APPLE IS REPLACING A VERY OLD AND CHEAP G4 WITH THE HOT AND EXPENSIVE CORE SOLO/DUO TECHNOLOGY!
yes, but should they?
we all said/heard things like "the (g4) mini is good for what it's for" etc just a few days ago and now all that is just nonsense?
the issue here is that apple chooses to step away from what many thought was so great about the mini, a low cost to-the-point computer.
if apple isnt able to do that with intel cpus (yet), maybe they should hold their horses until they can...
a media-mac is great for those who want one, but what about the kind of people (apparently they're quite a few) who just needed the kind of computer the mini was? do steve really want to send them all to dell?
Remember that you had to pay $599 before as well, if you wanted wireless. That is standard now, and you're getting the latest processor technology from Intel. You are also getting the latest Serial ATA hard drive technology, the fastest RAM, optical and traditional audio out and in, and (finally!) enough USB 2.0 ports.
It is more that they discontinued the low end model, and less a price increase.
Could Apple have released a Mac mini without the optical audio, gigabit ethernet, slower RAM, and the older Pentium M processor for $499 or less? Yes, they probably could have. I, for one, am glad they did not.
we all said/heard things like "the (g4) mini is good for what it's for" etc just a few days ago and now all that is just nonsense?
the issue here is that apple chooses to step away from what many thought was so great about the mini, a low cost to-the-point computer.
if apple isnt able to do that with intel cpus (yet), maybe they should hold their horses until they can...
a media-mac is great for those who want one, but what about the kind of people (apparently they're quite a few) who just needed the kind of computer the mini was? do steve really want to send them all to dell?
Yeah maybe they could have picked up a couple million 1.67ghz G4s over on ebay at a discount and dropped them in an updated mini.
On a more serious note, do you know if they could have put a celeron in the new mini? That would make more sense to me. Then the price could perhaps be maintained at $499. I will be curious to see a review of the new mini as it should give us an idea of what to expect from the new ibooks. I now expect them to come with intel intergrated graphics.
On a more serious note, do you know if they could have put a celeron in the new mini? That would make more sense to me. Then the price could perhaps be maintained at $499. I will be curious to see a review of the new mini as it should give us an idea of what to expect from the new ibooks. I now expect them to come with intel intergrated graphics.
hopefully, a low-end yonah celeron/core-light mini will be available as soon as intel gets the chips it out the door.
that would make me feel better.
i guess the ibook would pack a similar celeron, most likely paired with a gma950, selling at ~$800.
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 $600 beginer computer. I believe you can get a good machine for 400 bucks from a number of companies that have even more power that this cube. I really wanted them to inovate ala(iPod). And be the first company to push a bad ass home entertainment system out the door. But no. No graphics card, crapy laptop hd. No mindblowing apple dvr applications to really turn it into your digital lifestyle hub. I was really expecting them to at least put a sexy ipod stand on top. Why o why is it at such a big price. A 100 dollar leather case. A 350 dollar boom box. I don't know but apple thinks that people will just blindly throw money at it. A sexy machine is not worth hundreds of dollars more. Once vista comes out apple will get a run for its money for its operating system. What then? I hope the new evolution of the power pc is atleast less than 1000 dollars and close to the rest of the pentium computers. Its time that apple plays with the big boys. How about reasonable prices. In the end plastic costs just the same to cast if its ugly or not.
This thread shouldn't be here. Rants about current hardware belong in current hardware. The future is about hope and positivity not more banal anti mac mini arguements.
The future is about hope and positivity not more banal anti mac mini arguements.
If, when you say 'hope and positivity' you really mean 'exaggerated expectations beyond your wildest dreams' then I think we are both in agreement about what 'Future Hardware' is all about.
I'm glad someone brought up the added value of the wireless technologies in the new Mini. This would have been an extra cost before.
About Apple's strategy...
I think they are playing it smart with their expansion into home entertainment. M$ is a monopoly player that can afford to float unprofitable products for years (WinCE, XboX, etc) just in order to enter a desired market. This is what they are doing with the media PC. Apple is using a much more organic approach. They are adding additional features to existing products (video to iPod, entertainment integration to Mini, FR to the entire line), and saying..."by the way, now look what you can do."
Imagine if Apple had announced a full blown DVR/media center yesterday. It would hit the market and compete w/TiVo (which is unprofitable) and cable company DVRs. Because Apple is using a backdoor approach, the company will be able to beef-up the Mini's capabilities and that of the content delivery infrastructure (including contractual agreements), while slowly positioning the Mini as a media center. Yesterday' s moves are only the opening maneuvers of the game.
I'm glad someone brought up the added value of the wireless technologies in the new Mini. This would have been an extra cost before.
About Apple's strategy...
I think they are playing it smart with their expansion into home entertainment. M$ is a monopoly player that can afford to float unprofitable products for years (WinCE, XboX, etc) just in order to enter a desired market. This is what they are doing with the media PC. Apple is using a much more organic approach. They are adding additional features to existing products (video to iPod, entertainment integration to Mini, FR to the entire line), and saying..."by the way, now look what you can do."
Imagine if Apple had announced a full blown DVR/media center yesterday. It would hit the market and compete w/TiVo (which is unprofitable) and cable company DVRs. Because Apple is using a backdoor approach, the company will be able to beef-up the Mini's capabilities and that of the content delivery infrastructure (including contractual agreements), while slowly positioning the Mini as a media center. Yesterday' s moves are only the opening maneuvers of the game.
Interesting analysis. What do you think the mac mini will look like in 2 yrs?
I notice people keep mentioning SATA, saying it's going to give a performance increase.
That's most likely not true and I say most likely since Apple doesn't put up specifics of the hard drive they use however 5400 rpm hard drives with any version of SATA on it will perform most likely the exact same way a 5400 rpm drive with an IDE connection.
These were products that should have been introduced at MacWorld in January
but due to various reasons (probably component supply) they didn't.
Yea I was very disappointed but the Mac Mini has evolved and is not a bad machine for the size. In time this will truly be a kick ass media centre.
As for the Boom Box well it's just Apple's interpertation of an intergrated Hi Fi for the iPod you will either love or hate it.
Look at the current rumor sites saying about patents like Gesturing. I do think that the future is exciting and when Apple gets to grips with the Intel transistion
I feel we will see regular updates and new exciting products.
But I agree with everyone the above didn't warrant a media event.
It seems the intel chip has started to turn apple into just another computer company. Apple when it was alone was a company that could do whatever it wanted. Now intel integrated graphics. What the hell?
I'm glad someone brought up the added value of the wireless technologies in the new Mini. This would have been an extra cost before.
About Apple's strategy...
I think they are playing it smart with their expansion into home entertainment. M$ is a monopoly player that can afford to float unprofitable products for years (WinCE, XboX, etc) just in order to enter a desired market. This is what they are doing with the media PC. Apple is using a much more organic approach. They are adding additional features to existing products (video to iPod, entertainment integration to Mini, FR to the entire line), and saying..."by the way, now look what you can do."
Imagine if Apple had announced a full blown DVR/media center yesterday. It would hit the market and compete w/TiVo (which is unprofitable) and cable company DVRs. Because Apple is using a backdoor approach, the company will be able to beef-up the Mini's capabilities and that of the content delivery infrastructure (including contractual agreements), while slowly positioning the Mini as a media center. Yesterday' s moves are only the opening maneuvers of the game.
Agreed. Why else would they bother to put GIGABIT ETHERNET on an entry level machine if not to allow the future downloading of full length movies...
Well, PM isn't selling in millions, but they keep making that too. Your point?
Quote:
P.S. Since Apple doesn't break down model sales (other than desktop/laptop)...how do you know?
You mean, besides the fact that iMac was touted, by Apple, as the best-selling Apple machine even though it was about $800 more expensive than the entry-level mini?
Well, PM isn't selling in millions, but they keep making that too. Your point?
You mean, besides the fact that iMac was touted, by Apple, as the best-selling Apple machine even though it was about $800 more expensive than the entry-level mini?
You're right, I don't.
You are changing the discussion. Now you are talking about relative sales within the entire family. Before you simply said "the mini hasn't really been a success for Apple". We don't know if mini has been successful in attracting some customers that were previously not Apple customers (while also not cannibalizing sales of other machines).
Clearly it is successful enough for them to continue making it.
why can't apple ever get it right. why can't apple sell a mini with imac specs and price it under $500. why can't apple make my weenie larger.
come on people. i look at the mini and i see a damn fine computer.
if i were shopping for a new computer, and my choices were a $500 g4 mini or a $600 core solo mini, i'd buy the solo mini in a jiffy.
complaining about better technology seems retarded. so you have to pay $100 extra dollars for the low end mini. big deal when you consider how long you get to keep the computer and all the goodies you get, the machine's small footprint, brand name, extra usb ports, remote control, you get the idea.
Comments
Originally posted by shadow
APPLE IS REPLACING A VERY OLD AND CHEAP G4 WITH THE HOT AND EXPENSIVE CORE SOLO/DUO TECHNOLOGY!
yes, but should they?
we all said/heard things like "the (g4) mini is good for what it's for" etc just a few days ago and now all that is just nonsense?
the issue here is that apple chooses to step away from what many thought was so great about the mini, a low cost to-the-point computer.
if apple isnt able to do that with intel cpus (yet), maybe they should hold their horses until they can...
a media-mac is great for those who want one, but what about the kind of people (apparently they're quite a few) who just needed the kind of computer the mini was? do steve really want to send them all to dell?
It is more that they discontinued the low end model, and less a price increase.
Could Apple have released a Mac mini without the optical audio, gigabit ethernet, slower RAM, and the older Pentium M processor for $499 or less? Yes, they probably could have. I, for one, am glad they did not.
1. Integrated Graphics
2. 5400 RPM HDD (we do not know the performance since it is SATA, it could be faster).
3. 2 x 256 RAM
4. 100 dollar more
Good things
1. Latest processor
2. Gigabit
3. Four USB 2.0
4. Apple Remote
The price could be revised when Merom out, so it will be nice Jan 2007 reaches ...
though i really hate $799 version, for that some could get Dell with LCD monitor!
so it is question? Mac Mini price now is NOT targeted for original purpose it was deviced a year ago!.
I love everything APPLE does, i am sad now everyone can not enjoy MAC experience...
bring it on $499 model with some basic specs!!!
Originally posted by tubgirl
yes, but should they?
we all said/heard things like "the (g4) mini is good for what it's for" etc just a few days ago and now all that is just nonsense?
the issue here is that apple chooses to step away from what many thought was so great about the mini, a low cost to-the-point computer.
if apple isnt able to do that with intel cpus (yet), maybe they should hold their horses until they can...
a media-mac is great for those who want one, but what about the kind of people (apparently they're quite a few) who just needed the kind of computer the mini was? do steve really want to send them all to dell?
Yeah maybe they could have picked up a couple million 1.67ghz G4s over on ebay at a discount and dropped them in an updated mini.
On a more serious note, do you know if they could have put a celeron in the new mini? That would make more sense to me. Then the price could perhaps be maintained at $499. I will be curious to see a review of the new mini as it should give us an idea of what to expect from the new ibooks. I now expect them to come with intel intergrated graphics.
Originally posted by backtomac
On a more serious note, do you know if they could have put a celeron in the new mini? That would make more sense to me. Then the price could perhaps be maintained at $499. I will be curious to see a review of the new mini as it should give us an idea of what to expect from the new ibooks. I now expect them to come with intel intergrated graphics.
hopefully, a low-end yonah celeron/core-light mini will be available as soon as intel gets the chips it out the door.
that would make me feel better.
i guess the ibook would pack a similar celeron, most likely paired with a gma950, selling at ~$800.
now, that would really make me feel better...
Originally posted by antartican
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.
Their are options...
Buy a DELL...
Then get back to us with your experience..
Bye Bye!!
Originally posted by tubgirl
hopefully, a low-end yonah celeron/core-light mini will be available as soon as intel gets the chips it out the door.
that would make me feel better.
i guess the ibook would pack a similar celeron, most likely paired with a gma950, selling at ~$800.
now, that would really make me feel better...
I don't want to beat a dead horse, but can't the current, available celeron Ds work?
Originally posted by hmurchison
The future is about hope and positivity not more banal anti mac mini arguements.
If, when you say 'hope and positivity' you really mean 'exaggerated expectations beyond your wildest dreams' then I think we are both in agreement about what 'Future Hardware' is all about.
Dave
About Apple's strategy...
I think they are playing it smart with their expansion into home entertainment. M$ is a monopoly player that can afford to float unprofitable products for years (WinCE, XboX, etc) just in order to enter a desired market. This is what they are doing with the media PC. Apple is using a much more organic approach. They are adding additional features to existing products (video to iPod, entertainment integration to Mini, FR to the entire line), and saying..."by the way, now look what you can do."
Imagine if Apple had announced a full blown DVR/media center yesterday. It would hit the market and compete w/TiVo (which is unprofitable) and cable company DVRs. Because Apple is using a backdoor approach, the company will be able to beef-up the Mini's capabilities and that of the content delivery infrastructure (including contractual agreements), while slowly positioning the Mini as a media center. Yesterday' s moves are only the opening maneuvers of the game.
Originally posted by Keda
I'm glad someone brought up the added value of the wireless technologies in the new Mini. This would have been an extra cost before.
About Apple's strategy...
I think they are playing it smart with their expansion into home entertainment. M$ is a monopoly player that can afford to float unprofitable products for years (WinCE, XboX, etc) just in order to enter a desired market. This is what they are doing with the media PC. Apple is using a much more organic approach. They are adding additional features to existing products (video to iPod, entertainment integration to Mini, FR to the entire line), and saying..."by the way, now look what you can do."
Imagine if Apple had announced a full blown DVR/media center yesterday. It would hit the market and compete w/TiVo (which is unprofitable) and cable company DVRs. Because Apple is using a backdoor approach, the company will be able to beef-up the Mini's capabilities and that of the content delivery infrastructure (including contractual agreements), while slowly positioning the Mini as a media center. Yesterday' s moves are only the opening maneuvers of the game.
Interesting analysis. What do you think the mac mini will look like in 2 yrs?
Originally posted by backtomac
Interesting analysis. What do you think the mac mini will look like in 2 yrs?
It will definitely have UDI.
That's most likely not true and I say most likely since Apple doesn't put up specifics of the hard drive they use however 5400 rpm hard drives with any version of SATA on it will perform most likely the exact same way a 5400 rpm drive with an IDE connection.
These were products that should have been introduced at MacWorld in January
but due to various reasons (probably component supply) they didn't.
Yea I was very disappointed but the Mac Mini has evolved and is not a bad machine for the size. In time this will truly be a kick ass media centre.
As for the Boom Box well it's just Apple's interpertation of an intergrated Hi Fi for the iPod you will either love or hate it.
Look at the current rumor sites saying about patents like Gesturing. I do think that the future is exciting and when Apple gets to grips with the Intel transistion
I feel we will see regular updates and new exciting products.
But I agree with everyone the above didn't warrant a media event.
Originally posted by backtomac
Interesting analysis. What do you think the mac mini will look like in 2 yrs?
It will come stock with RDF built right in!!
Originally posted by Keda
I'm glad someone brought up the added value of the wireless technologies in the new Mini. This would have been an extra cost before.
About Apple's strategy...
I think they are playing it smart with their expansion into home entertainment. M$ is a monopoly player that can afford to float unprofitable products for years (WinCE, XboX, etc) just in order to enter a desired market. This is what they are doing with the media PC. Apple is using a much more organic approach. They are adding additional features to existing products (video to iPod, entertainment integration to Mini, FR to the entire line), and saying..."by the way, now look what you can do."
Imagine if Apple had announced a full blown DVR/media center yesterday. It would hit the market and compete w/TiVo (which is unprofitable) and cable company DVRs. Because Apple is using a backdoor approach, the company will be able to beef-up the Mini's capabilities and that of the content delivery infrastructure (including contractual agreements), while slowly positioning the Mini as a media center. Yesterday' s moves are only the opening maneuvers of the game.
Agreed. Why else would they bother to put GIGABIT ETHERNET on an entry level machine if not to allow the future downloading of full length movies...
Originally posted by Chris Cuilla
[B]Which explains why they keep making it.
Well, PM isn't selling in millions, but they keep making that too. Your point?
P.S. Since Apple doesn't break down model sales (other than desktop/laptop)...how do you know?
You mean, besides the fact that iMac was touted, by Apple, as the best-selling Apple machine even though it was about $800 more expensive than the entry-level mini?
You're right, I don't.
Originally posted by Gene Clean
Well, PM isn't selling in millions, but they keep making that too. Your point?
You mean, besides the fact that iMac was touted, by Apple, as the best-selling Apple machine even though it was about $800 more expensive than the entry-level mini?
You're right, I don't.
You are changing the discussion. Now you are talking about relative sales within the entire family. Before you simply said "the mini hasn't really been a success for Apple". We don't know if mini has been successful in attracting some customers that were previously not Apple customers (while also not cannibalizing sales of other machines).
Clearly it is successful enough for them to continue making it.
why can't apple ever get it right. why can't apple sell a mini with imac specs and price it under $500. why can't apple make my weenie larger.
come on people. i look at the mini and i see a damn fine computer.
if i were shopping for a new computer, and my choices were a $500 g4 mini or a $600 core solo mini, i'd buy the solo mini in a jiffy.
complaining about better technology seems retarded. so you have to pay $100 extra dollars for the low end mini. big deal when you consider how long you get to keep the computer and all the goodies you get, the machine's small footprint, brand name, extra usb ports, remote control, you get the idea.