by Collin Dunn

Mac mini is the latest computing revolution from the folks at Apple. At a mere six and a half inches wide and two inches tall, this sexy machine is a great way to live the digital life in stylish simplicity. Dont let the size fool you, though; Mac mini stands to do for personal computing what portable compact disc players (better known to most of us as "discman's") did for music; it can handle the same workload as its bulky predecessors at a fraction of the size. Crammed in the modular frame is a powerful computing machine, with a fast G4 processor, slot-loading CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive, and up to 1 GB of memory; not bad for something that weighs a whopping 2.9 pounds. And since Mac mini can do wireless, you dont even have to have it near a phone jack or a network. You can even listen to tunes from your Mac mini on speakers in a different room. The configuration options are boundless; to see what you can do with it, click here for all the options.

The real difference between Mac mini and everyone else lies in the painstaking design process. Some low-cost PC manufacturers slap together Frankenstein-like machines by hacking away features from outdated "high-tech" machines and putting these warmed-over parts in ill-fitting, cumbersome, cheap plastic boxes. Since they dont individually design any of the parts, from operating system to motherboard, these manufacturers dont have much of a choice when it comes to hardware configuration. This explains why some budget PC cases out there are littered with a mish-mash of uncoordinated stickers from more component vendors than you can shake a stick at. Apple engineers handcrafted Mac mini from scratch, which meant taking the time to decide just which elements really make a Mac, and then figuring out how to shrink them. And that creative process just happened to reinvent the whole design concept of a desktop computer.

As important as the new machine itself is the way it is being marketed. Mac mini is not sold with a keyboard, mouse, or monitor; its designed as an upgrade for your current computer at a fraction of the size. So you can get a super-fast, ultra-sleek, high-class computer, without the bulk, messy wires and, most importantly, all that darn plastic that surrounds boxy computing machines these days. Because of its superlatively compact size, Mac mini is a great solution to resource overuse in the computer industry, and stands to revolutionize the way computers are thought of, designed and built in the 21st Century.

A new Mac mini can help you reorganize your desk, consolidate your stuff and simplify your life. If youre thinking of recycling your old one, Apple will provide you with a prepaid shipping label for its recycling program, and will also send packing materials, for a nominal fee. Go to apple.com and search for Apple recycles take-back program’ for more info, and for everything you could ever want to know about Mac mini, check out apple.com/macmini/.

Collin Dunn is Editor-in-Chief of SASS Magazine.