If there is one thing which will turn a casual internet conversation into an oily black sludge faster than the sentence “Firefly was cancelled for a reason”, it’s the question “Which is better, Mac or PC”? On the one hand, the PC has so many games, freeware applications, hardware options and ways to emulate other platforms. On the other hand, the answer is Mac. That’s why we’ve got these Apple Mac Minis from late 2006.

Now we know, Mac people, late 2006 is light years in the past as far as technology is concerned. There’s no Leopard on this thing, only Tiger. Plus the Intel CoreDuo processor is only 1.83Ghz, and you’ll only get 1GB of RAM, expandable to 2GB. There’s no monitor, mouse or keyboard. But this isn’t about what you can do. It’s about being cool. Don’t you rock the party in a vintage jacket? Just think of this as vintage tech. Who cares if fatty over there can manage to watch Voyager while playing Portal and opening Photoshop? You’re the one getting the nod from the bouncer.

This particular Apple Mac Mini is just 2 inches tall, and 6.5 inches square. You get a Super Drive, which is the one that burns DVDs, and an 80GB hard drive. There’s a 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet, so when somebody wants to hear a little dance music, you won’t need to look anywhere but the internet. You’ve also got a FireWire 400, 4 ports of USB 2.0, 1 DVI Out, 1 VGA Out with included adapter, a combined Optical Digital Audio In/Audio Line In, and a Combined Optical Digital Audio Out/Headphone Out. There’s Bluetooth 2.0, a built-in Airport Extreme 802.11g wireless card, and it comes with iLife ‘06 installed and an iLife ‘08 DVD in the box. You also get Front Row and the Apple Remote, which lets you enjoy omni-media from across the room, like you were Martha Stewart.

Now be ready, cause a deal like this Apple Mac Mini is gonna scare some people. Just watch, all the angry PC fans will be in our comments complaining about typical Mac arrogance and everything that doesn’t work on OS X. It might even reach the point that our regular visitors from Whedonesque.com will find it really hard to keep on message. But don’t let the internoise scare you into forgetting that the future is brushed metal. And besides, wouldn’t your iPod be happier with a little friend?

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