The Mac Mini Core i5 2.5Ghz is a compact and fairly powerful machine that looks good and works well.

Aesthetics
The Mac Mini is sleek and compact. The silver brushed aluminum finish on the exterior looks good on any desk. A single light indicates whether the machine is turned on, giving the Mac Mini an uncluttered look. The overall size is quite small given the hardware "under the hood".

 
Operating System
OSX Lion is polished and intuitive. It includes all the latest updates that Apple has made to its line of products and it integrates well with iCloud as well as iPhones, iPads and iPods. A multitude of free and for-purchase apps are available in the Apple App Store
 

Hardware
The Intel Core i5 2.5 Ghz processor is speedy and responsive. The machine never feels slow or ponderous. This is aided by the AMD Radeon HD 6630M GPU which renders most graphics seamlessly. Those looking for a powerhouse computing platform should look elsewhere - this machine is not powerful enough to do hardcore gaming or graphics design/video editing work (I would suggest a Mac Pro or a high-end PC for those uses).

The 4GB RAM is a constraint when running a large number of programs simultaneously. For users that plan to do so, I recommend upgrading to 8GB of RAM. Luckily, upgrading is easy and instructions are included with the computer. 

The hard drive is a 5400-rpm 500 GB unit that can seem slow on heavy access. If you are going to be using applications that have intensive hard drive access, I recommend upgrading to the 7200-rpm unit or the SSD, both of which will offer measurable performance increases.

IO Ports include four USB ports (which I found to be adequate), an HDMI output (which works well as a monitor output), a DisplayPort output, gigabit ethernet and a Thunderbolt connection (which I have not tested).

Additionally, the Mac Mini has Bluetooth connectivity, 802.11n Wi-Fi and a built-in speaker (which was louder and more clear than I expected).

Conclusion
Overall, the Mac Mini Core i5 2.5Ghz desktop machine is powerful and intuitive, and is an especially smart buy for those who are tight on space. Just make sure you upgrade the RAM and possibly the hard drive.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 763
Operating System: Macintosh
Processor speed: over 1000
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: SuperDisk
Hard Drive (GB): Over 50