Time Machine

Release date 22 January 2005

Take a trip down memory lane with classic Apple hardware

• CPU: Powerpc G4 • Memory: 4, 8, 16GB DDR 1600MHZ • Storage: 500GB or 1TB SATA HDD, 1TB SSD Fusion Drive or 256GB up to 1TB Pcie SSD • Media: CD/DVD drive • Connectivity: Wi-fi, Ethernet, Bluetooth, Firewire, USB, HDMI, SDXC, Thunderbolt Original price £399/$499

Price now

£479/$499

Although it hasn’t been updated in any way for four years, the Mac mini is still very much a part of Apple’s Mac line-up (go to apple.com/mac-mini if you don’t believe us). But does anyone still use one as anything more than an, albeit gorgeous, glorified server? Considering that the starting price is still up at the £500 mark, and you still have to buy a display, keyboard and mouse, the power and performance is easily surpassed by most entry-level imacs, Macbooks and IOS devices. As such, it struggles with the more modern, labour-intensive tasks, so it’s hard to know exactly where the Mac mini fits in. Is it the portability? The connectivity? Or is it just a throwback to a time when Apple needed to sell the Mac concept to the PC users whose curiosity in Apple products was piqued by the launch of the ipod? At the time of writing, we were unsure as to whether a new Mac mini would feature at Apple’s October event. Certainly if it is to survive then a massive power hike would be required, or it is scaled down to fit in the pocket. Imagine that, a Mac that you really could take anywhere and plug into anything. We’d buy it!