Lil' Gadgets on the Go!

Cool Things Come in Mini Packages

Hi everybody! Just when I thought things were kind of slow in the tech world. Nothing, I mean nothing was exciting me at all. All of the sudden I saw a curious thing before my eyes, the miniMate.

"What the heck is a miniMate?" I asked myself.

Well Gizmodo answered that question for me. But let's first focus on the Mac mini then get to the miniMate.

The return of the Mac - mini


This is the mini from Apple. This little guy can pack as big a punch as you want.

The basic model which is comparable to a laptop but with the stability of a desktop starts at $499. Everything of course is al a carte. But that is not a bad thing. You control how expensive you want this unit to become. Most people I know either have an extra monitor, keyboard and a mouse lying around or know someone who does. For college students this is the ideal situation. And it isn't a big problem if you have to purchase a set for instance stores like Big Lots, Best Buy and Wal*Mart sell Mouse and Keyboard packages from $15 and up and they also sell Monitors cheap starting at $99 sometimes lower.

When you click on the link to order the mini on apple's website you will notice that there are options. You can get the 1.25 GHZ 40 GB model starting at $499 or the 1.42 GHZ 80 GB model starting at $599. For those of you who aren't sure what GHZ means- It is the clock speed at which your computer will operate. In other words the more GHZ the better. In this case bigger is better.

Now the one thing i noticed is that the basic RAM that comes with the unit is not much, but to run one Apple iProgram at a time it is sufficient but I do recomend the upgrade. RAM is- Random Access Memory. It functions much like our brains do. The more fresh and open our memory is the better we can multi-task -- very similar to having several computer programs opened and functioning at the same time while you download music perhaps.

Apple gives you many options of what to include with your mini, again it is up to you to decide how expensive you want this machine to be. But for people who need to learn how to use a Mac computer and have very little cash to spend this is the way to go. Also Apple offers payment plans if your credit is good!

miniMate
(Image provided by Gizmodo.com)

The miniMate is ideal for those of us who use multimedia equipement and programs frequently on our computers whether it is for work, school, or entertainment. This mate- lives up to its name.

It is a comprehensive attachment that not only provides a rather large external hard drive starting at 80GB for $149. The idea behind the miniMate is to not only add a compact, light weight, external drive, but it also helps avoid clutter. The point of the mini is to be compact, and that is what the Mate is made to do. The really cool thing about the Mate is that it can be used with most other Apple computers and PC Windows operated computers as well.

That's an awesome bargain!

Specs for miniMate:

• Type : External Hard Disk
• Form Factor : External Unit
• Product Weight : 2.5
• Capacity : 80 GB
• Host Interface : FireWire (IEEE1394); USB 2.0
• Expansion Ports : 4x USB 2.0, 3x FireWire
• Access Time : <>
• Data Buffer Cache : 2 MB
• Drive RPM : 7200 rpm
• Bus Transfer Rate (Max) : 50 MB/s (FireWire), 60 MB/s (USB 2.0)
• System Requirements : Powermac with Firewire \ USB 2.0 ports; A PC compatible computer
• OS Support : Mac OS X v10.1.5 & greater, Windows 98SE, 2000, ME, XP
• Package Contents : miniMate Hard Drive and Integrated USB \ FireWire Hub USB cable Firewire cable Power cord User manual
• Product Dimensions : 6.5 in x 6.5 in x 1.5 in
• Box Dimensions : 8 in x 8 in x 4 in
• Warranty : one (1) year limited

posted by Jaime @ 5:39 AM