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Small, powerful, and cheap are three words that can be used to describe
the Mac mini. Is beautiful a word that can be used to describe
the mini as well? Certainly, though beauty is truly in the eye of the
beholder. To those who find their machine is not so attractive
and feel they do not have the skills to paint their own machines, or
just want someone else to do it, there is an answer. ColorWare PC of
Winona, Minnesota has been in the painting business for years and they
recently started to offer custom paint jobs on the Mac mini.
ColorWare:
ColorWare offers two different options
for the Mac mini. There is an option to purchase a mini directly from
ColorWare and there is the option to send in a Mac mini to be painted.
MacMod, already having a mini, sent in a model for a fresh paint job.
Since Colorware offers 20 different stock colors to pick from. There is
an additional option to have a custom color chosen as well at an extra
cost of $99 USD. We naturally went with black, being the opposite of
the Mac mini’s stock white/grey color.
Appearance:
Visually, the the Colorware paint job is just plain sexy. After receiving
the Mac mini back from ColorWare, it was hard to believe it was the
same machine. The only similarity between the old design and the
new one is the Apple logo on top. The paint appears to have a
pearl fleck that gives it an extra touch. The fleck is not
clearly visible until you look at the mini from about a foot away.
Using techniques described as a, “hybrid between the manufacturing
and
automotive painting industry”, ColorWare gave the mini the appeal of an
automotive paint job, complete with a stunning high gloss clear
coat. The texture is smooth like a car as well,
though softer to the touch. Light reflects off of the case like a
mirror. Due to the quality of paint used, any distortion would
reveal defects in the paint job. None were found using this method.
Editors Note: Photographing the mini was somewhat difficult because it was
so reflective. In some of the original pictures you could see the
photographer quite clearly.
Quality:
Looking over the mini, it’s impossible to find any chips or any extra
paint drips on it. Feeling the mini’s paint job is an important test.
What your eyes may not catch, the sensitive touch of a hand will.
Feeling over the case multiple times did not reveal any defects. As a
side effect of feeling it over, touching it left very noticeable
smudges
Pictures:
Click for High-Resolution Picture
Conclusion:
The quality of work ColorWare has to offer is hard to beat.
Pro:
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High Quality Paint
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Very Attractive
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Smooth to the touch
Con:
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Susceptible to Finger Prints / Smudging
Price :: $99 standard / $198 custom
Website :: www.colorwarepc.com
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