Yes, it's a great little computer; I've had one since they came out. It does have a fan, but it is so tiny and quiet that you wouldn't know it. Apple doesn't seem to advertise the Mac Mini much, so people think you have to but the integrated type for twice as much money. Having modular parts is far more sensible than tossing a display or CRT just because the computer went obsolete. The old I Macs were based on a Sony Trinitron which would last for twenty years but the computer went obsolete long before that. I have a Mini and a 19" Sony LCD which I prefer to the new all in one Mac. Thus when I go for the new Intel chip version I can keep the display etc.

I've thought about the Mini for a while, but I'm waiting for them to upgrade it... should be when the next round of MacBooks get done.

On the handle... in Japan it was very common for all boxes to come with handles or if not one would ask the sales clerk to add a "tottemono" (= a carrying thing), which they could do surprisingly well in just a few seconds. I used to carry everything of course, using the trains 100%.

And indeed, now that my relocation to the US being is pretty much complete, I'm lamenting the lack in US society and particularly retailers in addressing how to do everyday commerce for people who don't want to use a car. Most everything has packaging that is too large, or too heavy. If I want a "tottemono" I'm at a lost for words... and English is my native language. At the supermarket I'm still in reverse-culture shock over the lackadaisical attitudes of the employees and their inabilty to pack a bag, not to mention the snails pace of service. What if someone has to catch the last train home...

Of course, Americans (>99%) do not have to catch the last train home... they have their ICE to serve them. But... but..., as I look around at the society now in which I am embedding myself I notice the haggard looks, motoring in dilapidated automobiles that have seen one too many miles and one too few oil changes. I do notice that in the supermarkets there are complete isles, both sides, dedicated to pet food and pet items, while cooking staples (for humans) take up maybe 20 feet of shelf space on one isle..., of bins ladened with monster Hershey bars, 10 for $10, but fresh seafood sections that are smaller than many peoples' kitchens, holding the most sickly of pre-frozen fish (this, in a huge supermarket less than 20 miles from the ocean...)

Well, too much ranting and not enough about oil for TOD. However, I keep thinking about PO mitigation and your visions of electrified rail becoming the backbone of cities and I can't help but think of the social re-education that must happen to have any hope to make it viable. Whenever I go for a walk I am immediately confronted, when surveying the society built around me, that it is made for an automobile and not for human.

We have a long ways to go my friend, a very long ways.

I would like to measure power consumption directly,

Get a kill-o-Watt.

http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/IndividualItemPages/KillAWatt.html

I bought a dual-core Mini a few weeks after they shipped. My complete computer setup includes: Mini, external hard disk for extra storage, 21-inch Apple LCD, B&W laser printer, high-def USB TV tuner, cell phone charger, iPod (also a Mini :-), keyword, mouse, Comcast cable modem, and wireless router/hub. According to my Kill-o-Wat, power draw ranges from 130 W with everything running; when the computer and printer are sleeping I am down to less than 20 W. Sadly, the phone charger is 5 W of that :-(.

If there are flaws with the Mac Mini Intel they are that you pay extra money for the small size, you can't get a dedicated video card (for action games), my wireless reception isn't great, and the hard disk is slow and low-capacity.

By the way, the Mini Dual Core runs Win XP very well with Apple's free Bootcamp software.