PC World senior editor Rebecca Freed says the low-cost Mac mini handled everything she threw at it, and says she would recommend it to new computer users. “Though it’s small–more compact than the average lunchbox–this system isn’t rickety. It handled most tasks I tried gracefully, without hesitating or freezing,” writes Freed. “The 512MB of RAM and the solidness of OS X 10.3 have a lot to do with that, but the 1.25-GHz G4 CPU also makes a difference. I opened half a dozen applications and switched among their various windows without any slowness… My bottom line? If I were recommending a starter system to someone (who hadn’t already taken a side in the Mac versus Windows holy war), I wouldn’t hesitate to send them in the direction of the Mac mini.”