Mac mini Drives: Price per Gigabyte

[admin]

Mac mini Drives: Price per Gigabyte
Monday February 20, 2006
Posted by: Brian

Last week, I posted an entry in the forums for Macworld's review of the Iomega MiniMax hard drive for Mac mini. One of our members brought up the subject of price per gigabyte in relationship to the current crop of hard drives designed for the Mac mini, and an interesting discussion followed. I decided to put a list together of a few different models over the weekend and see how they stack (no pun intended) up.

Of course, there are other factors that go into determining the price of each model. So it's hard to compare the price of different models simply based on the capacity of their hard drives. There are other things to consider, like what the case is made out of (metal or plastic), the number of additional USB and FireWire ports offered, hard drive cache size, and length of warranty.

Putting features aside, the 250GB Micronet miniMate and 250GB LaCie mini tied for the best price at 72 cents per gigabyte. They are followed by the 320GB NewerTech miniStack V2 at 73 cents per gigabyte, and 300GB LaCie mini Hard Drive & Hub at 77 cents per gigabyte. Based on these numbers and capacities, I believe the 320GB NewerTech miniStack V2 and 300GB LaCie mini Hard Drive & Hub represent the best values in the marketplace.

Iomega MiniMax
- 160GB @ $199.95 = $1.25 per GB
- 250GB @ $249.95 = $1.00 per GB

LaCie mini
- 80GB @ $119.99 = $1.50 per GB
- 160GB @ $149.99 = 94 cents per GB
- 250GB @ $179.99 = 72 cents per GB

LaCie mini Hard Drive & Hub
- 250GB @ $199.99 = 80 cents per GB
- 300GB @ $229.99 = 77 cents per GB
- 400GB @ $369.99 = 92 cents per GB
- 500GB @ $429.99 = 86 cents per GB

Micronet miniMate
- 80GB @ $119.95 = $1.50 per GB
- 160GB @ $149.95 = 94 cents per GB
- 250GB @ $179.95 = 72 cents per GB
- 400GB @ $389.95 = 97 cents per GB

NewerTech miniStack V2
- 80GB @ $135.99 = $1.70 per GB
- 160GB @ $169.99 = $1.06 per GB
- 250GB @ $199.99 = 80 cents per GB
- 320GB @ $235.00 = 73 cents per GB
- 400GB @ $329.99 = 82 cents per GB
- 500GB @ $449.99 = 90 cents per GB

WeibeTech Maxelerate
- 250GB @ $232.95 = 93 cents per GB
- 400GB @ $442.95 = $1.11 per GB
- 500GB @ $589.95 = $1.18 per GB



http://www.123macmini.com/news/story/442.html

[Fox]

Thanks, Brian; it is really helpful to get all of this information in one place. As you noted, there are other factors besides $/gig that should go into making a decision on which unit to buy, and it would be nice to have a side by side comparison of these features. If there is interest among readers, perhaps we could generate a collective comparison, using information from the manufacturers, existing reviews and the collective user experience. Among the important items for comparison: number of ports of each type, presence or absence of side locations for ports, presence or absence of fan, options for fan settings, does unit shut-off when the Mac sleeps (yes or no).
_________________
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, Mint & openSuse

[Bandit Bill]

[Brian]

Thanks guys. I would like to write a side-by-side comparison review of all the drives. I'm just waiting to get my hands on the new LaCie.
_________________
Brian
123Macmini.com

[Fox]

Brian, does that mean you have all of the others at your disposal? There's a Mac addict for you!
_________________
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, Mint & openSuse

[Yonus]

I would like to buy one of these Hard Drives for my mini. I haven't decided what one to buy yet, but I desperately need more storage space for my GarageBand creations and loops. Thanks for putting together the list.

[devo]

[slickrick]

Very informative! I never really took the time to price these out per Gigabyte. I'm surprised with how well the LaCie drives hold up. I though they would have been more expensive.