Apple’s products are always a little different from its competitors. Therefore it is not surprising that the Mac Mini from Apple is not a usual netbook. It doesn’t fit exactly into the minibook category but still offers many features that a sub-notebook buyer would look for and also more.

What the Mac Mini can offer

Apple Mac Mini

Three important benefits of the Mac Mini are that it is compact, lightweight and therefore highly portable. It easily fits into every carrying case at 6.5″ x 6.5″ by 2″ and because of its under 3 lbs weight you won’t even notice it is there. All those specifications make it comparable to the majority of minibooks. It weighs the same as many competitive products and is small, but more cube-like and not of the style of many other netbooks that are flatter.

However, it exceeds the competitor’s products in other ways. It features a 2.0GHz (or 2.26GHz) Intel Core 2 Duo CPU that is not comparable to the Intel Atom running at 1.6GHz that many other netbooks have. The Atom for sure is a nice processor but it simply doesn’t have the features of a Core 2 Duo – there is more to it than just a difference in clock speed frequency.

Exceeding the netbook competition

The Mini also offers is a 1066MHz front side bus speed. What is that about you will ask – it is the circuitry that moves data from memory to CPU and the other way around. This leads to a doubling of FSB speed compared to most other netbooks on the market. This is also true for the hard drive which depending on the configuration is either 120GB or 320GB.

Thanks to the 1GB (or 2GB) DDR3 memory what you can expect is stellar performance (other netbooks feature 512MB to 1GB DDR2). This gets even better if you max out the Mini with 4GB of RAM. This is double to what any other minibooks allow to date. If you add the 3MB on-chip L2 cache (this intermediate storage on the processor is usually 512KB for minibooks) you will really have a high-end hybrid.

Other features of the Mac Mini

Another benefit is that Apple’s outstanding operating system enhances performance even more. It is based on Unix, secure and smoothand shows the same focus on style and ease of use that we expect from an Apple product. You will definitely differentiate yourself from the Windows crowd with the Mac Mini.

No matter where you go – you can use that power everywhere! This is ensured by the Airport Extreme Wi-Fi that is built in. Also, the unit offers Bluetooth 2.1, which is not available for all netbooks and often just as an option.

You will also find a built-in 10/100/1 Gigabit Ethernet connector that will come in handy if you want to go hard wired. Other minibooks usually only supply 10/100Mb. On any of the 5 USB ports available on the Mac Mini you can plug in an optional USB external model or other add-ons that you are interested in.

Not a real netbook, still a great choice

To be honest, there is one trade-off when it comes to the Mac Mini: true portability. Despite the fact that the unit is small and light and provides you with all communication features it has no built-in screen. The graphics still support up to 1920 x 1200 on DVI or VGA, which again surpasses many of the competitors. You need to bring a small LCD flat panel along in your carrying case – only then will you be ready to go!

Summarizing it can be said that the Apple Mac Mini is far superior to many netbooks in many ways. However, it is not a true netbook and therefore won’t satisfy the needs of all people interested in a netbook for example of those who like to take it to school or on a plane trip. You have to plug it into the wall as there is no battery like in laptops. If portability is not the main issue for you but rather power then this small computing platform will be an excellent choice.