Sooner or later, every product gets discontinued. Even if it's four years after the prediction, some site will refer to their ancient article, and say:
I like my mini. It's a perfect little computer for doing basic computing tasks. Maybe Apple should evolve the mini into the perfect home "cloud computing" initiative.
Rumors of the same MBA app for accessing other computers optical drives in OS X 10.5.2 lead me to believe we may see a Mini Air. And why not if the price is right?
Remove the slot load superdrive and you can cut the price down nigh $100. "who'd buy a mini without a drive?" Well anyone that has plenty of other Macs around the home or primarily access software and entertainment via the web. Wow imagine that..Apple just so happens to provide both via iTunes.
But what if I need to view my iLife content...there just so happens to be an Apple TV which will take this content and play it back and .mac for sharing this content with the world at large.
The mini certainly doesn't need to die because consumers today view a $1000 computer as expensive. Apple needs an option that sits comfy at $499 and $599. Hell I think they need 3 models or at the least a $399 Air model with FW/USB/no ethernet/11n and a "Hero" model equivalent to today's Mac mini functionality.
The paradigm shift here is a focus away from hardware even at the consumer level and a new focus on software running locally and software as a service for homes. This idea that you have to sell people bigger better badder computers is so passe.
Frankly at this point in my life I'm beginning to become jaded. I hear companies crowing about how innovative they are and frankly I just see spit polish on the same old computing paradigm I've seen for 25 years. Do something cool and really wow me.
I agree. Wiring things in works faster & more reliably - so if your machine doesn't move around much it's much better to wire it up.
I setup an AppleTV at my parents and am forced to use wireless. It works fine for sync or stream, but sometimes it can take a while for a sync to latch on... if I could use the nice clear/unused coax cable I have next to it I would.
I am still not convinced that the days of the Mac mini are not numbered.
Fair enough. I actually expected for Apple to merge the AppleTV and MacMini lines entirely in January, probably positioned more as high end AppleTVs than as MacMinis (and still usable as Minis for those who wanted that of course). But I was wrong
They could ditch the annoying shiny screen cover and make it thinner.
It isn't nearly as annoying as some seem to think. We just added 10 new 20 and 24" iMacs to my daughter's school's second photo lab.
When the computer is off, and all the lights shining on the monitors are on, there are reflections. But, when the computers are turned on, the reflections are very hard to see. When the row of lights nearest to the machines are turned off (the normal way they have them when photo editing), the reflections disappear, even with the computers off.
The glass screens are great! They make it much more difficult to damage the screens, esp. when cleaning them, and the glass can be replaced, if that ever does happen (and in a school, all bets are off).
Another 10 mm, more or less, will not make any difference in the slightest. I hope they keep the glass.
Another 10 mm, more or less, will not make any difference in the slightest. I hope they keep the glass.
I think the difference would be less than 5mm, assuming the chin can be made thinner. Hardly significant anyway. A user that really hates it that badly can just remove it themselves anyway.
It isn't nearly as annoying as some seem to think.
Maybe it's just where I've used them. In the Apple Store, the lighting is terrible for a shiny screen. The non-shiny screens look way, way better to me.
At home I've used a MacBook I bought for my parents and found that unbearable. My desk has a window to the right of it. I seemed to suffer a reflection of the window all day and then my desk light in the evening, none of which were an issue with my G5 iMac.
Maybe it's just where I've used them. In the Apple Store, the lighting is terrible for a shiny screen. The non-shiny screens look way, way better to me.
At home I've used a MacBook I bought for my parents and found that unbearable. My desk has a window to the right of it. I seemed to suffer a reflection of the window all day and then my desk light in the evening, none of which were an issue with my G5 iMac.
You know the old expression: Nothing's perfect.
Sometimes, we have to be able to decide to make some changes when required. For me, that meant re-arranging the placement of my desk to enable myself to do editing, and that's with a matt CRT.
If you just can't bear to do that, put a shield at the top, and possibly on the sides. We used to buy monitors that came with them.
Otherwise, I really don't know what to tell you. Some people are sensitive to this, and some are not.
Yep. I could sit in the dark with a monitor hood and suffer SAD, or I could sit in the light with a nice window to look out.
Somewhere in the back of my IT stash I've probably got one of those polarising anti glare screen filters. Never thought I'd have to dig that back out again!
Yep. I could sit in the dark with a monitor hood and suffer SAD, or I could sit in the light with a nice window to look out.
Somewhere in the back of my IT stash I've probably got one of those polarising anti glare screen filters. Never thought I'd have to dig that back out again!
If you're properly editing, you should be sitting in the dark, or at least a dim, environment.
Actually, I just have my desk FACING the windows. I can look out any time. I just have valences, so that the brightest portion of the sky doesn't glare into my eves. When I edit, I close the curtains, to keep the light out.
My ceiling lights are either at the back of the monitor, or at most, at an oblique angle to the sides, and slightly in front, so that they aren't directly on the screen. Right now, at 5:30 pm, the lights are up.
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I like my mini. It's a perfect little computer for doing basic computing tasks. Maybe Apple should evolve the mini into the perfect home "cloud computing" initiative.
Rumors of the same MBA app for accessing other computers optical drives in OS X 10.5.2 lead me to believe we may see a Mini Air. And why not if the price is right?
Remove the slot load superdrive and you can cut the price down nigh $100. "who'd buy a mini without a drive?" Well anyone that has plenty of other Macs around the home or primarily access software and entertainment via the web. Wow imagine that..Apple just so happens to provide both via iTunes.
But what if I need to view my iLife content...there just so happens to be an Apple TV which will take this content and play it back and .mac for sharing this content with the world at large.
The mini certainly doesn't need to die because consumers today view a $1000 computer as expensive. Apple needs an option that sits comfy at $499 and $599. Hell I think they need 3 models or at the least a $399 Air model with FW/USB/no ethernet/11n and a "Hero" model equivalent to today's Mac mini functionality.
The paradigm shift here is a focus away from hardware even at the consumer level and a new focus on software running locally and software as a service for homes. This idea that you have to sell people bigger better badder computers is so passe.
Frankly at this point in my life I'm beginning to become jaded. I hear companies crowing about how innovative they are and frankly I just see spit polish on the same old computing paradigm I've seen for 25 years. Do something cool and really wow me.
A desktop without ethernet is going way to far.
A desktop without ethernet is going way to far.
I agree. Wiring things in works faster & more reliably - so if your machine doesn't move around much it's much better to wire it up.
I setup an AppleTV at my parents and am forced to use wireless. It works fine for sync or stream, but sometimes it can take a while for a sync to latch on... if I could use the nice clear/unused coax cable I have next to it I would.
Hehe... well said
I'm also wondering - if the "Mac Mini" is discontinued but an almost identical "Mac Nano" comes out, should AI say they got it right, or got it wrong?
I am still not convinced that the days of the Mac mini are not numbered.
I am still not convinced that the days of the Mac mini are not numbered.
Fair enough. I actually expected for Apple to merge the AppleTV and MacMini lines entirely in January, probably positioned more as high end AppleTVs than as MacMinis (and still usable as Minis for those who wanted that of course). But I was wrong
I am still not convinced that the days of the Mac mini are not numbered.
Are you saying "I am still convinced that the days of the Mac mini are numbered", or are you unsure?
http://www.macscoop.com/articles/200...few-weeks-away
http://www.macscoop.com/articles/200...few-weeks-away
Great - fingers crossed - thanks for the info!
and the mini needs a real video card.
thinner imac what are they go to do cut out the video card and get rid of the ram slots?
and the mini needs a real video card.
I really don't think we need a thinner iMac. It's already as thin, or even thinner than, most monitors of similar size.
and the mini needs a real video card.
Why does it need a "real" video "card?"
Which video "card?"
Where would they put it? There is no room in there.
Would you buy one if they put in a "real" video "card?"
And it has to be on a socket so you can "swap it out", right? Where are they going to find room in there for a socket?
So long as it can handle HD playback - which I know it will be able to, since my 1st gen MacBook can - then the video's good enough for me.
It does, and has, for some time.
I really don't think we need a thinner iMac. It's already as thin, or even thinner than, most monitors of similar size.
They could ditch the annoying shiny screen cover and make it thinner.
They could ditch the annoying shiny screen cover and make it thinner.
It isn't nearly as annoying as some seem to think. We just added 10 new 20 and 24" iMacs to my daughter's school's second photo lab.
When the computer is off, and all the lights shining on the monitors are on, there are reflections. But, when the computers are turned on, the reflections are very hard to see. When the row of lights nearest to the machines are turned off (the normal way they have them when photo editing), the reflections disappear, even with the computers off.
The glass screens are great! They make it much more difficult to damage the screens, esp. when cleaning them, and the glass can be replaced, if that ever does happen (and in a school, all bets are off).
Another 10 mm, more or less, will not make any difference in the slightest. I hope they keep the glass.
Another 10 mm, more or less, will not make any difference in the slightest. I hope they keep the glass.
I think the difference would be less than 5mm, assuming the chin can be made thinner. Hardly significant anyway. A user that really hates it that badly can just remove it themselves anyway.
It isn't nearly as annoying as some seem to think.
Maybe it's just where I've used them. In the Apple Store, the lighting is terrible for a shiny screen. The non-shiny screens look way, way better to me.
At home I've used a MacBook I bought for my parents and found that unbearable. My desk has a window to the right of it. I seemed to suffer a reflection of the window all day and then my desk light in the evening, none of which were an issue with my G5 iMac.
Maybe it's just where I've used them. In the Apple Store, the lighting is terrible for a shiny screen. The non-shiny screens look way, way better to me.
At home I've used a MacBook I bought for my parents and found that unbearable. My desk has a window to the right of it. I seemed to suffer a reflection of the window all day and then my desk light in the evening, none of which were an issue with my G5 iMac.
You know the old expression: Nothing's perfect.
Sometimes, we have to be able to decide to make some changes when required. For me, that meant re-arranging the placement of my desk to enable myself to do editing, and that's with a matt CRT.
If you just can't bear to do that, put a shield at the top, and possibly on the sides. We used to buy monitors that came with them.
Otherwise, I really don't know what to tell you. Some people are sensitive to this, and some are not.
Somewhere in the back of my IT stash I've probably got one of those polarising anti glare screen filters. Never thought I'd have to dig that back out again!
Yep. I could sit in the dark with a monitor hood and suffer SAD, or I could sit in the light with a nice window to look out.
Somewhere in the back of my IT stash I've probably got one of those polarising anti glare screen filters. Never thought I'd have to dig that back out again!
If you're properly editing, you should be sitting in the dark, or at least a dim, environment.
Actually, I just have my desk FACING the windows. I can look out any time. I just have valences, so that the brightest portion of the sky doesn't glare into my eves. When I edit, I close the curtains, to keep the light out.
My ceiling lights are either at the back of the monitor, or at most, at an oblique angle to the sides, and slightly in front, so that they aren't directly on the screen. Right now, at 5:30 pm, the lights are up.