store licences come bundled with the new Macs, but only GarageBand, iPhoto and iMovie. iWeb and iDVD aren't included, and seem set to be discontinued. Lion also lacks Front Row, Apple's elegant but limited media centre application.</div>
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To learn more about Lion, read our in-depth Apple Mac OS X 10.7 Lion review.</div>
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The 2011 Apple Mac mini's Sandy Bridge Core i5 processors are far more powerful than their clock speed suggests. Don't assume that the 2.5GHz Core i5 used here is only marginally faster than the 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo used in the 2010 Mac minis.</div>
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Although dual core, the new chips' Hyper Threading feature means two threads can run on each core, giving a total of four virtual cores. This means it can run applications written to take advantage of multiple cores more efficiently. In our Cinebench tests, which assess the computer's 3D rendering capabilities, it almost doubled its predecessor's score when using every available core.</div>
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The new Sandy Bridge processors on the 2011 Mac minis also feature Turbo Boost 2.0. When faced with very processor-intensive tasks, this diverts resources from under-used cores and temporarily increases the CPU's clock speed. The 2.5GHz Core i5 processor can reach speeds of up to 3.2GHz, as long as power and temperature considerations allow.</div>
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The second generation Turbo Boost feature kicks in more often and for longer periods than that enjoyed by the first generation of Core i chips.</div>
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As you'd expect, the addition of an AMD Radeon HD 6630M discrete graphics processor means the new 2011 Apple Mac mini is a far more capable gaming machine.</div>
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It ran<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">Doom 3</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>at 138.4 frames per second (fps), which is over twice as fast as the 2010 Mac mini's 62.2fps.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">Call of Duty 4</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>ran at just over 72fps, which is also impressive.</div>
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Of course, some games (<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">Doom 3</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">Call of Duty 4</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>included) are delivered on a physical disc that must remain in the optical drive during play. Unless you're happy enough to stick with titles sold on Apple's App Store and Steam, gamers should invest in a USB SuperDrive.</div>
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We won't get the most from the Thunderbolt port until a wider range of dedicated peripherals are available, but it's already showing its worth when it comes to versatility.</div>
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Up to six Thunderbolt devices can be daisy chained from a single port, and Mini DisplayPort monitors can be plugged in directly, without an adapter.</div>
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Its two 10Gbps data channels make it up to 12 times faster than FireWire 800 and up to 20 times quicker than USB 2.0, making it ideal for tasks that require high-speed data transfer, such as video editing.</div>
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The 2011 Apple Mac mini dispenses with the optical drive, but uses the space for more under-the-hood technology. The high-end 2.5GHz 4GB model reviewed here includes an AMD Radeon HD 6630M – the first discrete graphics chip in an Intel Mac mini.</div>
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New Sandy Bridge Core i5 processors – or Core i7 with an optional upgrade – give the Mac mini a significant power boost. Hyper Threading allows two threads to run on each of the processor's two cores, spreading tasks across four virtual cores for greater speed and efficiency.</div>
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Turbo Boost 2.0 increases the processor's clock speed for short periods when demand is at its highest. The new Apple Mac minis also feature a high-speed Thunderbolt port, and Bluetooth 4.0.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">We liked</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="Apple mac mini 2011 - 2.5ghz" class="aligncenter" height="200" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Computing/Mac%20mini%202011/mac%20mini%202011%20-3-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Computing/Mac%20mini%202011/mac%20mini%202011%20-3-420-90.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></span></div>
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The new Sandy Bridge processors are awesome, giving the 2011 Apple Mac mini a significant increase in power. It's great to have a discrete graphics chip too, especially if you use your mini to play games.</div>
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Thunderbolt will really shine when more peripherals are released, although at the moment, it's merely promising.</div>
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Apple wisely stuck to the same form factor as the 2010 release, with its aluminium unibody casing and internal transformer. It's an excellent piece of engineering, cramming in a lot of computer into a very small space.</div>
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The removal of the optical drive has allowed more technology to be crammed in. You can even customise the high-end mini to include both an SSD and a HDD.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">We disliked</span></div>
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The most obvious drawback with the new Mac mini is the loss of its optical drive. You can buy a portable USB SuperDrive for £66, but this is a somewhat inelegant solution, even though it's powered by the USB port and a good match for the mini.</div>
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Some of the Mac mini's online customisation options are expensive, too. This isn't much of a problem for memory, because you can buy that from a third party and fit it yourself, but if you want a bigger hard drive, you have to buy it from Apple.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Verdict</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="Apple mac mini 2011 - 2.5ghz" class="aligncenter" height="189" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Computing/Mac%20mini%202011/mac%20mini%202011%20-2-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Computing/Mac%20mini%202011/mac%20mini%202011%20-2-420-90.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></span></div>
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Not everyone will tolerate the loss of the Mac mini's optical drive for playing CD-ROMs and DVDs, but with Remote Disc, the Mac Online Store, Steam and iTunes, you can probably get by without one.</div>
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And many would argue that the price drop for the entry-level model and the discrete graphics and second storage drive option for this high-end mini make it a price worth paying.</div>
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The 2011 Apple Mac mini's Sandy Bridge processors are much more capable than the Core 2 Duos they replace, and the Thunderbolt port is sure to show its worth over time.</div>
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With HDMI video-out alongside Thunderbolt, the Mac mini is still a useful media centre computer even without Front Row. Just add Plex or XBMC. But make sure you can get by without your PowerPC applications.</div>
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New operating system Lion drops support for Rosetta, so they can no longer be used.</div>
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