Why not just offer the better CPU as BTO option--let the consumer decide the price he is willing to pay?
Because each CPU has to align with the engineering. Apple's tolerances for heat and power are a bit more exacting. We don't want 40 flavors of 'broke-@ss' systems.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robin Huber
Seriously, Apple could increase Mac sales by merely getting on the same predictable upgrade/refresh path as iOS. I have been ready to trade in my 2009 iMac for a while now, but don't want to miss an important bump up. There must be a lot of us out there waiting for a reason to give Apple our money. As someone else said earlier, how hard is it to improve an existing form factor at least? Leaving money on the table, Apple.
Seriously, a mobile device has a 1.75 year half life and 'One... Biillllion' potential customers. A desktop has a 4 year half life, and 10Million potential customers.
Those that post to AI are likely the smallest minority of Apple customers, and the least likely for Apple to model a system design for (Or else they'd get the equivalent of 'Snakes on a Plane' sort of design... see above re: tuner card).
Opportunity costs. Apple can spend 50Million dollars (remember in a quality org, you design EVERYTHING... supply chain, mfg process, boxes, marketing) developing a new Mac Mini every year, and garner, let's be optimistic, a Million units in sales. 30% margin. $599 price. Wow. They just made 180Million Dollars, for the entire year.
Apple last year made 180Million in Gross Profit a DAY.
So, for an initial investment R&D investment they make 3.5X their money, but it only contributes 1/365th to the bottom line.
And how many NON-Apple customers are screaming for an Mac Mini? None. So no market growth. Oh, there is no residual in your model, you're spending 50Million a year, and the old model has to be thrown away. Apple can design an iPhone or iPad, and it has a 3 year shelf life.
I'd rather spend that $50Million figuring out how to sell another 10Million iPhones, which have a greater margin, and a greater potential market and a longer market life.
It's not unreasonable to expect greater entertainment options in a consumer-centric computer like the iMac. A DVR or digital TV tuner would fit the profile.
First off the thread was about the Mini, which is not consumer centric.
But, Apple's solution for the consumer (who already has a 1080P TV in the room):
AI has notoriously called for the Mac mini's EOL because of the long delays in updates. Because of its low volume and low cost, which I equate to also being a low margin, entry-level machine Apple has little motivation to update this machine often. I don't think it's going anywhere and could see a major change to the internals, like PCIe-SSD over the 2.5" drive, but I can also see them maintaining the 2.5" drive design for a couple more year, as well.
I think you are right. I also think that the Mini is adequately specced for its purpose at present. You can optionally choose SD or Fusion and for most people I'd argue it was powerful enough. Adding a 1 tb Fusion drive and maxing the Ram you'll be paying approx a grand less than an iMac which is a good deal if you have the other hardware. I am considering ditching my old mb and getting a mini to drive my cinema display at my office. Now that I can use my iMac at home as a monitor when the need arises I am questioning the need for a laptop. For travel I have the iPad Air.
You need several TerraBytes worth of disk space to make a DVR worthwhile - my TiVo has a 3TB HD, my EyeTV setup on the MacPro a 4TB drive.
The AppleTV is out of the question, the current model has 8GB storage, that is not enough for a single 1 hour recording. Even with the MacMini you would need an external HD for it to be practical... Also a single tuner, while better than nothing isn't practical vs. 6 tuners on the TiVo.
Not if it records in the Cloud. DVR doesn't have to store locally...
Or- like Tallest has always mentioned (although this will likely never ever happen)- use the Time Capsule as a DVR/Storage tool to stream from.
I think you are right. I also think that the Mini is adequately specced for its purpose at present. You can optionally choose SD or Fusion and for most people I'd argue it was powerful enough. Adding a 1 tb Fusion drive and maxing the Ram you'll be paying approx a grand less than an iMac which is a good deal if you have the other hardware. I am considering ditching my old mb and getting a mini to drive my cinema display at my office. Now that I can use my iMac at home as a monitor when the need arises I am questioning the need for a laptop. For travel I have the iPad Air.
Agreed. The Mini is a 'Mac Pro Lite' Your monitor investment is separate from your CPU investment, which is the mindset of home computer switchers and some small businesses. But for most consumers, the iMac is what they want. For serious MacOphiles, The real question is
MBP and monitors, or iPad and iMac/Mini. Yosemite/iOS8/Continuity/iCloud will make that choice swing even easier to the iMac, and the Macbook Pro will evaporate into the MBA/MacPro.
The Mini will go away. the mass market doesn't want a compute platform, it wants an 'App Accelerator,' Which will be a local caching server for content. It will be an amalgam of a TimeCapsule and AppleTV, and all your podcasts, shows, etc, will have at least the first XX minutes pre-cached for instant startup on your local 'ac' wifi network. The magic will be the DVR programming of it.
OTA/Cable collection... that's the magic. Can't predict how it will happen, but I can predict it WON'T happen on an OSX device. It's either built into ATV, or something else. And an iOS app will manage it.
Developers will still want a MBPro, but a low end Mac Pro will subsume the Mini (for what you guys want), with BTO lower end graphics.
Again, Developers are .1% of the mass market, and Apple has to keep them happy, but not turn the crank every year on desktops like laptops or phones/pads, where their useful lives are much shorter, and the engineering envelopes much tighter.
You know what's overdue for an update? The friggin' Apple Thunderbolt Display. At the very least, Apple should have done a minor refresh to it back when the tapered iMac (non-optical drive) model debuted, and shifted it to USB3. It's been nearly three years (Sept 2011) since the current model went up for sale.
You need several TerraBytes worth of disk space to make a DVR worthwhile - my TiVo has a 3TB HD, my EyeTV setup on the MacPro a 4TB drive.
The AppleTV is out of the question, the current model has 8GB storage, that is not enough for a single 1 hour recording. Even with the MacMini you would need an external HD for it to be practical... Also a single tuner, while better than nothing isn't practical vs. 6 tuners on the TiVo.
You make good points, but I can't fully agree. I tested the Tablo DVR/PVR for a week*, with only a 500 GB hard drive attached and could have easily recorded 75-100 hours of HD. That's plenty of space. Granted it's a leap from 8GB to 500GB, but it is certainly possible.
And the Tablo I tested has 2 tuners, which again - it's plenty enough for OTA broadcasts, at least for my viewing.
* Returned the Tablo for a refund. Great concept but with Hulu, decided I don't really need the DVR at this time.
Make that base 1/2 the height and we've got something.
This is weighted so it always ends upright when rocked like Mr. Wobbly. It comes with lint cloths that attach so you can roll your desk free of dust too. Doubles as a hair dryer. Optional software allows it to roam the house unattended where it can clean floors, act as a baby sitter watcher and chase the cat.
Not if it records in the Cloud. DVR doesn't have to store locally...
Or- like Tallest has always mentioned (although this will likely never ever happen)- use the Time Capsule as a DVR/Storage tool to stream from.
In fact, like iTunes Match, it wouldn't have to actually record anything, it would simply link you to a version already on the cloud ... wait a minute, it's called Netflix ...
How many years have we been talking about i5's and i7's? The cpu market seems very stagnant these days. Nothing much new and really much faster than we were seeing a few years ago.
Not if it records in the Cloud. DVR doesn't have to store locally...
Or- like Tallest has always mentioned (although this will likely never ever happen)- use the Time Capsule as a DVR/Storage tool to stream from.
You must have been away from the Internet when when the Supreme Court ruled that Aereo with its "cloud" DVR system was illegal. An Apple TV based cloud DVR would be too close to that -- Apple isn't interested in selling products that may be declared illegal.
You must have been and from the Internet when when the Supreme Court ruled that Aereo with its "cloud" DVR system was illegal. An Apple TV based cloud DVR would be too close to that -- Apple isn't interested in selling products that may be declared illegal.
Not exactly, right? Aereo was ruled against because it was, effectively, rebroadcasting the signal from it's magic warehouse & antenna. If my device, in my home, records to my personal cloud, then it should be legal. Otherwise, I'd argue that Slingbox, Hopper, etc are illegal. Dropbox as well.
I was looking forward to replacing my iMac, but if the processor is only getting a 100mhz speed bump, I'm not interested.
Intel milks each MHz for all the dollars it will bring. That's why they have all those artificial speed bins, even though it's the same chip. If Intel sold pennies, they would come in 5 shades of shiny and cost from a nickel to a quarter each.
I personally think every Mac mini should have Apple TV built in, plus a digital TV signal (over the air) tuner card.
This would be a great way to combine to products into one (Mac mini and AppleTV). I'm not sure how many people though would use the Mac mini side of this with the TV as their display. I guess more people than we think do this? I for one tried and it just doesn't look all that great. Still though, I think its a great way to combine 2 products into one. Maybe this could also be the first iteration of an ARM based Mac with the entire thing running on something like an A8X chip?
Comments
Why not just offer the better CPU as BTO option--let the consumer decide the price he is willing to pay?
Because each CPU has to align with the engineering. Apple's tolerances for heat and power are a bit more exacting. We don't want 40 flavors of 'broke-@ss' systems.
Seriously, Apple could increase Mac sales by merely getting on the same predictable upgrade/refresh path as iOS. I have been ready to trade in my 2009 iMac for a while now, but don't want to miss an important bump up. There must be a lot of us out there waiting for a reason to give Apple our money. As someone else said earlier, how hard is it to improve an existing form factor at least? Leaving money on the table, Apple.
Seriously, a mobile device has a 1.75 year half life and 'One... Biillllion' potential customers. A desktop has a 4 year half life, and 10Million potential customers.
Those that post to AI are likely the smallest minority of Apple customers, and the least likely for Apple to model a system design for (Or else they'd get the equivalent of 'Snakes on a Plane' sort of design... see above re: tuner card).
Opportunity costs. Apple can spend 50Million dollars (remember in a quality org, you design EVERYTHING... supply chain, mfg process, boxes, marketing) developing a new Mac Mini every year, and garner, let's be optimistic, a Million units in sales. 30% margin. $599 price. Wow. They just made 180Million Dollars, for the entire year.
Apple last year made 180Million in Gross Profit a DAY.
So, for an initial investment R&D investment they make 3.5X their money, but it only contributes 1/365th to the bottom line.
And how many NON-Apple customers are screaming for an Mac Mini? None. So no market growth. Oh, there is no residual in your model, you're spending 50Million a year, and the old model has to be thrown away. Apple can design an iPhone or iPad, and it has a 3 year shelf life.
I'd rather spend that $50Million figuring out how to sell another 10Million iPhones, which have a greater margin, and a greater potential market and a longer market life.
But YMMV
It's not unreasonable to expect greater entertainment options in a consumer-centric computer like the iMac. A DVR or digital TV tuner would fit the profile.
First off the thread was about the Mini, which is not consumer centric.
But, Apple's solution for the consumer (who already has a 1080P TV in the room):
Airport Express
AppleTV
Airplay.
Internet Content.
Problem solved.
AI has notoriously called for the Mac mini's EOL because of the long delays in updates. Because of its low volume and low cost, which I equate to also being a low margin, entry-level machine Apple has little motivation to update this machine often. I don't think it's going anywhere and could see a major change to the internals, like PCIe-SSD over the 2.5" drive, but I can also see them maintaining the 2.5" drive design for a couple more year, as well.
I think you are right. I also think that the Mini is adequately specced for its purpose at present. You can optionally choose SD or Fusion and for most people I'd argue it was powerful enough. Adding a 1 tb Fusion drive and maxing the Ram you'll be paying approx a grand less than an iMac which is a good deal if you have the other hardware. I am considering ditching my old mb and getting a mini to drive my cinema display at my office. Now that I can use my iMac at home as a monitor when the need arises I am questioning the need for a laptop. For travel I have the iPad Air.
You need several TerraBytes worth of disk space to make a DVR worthwhile - my TiVo has a 3TB HD, my EyeTV setup on the MacPro a 4TB drive.
The AppleTV is out of the question, the current model has 8GB storage, that is not enough for a single 1 hour recording. Even with the MacMini you would need an external HD for it to be practical... Also a single tuner, while better than nothing isn't practical vs. 6 tuners on the TiVo.
Not if it records in the Cloud. DVR doesn't have to store locally...
Or- like Tallest has always mentioned (although this will likely never ever happen)- use the Time Capsule as a DVR/Storage tool to stream from.
I think you are right. I also think that the Mini is adequately specced for its purpose at present. You can optionally choose SD or Fusion and for most people I'd argue it was powerful enough. Adding a 1 tb Fusion drive and maxing the Ram you'll be paying approx a grand less than an iMac which is a good deal if you have the other hardware. I am considering ditching my old mb and getting a mini to drive my cinema display at my office. Now that I can use my iMac at home as a monitor when the need arises I am questioning the need for a laptop. For travel I have the iPad Air.
Agreed. The Mini is a 'Mac Pro Lite' Your monitor investment is separate from your CPU investment, which is the mindset of home computer switchers and some small businesses. But for most consumers, the iMac is what they want. For serious MacOphiles, The real question is
MBP and monitors, or iPad and iMac/Mini. Yosemite/iOS8/Continuity/iCloud will make that choice swing even easier to the iMac, and the Macbook Pro will evaporate into the MBA/MacPro.
The Mini will go away. the mass market doesn't want a compute platform, it wants an 'App Accelerator,' Which will be a local caching server for content. It will be an amalgam of a TimeCapsule and AppleTV, and all your podcasts, shows, etc, will have at least the first XX minutes pre-cached for instant startup on your local 'ac' wifi network. The magic will be the DVR programming of it.
OTA/Cable collection... that's the magic. Can't predict how it will happen, but I can predict it WON'T happen on an OSX device. It's either built into ATV, or something else. And an iOS app will manage it.
Developers will still want a MBPro, but a low end Mac Pro will subsume the Mini (for what you guys want), with BTO lower end graphics.
Again, Developers are .1% of the mass market, and Apple has to keep them happy, but not turn the crank every year on desktops like laptops or phones/pads, where their useful lives are much shorter, and the engineering envelopes much tighter.
You need several TerraBytes worth of disk space to make a DVR worthwhile - my TiVo has a 3TB HD, my EyeTV setup on the MacPro a 4TB drive.
The AppleTV is out of the question, the current model has 8GB storage, that is not enough for a single 1 hour recording. Even with the MacMini you would need an external HD for it to be practical... Also a single tuner, while better than nothing isn't practical vs. 6 tuners on the TiVo.
You make good points, but I can't fully agree. I tested the Tablo DVR/PVR for a week*, with only a 500 GB hard drive attached and could have easily recorded 75-100 hours of HD. That's plenty of space. Granted it's a leap from 8GB to 500GB, but it is certainly possible.
And the Tablo I tested has 2 tuners, which again - it's plenty enough for OTA broadcasts, at least for my viewing.
* Returned the Tablo for a refund. Great concept but with Hulu, decided I don't really need the DVR at this time.
I personally think every Mac mini should have Apple TV built in, plus a digital TV signal (over the air) tuner card.
That's brilliant!
Similar thinking of having a video iPod in the iPhone, way back when.
Best
This is weighted so it always ends upright when rocked like Mr. Wobbly. It comes with lint cloths that attach so you can roll your desk free of dust too. Doubles as a hair dryer. Optional software allows it to roam the house unattended where it can clean floors, act as a baby sitter watcher and chase the cat.
In fact, like iTunes Match, it wouldn't have to actually record anything, it would simply link you to a version already on the cloud ... wait a minute, it's called Netflix ...
Was that comment for me or another?
Not if it records in the Cloud. DVR doesn't have to store locally...
Or- like Tallest has always mentioned (although this will likely never ever happen)- use the Time Capsule as a DVR/Storage tool to stream from.
You must have been away from the Internet when when the Supreme Court ruled that Aereo with its "cloud" DVR system was illegal. An Apple TV based cloud DVR would be too close to that -- Apple isn't interested in selling products that may be declared illegal.
You must have been and from the Internet when when the Supreme Court ruled that Aereo with its "cloud" DVR system was illegal. An Apple TV based cloud DVR would be too close to that -- Apple isn't interested in selling products that may be declared illegal.
Not exactly, right? Aereo was ruled against because it was, effectively, rebroadcasting the signal from it's magic warehouse & antenna. If my device, in my home, records to my personal cloud, then it should be legal. Otherwise, I'd argue that Slingbox, Hopper, etc are illegal. Dropbox as well.
I was not replying to anyone.
Intel milks each MHz for all the dollars it will bring. That's why they have all those artificial speed bins, even though it's the same chip. If Intel sold pennies, they would come in 5 shades of shiny and cost from a nickel to a quarter each.
I personally think every Mac mini should have Apple TV built in, plus a digital TV signal (over the air) tuner card.
This would be a great way to combine to products into one (Mac mini and AppleTV). I'm not sure how many people though would use the Mac mini side of this with the TV as their display. I guess more people than we think do this? I for one tried and it just doesn't look all that great. Still though, I think its a great way to combine 2 products into one. Maybe this could also be the first iteration of an ARM based Mac with the entire thing running on something like an A8X chip?