[neilio]

A strange question for a Mac forum, but what the heck. Now that everyone is out drooling (and arguing) about the new Mac Mini, my question is this: is there a similarly sized machine out there that runs Windows?

My reasoning is because I would LOVE to buy something that small, cheap, and quiet, which I could hook up a wireless card and hide in the closet. Then I could say "so long" to Virtual PC and access the PC machine using Remote Desktop Connection.

Is something like this available?

Neil

[Mafia]

they do make mini itx mobo's but i dunno of a specific company that sells the small computers already built. but you can do it.

[Millennium]

The closest you could come is probably the stuff based on the Mini-ITX form factor. You can see some information about this at http://mini-itx.com

Mini-ITX boards are actually slightly larger than the Mac Mini; about the smallest you could get would be 7x7 inches (the Mac Mini is 6x6). However, that's still pretty darn small.

You'll probably need to buy your own motherboard and build the machine yourself. However, don't underestimate how fun (and educational) this can be. besides which, assembling computers from parts -even PCs- isn't too difficult, given that you don't have to solder anything.

[ajprice]

http://www.littlepc.com/products_p4l..._pricelist.htm

Basic price $1095 for:

2.0 Celeron
80 Gig Hard Drive
24X CD-ROM
256 RAM

Dimensions: 10" x 5.82" x 2.79"



I think the word pwn3d is appropriate here. 1-0 to Mac mini

[davidflas]

The closest thing that I've had experience with are Shuttle PeeCees. I built one about a year ago, but then sold it to buy an iBook G4.

[neilio]

I've heard of the Mini-itx machines before, but they all seemed to be pretty darn expensive. I guess I'm a bit out of luck finding something close to the Mac Mini's price range, huh?

Thanks for the tips so far...

Neil

[typoon]

It looks like it takes afull size Ram stick. PC2700 (333MHz) DDR SDRAM According to Specs. If it took SODIMMS I think it would have said so. So it shouldn't be so expensive to get 3rd party 1 gig sticks.

[misnomer]

http://www.cappuccinopc.com/default.asp

[ajprice]

Just specced a Cappucino PC to the closest spec I could get (i think) to a Mac mini.

Mocha 7043 System Base Price: $799

Celeron 2.4 (replaces Celeron 2.0) +$20
256Mb RAM
40Gb HD (replaces 20Gb) +$30
CD-R/DVD Slot Loading Combo Drive (replaces 24x CD-ROM) +$90
Microsoft XP Home (replaces Linux Ready DOS) +$119
Integrated SiS 651 High Performance 3D/2D 64M Video RAM (Shared Memory)

Keyboard, mouse and display listed as extras on accessories page

Total = $1058

[Raman]

KuroBox (developer) or LinkStation (home user but hackable nonetheless) are Linux boxes with built in user replacable 3.5" hard drives. You can install X and VNC into it. They run 603's I believe and have either 64 or 128 megs of RAM, 2 usb ports. They are essentially very small computers without video cards. People turn them into iTunes servers, network storage, routers, web servers, etc.. They run from $150-500 based on the hard drive that it comes with but the hard drives are easily replacable to just about any hard drive. There are many tools to make it work with X just peachy. The best thing is it runs on a power pc

A few links:

http://www.tomsnetworking.com/Review...ID-KUROBOX.php

http://www.yamasita.jp/linkstation.en/

http://revogear.com/

For the price, the mini is better because it has a video card, optical drive and a MUCH faster processor and memory.

[CRASH HARDDRIVE]

Book PCs of all shapes and sizes have been available for years. Many in the $300-$500 range.

For example: http://logisysus.com/catalog/default.php?cPath=74

[Shaddim]

Originally posted by CRASH HARDDRIVE:
Book PCs of all shapes and sizes have been available for years. Many in the $300-$500 range.

For example: http://logisysus.com/catalog/default.php?cPath=74

Those prices are for barebones machines, no CPU, RAM, HD, etc..