No Excuses
Finally apple has come out of the famous powerpc speed chip myth. How is apple even going to begin to justify the price on their machines. So much hype and nothing special. A $600 beginer computer. I believe you can get a good machine for 400 bucks from a number of companies that have even more power that this cube. I really wanted them to inovate ala(iPod). And be the first company to push a bad ass home entertainment system out the door. But no. No graphics card, crapy laptop hd. No mindblowing apple dvr applications to really turn it into your digital lifestyle hub. I was really expecting them to at least put a sexy ipod stand on top. Why o why is it at such a big price. A 100 dollar leather case. A 350 dollar boom box. I don't know but apple thinks that people will just blindly throw money at it. A sexy machine is not worth hundreds of dollars more. Once vista comes out apple will get a run for its money for its operating system. What then? I hope the new evolution of the power pc is atleast less than 1000 dollars and close to the rest of the pentium computers. Its time that apple plays with the big boys. How about reasonable prices. In the end plastic costs just the same to cast if its ugly or not.
Comments
And the Bonjour-enabled FrontRow offers everything a media center needs - except TV, but this seems to be a political thing at Apple.
Imagine Michael Dell inviting people to come over and see he is launching a computer with software on it.
The BoomBox is too funny. Apple should stick to products that other companies suck at. There are 12 boomboxes out there by Bose, Klipsh, JBL, etc that are smaller, sound great and look better. Why would Apple spend time on this????? They should just stick to what everyone else is not good at.
Originally posted by geobe
There are 12 boomboxes out there by Bose, Klipsh, JBL, etc that are smaller, sound great and look better.
I actually think the iPod HiFi looks pretty damned nice...!
Originally posted by geobe
There are 12 boomboxes out there ... Why would Apple spend time on this?????
That's what I thought when the iSight came out. But they were just establishing the quality of a tangent product line before using that technology directly in their computers.
The iSight allowed Apple to play with / improve their webcam technology to the point where they've installed [relatively cheap?] tiny cameras in laptops and AIOs, and perhaps into a Video iPod?!
Where's the hifi come in? Well, it's possible that the new Pro Tower will have a media option. Or you'll have an AIO Media iMac that will serve as TV, computer and stereo, and will have the hardware to provide those capabilities.
What'd you pack in this pipe, anyway?
--B
Originally posted by geobe
Why would Apple spend time on this?????
Because they'll make a good bit of money off it. Yes other companies make ipod-compatible stereos too, but Apple has the home base advantage. Buy an iPod and buy the stereo to work with it all at the same place.
Originally posted by bergz
That's what I thought when the iSight came out. But they were just establishing the quality of a tangent product line before using that technology directly in their computers.
The iSight allowed Apple to play with / improve their webcam technology to the point where they've installed [relatively cheap?] tiny cameras in laptops and AIOs, and perhaps into a Video iPod?!
Where's the hifi come in? Well, it's possible that the new Pro Tower will have a media option. Or you'll have an AIO Media iMac that will serve as TV, computer and stereo, and will have the hardware to provide those capabilities.
What'd you pack in this pipe, anyway?
--B
at the time iSight came out, two of the fifty on the market supported Mac and they both were bad. No reliable drivers, bad software, hardware was below PC versions. There was not even an average product in this category for macs so it made sense.
Thank goodness Tivo finally launched a Tiger supported version of Tivo desktop last week.
Unless they launch a full blown DVR. They can save their little announcements till something worthwhile comes along.
Originally posted by the cool gut
Apple should start making iPacifiers, there seems to be quite a demand - I've never seen so many crying babies in all my life.
Originally posted by geobe
these releases were pathetic for an announcement.
Imagine Michael Dell inviting people to come over and see he is launching a computer with software on it.
The BoomBox is too funny. Apple should stick to products that other companies suck at. There are 12 boomboxes out there by Bose, Klipsh, JBL, etc that are smaller, sound great and look better. Why would Apple spend time on this????? They should just stick to what everyone else is not good at.
I'm sure I'll get flamed, but I agree. A Home solution that is not up to par with the current low end home solutions? Not eve 5.1 surround? This is at best a satelite audio solution, but unlike the Bose it lacks the name to go along with the well established track record for quality and the CD player for more money. OK if you have an iPod already I guess, but far from a replacement for a "living room" sterio. This is especially bad since all they really needed to do was add a remote to the AirPort Express and they have a ready made home solution for a lot less money which could be plug and play for every sterio in America and elsewhere for less money than this "Accessorie" costs.
Originally posted by geobe
these releases were pathetic for an announcement.
Imagine Michael Dell inviting people to come over and see he is launching a computer with software on it.
yeah..and you know what...everyone will be talking about for (at least) several days. brilliant PR...free advertising. smart...not dumb.
iMac, on the other hand,...
The digital hub is made for the following consumer electonics; Digital camera, MP3 player, digital Camcorder and DVD Player. Digital hub devices ignored to this point is TV and Cell phone. So, who is willing to go on the record saying more people own a digital camcorder than own a cell phone.... no one. Who is willing to say more people own a iPod than a TV.... again, no one.
Why leave these off? In 1 year, most mid level cell phones are going to have enough capabilities to challenge the Nano in terms of playing music. If you don't think so, then take a look at the average PDA market. Very few thought Cell phones would have all the functionality of PDA's and now they do, and it is killing off regular PDA's. Treo's and Pocket PC's have survived because they added phone capabilities.
Comcast striking a deal with Tivo should be a great indication the DVR market is growing and evolving. Apple should figure out their strategy and create a DVR product for it. If i like Seinfeld, I can record 6 episodes of it a day with Tivo, 6 episodes of Seinfield on iTunes would be $12. So this analysis alone should tell you that Tivo is a more viable long term option that iTunes video downloads.
If iTunes were to sell movies which can be burned to DVD, then we have a new viable product but the limitations on that have been discussed to death on the boards.
Originally posted by Gene Clean
Free advertising that amounts to nothing (the mini hasn't really been a success for Apple...)
Which explains why they keep making it.
P.S. Since Apple doesn't break down model sales (other than desktop/laptop)...how do you know?
i'm sure it will drop though.
the boombox is also a bit expensive i think.
Originally posted by Elixir
the mac mini def shouldn't have gotten a price increase.
i'm sure it will drop though.
II don't understand why everybody is complaining about Mac mini price increase. I think the price is not a lot higher than the same G4 configuration (if we don't count the processor, of course), Remember, the entry level Mac mini was lacking bluetooth/wireless support and gigabit Ethernet (may be not the most wanted feature, though). Well, they lost the "Starting from $499" tag, and this is bad for marketing.
But since (almost) everybody on this boards pretends to be an expert and has a lot of advices to Apple how to do business, remember:
APPLE IS REPLACING A VERY OLD AND CHEAP G4 WITH THE HOT AND EXPENSIVE CORE SOLO/DUO TECHNOLOGY!
Compare the price of the Mac mini with the comparably specked similar form-factor units, and don't forget the bundled software!
The only computers I found cheaper are HUGE, noisy Dell boxes using tired old Pentium 4 processors, and not the new Core Solo/Core Duo processors.
Are we paying a premium for the Apple experience? Over the cheapest PC's you can find, or if you build yourself (I have built my own PC's), yes you probably are paying a little extra. While I haven't priced it out yet, it would probably be possible to build a box with Core Solo/Core Duo and similar specs for a little less, but that's without either Windows, Mac OS X or iLife '06.
On the other hand, like for like, Apple products are often cheaper. A small form factor PC, a la Mac mini, for example costs more.