by , 9:45 AM EST, January 17th, 2005
The BBC has published a shootout between Apple's new Mac mini and similarly priced Windows PCs from competitors. The piece, published for a UK audience, focuses on British pricing and products, and includes PCs from Dell, Jal Constance (a UK manufacturer), and a generic, home-built PC.
The article, written by Darren Waters and Mark Ward, does not declare a subjective winner, but instead presents information on each computer in a "Pros and Cons" format, leaving it up to the reader to decide which approach is right for him or her.
About the Mac mini, the article listed style, ease-of-use, and "much better network security, which means less viruses." The reporters also called the Mac mini's software suite -- Mac OS X, iLife '05, Quicken 2005, and AppleWorks 6 -- "the best money can buy."
On the con side, the article called the Mac mini "just a box," and noted that those without a monitor, keyboard, and mouse will face a higher price than a low-end PC bundled with those products. The lack of upgradability was also listed as a con.
In contrast, the Dell Dimension PC 2400 was found to have a better cost advantage, coming bundled with a monitor. Messrs. Waters and Ward also cited upgradability as a plus.
The Dell's complete lack of style was listed as a con, as was the Dimension's small hard drive, which, at 40 gigabytes, is the same size as Apple included in the Mac mini.
Similar issues are listed for the competing PCs, as well.
The BBC's coverage is the first Mac mini shootout we have seen from such a mainstream source, and it serves to focus attention on the Mac mini for potential Switchers. More importantly, it lays the information out in a clear, unbiased fashion.
There's more in the BBC's full article. You can find more detailed shootouts between Macs and Windows PCs at Charles Gaba's System Shootout Web site.