I'm still waiting for a stand that has at least two USB and two FireWire ports IN THE FRONT. (Bonus: audio out, front and back, and rear-facing FW & USB ports for those devices that don't move much.) The Mini is great but it has too few ports, they're in the back, and they're jammed together. I don't have a lot of devices--DV camera, iPod, keyboard, USB stick, camera memory reader--but it's enough that I a) have to switch them out, requiring that I b) go around to the back and c) nimbly use my fingers to extract and insert the right connectors. Anyone who owns a Mini and a few devices knows how much of a pain this is.

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PS: Note to manufacturers: not EVERYONE who buys a Mini does so because it's cute. We aren't ALL repulsed by non-aesthetically-perfect hardware. SOME of us ARE willing to buy items that are FUNCTIONAL, even if followers of Steve and Jonathan think they're ugly. SOME of us bought Minis because... they're inexpensive!!!!!11 And we'd like an easy-to-use device, please, where "easy to use" = "more than two freakin' ports on the front."

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While we're were on the topic of connections, can anyone explain this mystery: why do monitor connections, VGA and DVI, screw into computers yet the arguably much more important power cables do not? PCs typically have fat, robust and grounded plugs, but more than once has removing the neighbouring Ethernet cable from my mini resulted in an accidentally powered-down Mac. I'm not ham-fisted, and to say nothing of the Ethernet cable's tab or the Dock connector's squeeze-release, even USB connectors seem to fit more securely than the mini's power cord. Any reasonable explanations?

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This is starting to look like a tower box.

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Brian, maybe you should invest in a USB hub...?

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what will the subwoofer and constant bass to do the hard drive(s)? i would never subject hard disks to that much vibration, but then again the people who buy something like this probably don't know what a hard drive is or how it works.

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I like Newer Technology's miniStack; . As for ports up front, there *is* a hub sized for the mini that puts a FW400 and a USB2 port up front (as well as several in the back); . No HD in that one, though.

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Am I the only one that thinks this is completely not the point of having a mini?

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My comments (#7) should have included links; go to eshop.macsales.com for the miniStack; the hub I speak of (with the front ports) is available from Belkin.com.

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If you don't like the subwoofer shaking your hard-drive, there's nothing to prevent you from moving that component somewhere else. As for the bass volume control on the back, for the most part, once you've set the bass to a level you like, you aren't going to have to be changing it a lot. The subwoofer's volume control is relative to the overall sound.

And yeah, more ports, on the front, would be better. It bugs me that my G4 tower doesn't have any! I notice that the G5 towers do have a couple, but really, this whole digital hub thing, with video cams, digicams, flash memory key holders, and whatnot, just cries out for more ports on the front.

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Tyrone (3), VGA and DVI have very small, fairly easy to break pins in their connectors. If even one of these breaks off, you've essentially got a worthless monitor, and if they are repeatedly removed and reinserted, this is bound to happen. Power cables, on the other hand, are cheap and interchangeable, and have much larger, much more durable pins. That said, the screws are more about protection of your hardware than keeping your computer turned on if you are moving it around.

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scott... we know what you are though.

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