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Brian
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Location: Charlotte, NC
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 Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 2:19 pm Post subject: Review: Iomega MiniMax, 250GB |
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Review: Iomega MiniMax, 250GB
"Though Apple’s Mac mini isn’t quite as popular as the iPod, it has attracted its share of third-party accessory vendors. In fact, there are at least five major storage companies now making desktop hard drives designed to sit beneath this ultra-compact Mac. The latest company to ship such a device is Iomega, whose speedy MiniMax drive (Best Current Price: $209.26) not only increases the amount of available data storage, but also features an integrated hub which doubles the amount of available USB and FireWire 400 ports available to you. "
http://www.macworld.com/2006/02/reviews/minimax250/index.php
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devo
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| Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 4:58 pm Post subject: |
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| The review mentions the price per gigabyte being $1.00. Has anyone ever tried figuring out what Mac mini drive has the lowest price per gigabyte in the same capacities? It might be a useful number to have for people still looking for one. |
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LouieMacGoo
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| Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 8:55 pm Post subject: |
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This drive looks like a rebranded M9 like the MiniStack from Newertech is! My MiniStack with a 160gb drive cost me $150 which has a cost per gigabite of about $0.94! So I can't complain!
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Fox
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Location: Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 10:15 pm Post subject: |
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Price per gigabyte is almost meaningless with these external drives. The bigger the drive the lower the ppg. The various enclosures don't differ that much in price, but the cheapest ppg would come from buying an empty enclosure and putting in your own HD.
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Mini 1: 2.3 ghz Core i5; 8 gb RAM, Corsair 240gb SSD, 500 gb Seagate XT
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Also a Cube, 13" MacBook Air, 20" 2.66 ghz iMac & 11.6" Acer 1810TZ running Ubuntu & openSuse |
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Bandit Bill
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Joined: 07 Jun 2005
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Location: Edmonton, AB, Canada
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| Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 10:53 pm Post subject: |
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| Fox wrote: | | Price per gigabyte is almost meaningless with these external drives. The bigger the drive the lower the ppg. The various enclosures don't differ that much in price, but the cheapest ppg would come from buying an empty enclosure and putting in your own HD. |
I usually look at price per Gig before buying a drive, but I don't get too hung up on it.
example LaCie mini
500GB@$429=$1.16/GB
400GB@$369=$1.08/GB
300GB@$229=$1.31/GB
250GB@$199=$1.25/GB
I'd likely buy the 300GB drive even though it has the highest $/GB. The 300GB+ models comes with a fan. By the time I fill a 300GB drive the higher priced drives will have come down enough. I would be further ahead buying a 500GB+ replacement drive down the road. |
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blazer
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Joined: 23 Mar 2005
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Location: San Ramon, California
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| Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 11:11 pm Post subject: |
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| Bandit Bill wrote: |
example LaCie mini
500GB@$429=$1.16/GB
400GB@$369=$1.08/GB
300GB@$229=$1.31/GB
250GB@$199=$1.25/GB |
I think you did your math backwards.
example
500GB@$429 = .86 cents per GB rounding up
500GBx.86 = $430
| Fox wrote: | | The bigger the drive the lower the ppg. |
There usually is a sweet spot where things start to turn around and get more expensive.
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Bandit Bill
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Location: Edmonton, AB, Canada
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| Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 11:32 pm Post subject: |
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| blazer wrote: | | Bandit Bill wrote: |
example LaCie mini
500GB@$429=$1.16/GB
400GB@$369=$1.08/GB
300GB@$229=$1.31/GB
250GB@$199=$1.25/GB |
I think you did your math backwards.
example
500GB@$429 = .86 cents per GB rounding up
500GBx.86 = $430
| Fox wrote: | | The bigger the drive the lower the ppg. |
There usually is a sweet spot where things start to turn around and get more expensive. |
LOL... yes I did.
500=.86
400=.92
300=.76
250=.80
At least I made the right decision  |
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blazer
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Location: San Ramon, California
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| Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 11:45 pm Post subject: |
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| Bandit Bill wrote: | | LOL... yes I did. |
Don't worry about it. Beyond simple multiplication and division, I suck at math. The 300GB model is definitely the sweet spot.
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2.0GHz Core 2 Duo Mac mini
2.0GHz Core 2 Duo Mac mini (2009)
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Fox
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Location: Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2006 6:20 am Post subject: |
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I stand corrected; larger drives aren't always cheaper per gigabyte. I forgot that drives that are larger than what most people will buy cost more because they make fewer of them - economies of scale. This applies in a big way to 2.5" drives; anything over 80 mb costs an arm and a leg. Another trend I'm noticing is that drive manufacturers are now dropping the 8 mb cache option from their smaller capacity drives. I have a great Samsung Spinpoint 80 gb, 8 meg cache drive in my Cube (quietest drive I've ever had), and I wanted to get another one to stick in my ministack. Can't get 'em anymore; the smallest drive Samsung makes with an 8 meg cache is 200 gb. You can still get the smaller drives and they're very cheap, but only with the 2 meg cache. I guess they figure that anyone who wants cheap, low capacity drives isn't going to care about the cache.
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Mini 1: 2.3 ghz Core i5; 8 gb RAM, Corsair 240gb SSD, 500 gb Seagate XT
Mini 2: 2.26 ghz Core 2 duo, 8 gb RAM, 500 gb Seagate
Also a Cube, 13" MacBook Air, 20" 2.66 ghz iMac & 11.6" Acer 1810TZ running Ubuntu & openSuse |
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picaman
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Location: NYC
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| Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2006 8:09 am Post subject: |
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And, just to add to the confusion, the cheapest way to go is often to get a case and an OEM drive and do it yourself.
250GB drive--$100
FireWire case--$50
Both estimates on the high side. Cost factor=.60
Jamie |
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devo
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Joined: 23 Jan 2005
Posts: 5290
Location: Dunwoody, GA
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| Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2006 1:01 pm Post subject: |
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| picaman wrote: | And, just to add to the confusion, the cheapest way to go is often to get a case and an OEM drive and do it yourself.
250GB drive--$100
FireWire case--$50
Both estimates on the high side. Cost factor=.60
Jamie |
That's one of the reasons I went with the miniStack. The ony bad part... I bought mine before they lowered the prices.  |
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