Mac Mini vs. Koala Mini
I would love to buy a mini desktop computer like the Mac Mini. But I’d love to buy it from a company specializing in computers pre-loaded with Linux (or no OS at all). I’d totally consider Dell, but they don’t currently have a “Mac Mini”-sized offering.
System76 has a computer that fits the bill called the Koala Mini, built on AOpen’s MiniPC platform. Seen side-by-side, I have to admit the AOpen case does leave me wanting.
Both the Koala and the Mac Mini are listed with a starting price of $599. That’s the good news. But at that price, the Koala’s starts with a 1.46GHz Celeron, half the hard drive storage, and half the memory of a Mac Mini. When configured with the same processor, hard drive, and memory, the price balloons to $962 (a 60% increase!).
Economies of scale at work (in Apple’s favor), I guess.
But still you gotta figure, commodity hardware + free and open source operating system should equal some cost benefit. I should add that buying a Mac Mini, wiping OS X, and installing Ubuntu is a definite possibility (though a topic the interwebs are surprisingly mum about).
Update: It turns out there are quite a few places where I can buy the barebones AOpen MiniPC.
Logic Supply, my favorite source for small components, has both the MP945-VXR for $400 and the MP965-DR for $481. But Buy.com had them both for significantly cheaper: $315.99 and $402.99, respectively. Picking up an Intel Core 2 Duo T5600 1.83GHz for $245 from Newegg.com, plus a gig of DDR2 memory for $35 and an 80GB SATA drive for $60 brings the total to $656—only 57 bucks more than Apple’s Mac Mini (and way cheaper than System76, sadly). Not too shabby for DIY. Now if only I really needed it.
I have a System76 laptop. I thought the hardware was comparably priced (although uglier and bulkier). Support has been great, and I’m thrilled to have an Ubuntu laptop without having to go through 40 hours of setup.