iPod Shuffle, Mac Mini, iLife '05, iWork 2465
A number of announcements from the Mac World keynote this afternoon.
The iPod Shuffle is pack-of-gum sized, no screen, weighs less than an ounce. Ships today, $99 for the half gig, $149 for a gig.
The Mac Mini is the headless iMac... 6x6x2.5 with all the expected plugs, starting at $499.
Lot's of tiger bits, spotlight, virtual folders in Mail.app. iLife '05 will ship Jan 22. iPhoto gets folders and video support. iMovie supports HD. GarageBand gets 8 channel recording. iWork includes Keynote 2, and 'Pages' the new word processor and ships the same day as iLife.
Re:Yes, but... (Score:5, Informative)
"Pages is compatible. It imports AppleWorks documents and imports and exports Microsoft Word documents. Want to share your documents online? Pages also offers the easiest way to create great looking PDF files. Pages makes it easy to share your work with others."
Re:No screen? (Score:2, Informative)
Pictures online at the Apple Store (Score:3, Informative)
but it is crashing pretty hard. Basically 1/3 of a cube. Smooth looking. Ports in back, CD slit in front and that's about it.
Bet you could make a cool cluster out of these.
Re:No screen? (Score:5, Informative)
Mac Mini (Score:4, Informative)
Re:i'M iMpressed... (Score:4, Informative)
Mac Mini: http://webpages.charter.net.nyud.net:8090/mattman
IMac mini sold as 2nd computer (Score:1, Informative)
They talk about adding a KVM switch to your keyboard, mouse and display and popping the imac mini on top of your PC and whola! you have a imac to go with your pc.
These things are going to fly out of the stores...
(and, every kid in america is going to be wearing an ipod shuffle around his or her neck this summer.)
Good god what's up with apple? Could they possibly think they have a chance to gain PC marketshare?
Not _all_ expected plugs... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/ [apple.com]
http://www.apple.com/macmini/ [apple.com]
MOD PARENT UP (Score:5, Informative)
No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.
Re:Well, I'm in (Score:3, Informative)
Max of 1920x1200 resolution
Re:Never owned a Mac in my life but I'm getting on (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Mac Mini (Score:4, Informative)
Re:macteens blogged the whole thing (Score:3, Informative)
Mac Mini [apple.com] & iPod Shuffle [apple.com].
Damn you Apple, just when I convinced myself I didn't have enough money to buy a Mac.
Re:Macs are USB *only* (Score:3, Informative)
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:5, Informative)
"Memory upgrade must be performed by an Apple Authorized Service provider."
So does that void the warrenty if you crack the case open to swap out say the memory or drives?
Re:Never owned a Mac in my life but I'm getting on (Score:3, Informative)
Or just pick up a used Mac one on eBay for a song.
You can use Winders USB keyboards, but it's a little less confusing if you get a Mac one.
Cheers,
Ethelred
Re:iPod Shuffle: Worthless for Classical Music (Score:4, Informative)
So don't. Just play your playlist the way you ordered it before uploading.
Re:Never owned a Mac in my life but I'm getting on (Score:4, Informative)
Similar to yourself, I've also got the feeling I'll be a Mac owner pretty soon.
Re:Small Form Factor PCs? (Score:5, Informative)
I have not actually tried it myself, but apparently it has/will soon have HD support as well.
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:2, Informative)
TO CLARIFY: iPod Shuffle LETS YOU NAVIGATE! (Score:1, Informative)
IPOD SHUFFLE LET'S YOU NAVIGATE IF YOU WANT, RANDOMNESS IS AN OPTION!
From Apple's website [apple.com]:
"With Play in Order mode, you manage the music. If things take a turn for the predictable, never fear. Turn iPod shuffle over, flip the slider to Shuffle and mix on the go."
Re:Not _all_ expected plugs... (Score:2, Informative)
Apple is showing the adapter to hook it up to a TV on the main site for the mac mini http://www.apple.com/macmini/accessories.html [apple.com]
Already is! (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.apple.com/macmini/accessories.html
USB -> IR remote, been around for ages, i love it.
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Small Form Factor PCs? (Score:5, Informative)
You'll still need a MythBackend around, with the TV capture card in it and running Linux. AFAIK, Myth recording is still Linux-only.
Myth Frontend for OSX is really slick. I run it on my G5 and it just usurps the position of wallpaper while I have AIM windows on top of it.
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:3, Informative)
All Macs Come with an OS (Score:5, Informative)
As a side note, all Apple servers include a copy of OS X Server UNLIMITED Client. Factor that in every time you compare a Windows Server to an XServe!
Re:Small Form Factor PCs? (Score:3, Informative)
Perennial red herring, you mean (Score:3, Informative)
"In the bud"? More like years after it went to seed. How long has it been since Mac OS had any limitation on the use of two-button mice?
I agree, they threw that line in there to address it with the people who weren't paying attention. But the "argument" here hasn't been a meaningful point since... I can't think when... How old is the Kensington Turbomouse line?
Re:Never owned a Mac in my life but I'm getting on (Score:3, Informative)
Re:We've slashdotted Apple! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I would have never believed (Score:3, Informative)
Umm - built in for an extra $139 you mean.
These don't come standard. Neither does it come with a keyboard or mouse or monitor.
not $500, $575 -- remember the ram (Score:5, Informative)
Apple loves overcharging for ram. I don't know why, and it bugs me, so normally I upgrade from a third party right after I get a new computer. That isn't an option here, so just bite the bullet and do it. Otherwise, we're all going to be back here in a month complaining about how slow the mini is, and no one wants that.
inside the Mac mini (Score:3, Informative)
cluster? Funny, but... (Score:3, Informative)
A question so funny, I feel compelled to reply to it... not sure what that says about *me*, but anyway...
The Virginia Tech cluster is cabled together with some very, very high-end high-speed networking stuff, and the Mac mini ( note capitalization, like 'iPod mini' ) has standard 100-baseT ethernet, so one technically correct answer to your question, based on networking tech, would be 'can't be done'.
On the other hand, XGrid [apple.com] would run on this like any other OS X machine, so with a little ( fairly simple ) programming, you'd be clustering away in style. If you have some computation that's Altivec optimized, you'll probably even outperform a comparably priced cluster of Linux machines... though really, you *should* be able to put together a comprable no-graphics-card AMD boxen for ( a little, not counting labor ) cheaper, if a cluster of "whatever" cheap machines is really your goal.
A bunch of Mac minis could sure fit in a small space, though! I couldn't build a cheap PC that small. A cluster of Mac minis might not beat a G5 XServe cluster for price/performance, but it'd be cheap to set up!
Short ( ha ha ) answer: nobody is going to go about setting up a network of these for "real" high-performance computing... but a small college or even high school lab could be built pretty cheaply and XGrid applied to get it all hummin' on some distributed computing project and actually do some pretty impressive number-crunching... cheaply!
Re:Mac Mini (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Small Form Factor PCs? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Mac Mini (Score:3, Informative)
But it's not powered. So you can use the keyboard to plug in a mouse and a thumbdrive, but not much else.
Plus, Apple keyboards are $80.
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:4, Informative)
Sorry, no:
"With Play in Order mode, you manage the music. If things take a turn for the predictable, never fear. Turn iPod shuffle over, flip the slider to Shuffle and mix on the go." http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:5, Informative)
Closed systems.
Boo hoo.
The fact that I can't carry a few spare AAA batteries.
A battery extender accessory that uses AAA batteries was also released today.
The fact that Apple will gouge me on a replacement battery when it dies (and it will).
Boo hoo. Replace it yourself.
The fact that I'll need to tie the iPod Shuffle's serial number to my PC.
WTF?
The fact that it's firmware likely isn't upgradable.
The firmware of other iPods is upgradeable, and has been upgraded several times by Apple in the past.
It probably doesn't play OGGs.
It probably doesn't play the Adlib file format either. That's about the same amount of impact on its potential user base. Before I forget: boo hoo.
Won't work as a plain ole' USB thumb device.
It sure will. You can specify how much of the space is used for music, and how much is used for other files.
Oh yeah, and the fact that, apparantly, you can listen ONLY in shuffle mode - hence the name.
Apparently you need to get a clue. There's a switch to change between Shuffle mode and Play In Order mode.
Apple's iPod shuffle website [apple.com]
IHBT, and I am having a very nice day, thank you.
Re:Mac Mini Analysis (Score:4, Informative)
1) OS Cost not factored in. Unless you're assuming that the Windows XP copy would be pirated (an understandable assumption)
2) The volume of the Mac Mini (that needs to be reversed, henceforth, it is the Mini-Mac) is listed in the description of the product (6.5" x 6.5" x 2"; 16.5 cm x 16.5 cm x 5.1 cm)
Pretty much, it's a cheap Mac that I'm interested in picking up... (especially since I need to learn how to fix my mom's new iBook G4...)
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong...
Nephilium
Re:Yes, but... (Score:5, Informative)
Look at Apple's screenies for Pages, and tell me that you'd want to try and use MS Word to create those documents. I'd rather have a hole in my head. Pages' layout features look as if they surpass Word like Keynote surpasses PowerPoint. Yes, if you need an embedded Excel spreadsheet, you'll need Office. But you might already have MS Office, and still need Pages.
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Mac Mini (Score:2, Informative)
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebOb
You're thinking of the $69 wireless keyboard (it's $59 now).
Re:iMac mini (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Where's the Power Supply? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Not as dumb as you think... (Score:3, Informative)
OK, so it's $25 more. But it has a screen, an FM tuner, and a voice recorder.
It syncs pretty nicely with Windows Media Player 10.
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:2, Informative)
Since we know there are no other games for the Mac (*ducks*), that should do the trick for the near future.
If you play a lot of games, I wouldn't tell you to get a Mac mini and a game console... I'd tell you to get a Mac mini and a KVM switch, and keep playing your twitch shooters on your uber-1337 game PC.
Re:Not as dumb as you think... (Score:3, Informative)
This ipod shuffle really is just a "me too" product.
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:2, Informative)
Err...someone who doesn't want to void the warranty? My post was in reply to one that noted that the specs page says:
"Memory upgrade must be performed by an Apple Authorized Service provider.".
Are there "authorized service providers" that do not price gouge like the apple store? I would very much like 1GB of memory but there is no way I would pay these prices for it.
cheap memory upgrade by apple (Score:2, Informative)
Full-Blown Comparison vs. Dell Dimension 2400 (Score:2, Informative)
$600 Desktop Apple/Dell System Shootout [systemshootouts.org]
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:2, Informative)
Still too pricy for me here in Canada: Mac Mini upgraded to 512 MB RAM, 80 GB HD, Superdrive, AirPort Extreme Card - Only $1024.00 + tax. Unbelievable.
Re:not $500, $575 -- remember the ram (Score:5, Informative)
Here's the WoW system requirements: [worldofwarcraft.com]
Mac® System OS X 10.3.5 OS:
933 MHz or higher G4 or G5 processor
512 MB RAM or higher; DDR RAM recommended
ATI or NVIDIA video hardware with 32 MB VRAM or more
4 GB or more of available hard drive space
MacOS X 10.3.5 or newer
56k or higher modem with an Internet connection
Since the cheapest Mac Mini has a 1.25 GHz processor and ATI Radeon 9200 with 32MB of VRAM then you should be set. Though since it only comes with 256 MB of RAM you'll probably need to upgrade to 512 MB, but you were going to do that anyway, right? Actually, you were going to max it out at 1 GB of RAM, right?
--
It works. [wired.com]
Free Flat Screens [freeflatscreens.com] | Free iPod Photo [freephotoipods.com]
Re:One last question before I buy the mac mini (Score:3, Informative)
Sam
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Well.... (Score:1, Informative)
I always thought iTunes was overrated by Mac users because they've never had good alternatives like PC users have had. When Apple released the first version of iTunes ("Rip, mix, burn. Do it on a Mac"), Mac users finally discovered something that PC users had been doing for over a year with apps like MusicMatch Jukebox (before it sucked), and Windows Media Player 7. And while iTunes initially sucked donkey balls (it's much nicer now), many Mac users thought it was the greatest app ever.
That said, I think the current version of iTunes is a nice music player/manager. However, it's not so nice at ripping and encoding mp3s. The default mp3 encoder is awful [rjamorim.com]. If you want to use iTunes to encode mp3s, change its encoder to LAME [versiontracker.com].
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:3, Informative)
Take one ATX power supply, cut four wires, splice two of them in to the other two and shazam! Free Mac.
Re:Mac Mini (Score:2, Informative)
# DVI video output for digital resolutions up to 1920 x 1200 pixels; supports 20-inch Apple Cinema display and 23-inch Apple Cinema HD display; supports coherent digital displays up to 154MHz; supports non-coherent digital displays up to 135MHz
# VGA video output (using included adapter) to support analog resolutions up to 1920 x 1080 pixels
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Mac Mini (Score:3, Informative)
Second, I'm not sure why you think you would need a USB hub with this. Plug in a standard Mac keyboard and you get two usb ports on the keyboard. Now, plug in the mouse and you still have a total of two USB ports available.
Want to plug in an iPod? You use Firewire for that.
A scanner? OK, that's one USB port.
A printer? OK, that's another USB port. Unless you have an Airport Express in which case you can print wirelessly.
What do you need the third one for? Sure, I can think of uses, but I also think that the majority of users would not need a USB hub.
The path of money (Score:3, Informative)
The other thing is that Apple, as a company, has seen the power of basing things on top of Open Source stuff. Lots of quality software without a huge engineering expenditure. Look at how because they do not have to work on OS internals as much, they are able to get truly interesting higher level features added to the OS with a smaller development staff!! While Microsoft pushes WinFS out another few years, Tiger is getting Spotlight and CoreData for real early this year.
Apple has a huge financial incentive to keep doing what they are doing, because it is working and making them money.
Re:Not as dumb as you think... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:3, Informative)
I don't think this is right. PC mice were available at least as early as 1983; the first Microsoft mouse came out then and it was even supported in the first DOS version of Word. There may have even been some available earlier than that. Mice were also available in that time span for the Apple II and other early architectures. The ST did not arrive until 1985.
Mac mini memory is not customer installable. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:3, Informative)
"Memory upgrade must be performed by an Apple Authorized Service provider.".
Are there "authorized service providers" that do not price gouge like the apple store? I would very much like 1GB of memory but there is no way I would pay these prices for it.
It doesn't say "memory must be purchased from Apple" only that the upgrade is performed by an authorized service provider.
Go out and buy RAM from RAMJet or whomever, and trot down to an Apple Store if you want to keep the warranty intact.
If you don't care - I know tons of
24 hours after they ship, you can probably buy a ABS plastic extruded plastic case cracker with instructions off somebody's dot mac site.
Re:Why is it not an option? (Score:1, Informative)
Because it voids your warranty. RAM can't be installed by the customer.
Re:$499 Mac? Damn (Score:3, Informative)
Don't forget the Cube [cubeowner.com]. The difference between the Mini and the Cube is that the Cube used expensive parts while the Mini probably uses compenents from the iBook line. Oh, and the Cube went for $1300 more than the Mini, IIRC, and also did not come with a monitor.
Re:Strange port choices (Score:3, Informative)
There are numerous audio solutions, check the accessories page.
http://www.apple.com/macmini/accessories.html
Instead of raising the price by added things that not everyone needed (remember, no monitor, keyboard, or mouse), apple went bare minimum, but gave you the ability to add functionality through USB
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Yes, but... (Score:4, Informative)
I just got back from MacWorld, and this was the very first thing I asked of the very first demoer I saw. Well, I don't care about
One of the project managers was over the shoulder of the demo guy, and he pointed out "but our columns have features that they don't have". The columns actually worked perfectly, but text flow around an image element had a semi-messed up border.
Obviously, given the headaches of multiple browser compatibility, there would be absolutely no way that they could allow you to use whatever layout feature you wanted in Pages, export it to HTML, and have it to look perfect. Unfortunately, it doesn't look very good at all. The demo guy said, "Well, all the content is there".
Outside of the HTML export, the application is fucking rad. If your desired output method is PDF or paper, I've never seen a slicker word processor. They beefed up the Keynote canvas until it could handle everything you need for page layout.
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:3, Informative)
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:2, Informative)
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=
mini vs. shuttle, the numbers... (Score:4, Informative)
Shuttle XPC Model SN41G2V3 - Item#N82E16856101460 $269.00
AMD Mobile Athlon XP 2500+ - Item#N82E16819103401 $88.00
Geil 512MB(256MBx2) - Item#N82E16820144309 $80.00
Western Digital 80GB - Item#N82E16822144122 $60.33
NEC 16X Double Layer DVD±RW - Item#N82E16827152037 $67.99
Logitech diNovo Cordless - Item#N82E16823126166 $125.00
NETGEAR Dual Band Wireless PCI - Item#N82E16833122126 $71.99
Innocom V.92/56KData/Fax/voice Modem - Item#N82E16825100103 $21.50
ATI RADEON 9200 128MB DDR - Item#N82E16814102287 $93.50
Windows XP Media Center 2005 - Item#N82E16832102311 $131.00
Office Small Business 2003 - Item#N82E16837116148 $331.00
Intuit Quicken 2005 Basic - Item#N82E16832109137 $36.00
total: $1,374.81
the mac is a BTO, added BT, AP, BT-keyboard and mouse
Mac mini 1.42GHz Accessory kit
Internal Bluetooth + AirPort Extreme Card
80GB Ultra ATA drive
SuperDrive
56K v.92 Modem
512MB DDR333 SDRAM - 1 DIMM
Mac OS X - U.S. English - P/N: Z0B8 $903.00
Wireless Keyboard & Mouse Set - P/N: B9396LL/A $99.00
Office 2004 for Mac - P/N: T9189LL/A $399.95
:-( (that would be a LACK of games, although that's changing, slowly)
total: $1,401.95
differences for the shuttle:
DVD burner(the only silver ones were 16x).
Modem(has to be external if you want PCI-802.11a/b/g)
summary:
shuttle pluses
- you can build it yourself
- you can upgrade it yourself
- games(!)
shuttle minuses
- you can build it yourself
- you can upgrade it yourself
- Windows
- finding drivers, updating patches
- fan noise
mac mini pluses
- its very small
- its very quiet
- it looks nicer(subjective)
- the software is preinstalled
- there's more software included(appleworks, iLife, garage band, iMovie, iDVD)
mac mini minuses
- you can't upgrade it
- you can't make it faster(see previous)
- it's easy to steal(not showing up in any offices anytime soon)
- games
so once you've added up all the stuff you need to match the mini, you end up darn near close;
a $27.14 difference in favor of the Shuttle.
Re:Many people only need word processing (Score:3, Informative)
You are aware that some of the developers who wrote Lighthouse Design's Office Suite of products are responsible for Keynote and Pages, right?
Expect these apps and more to creep in and expand in capabilities rather rapidly.
All memorable NeXT applications were never the Kitchen Sink. They believed in Services and leveraging Cocoa from the Developer Community to grow for everyone.
Re:mini vs. shuttle, the numbers... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:2, Informative)
Looking at today's financial pages, the Canadian dollar buys 0.8214 US dollars and the US dollar buys 0.7617 Euros, I suppose it's just as true that a European can give you less pocket change to get that iPod
Problem for PC iPod owners switching (Score:2, Informative)
I've had iPodRip recommended to me as a good solution. You can find it on the link below
http://www.thelittleappfactory.com/application.ph
Re:OS X Server, anyone? (Score:3, Informative)
Agreed. The subscribers on the Mac home automation mailing list I belong to are absolutely drooling over the possibilities the Mac mini presents. When I migrate my home servers to OS X, the home automation controller duties were going to be taken up by my old Quicksilver 733 that was replaced by my G5-- but now I may just sell it on eBay and pick up a mini. And I'd better get the Quicksilver listed fast, because used Mac prices are probably gonna take a hit once the mini becomes readily available.
~Philly
Johnathan Schwartz is COO of Sun (Score:2, Informative)
[tinfoilhat]Sun may very well be the new cloakroom wheeling-and-dealing Satan of our time![/tinfoilhat]
ed
Re:Tiger upgrade price? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:That is complete nonsense. (Score:3, Informative)
Yes, Apple has wised up; happened quite a while ago. This has been mentioned at a few sites (here's one: http://www.macintouch.com/mwsf2005notebook.html [macintouch.com]) but merely installing RAM (or whatever) in your Mac doesn't void your warranty -- breaking your Mac in the process does. This has been Apple's policy for over ten years.
The vast majority of product warranties, regardless of product type, only protect against defects in design or manufacturing. Manufacturers routinely discourage consumer fixes by encouraging all servicing be done by qualified technichians. Apple is hardly special.
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:2, Informative)
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:1, Informative)