Fancy a Mac Mini but not the price!!

koolpc

koolpc

koolpc

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I fancy a Mac mini but not the price!! Now, can i build a 'PC' the same size as the Mac Mini but roughly the same spec for a cheaper price?

I like Win 7 so no problem with that. I just want a PC the same size as the Mac Mini without the price tag!!
 
Just as a starting point...

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3 Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Mini-ITX Motherboard Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3 Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Mini-ITX Motherboard £89.99
(£76.59) £89.99
(£76.59)
Intel Core i3 530 2.93GHz (Clarkdale) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail Intel Core i3 530 2.93GHz (Clarkdale) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail £76.36
(£64.99) £76.36
(£64.99)
MSI GeForce GT 430 GT Twin FrozR 1024MB GDDR3 Low Profile PCI-Express Graphics Card MSI GeForce GT 430 GT Twin FrozR 1024MB GDDR3 Low Profile PCI-Express Graphics Card £63.99
(£54.46) £63.99
(£54.46)
Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) Ultra Low-Voltage DDR3 12800C9 (1600MHz) Dual Channel (KHX1600C9D3LK2/4GX) Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) Ultra Low-Voltage DDR3 12800C9 (1600MHz) Dual Channel (KHX1600C9D3LK2/4GX) £58.74
(£49.99) £58.74
(£49.99)
Lian Li PC-Q07B Mini-ITX Case - Black Lian Li PC-Q07B Mini-ITX Case - Black £49.98
(£42.54) £49.98
(£42.54)
Samsung SH-B083L/RSBP 8x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Drive - Black (Retail) Samsung SH-B083L/RSBP 8x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Drive - Black (Retail) £45.99
(£39.14) £45.99
(£39.14)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £42.99
(£36.59) £42.99
(£36.59)
Corsair CX 430W ATX Power Supply Corsair CX 430W ATX Power Supply £36.99
(£31.48) £36.99
(£31.48)
Scythe Shuriken Rev.B Quiet Low Profile CPU Cooler (Socket 939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1156/LGA1366) Scythe Shuriken Rev.B Quiet Low Profile CPU Cooler (Socket 939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1156/LGA1366) £24.99
(£21.27) £24.99
(£21.27)
Sub Total : £417.05
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £75.04
Total : £503.84
 
Thanks. Nice spec except for the case as that is nowhere near the same size as a Mac Mini
 
A Mac mini is a butchered laptop.
There are no commercially available M-itx cases that you can buy that are that tiny.

Pico-itx cases may be closer to what you want but you are severely limited with what you can fit into them.
Most if not all of the motherboards and cpu's run on VIA chipsets and are extremly low powered as that's all that's required for the form factor.
Not sure if anyone is making Atom based kit for Pico-itx,that's something you'd have to look into.
 
Last edited:
Have a look at the Acer Revo. Some of them can be had with a dual core Atom and nVidia Ion chipset. Not a rocket ship, but able enough for HD
 
Doubt you'll find parts to build a PC of equal spec to the Mac mini for a cheaper price. Dell used to do something similar, not sure if it's still available tho.

I remember when the Mac Mini was £300, and designed to tempt PC buyers to switch. The new one is just too expensive.
 
Superewza said:
Just as a starting point...

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3 Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Mini-ITX Motherboard Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3 Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Mini-ITX Motherboard £89.99
(£76.59) £89.99
(£76.59)
Intel Core i3 530 2.93GHz (Clarkdale) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail Intel Core i3 530 2.93GHz (Clarkdale) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail £76.36
(£64.99) £76.36
(£64.99)
MSI GeForce GT 430 GT Twin FrozR 1024MB GDDR3 Low Profile PCI-Express Graphics Card MSI GeForce GT 430 GT Twin FrozR 1024MB GDDR3 Low Profile PCI-Express Graphics Card £63.99
(£54.46) £63.99
(£54.46)
Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) Ultra Low-Voltage DDR3 12800C9 (1600MHz) Dual Channel (KHX1600C9D3LK2/4GX) Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) Ultra Low-Voltage DDR3 12800C9 (1600MHz) Dual Channel (KHX1600C9D3LK2/4GX) £58.74
(£49.99) £58.74
(£49.99)
Lian Li PC-Q07B Mini-ITX Case - Black Lian Li PC-Q07B Mini-ITX Case - Black £49.98
(£42.54) £49.98
(£42.54)
Samsung SH-B083L/RSBP 8x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Drive - Black (Retail) Samsung SH-B083L/RSBP 8x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Drive - Black (Retail) £45.99
(£39.14) £45.99
(£39.14)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £42.99
(£36.59) £42.99
(£36.59)
Corsair CX 430W ATX Power Supply Corsair CX 430W ATX Power Supply £36.99
(£31.48) £36.99
(£31.48)
Scythe Shuriken Rev.B Quiet Low Profile CPU Cooler (Socket 939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1156/LGA1366) Scythe Shuriken Rev.B Quiet Low Profile CPU Cooler (Socket 939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1156/LGA1366) £24.99
(£21.27) £24.99
(£21.27)
Sub Total : £417.05
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £75.04
Total : £503.84
Click to expand...

This looks like a good spec i suppose. Not sure if i would need a seperate GPU as i don't game on the PC plus an ordinary DVDRW would suffice.

What about a modular PSU? Also, can it be build with a quad core CPU and a better heatsink?
 
Something a little plasticy like this might do you in terms of size?
Noah-Gallery.jpg

Sorry nicked the pic of some 3bay listing.

Noah do a number of different variants at a similar size to this.

Otherwise if you want good looks (admittedly a big bigger than mac mini) then you want a cubit3 :D
 
Hi,

Small cases mac mini size are available but are normally horrendous cheap imports with budget power supplies which I guess - you run the risk of cooking your nice shiney hardware, or creating fireworks in your house!

Of course, its completely up to you but at the end of the day, trade the size a bit and get something quality which will last!
 
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