New iBook and Apple mini 480
shintaro writes "ThinkSecret reports that 'Apple delivers iBook, Mac mini updates July 26 - Apple updated its iBook and Mac mini lines Tuesday, increasing standard RAM across the board to 512MB and improving other specs. Missing from the iBook update was the long-rumored move to a widescreen model which unconfirmed reports had suggested might arrive with the revision.' "
Sweet Spot (Score:5, Insightful)
512 Mb RAM (Score:5, Insightful)
Mac Mini + (Score:5, Insightful)
It should have been this way from day 1.
Tim
Why do they do that? (Score:2, Insightful)
"The displays of both iBooks continue to feature native 1024x768 resolutions and are driven by an ATI Mobility Radeon 9550 with 32MB of video memory, not enough to take advantage of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger's new Core Image technologies."
Why don't they start revising hardware so that it can actually use all the features of their great software?
Apple mini? (Score:4, Insightful)
The Mac minis are still 1.25GHz and 1.42GHz models.
the iBook 14 looks to be a better gain in value than others. It gets the powerbook scroller trackpad, powerbook motion sensor, new graphics card (as do all the others), 512MB RAM and bluetooth/airport as standard while also getting a decent price DROP.
Still, whether or not it's enough of a gain in value to keep the competing PC laptops away given their speed advantages now is something else entirely. Guess that comes down to how much OS X and iBook design is worth to a particular buyer.
Re:Who's going to buy it ? (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm on the point of buying a used G4 powermac as my main machine,although I considered and rejected a Mac Mini (due to the lack of expansibility)
Re:Mac Mini + (Score:3, Insightful)
My guess is that it is a competitive response, and not based on technology advance.
Tim
Re:Who's going to buy it ? (Score:5, Insightful)
Although the intel switch will be monumental for sure, there will certainly be a market for PPC macs for a while. regardless of whats coming a year from now, or even two years, people still need to upgrade. Of course it will suck when the new machines come out and blow these away but thats the way computers work.
I needed a laptop, and last month I bought a refurb iBook from Last rev (2 revs now). I know the intel machines are coming out, but when? Some people simply can't wait.
Even aside from that, I'm sure plenty of people will be clinging to PPC for a while, just like they do classic. Thats why apple kept one Classic bootable machine around for so long. People wanted and in some cases needed it, and it sold fairly well. And when the last PPC machine disappears from Apples site, it will make news on Slashdot just as the last Classic bootable Mac did.
Re:Who's going to buy it ? (Score:2, Insightful)
The only thing monumental in the Intel switch is the feeling of disbelief and the gaping mouths of the most devout Mac fanbois who can't get used to the idea.
All it involves is: new motherboard (if not just more or less new CPU), recompile OSX, test, ship.
Re:Who's going to buy it ? (Score:3, Insightful)
The pricing is very competitive. With the CPU bump, graphics card bump, RAM bump, Bluetooth bump, $999 is an amazing deal... for a Mac.
Video card still underwhelming (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Who's going to buy it ? (Score:5, Insightful)
You buy an iBook today, you can use it for years until the thing is too old to keep going...then you go out and buy a new one.
You know...just like any other computer out there. Software won't be a problem with Apple's developers plan with being able to compile both PPC and x86 into the same build.
Come on...
Re:zzzaaahhhggwaaahh (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Apple mini? (Score:5, Insightful)
While the processor has the same clock speed, in every day use that 512MB does indeed make the machine quite a bit quicker. We should all be applauding Apple for finally putting 512MB standard in their machines.
That processor clock speed thing ? Apple's limited by the chips they are able to buy in that regard, and the fact that they aren't able to bump up the speeds speaks volumes as to why they're switching to Intel. Until the switch- which will likely happen first in the machines that were updated today - only folks who want OS X and iBook or Mac mini form factors will buy these machines. Not that they're too slow to be useful; they're extremely practical computers. You just wouldn't play Doom3 on them...
Re:Sweet Spot (Score:2, Insightful)
The new iBooks can with the 32MB Radeon 9550 they have onboard.
I'm not buying a Mac Mini until they have a 64MB Radeon 9600 or similar on-board. Mainly because for an iBook with a 1024x768 display 32MB is adequate, but for a desktop machine you need more for higher resolution displays.
I finally figured out what market the Mini is for. (Score:5, Insightful)
One of the great things about Macs is that they hold their value so well, historically. They just keep on performing as the years go by. I've sold three Macs (Quadra 650, PPC 7500 and B/W G3 (Yosemite)), all when they were about three years old, all for $500-$600, or about 1/3 of the price I paid for them, making it easier to move up to the new models.
I'm thinking about moving from my G4/867 to a G5 (not sure I want to wait until the MacTel boxen come out), and I was thinking about the sales prospects when I realized that nobody in their right mind would spend $600.00 on a 3-year old G4 when they could have a mini which is almost twice as fast for the same cost.
So they've really changed the whole profile of the Mac economy, if there is such a thing. If it's harder to sell them, will it make a big difference to those thinking about buying them? I know it does to me. I wonder if the advantages associated with getting into that market for Apple outweigh the disadvantages of the "upsell" market for people like me, who are interested in hopping to near the top of the scale every 3 or so years.
Re:Mac Mini + (Score:5, Insightful)
Wireless has also been falling in price quite a bit over just the last year. To the point where people are giving them away? no, but they are becoming standard components.
I see adding these features in as standard is more a way for Apple to consolidate their lines and features. In other words, From Now On All Apples Have Wireless And Bluetooth. That's a nice thing to be able to say. It's less confusing for consumers and allows developers to assume standard features in the future.
Re:zzzaaahhhggwaaahh (Score:5, Insightful)
- Investors wary of an "Osborne effect"
- A desire to force most upgrades only after the Intel transition
Until the Intel transition we'll ONLY see smaller price reductions or simple spec increases to drive sales. Apple has no incentive to bring out a radical new form factor such as a tablet or wide screen iBook. That'd only make people more likely to hang on to the older PowerPC tech.What I find somewhat amazing is that Apple hasn't felt the need to really drop its prices on its professional gear. There are a few "bundles" and rebates, but my guess is that Apple intends to set Intel Macs near these same price points and don't want the move to Intel to look like a major price increase. What's even more likely is that Apple and Apple geeks are experienced with the "Mac OS 9" effect and thus see the time to the Intel transition as their "last chance" to buy the current tech they are familiar with. And until there's a sharp drop in sales figures we aren't going to see any price cuts.
Personally, I'm doing my best to wait for the Intel macs that will almost certainly have new Ive cases and new tech innovations besides "just" an Intel chip. I'm running an ancient TiBook so I'm drooling over current Macs in almost all form factors, but since I don't really need the speed I'm trying to make do with small spec upgrades until the major revisions of their whole line. Sounds kind of like the strategy Apple is using :-)
Re:Apple mini? (Score:3, Insightful)
Don't discount the speed boost that the memory upgrade from 256 to 512 MB gives. OS X is quite memory intensive, and this upgrade would probably make the difference between needing to swap and not needing to swap for many people. That obviously has a huge impact on how fast the system feels.
Re:1024x768 screens (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, I had the same problem, as a new convert to the Mac. Working through the advanced calibration allowed me to change some things about smoothing, including setting a lower bound on the font-size for which smoothing operates. I had to calibrate a couple of times to get things right for each monitor I use, but it was worth it!
Re:Video card still underwhelming (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Sweet Spot (Score:2, Insightful)
If you need a Mac which has video card with a GPU supported by Core Image and 64 MB of Video RAM, why do you buy a Mac Mini?
Mac Minis are meant for people who really want a Mac but don't want to spend much money (and don't want professional or advanced features).
If you want a very powerful machine but still small, you'd rather buy a PowerBook.
You get what you pay for. The trick is buying something that fits your needs, not something that isn't meant for your needs and then complain it doesn't fit them.
Re:Video card still underwhelming (Score:2, Insightful)
Considering that the smallest monitor that apple sells is a 20" widescreen, they should equip all their machines that are more than capable of powering them.
They're changing horses, is what's up (Score:3, Insightful)
In fact their entire (oh! all six?) portable line is stale and going nowhere fast.
Big reason for the intel switch, yes? Remember the whole "per watt" part of the keynote? Remember how Jobs specifically said the first intel chips would be in Mini-level consumer boxes and portables?
Personally I'm maybe going to consider an iBook as an interim measure and utility box to carry around. They aren't meant to be workhorse professional machines; they're consumer laptops, tons of kids have them for school. Argue the price point, okay, but people who're wanting wide screen models and so on just don't "get" the market niche. It's a computer for the counter space in your chem lab, and for handy digital media collections.
The trick Apple faces here is that when they bump iBooks up at all, the have to stay clear of the PowerBooks. The PB line isn't going to be seeing that big G5 moment now.
So you're right about the stale quality. It's all pretty reminiscent of the debacle back in the early 90s, when Apple lost what was a dominant position in laptops. They left the whole line to languish for a couple of years, and when they finally came out with a PPC portable it was the execrable, shoddy PB5300. It'd amaze me if Jobs didn't have that disaster in the front of his mind right now.
Re:Who's going to buy it ? (Score:3, Insightful)
No, it's not missing digital audio out (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Who's going to buy it ? (Score:3, Insightful)
You mean most geeks...or maybe most companies. Most home users shoot for more like 5 years, if that. My stepdad just replaced a Pentium this last year. It was still doing everything he needed it to do. My mom also upgraded hers, but only because she was starting to do professional photography, and needed somthing with a little more muscle in Photoshop. I bought her her old computer in 1999. In my own house, my wife currently uses a computer bought in 1999, with only a memory upgrade (to 512MB) and a hard drive upgrade (40 gig, to hold music) under its belt. Generally, unless you're using them for gaming, you can easily squeeze 5-6 years of good usability out of a computer, with only minor upgrades. And plenty of people do.
So who's going to buy Macs right now? Probably me...I'll probably get my wife a new mini to celebrate landing her first "real" job. And I fully expect she'll be using it to browse the web, read email, and edit office documents for about 5 or 6 years. The only other option I'm really considering is picking up a cheap used G4 PowerMac of similar specs, for better upgradability.
To summarize: most home users are on longer upgrade cycles than geeks and corps. And from what I've heard (I'm new to the group), most Mac users are on even longer ones.