You can replace the HD and it does not, I repeat does not void the warranty. Only if you mess something up does it void the warranty. And they will not service any third party parts. Other than that, you are good to go. They will not service the new HD that you installed. But the rest of the computer yes.
I've worked at an Apple Authorized Service Provider as an Apple Certified Macintosh Technician. Not to toot my own horn, but I know for a fact that you are wrong about that. For one, the only officially user-servicable parts on that machine are the bottom cover and the RAM. That's it. If they find that someone not certified or working for a certified outfit or an Apple Store as a Genius Bar worker has cracked that thing open, they can and will deny a covered-under-warranty repair. Period. That said, if they open up the machine and can't tell that such a repair was done, then they can't declare the warranty voided. If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it...you hopefully get the point.
Changing the HD isn't any more difficult than on anyother mini computer. Easier than the HP or the Dell. You can't compare the Mini to a tower. Look at the form factor. The engineering on the Mini is exceptional. I don't know how they fit everything in that tight space. How many unibody micro computers are there out there? Zero besides the mini.
Comparing the Mac mini to a similar (or even the same) class of product made by Dell and HP is one thing. Comparing it to the breadth of other options out there let alone comparing its internals to other computers using the exact same CPUs and North and South Bridges from Intel is another. Going with the former comparison, I'm not shocked that Apple's engineering beats anyone else's, but that's not as much my point as the latter comparison. That and mini machines are pointless unless you need a portable machine that isn't a laptop (and really how many people out there fit that specific niche?) or if you demand a silent machine that also isn't a laptop. If that's you, fine. Mazel Tov. If it isn't, then what's the point of spending $600 for a desktop with the same internals as a $500 laptop?
The mini is the best deal going for a Mac. I bought a dual 2.7 and added my own OEM SSD and added 8gb of ram for about $1200. You can configure the same machine on Apple's site for around $1400.
This further demonstrates my point that Apple charges way too much for way too little of a machine.
You are paying for the engineering and OSX on the Mini. If a tower suits you and it all about hardware and how much off the shelf parts you can fit into a computer. You will never grasp the reason for the mini in the first place. The i7's that are used in the mini are not cheap parts. Costs more than their desktop equivalents. The mini is high quality. Period. If you want a cheapo windows box that can run osx. A mini isn't for you.
See that's where your evangelical Apple Fanboyism shows itself. Being that this is macrumors.com and that I'm also an Apple Fanboy, I won't fault you, but I think you fail to grasp some key things here.
For one, about the only amazing thing about this current mini from any technological or engineering standpoint is the fact that the chassis is one part and that every other part snaps into it as well as it does. Barring that, there's nothing really amazing about it. From a servicing standpoint, it's almost worse to deal with than the Late 2009 and earlier Mac minis, and again, I don't care whether it's a mini or a full-blown workstation tower, they are not constrained with a thinness requirement like they are with laptops; they are not constrained with a weight requirement like they are with laptops; it should be as easy to replace any part in the Mac mini as it is in any of the Unibody MacBook Pro models, let alone any PC desktop out there. Period. If it's not, then the engineering could stand to be improved. And for the nonsense premium for an Apple branded desktop that saves me an afternoon of Hackintoshing, I had better get that improved engineering.
That being said, the parts in that "cheapo Windows box" would be not only higher quality, but FASTER IN EVERY POSSIBLE WAY. For the cost of a Mac mini with a Dual-Core i5 and a AMD Radeon 6630M, you could build a high-quality system with a quad-core i5 and a Radeon 6770 (notice the lack of the "M" at the end of that). And yes, I could have Lion running stably on it. So aside from a quieter running computer and being spared the hassle of looking up how to get whatever specific configuration up and running, I fail to see how Apple's "amazing engineering" is worth the cost. Really, if you refuse to go with a Hackintosh because you lack the patience and/or technical skill for it (which I can respect), and have no need to ever take the computer anywhere, AND find a Mac Pro too much for your needs, THEN AND ONLY THEN is a Mac mini a sensible computer.
If you are comparing the Mini to a tower you don't get the reason for the Mini in the first place. Try fitting that tower on your desk and have it be completely silent and hardly visable. Or run a update to OSX for a hackintosh. If you like frustration Windows is for you. A mini is not.
I don't need a silent computer that somehow isn't a laptop. For those that fit that niche, it's a perfect computer. But for everyone else, it's an overpriced underpowered Mac desktop.
You don't have to remove the logic board. It took me 15 min to replace the HD on the Mini. Not hard at all. Most people that complain about replacing the HD have never done it before.
So, I've consulted the official Apple Service Manuals to both the Mid 2010 models and the Mid 2011 models as well as the iFixit guides for both machines. All three resources confirmed that you do have to at least partially remove the logic board to replace the drives (completely if it is the second drive). So unless you are following a magical third guide that magically circumvents this procedure, I'm gonna have to call BS on your claim there.
That being said, I never said it was a hard procedure. Getting one's oil changed in their car isn't a hard procedure; but how many people know how to do it? How many people would be willing to do it? Doing this task on a MacBook Pro is as simple as removing 14 screws (10 for the bottom plate, 4 for the drive), unplugging the battery cable, replacing the drive, replugging in the battery cable and redoing the screws. The fact that it isn't this simple on the Mac mini, let alone any "mini" computer made by any computer manufacturer is stupid. Period. I'm sorry if you disagree.
The mini is the ideal mac. Powerfull, quiet. small, and has a high resale value. It has a alum unibody frame that is the smallest on the planet for what you are getting. The engineering that went into making is really amazing.
If small and quiet are the things you look for in a computer, fan-freakin'-tastic. Personally, I don't understand the need for "small", but I can at least fathom situations where "quiet" is beneficial. Do I feel like I should have to pay a premium for small? Not at all. But Apple doesn't give me that choice. I'm sure that most Mac mini customers would be fine with a machine with twice the thickness if it meant shaving off a one to two hundred off the price tag. Frankly, the Mac mini's unibody engineering does nothing for me that I didn't get with the Late 2009 and earlier Mac minis. At least the Unibody MacBook Pros make the machines drastically sturdier and easier to service than their predecessors. But hey man, if you like tooting Apple's horn, don't let me stop you.
You can change out the Mac mini every year if you wanted. Want a new monitor, go ahead get a new one. Try doing that with a imac. Or a macbook pro.
The only reason you'd want to replace the monitor on those machines is if they broke. Otherwise, each of those machines supports any external display...just like the Mac mini. And for the most part, the only time the iMac or MacBook Pro displays ever break is if the user is stupid and breaks them.
Laptop parts are just as powerfull as their desktop equivalents or more so watt for watt.. for mainstream use. No down side to having them, other than they run cooler and quieter. I don't see the down side. Your not going to get a sandybridge E in a mini, but than again that is not what it was designed for.
Desktop parts get you better bang for buck. When I buy a new computer, I don't buy the one that looks the sleekest. I'm buying it because I need it to get a job done. I'm buying it because it serves a utility function. Toward that end, I think the MacBook Pros are fantastic machines because they are well-engineered (far better than even the closest competitor) and for what they are, they're only marginally costlier than the competition. That said, Hackintoshing a laptop will never yield you with anywhere near as stable of a machine, and even if it did, that machine would have terrible build quality.
Building your own tower for Mac OS X on the other hand would yield just as high quality of a machine, that is faster, tons more upgradable, and costs less. Oh yeah, and it's no harder to do that, and set it up so that OS X system updates aren't at all a pain, than it is to replace the hard drive in a Mac mini. I'd argue that it's actually easier. So again, aside from a quiet machine, what exactly am I getting for my $600-800?
