Closing the book on Apple's Mac mini

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  • Reply 181 of 575
    domerdeldomerdel Posts: 78member
    Mac Mini + AppleTV = Apple TV 2.0
  • Reply 182 of 575
    snoopysnoopy Posts: 1,901member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by xflare View Post




    I was waiting to see what kind of update the Mini would receive before I switched, as the Mac Mini is the only Mac in my price range, as you say, if it's discontinued, Apple will have lost another customer here.






    I see discontinuing of the Mac Mini as a good sign that somethhing even better is coming. I'm sure Apple has been getting a lot of market feedback over the last few years, and has been working on "one more thing" to introduce really soon.



  • Reply 183 of 575
    Equally likely to this RUMOUR is that AI "sources" heard that the mini is getting DROPPED, but that what they DIDNT hear is the REST of the sentance "...Dropped in PRICE..."



    ---



    Now god does not exist.



    But if she did, does she own a Mac Mini? and can it play Doom!?
  • Reply 184 of 575
    haggarhaggar Posts: 1,568member
    Apple designed the Mac Mini out of spite. Steve couldn't stand the fact that people would dare to want something other than an iMac. When people asked Apple for a low end desktop without a built in display, Apple gave us a (practically) sealed box with poor graphics and few possibilities for internal expansion. "Here's your headless iMac. Hope you choke." said Apple. By providing a user-unfriendly enclosure, limited expansion, and withholding hardware updates, Apple purposely set up the Mac Mini to fail. If Apple decides to discontinue the Mini, they will put the blame on the customers. Apple will use the Mini's failure as "proof" that "nobody" wants a low end desktop, even though Apple never made an honest effort in the first place. It's like those software companies that make poor Mac versions of their software and then drop their Mac support when Mac users don't buy it.
  • Reply 185 of 575
    charlesscharless Posts: 301member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TBaggins View Post


    If the Mac Mini is a 'sales dud', someone must not be telling the Mac Mini that.



    Over at Amazon, the $599 Mini is now up to #9, ahead of all iMacs and even one of the MacBook Pros!!!



    Seems like folks still like the little guy just fine.



    The problem isn't that the Mac mini isn't selling. The problem is that the Mac mini is selling, and Apple would rather those customers bought a machine that cost $25,000,000,000,000 instead of $600, and they're going to try to force them to. This is because although they talk a good game to their shareholders, Apple doesn't really care about marketshare. They only care about profit margins and "cannibalization" of their more inflexible, overpriced products that there's a reason no one wants to buy.
  • Reply 186 of 575
    a_greera_greer Posts: 4,594member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ecking View Post


    Make it:

    799

    2ghz core 2 duo

    1gb ram (max 2)

    120gb hd (bto up to 250gb)

    ati x1600 128mb



    I'd buy a new one in a heartbeat if it was like that.



    Make it 4 slots for ram.



    And toss in a 2nd HDD bay, 120 gig is fine for system, cache and apps, but I would add a 750 GB drive after market and I don't like fire wire boxes cluttering my workspace. Even the cheapest PCs at Bestbuy have a 2nd HDD bay



    And just curious, what would happen it I were to say put a Radion 1650 pro with 512MB RAM in one of these...The drivers are so close that it would likey work
  • Reply 187 of 575
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TBaggins View Post


    God called, and he told me to tell you to stop using his Name to try to win fights on the Internet.



    I mean, you're really bugging the s*** out of him, man.



    .



    I agree. People shouldn't be using their religious beliefs in these threads. There are plenty of other sites designed for just that purpose.
  • Reply 188 of 575
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by philbutler View Post


    On the other hand, I won't buy a Mac tower due to it's size and noise factor. I had a MDD dual 1Ghz G4 tower and it was loud as everything. I have heard that the newer machines are quieter, but I want whisper quiet.



    I don't suppose you actually read any Mac Pro reviews or impressions? I think the MDD was known to be one of the loudest Macs. Mac Pro is probably the quietest tower available from any commercial seller right now, which is an accomplishment given what is stuffed inside it.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by backtomac View Post


    God can't make it stop, only The Steve can.



    From what I've heard about Steve, Buddha might have a chance.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by s.metcalf View Post


    sorry for double post



    You can edit the duplicate post to remove duplicated information.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by seek3r View Post


    Well, I just bit the bullet on a 2.66 Mac Pro (dev discount helped a lot :-p), and it *is* wisper quiet. If I wanted to trim its dbs a bit more I'd replace the 4 seagates I threw in it with quieter disks and replace the x1900xt fan (I have a replacement fan, but it's quiet enough I havent bothered).



    My Seagates are fine. Most of the competition seems to be louder. I really don't even hear the clicks.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hardedge View Post


    After 23 years if banning Apple products from my home I went out and purchased a 1.83GHz Mac Mini with 1GB of memory last month. A week or so ago I thought that bumping it up to 2GB was a better idea so I called my local Apple store.



    They wanted $350 for the SODIMM memory and $30 to install it. (Crucial wants $88 for the same parts.) So I hung up the phone and murmured, "Dammit!"



    Sorry about that...



    Unfortunately, Apple has been known to be too steep on upgrade pricing. I heard that they will install third party memory if you want them to, at the same installation price ($30), just bring in your upgraded chips.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by a_greer View Post


    Only fools buy computers from Amazon...I say that as a loyal amazon customer with the amazon creditcard statments to prove it, it is the same or close to going straight to apple...so get it from Apple



    As far as I know, Amazon is the only way to buy Macs at a decent discount.



    Anyway, if true, I hope that this rumor means that something else will take its place. It seems premature to replace it with a smaller version. Maybe a new cube? I thought that the mini was a nice hook to get people to at least try OS X. I've seen a lot of this, and myself included. I bought a mini early 2005, and that's why I now own more expensive hardware. I just don't see how a newbie is going to jump on a $1100+ machine, that is just too much money to risk on something unfamiliar.



    I do have projects in mind for a mini, I hope there is some compact OS X capable replacement available in case I make something I think is worth commercializing. I don't think I can commercialize an AppleTV with a shoehorned full version of Tiger, or expect customers to do the same.
  • Reply 189 of 575
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Phantom-duck View Post


    I would be really sorry if apple really chooses to shove the mac mini as this articles suspects.

    IMHO the mac mini could easily server as a Media Server companion to Apple TV. i.e. its Big Brother that actually holds and streams all this nice goodies like Movies, Music etc. Yes the same service could almost be done by an adv apple AirPort Extreme but this little dev do hold some storage (external by default) but they don't have a dvd reader / writer. I would easily spent something like 700 bucks for a Mac Mini with a big fat hardisk (1TB perhaps) + 300 for an Apple TV if the where tightly integrated and appeared as one on my big slim lean and mean HD TV.



    Except what you're asking for is impossible. Since you, and others, aren't buying enough Mini's that are possible, Apple may be discontinuing it.



    Don't ask for something that can't be made, and say that if it were available, you would buy it.
  • Reply 190 of 575
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Zlyden View Post


    I never expected AppleInsider to be THAT influential!







    I just imagine crowds standing in lines in front of Apple Stores all over US for last chance to get their minis :-)



    By this evening there probably be no minis left in stock, and those who get theirs for $2000 on e-Bay will be lucky...



    I've never found Amazon's computer sales numbers to have any meaning at all. They aren't representitive of computer sales. If they were, Apple would be selling 35 million computers a year.



    As for people lining up to buy one now, well, first we have to see if Apple is discontinuing it. If they are, a last minute sales spurt means nothing.
  • Reply 191 of 575
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by shiato storm View Post


    does anyone suspect that this fabled withdrawl of the mac mini could be a great way of driving up sales just before an announcement? despite evidence to the contrary its not unheard of...



    No I don't.



    Who would be doing this? Apple isn't. AI has no real knowledge of what's going inside Apple. they are just guessing, even though they may be correct. But, they also may not be.



    Apple rarely comments on these third party stories.
  • Reply 192 of 575
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by carlito2 View Post


    what are apples plans for the edu market if they kill the mini and the 17" what are schools ganna buy then ????



    maybe there ganna kill the 17" to customer sales like they did the emac.



    Schools rarely use the Mine, and the 17" is not very popular in schools anymore either.



    Schools are going mostly to MacBooks, or 20" iMacs.
  • Reply 193 of 575
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by grobelaar View Post


    Just in general, not just with the Mac Mini, when are Apple going to stop putting those crappy little combo drives in things?



    Who uses these things these days - cost of DVD burners are so cheap these days.



    It's ironic that a company that prides itself at being at teh forefront of technology with bold moves like ditching floppies etc. still faffs around with this rubbish in the name of 'engineering' a spread of products at so called 'affordable' prices.



    The fact is the low end option of any Mac product has always been traditionally utterly useless, making a total mockery of their so-called 'entry level' price points.



    The truth is that even today, I have met few people who burn DVD's. Most people still seem to burn CD's. Low end computer buyers don't often do movies. That isn't their interest. And just how many of them backup, where a DVD is a much better choice than a CD? Do you backup regularly? Few do.
  • Reply 194 of 575
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by CharlesS View Post


    The problem isn't that the Mac mini isn't selling. The problem is that the Mac mini is selling, and Apple would rather those customers bought a machine that cost $25,000,000,000,000 instead of $600, and they're going to try to force them to. This is because although they talk a good game to their shareholders, Apple doesn't really care about marketshare. They only care about profit margins and "cannibalization" of their more inflexible, overpriced products that there's a reason no one wants to buy.



    No, the computer has never sold well. The expectations when it first was announced was that it might sell millions every year, but that never happened.
  • Reply 195 of 575
    tbagginstbaggins Posts: 2,306member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by a_greer View Post


    Only fools buy computers from Amazon...I say that as a loyal amazon customer with the amazon creditcard statments to prove it, it is the same or close to going straight to apple...so get it from Apple



    They're some pretty smart fools, then.



    Amazon very consistently beats Apple (both online and at Apple Stores) by a combination of instant rebates, mail-in rebates, and no sales tax. My girlfriend got her MacBook for $999... if she'd bought it in an Apple Store, it would've been close to $1200, including sales tax.



    The only advantages of going with Apple Stores is that they seem to get supplied first, so if you need a hard-to-get item, they're more likely to have it in stock; and they also sometimes have good deals on refurbs.



    Of course, if you're at that point, you might as well consider going used, and there's plenty of good sites for that.



    .
  • Reply 196 of 575
    shanmugamshanmugam Posts: 1,200member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by melgross View Post


    The truth is that even today, I have met few people who burn DVD's. Most people still seem to burn CD's. Low end computer buyers don't often do movies. That isn't their interest. And just how many of them backup, where a DVD is a much better choice than a CD? Do you backup regularly? Few do.



    i strongly disagree, if someone downloads a movie from iTunes where they will back it up?



    it takes 10 bucks to download a movie and less than 50 cents to buy DVD media.



    So



    do not use iTunes??

    do not download movies? TV Shows??

    do not backit up?



    i see so many excuses for not including a DVD burner than including them.



    actually it could drive AWAY some sales of iTunes Movie download (and larger content) because you can NOT save them any where (considering HDD size also so small).



    i felt hard when my MacBook did not had DL burning capability (once i downloaded more than 5 movies and two seasons of 24)



    i think it is illogical to think and support, low end customers does not need DVD burning capabilities. my $0.02



    Apple is the first one get rid of Floppy drive, from the same company it is unacceptable NOT to include dvd burner, which are dirt cheap nowadays.



    Isn’t it MAC gives a complete pacakge of iLife of everyone of us???
  • Reply 197 of 575
    zlydenzlyden Posts: 20member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JeffDM View Post


    ...Maybe a new cube?...



    All things considered -- this should be the case.



    And the real reason why Apple could decide to kill mini may be the "Leopard". This beast probably is just too power-hungry for Mac mini with "512 MB RAM, 60 GB Hard Drive" (Time Machine that eats big chunks of hard drive, etc...).



    Upgrading minimal configuration of Mac mini to at least 1 GB RAM and 120-160 GB Hard Drive will make it cost $200 (?) more for Apple and end-users -- "sub $1000" instead of "a bit more than $500". Not competitive, not attractive for switchers (like a lot of guys here may say).



    So, Apple needs to replace it with something bigger more resembling Cube. Something that uses standard inexpensive RAMs and Hard Drives (instead of pricey notebook components of mini's). Replacing mobile processor with desktop version (socket 775) will also save additional $50-100...



    Let's just wait. I do not believe that Apple decided to kill all inexpensive stuff in favor of top models -- they should start with the slaughter of iPod Shuffles and MacBooks in this case
  • Reply 198 of 575
    I think it was a brilliant move by Steve Jobs to leak a "rumor" of the Mini's demise to gauge people's reactions and help Apple guide its future plans for this device.
  • Reply 199 of 575
    tbagginstbaggins Posts: 2,306member
    Sry, double post.
  • Reply 200 of 575
    tbagginstbaggins Posts: 2,306member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Zlyden View Post


    And the real reason why Apple could decide to kill mini may be the "Leopard". This beast probably is just too power-hungry for Mac mini with "512 MB RAM, 60 GB Hard Drive" (Time Machine that eats big chunks of hard drive, etc...).



    Upgrading minimal configuration of Mac mini to at least 1 GB RAM and 120-160 GB Hard Drive will make it cost $200 (?) more for Apple and end-users -- "sub $1000" instead of "a bit more than $500". Not competitive, not attractive for switchers (like a lot of guys here may say).



    I don't know if I buy into Leopard being the culprit in the Mac Mini's alleged death (actually, it was Colonel Mustard in the study with the candlestick... )



    Seriously though, I don't know that you have to have a 120 GB drive, minimum, to run Leopard well. If so, then even the very recently-updated MacBooks are going to have problems, as at the low-end they have only 80 GB hard drives. Would Apple make Leopard THAT exclusive, so that only the very very VERY latest hardware can run it well (in this case, a future revision of the MacBook)? They don't seem to have a history of doing so.



    The 1GB of RAM ('Recommended') to run Leopard well scenario I do buy, but even then, the cost is minimal. Yeah, the Apple Store charges $75 to bring your Mini up from 512 MB of RAM to 1GB, but those are rip-off prices. Go to ramseeker.com, and the true price delta will shock you... for example, most folks agree that Crucial carries some pretty nice RAM, yet the price difference between their 512 MB chip for the Mini and 1GB is only $18 (!).



    So the Apple Store marks it up 300%... wow, nice work if you can get it.



    Even if you someway, somehow needed a 'beeg' HD to run Leopard, the price delta going from a 60 GB notebook drive (what's in the Mini currently) to a 120 GB notebook drive is far less than the $150 Apple would charge you to upgrade... its more like $50.



    So, if the Mini really IS dead, I'm not putting it on Leopard. I'd say its either:



    1) Apple reverting to its 'bad old ways' and deciding that, while they're making money off the Mini, they just aren't making enough money off the Mini (and the 17" iMac as well), and they're just going to kill off anything sub-$1000 in their lineup, because, well, they can.



    2) Apple has something interesting coming along soon to replace the Mac Mini, such as a new Cube, or even a range of minitowers.



    I'd hope for #2, but, knowing Apple, it could just as easily be #1, which would mean that Apple's treating many potential switchers and existing fans who are price-sensitive like #2... if you get my drift.



    .
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