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.
Mac Mini (Score:5, Insightful)
No screen? (Score:2, Insightful)
ouch (Score:2, Insightful)
More importantly... (Score:1, Insightful)
Will Pages be MS Word compatible?
More importantly, will it be OO.O compatible?
$499 Mac? Damn (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm begining to get the feeling that Steve Jobs might be trying to reposition Apple. Hardware is a mugs game, after all. We all know what happened the last time Apple tried to licence the Mac to clone builders..but what if they tried it now?
It seems to me that over the last two or three years Apple has been working to reposition itself from a hardware company to a more diverse place, where the OS and the services it offers (E.g. iTunes) are what matters more than the hardware. The $499 Mac would seem to enforce that point. The idea is obviously to try and penetrate into the mid range market; make the Mac an everymans computer. If they can do it, and if they can increase their market share, they would certainly seem to have enough room to manovour and licence the Mac to clone builders again..
Re:Mac Mini (Score:5, Insightful)
i think this is just the beginning. if apple stays in this market, we'll see more powerful iterations of the mac mini in a similar price point with more powerful features down the road.
kudos apple!
Re:Yes, but... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Well.... (Score:3, Insightful)
On the other hand, this is the first iPod that will be really well suited for running and biking. It's light enough, cheap enough, and all solid state. $99 for a 512 meg player isn't bad, last I checked.
If it has separate buttons for skipping between albums vs. skipping between songs, it might not be too hard to navigate 512 meg's worth of music without a screen.
Not as dumb as you think... (Score:5, Insightful)
The new iPod is for the runners, for the people who take it with them to the gym, etc. These are people who wouldn't be navigating songs anyway, they just toss on a playlist, hit shuffle and go. This is exactly what the new ipod does, with only 200 songs, you don't really need to select your songs.
If you want a display, if you want to hold other stuff, this iPod isn't for you, get the other ones. If you just want to listen to music while you work out, then this is exactly what you want.
Re:Mac Mini (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple started hooking PC users in with the iPod, now they can reel them in with a plug and play replacement.
Gotta admit it's pretty clever.
Re:Yes, but... (Score:3, Insightful)
I gather Microsoft sometimes licenses .doc code or documentation to proprietary software shops, but how dumb would MS be to help Apple make a viable alternative to Office?
Re:No screen? (Score:2, Insightful)
I like my 3rd gen iPod and like being able to pick my playlist to fit my mood while I'm on the subway but I usually just pick my playlist in the morning when I leave for work and then put the thing in my pocket, not taking it out again until I want to turn it off. For that I don't need a screen.
It'll be interesting to see if this takes off. It might just because it says iPod and costs $99.
Re:Never owned a Mac in my life but I'm getting on (Score:3, Insightful)
Same here. I'm very very tempted to go out and buy one right now. Sounds like a perfect portable desktop or server. It's actually cheaper than a similar mini-ITX box [logicsupply.com]. I never really cared about the iPod or the big displays or the software...this is...*jaw drop*.
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:5, Insightful)
And yes, Mac mini will take advantage of your two-button USB mouse with scroll-wheel and your favorite USB keyboard. Just plug them in.
Since you supply the mouse and keyboard, they've essentially nipped that perennial argument in the bud.
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:5, Insightful)
The box is - get this - smaller than the standard iPod box.
That's what they'll complain about. No mouse sold with the computer. Cheap-ass Apple, expecting me to already have a USB mouse... oh, wait...
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:2, Insightful)
On a 1980s computer, with a more limited set of functions, and a computing public with a lower level of computing knowledge, one mouse button was probably better than two.
But now, pressing Apple+click to get context menus seems a bit daft so it only makes sense to move over. And if they can't innovate in mice futher at the moment, why not let another manufacturer make the low-margin product so you can concentrate on the profitable computer itself?
Re:Apple and the power button? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:We've slashdotted Apple! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:5, Insightful)
I like how Apple suggests on their Macmini page that programmers should get one and a KVM switch, and put it on top of their PC.
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Yes, but... (Score:5, Insightful)
Just the fact that you can import and export doesn't exactly mean it's 100% compatible. Heck, even Office v.X/2004 isn't 100% compatible with Windows Office generated files. One of the strengths of OpenOffice.org and NeoOffice is the accuracy of their import and export filters.
I wouldn't suspect Pages would be successful converting Word documents that have embedded Excel spreadsheets and charts those that go trapesing off to do database queries with macros. I suspect Pages would convert them to tatters.
While Pages may be sufficient for doing the basics of letter writing and entry-level document preparation, many of the more complex business level documents still will require Microsoft Office or an equivalent alternative. Office may be bloatware, but that doesn't prevent people from finding a way to use all of those features and then complaining when they don't work in another product. That makes true document compatibility a difficult task that can't fully be addrsesed by a word processing application alone.
ed
Re:We've slashdotted Apple! (Score:3, Insightful)
Lol. Have you never seen one of their live webcasts before?
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:2, Insightful)
I had a 4 button mouse on my Mac 9 years ago, this isn't even slightly new. The key is that the Mac is still oriented towards a 1 button interface.
Oh well, trolls will be trolls...
Re:$499 Mac? Damn (Score:5, Insightful)
What I see more focus on hardware design, the exact opposite of the clone fiasco. They are getting, and supporting, higher margins on their hardware because of their design engineering. No other MP3 player looks or feels as good as the iPod. The Mini looks looks like another homerun, their first small form factor PC and its uniquely Apple and great looking.
Apple's focus has shifted to perfecting the Human-Computer interface. This is what it was all about originally. They are focusing on the look and feel of products, both hardware and software.
Get the details right, and they will come.
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:4, Insightful)
I'll just about guarantee you that the Gateway (by the way, ick!) you linked to has a crappy video processor and shared RAM for graphics.
What I wanna know is, how soon until I can run Linux on this baby and use it for a way-cool MythTV frontend?
No Clones (Score:1, Insightful)
Actually I think the exact opposite. Remember, one of the things that killed the last clone attempt was the fact that Apple was having to absorb all the cost of r&d while allowing the clones to cannabilize their own sales. Units like the Mac Mini take a lot of r&d bucks to design, they'd either have to charge exhorbanant sums to their oems (giving them little breathing room on price), or face the same problem as they did last time (which Steve in no uncertain terms made clear that he didn't like). Perhaps the closest we'll get to seeing clones is what HP is doing with the iPod, really just a re-branded unit.
Re:Yes, but... (Score:5, Insightful)
Want to share your documents online? Please, for crying out loud, write your documents in HTML and make them actually work on the web instead of uploading a bunch of junk in binary file formats.
I think you are mistaking the point. If you want to share your documents online, in general PDF is a great format. For example, if you want to distribute a newsletter via e-mail, PDF is a good way to go. If you want to send out marketing info, PDF is a good way to go. It is standard, exact, and a single file. Doc is not standard, and may or may not be readable on your platform, and implies to people that they need to buy products from MS. Doc files also are extra large and may include way too much information about what is on your hard-drive. HTML is great for hosting a file for the Web (note this is not the same as the internet, it is a subset), but it is a crappy way to e-mail things, and is not easy to print. If you have any images, or multiple pages, you end up with a slew of files for a single document.
In any case, Pages supports export to PDF and HTML so if a person was planning on hosting something as a web page, it should not be hard to make an HTML version. I get a little upset whenever I see the bad reputation PDF has. Every time I open one on a Windows machine, I remember why this is the case. It is because Acrobat reader is a dog-slow piece of crap, that will bring a Windows box to a crawl while trying to load and scroll. On OS X PDFs are great, and finding one in a web page is not annoying. They download in the background, scroll just fine, and do not make your machine go catatonic for 10 minutes while all you want to do is read a few pages.
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:2, Insightful)
Oh, and it is $349 *after mail-in rebate*.
Also check out the service/support. The Gateway comes with 90 days limited support. The iMac mini comes (like any Macintosh) with 90 days telephone support and is covered for one year.
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:5, Insightful)
One reason for no screen on iPod Shuffle (Score:5, Insightful)
iWant iWant iWant! (Score:5, Insightful)
It's all so beautiful...[sniff].
Okay, the new Mac Mini is going to be perfect for my mother. It's certainly going onto the "iWant List".
iLife 05 and iWork I'm going to put on order today (if I can get through to the Apple Store -- that's for /.'ing Apple everyone ;) ).
Damn. I had prepared myself this morning to find out that maybe one of the rumours was true, but all of the major rumours turned out to be true. Joy oh joy! It's like having another Christmas all over again :).
Please allow me to point one last thing out: to all of those here (and elsewhere) who complained that Macs were too expensive, it's now time to put up or shut up. Buy the new Mac Mini, or never speak of the purported high cost of Apple hardware again.
Yaz.
How about market for used Mac? Killing (Score:1, Insightful)
They sell on ebay around $300.
I hope now all of them will go drastically down over next couple weeks. It would be great time to pickup couple for webservers or second computers.
Let's the killing begin.
Re:Mac Mini (Score:2, Insightful)
Guess what: It doesn't include a 30" HD Cinema Display either. You also don't get to complain that the included mouse only has one button.
Go to Fry's and spend $10 on a USB keyboard and mouse. Damn...just goes to show you that you can't please everybody.
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Not as dumb as you think... (Score:3, Insightful)
Right, cuz there aren't already a bazillion small screenless internal-flash-based mp3 players on the market...
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:5, Insightful)
OS X has never been limitd to a 1 button mouse. IN fact, every mac user I've seen who uses a mouse uses a typical multi-button optical mouse, or other exotic device. Almost nobody uses the stock 1 button mouse.
The only reason it's even mentioned here is because apple doens't supply peripherals with the mini.
You plug in a two button mouse, and it behaves as you would expect, it's not a "kludge" or anything like that. THis is nothing new, macs haven't been limited to one button mice since along, long time ago.
Mac Mini == New Commodore 64? (Score:3, Insightful)
Many people only need word processing (Score:4, Insightful)
No, the new iWork is definitely not a replacement for the old AppleWorks/ClarisWorks suite. AppleWorks really did try to do a "kitchen sink" approach as well as give you the flexibilty to embed one type of document in another. I really suspect their decision to focus on word processing is very good from a market driven perspective.
Most people tend to want to be able to write simple letters on their computer. TextEdit could do this, of course, and for simple tasks I do know people who use it. The next class of users is advanced home and entry-level business personnel. Think of the kind of people that want to make a flyer advertising a store event or the people making a newsletter for their little league. These are the exact target audience for Pages.
Pages comes with 40 templates that are customizable in the sense you can add in your own graphics easily to creat new templates (I think...). This makes it easy to create newsletters, corporate letterhead, and the like. The transparency allows for easy watermarking of documents.
Pages will also probably be sufficient for opening most Word documents generated by these similar types of users, home or small business users who have Word pre-installed on their Windows box and use the DOC format to e-mail their newsletters as attachments. In that respect it's great to have a similar pre-installed option available on the Mac that can support that market segment.
Whether they will target spreadsheets and database connectivity in the future is still up for speculation. After all, even Claris killed its own standalone spreadsheet application (Resolve) by selling it off to C&G. For users who want an integrated suite full featured spreadsheets, charting, macros, database connectivity and the like, there's only a few remainingplayers in the Mac market: Microsoft Office, NeoOffice/J [neooffice.org] (OpenOffice.org, but without the X11), ThinkFree, and Mariner. I don't think Apple's about to compete with Microsoft Office anytime soon as they use Office to help sell the platform. The death of AppleWorks now leaves us open source guys as one of the remaining strongest office suite competitors on the platform.
ed
Re:We've slashdotted Apple! (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Mac Mini (Score:4, Insightful)
Markets without a clearly dominant player tend to be more innovative, more dynamic, and more responsive to the needs of their customers.
Apple may or may not be "less evil" than Microsoft, but regardless of that, real competition is still a Good Thing.
Re:ouch (Score:2, Insightful)
You miss the point (Score:2, Insightful)
Think of it as a G4 iBook in a small case, designed for desktop use. For $499 I get a more or less feature complete Apple Macintosh with OS X on it, ready to use whatever hardware I already have (for input and display.)
With that other one you'd have to either use Windows or fight to get a useable Linux install.
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:5, Insightful)
The one-button mouse is a good default. The fact that they support a richer interface for the people that want one is great.
Re:Mac Mini (Score:5, Insightful)
8 years ago, it was "why doesn't Apple have a sub-notebook?" Now everybody wants a huge, testicle-frying Super-notebook.
6 years ago, it was "why doesn't Apple have a server?" Well, golly, Apple's server offerings kick everybody else's ass, but of course, since you actually have to pay money for them, some people bitch about them.
2 years ago, it was "if only Apple sold a cheap headless Mac, I'd buy one!" Okay, your time is now, hero.
Some people are never satisfied. You got what you wanted--now you want more? If they included a mouse, you'd bitch about how it was the 1-button Apple mouse, or you'd bitch that the keyboard wasn't wireless.
Buy your own goddamn keyboard and mouse and STFU.
No (Score:5, Insightful)
It has OS X and is an affordable Apple computer. That is all it needs to succeed in the market Apple is shooting for.
Wait for Tiger before getting a Mac Mini (Score:1, Insightful)
It might be worth waiting until it comes with the Mac Mini (and save yourself $150).
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:5, Insightful)
Ahem.
"
Won't work as a plain ole' USB thumb device
Ahem.
"... Store files along with your music
Nobody. In. The. Target. Market. Gives. A. Flying. Fuck.
Should I keep going?
Well, you haven't actually started yet, so please.
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:3, Insightful)
This was, at the time, a point PC users would harp on. Then Apple includes one and people harp about no choice. Now we're back to no keyboard. Let's see.
--Mike
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:3, Insightful)
The standardization to USB makes that much less of an issue today than it was back then.
InDesign for the masses (Score:4, Insightful)
Word is not well suited to exact placement of anything really, and if the UI is really good it could win over a lot of people that traditionally have bought things like Print Shop Pro.
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course, this begs the question: does the mini allow user upgrades? Can't check because the Apple site isn't responding at the moment, but that little box looks to be shut tighter than a virgin's iPod.
Re:Not as dumb as you think... (Score:3, Insightful)
Does the XBox have... (Score:3, Insightful)
Bluetooth that you can use for a great wireless remote?
Ability to play songs from the #1 online music store?
Ability to print a picture you are watching on the TV from where you sit, or mail it to someone?
Real VGA/DVI output for people with projectors or advanced displays?
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:2, Insightful)
Oh, they'll find something. "Why doesn't the iPod shuffle have a screen? 1GB? That's not enough space!" or, "They don't ship Mac minis with keyboards by default?! What am I supposed to do without a keyboard?!"
Trolls don't need good reasons to carp. In fact, if you have a good reason to complain, it's kinda not a troll.
Re:No Spreadsheet? (Score:3, Insightful)
Apple is already firing a shot across Microsoft's bow with this - and firing two shots at once by releasing a word processor and spreadsheet might have been a bit much. Who knows - maybe Keynote and Pages are enough on their own to push MS out of the Mac market...
A number of points you miss: (Score:5, Insightful)
In that world, the computer might be a little old - and slowed further by virus/spyware that have crept in. This computer will seem like a rocket.
Plus of course it's like 1/10 the size of a clunky Dell box, a plus for anyone.
The firewire port is also not a "slight win" for anyone that likes to play with video, which is all parents in the US.
It's a box for people that want to buy a computer without having to worry about a computer. It's for people who like iPods and wonder what else Apple can do. Shortly it may well be anyone looking for a high-end DVD player and PVR. It's basically a computer for anyone that has not got a PC yet, or wants something different - dare I say a PC for the rest of us?
Re:Mac Mini (Score:3, Insightful)
I think you must be what's new around here
Don't forget music/ video editing (Score:3, Insightful)
The video editing is really quite good and garageband is a lot of fun( you can record into it and use drum/bass/keyboard loops.) and comes out quite professional. Good stuff.
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:5, Insightful)
This is poor, poor design. Yes, it's poor design by the coders, but it's abetted by the availability of a right mouse button. Too many UI designers use that as a crutch. Don't know where a function should go? Sure, put it in a contextual menu.
With the Mac, all contextual menus are optional. I simply don't use them very much. I use middle-click for new tabs in Safari, and I like the scroll wheel, but neither of those features are critical to making the operating system function.
Try to run Windows without a right mouse button. It's possible, but MUCH harder.
One thing at a time. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:5, Insightful)
My favorite windows UI quirk is how every application out there seems to duplicate every menu item in an icon stop. Because, yeah, it really helps me to see a thousand little indecipherable icons that have commands that also show up in the menu.
Oh-- and let's not forget how you restart a PC (not that you have to do it much)! Click "start." Select "shut down." Now select "restart." Yeah, I would have found that.
Re:Mac Mini (Score:2, Insightful)
At home I'm a Mac user with an eleven button trackball. At work one of my duties is to administer a small lab full of Winders machines for our students. I would *love* to find a source for cheap, one-button PS/2 mice. Now that I deal with so many first-time computer users, I totally understand it.
Re:Mac Mini (Score:3, Insightful)
If you do go this route, and install Mac OS X Server, you'll be in the unique position of paying more for your server license than for your server hardware!
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:2, Insightful)
Many options is not always good design.
Re:The one mouse button (Score:5, Insightful)
Many people find the hold-down-one-button paradigm to be easier to learn and use than multiple buttons. Other people find having multiple buttons easier to learn than multiple actions with the same button. Curse Apple for trying to make their computers useful to both kinds of users!
Re:Mac Mini (Score:3, Insightful)
Of course, this raises the question: if you satisfy every niche, is it still a niche product?
No pretty pictures there (Score:4, Insightful)
Additionally, Apple's got a long way to go before they can overtake MS in the business environment. Spreadsheets are mainly a business tool. Not much room in an Excel document for photos or sophisticated one-click text wrapping. (Yes, I know some people abuse Excel for documents it was never meant to process.) Home users who aren't bring their work home with them don't have much use for spreadsheets. Some, sure, but not much.
I don't think Apple is marketing iWork as an MS Office replacement--yet. There's too much functionality there for Apple to try and match it, and much of it is business-only. What they can do is take Office, pick out the multimedia-heavy apps, and make them prettier and easier to use.
Also helps laptop users (Score:3, Insightful)
I have always found it awkward to use right mouse buttons on Windows laptops.
Re:Mac Mini (Score:3, Insightful)
Jesus...it's the best looking SFF PC on the planet. Add the peripherals you need. What's the damn problem?
Re:$499 Mac? Damn (Score:2, Insightful)
Yeah, everyone buys the iPod for the software.
Apple is just doing a great job of integrating hardware and software. They do both. It amazes me how many people I hear say that Apple must open their hardware to cloners and become a software company like MS to be successful.
Euro screw (Score:2, Insightful)
$499 should be something more like €380. (€499 is $654). Source: www.xe.com .
I'm a bit tired getting screwed and seeing Americans eat all those free lunches.
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Mac Mini (Score:3, Insightful)
*nod*
I was thinking - this would go neatly next to the GCN as a media centre, put an airport Card into it and hook it up into the home theatre system for playing back video we have downloaded (the have just started playing season 6 West Wing over here - they were making a big deal in the press the other day about Zoe being found *sigh*, yes we get TV by BT). I do most of the admin of my old iMac from my PowerBook anyway, it shouldn't be any more difficult to run the Mini-Mac the same way.
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:2, Insightful)
The right mouse button is a useful feature for advanced users. That's why Apple has supported them IN THE OS since 1996, and Kensington supplied excellent functionality in their multi-button mouse driver back to 1994 (or earlier...that's when I bought one).
Look, when the PlayStation came out, developers had to make their games playable on the d-pad, since the DualShock gamepad wasn't available at ship time. The developers were forced to design to the least common denominator. However, most games that benefit from the analog control scheme had it built in...as an option.
I'm not saying that d-pads are better than analog control. I'm saying that forcing developers to cater to inexperienced (OK, ignorant) computer users is a good design decision, and a good business decision.
All the rest of us can plug in whatever mice we like. : )
(Oh yeah, and if you like keyboard shortcuts, check out keyquencer. This is the macro setup God uses.)
Re:Lets do a deal (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Not as dumb as you think... (Score:2, Insightful)
True, true and true.
smaller, lighter, just as cheap, and has just as much room
False, false, false, true.
The Shuffle is 2 millimeters shorter, 12 millimeters narrower, and half as thick. The Jetflash weighs 3 grams more, and thats WITHOUT the battery. The 1 gig version is $4 more than the Shuffle of the same size, but the half gig version is 14% more expensive than Apple's.
This ipod shuffle really is just a "me too" product.
Only if you count a cheaper model at half the size to be "me too". Yes, the Jetflash has a voice recorder, for the
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:iWant iWant iWant! (Score:3, Insightful)
Watch the keynote and look at the software. Apple is not trying to make a Windows PC that looks nice. They're making software too, and leading the pack in many categories.
Most people actually want to accomplish tasks with their computers, and a few percentage points in hardware price/performance don't make nearly as much difference as better usability (which is measured in units of time to accomplish a specific task).
But, if you just like to spend your whole day messing around with your computer instead of getting anything done, by all means, avoid Macs.
Re:Never owned a Mac in my life but I'm getting on (Score:1, Insightful)
If you can hold out for a bit longer, and Tiger actually ships in the first half of this year, I'm sure that it'll come with the Mac Mini.
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:2, Insightful)
I think the point here is that there shouldn't be any functionality that's only available by right-click. By shipping their systems with only one button mouses, they ensure that developers can't make functionality only available under a right-click since they can't assume their user has 2 buttons. I've found myself randomly right-clicking things in various windows apps trying to figure out how to do something because I couldn't find it on the menu or toolbar, which is poor design.
For all those "just buy a Shuttle"... (Score:3, Insightful)
I was seriously looking at building a Shuttle, but let's compare it to the Mac Mini
For the Shuttle, you can either buy a complete system from them [shuttle.com] and spend twice as much or build a system [newegg.com]. Don't forget the CPU [newegg.com]. And the RAM [crucial.com], and the hard drive [newegg.com], and the DVD drive [newegg.com]. At this point, it's about the same cost as a base Mac Mini.
Even if you add the Mac Mini DVD burner, larger hard drive and extra RAM, you're still not saving much with the Shuttle. I'm not even going to mention the operating system and having to set it all up...
Please don't counter with a el cheapo price quote from some other scum dealer either, just Newegg [newegg.com]... If you counter, make sure it has the same features also...
Or buy the Mac Mini, with the OS installed, plug it in, and have it up and running.
The mini has a DVI output for an HDTV monitor and Firewire for either DV or cable box (MPEG-TS) input. I personally think the Mini price is great for what you get. Especially if you want it in your living room next to your HDTV as a Media Center...
Re:Not as dumb as you think... (Score:3, Insightful)
None of which are necessary for a jog. Seriously, I know we're all geeks here, but try to understand why the iPod and the iPod mini succeeded. Hint: it wasn't because of lots of extra special features.
Face it, folks. Apple has managed, with the iPod line, to embody the unix philosophy - do one thing and do it very well.
I know someone is going to point to iPod photo. But the iPod photo has not (as far as I know) been as successful as the basic models.
I used to use a Muvo. It did one thing and did it so-so. I would have been happy with it (despite only 64MB of space and no display) if it weren't so unreliable and if the batteries didn't die every day. Something tells me the iPod shuffle will be a much better product.
I now own a 20GB 4G iPod. The abundance of space is nice, but after owning 4 crappy MP3 players, what I really enjoy is the simplicity and predictability. You know, the same thing I like about grep and cat.
Re:Prediction: The MacMini will kill the eMac (Score:2, Insightful)
- it's far harder to steal,
- the eMac sports a tempered (sp?) glass that protect the CRT-important for the safety of kids-
- is easy to keep clean
- the all-in-one design helps to keep the classroom's desks clener, only one power cord per machine.
- In the case of CRT failure, always the schools buy support contracts anyway (or sould, regardless of vendor).
- And last, the eMac uses common optical drives and HD, the two components of a computer more prone to failure or to need a upgrade.
Re:Mac Mini (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:mini vs. shuttle, the numbers... (Score:4, Insightful)
So in reality, the price difference is $222.86 (conservative) in favor of the Mac mini.
Re:goodbye bank account (Score:2, Insightful)
Put it this way... If a person isn't curious enough to explore three menus that very poorly describe where they lead, why would they be inclined to explore one button that tells them even less?
Apple's answer to this came in the form of the Dock. Probably realizing just how prevalent the use of desktop shortcuts had become, they decided to integrate the dock which... compared to XP, gives the user a wealth of information in one uniform lexicon that isn't very hard to grasp because one can immediately correlate the visual response with an action they performed that only someone lacking basic cognitive association functions could not interpret: 1. Available applications
The dock shows a series of icons, some of which may be familiar, others which give the user a good idea what they do... iPhoto, for example, is represented by an icon of a camera and a photograph.
2. State of an application
When an icon is clicked, it bounces, and eventually the application comes up. A couple of attempts at this and most people can deduce their clicking on said icon launched a particular app.
Once the app is launched and open, an indicator shows that it is running... the user can also make this correlation. Each application, once launched, has a file menu that is represented not by the word "File" but by the name of the application. It seems far more logical that the "quit" function for that app is under the app's name in the menu bar.. rather than "File"... which is where you find all file-related functions.
Contextual in OS X actually means contextual.
3. Advanced information
The more a user becomes familiar with OS X, they will find that the dock is the place to locate the application itself... the contextual menu for each icon has a "Show in Finder" function, as well as "Quit" or "Force quit".
By contrast, Windows continues to couch "Exit" under "File" and the only way to force-quit an application that's gone apeshit is to launch task manager... for the entry-level user, this may not be as immediately obvious as, well, looking at the application status icon.
Someone mentioned the eject function earlier... While in previous iterations of Mac OS, it was couched under "File" in the menubar or by drag-dropping to the trash, OS X is ingenius, again, with not only contextual menus but contextual icons...
Instead of, as another poster pointed out, showing you nine zillion indiscernable icons that are all redundantly represented in the menu... OS X has some icons that appear only when appropriate.
The best example is when you grab a removable volume/disk, and take it to the dock... in the trash can's place appears the universal "Eject" icon... the very same that can be found on any optical disk playback device.