Mac Mini comparison short-changes DIY PCs
by Geoff Gasior — 1:13 PM on January 14, 2005

osViews has posted another delightfully uninformed PC versus DIY PC comparison. This time around, they try to assemble a DIY system that will stack up against the Mac Mini, and as usual, their PC build needs some serious help. The comparison has already been corrected to remove a 10/100 Fast Ethernet card that wasn't needed because the system's motherboard had integrated LAN, but numerous glaring flaws remain.

The system spec osViews has compiled is based around a Pentium 4 2.0GHz processor, Asus P4S800 motherboard, Radeon 9200 graphics card, 256MB of DDR333,a 40GB hard drive, CD-RW/DVDROM drive, and a cheap case for $505. They also throw in Windows XP Professional and a bunch of potentially unnecessary software, but since hardware is our area of expertise, I'll limit my corrections to the nuts and bolts. Since they made no attempt to match the Mac Mini's form factor, I won't either. Here's what I was able to come up with in about 10 minutes poking around Newegg:

That all adds up to $281, which is a far cry from $505. And when you're building a system, you can get an OEM copy of Windows XP Professional for about $150, which is less than the comparison's $199 retail copy. If you're going to spec out a DIY PC, you might as well do it right.
   
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