Apple Releases Mac Mini 1212
cranesan writes "The rumors of Apple releasing a small PC are confirmed. The Mac mini can be found at Apple's website. As expected, the box uses a G4 processor. You can order one today; estimate 3-4 weeks shipping date. Base unit starts at $499."
Dupe... (Score:5, Informative)
Not Politically Correct (Score:2, Informative)
Headless Alternative for Less (Score:1, Informative)
GotApex? [gotapex.com] has a "headless Dell" on their site for $449.
Here are the specs:
2.8Ghz P4 w/800Mhz bus
256MB DDR2 SDRAM
40GB S-ATA
2 year on site warranty
Of course, if I don't get modded to hell, there will be a dozen replys from the Apple "amen corner" telling me that the Apple is a better deal, etc.
BTW, this P4 is not even a particularly hot deal. GotApex? had a Dell P4 with a 17" LCD last Sunday for $599 -- the same price as the "high end" Mac mini.
There's a petition for matching prices in the EU (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Not Politically Correct (Score:5, Informative)
As much as 'PC' has come to define a machine derived from the original IBM PC, 'PC' means "Personal Computer".
Cheers
Previous link and Financial results (Score:5, Informative)
Apple announced their financial results for the fourth quarter today, reporting a profit of $295M, or $0.70 per share. They shipped 4.58M iPods, an increase of 525 % over the year ago quarter. But more surprisingly, Apple CPU sales were up 26% themselves over the year ago quarter. Over 1,046,000 Macs went found their way into customer's hands in the quarter.
See http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2005/jan/12result
After reading comments from the other
Software software software (Score:5, Informative)
imovie is an excellent video editor (enough better the compaq with various cheap editing packages)was abandoned...(Not to mention this apple machine comes with firewire, a requirement for getting video off the cam corder.)
iphoto is excellent photo storage tool.
OS X is pretty good to, but if you want a windows box go nuts..
Re:Headless Alternative for Less (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Experiences? (Score:3, Informative)
I have done low-level C work and high-level Objective-C work on both machines, and found them to be perfectly acceptable in terms of performance. I haven't touched the abomination of a language known as C++ for some time, and hope never to have to again, so I can't really give you any advice there (other than to look at Objective-C). XCode is a really nice IDE to use, and code written using POSIX libraries and Cocoa can be ported to other *NIX platforms and GNUstep very easily.
Re:And here are the more interesting posts: (Score:5, Informative)
Re:There's a petition for matching prices in the E (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Experiences? (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Headless Alternative for Less (Score:5, Informative)
CPU - OK, the "headless Dell" is faster.
RAM - Both same amount of RAM
HD - Both 40 gigs
Warranty - the Dell is a year better..and is on-site.
BOTH COST $499
So, where is the "insanely overpriced" come in? If it were $699 then perhaps you would have a valid argument. But of course, you do not.
Not to mention the fact you get a TON of software with the Mini and OSX. How much software comes with the Dell? Yeah, thought so...
And here I'm not even using a Mac nor own a Mac and even I can see you're so full of shit it's not even funny. If you have a beef against Apple, then please, think a little harder next time to come up with something of substance.
Re:In an attempt to put some news into this story. (Score:3, Informative)
2. The RAM looks like standard SDRAM (most sites say one slot only). The lid looks like a bugger to get off but give it a few days after release and there will be detailed instructions all over the web. No info on the bluetooth & airport - if they've used the same cards as on other macs then it should be easy.. if not, then you'll need to wait for availability.
3. Compare with a similar speed powerbook.
4. With a mini? No, because they're not available yet....
Re:Headless Alternative for Less (Score:5, Informative)
Apple's hardware is better than the bottom basement x86 crap. Dell is using the lowest bidder, and changing monthly. Apple is consistently using the same hardware. This is important for two reasons. First, Apple can make sure the drivers work well. In the x86 world, drivers are a mess, written by the company that made the hardware. You have no guarantee of quality, and that is partially what makes Windows unstable. Second, if the hardware sucks, Apple will drop them.
More importantly, Apple's software is better. OS X is very pleasant to use. It's powerful for advanced users, and simple for novices. The bundled apps are easier to use. Plug and play works very well. Your mom's camera will just work without special drivers and special helper apps for downloading the images (yes, some digicams just work under Windows, but my Canon required a whole suite of applications to get the damn pictures from it).
What you seem to not understand is that these things have a value. In fact, they are worth at least the $50 price difference to many people. The fact that people find value in this shouldn't bother you. You shouldn't feel some compelling need to point out that an apple and an orange have different prices. Many people want a Mac. You seem to think that people want a computer.
Re:No Mic?! (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Kinda meager on the specs... (Score:5, Informative)
I haven't really noticed much speed difference between my current machine (1.5GHz G4) and my last one (1.25GHz G4), so I wouldn't bother with this. Even big compiles and video editing only gain a small amount.
up it to a gig of RAM
Never buy RAM from Apple. They charge 2-3 times the value of the RAM for installation.
a superdrive
If you really need to burn DVDs. I've got some use from my SuperDrive, but I wouldn't consider it essential. Waiting a year and adding a FireWire Blu-Ray / HD-DVD drive might be a better bet.
bluetooth
You can get a USB bluetooth module on eBay for a quarter of what Apple charge for internal Bluetooth. And yes, OS X will almost certainly support it.
wireless keyboard and mouse
So get a wired one.
and give it a 3 year warranty
It comes with a 1 year warranty. Adding another two years for a third of the price of the machine doesn't sound like a great deal. I'd be more inclined to throw it out and replace it with a newer and faster one if it breaks after the first year.
you don't have nifty Mac stuff like video-in
My PowerBook has exactly the same video-in capabilities as the Mac Mini - a FireWire port. Neither machine has any analogue video input capability, and neither does any recent Mac I've seen without 3rd party hardware (and if you really need it, there are analogue -> FireWire boxes available).
and you have a CPU that compares to what was out a few years ago.
And is still used in the current PowerBook line, and is probably fast enough for most people.
Is this really a good deal?
If you insist on adding every possible customisation to it, then no. If the basic model (perhaps with the RAM upgraded to 512MB) is good enough for your needs, then yes.
Re:Headless Alternative for Less (Score:5, Informative)
Those displays will work with the mini. So will pretty much any USB keyboard and mouse. And this machine is targeted rather specifically at people who already have a keyboard, mouse, and display.
Some people will piss and moan about anything, I swear.
Re:Headless Alternative for Less (Score:3, Informative)
Check out VersionTracker [versiontracker.com]. I think you'll find more than you need or want. Considering the list of updated packages updated on any given day scrolls through several pages, I don't think you'll have to crack out gcc everytime you want some new softawre.
Re:Headless Alternative for Less (Score:1, Informative)
OS X becomes outdated in a year. Punch down $129 more for a new version. Windows XP will probably have updates for at least another 5 years. If old versions of OS X will have updates remains to be seen. Versions from 2001 have glaring security holes still open.
DVD-ROM
Valid. Add $20
Quicken 2005
Office
Video editing suite
And why exactly should you add in MS office for the price of the computer. Is MS office included in every mini sold, Is quicken included? Why not download openoffice instead? From what I heard there are some kind of video editing software included in windows if you need it.
While we are at it why not add in some cash for at least a keyboard for that mac mini, or are you using telepathy?
Re:samzenpus? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Moving toward the pc? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Not Politically Correct (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Kinda meager on the specs... (Score:2, Informative)
It's either buy the RAM from Apple and have them install it pre-ship, or buy it from CompUSA/Apple Store, have them install it in-house.
Because the MacMini is not user servicable, and if you're not ADT (Apple Desktop Technican Certified) *poof* your warranty will go up in smoke.
Re:Headless Alternative for Less (Score:2, Informative)
DVD-ROM-- Cheap
Quicken 2k5 -- GNU Cash
Office -- OOo
Video editing suite -- If you need to do heavy video editing you shouldn't be buying a $500 computer anyway.
Re:Headless Alternative for Less (Score:2, Informative)
Probably external (Score:2, Informative)
Although your dream loses its point when you stop and consider that you could just get an iBook for that kind of money...
Re:Bodes well for Tiger-candy on iBook? (Score:4, Informative)
Tiger's Core Image system is what provides that eye candy. Sadly, Core Image requires a much better GPU than the 9200.
That isn't to say that Tiger won't run on a Mac mini or an iBook - it most certainly will. You just won't get all the nifty eye candy. And really, other than the temporary "wow" factor, you can do everything you need to do without a bunch of superfluous effects.
Tiger will run an an iBook or a Mac mini, just without all the extra gewgaws. And believe me, with Dashboard, enhanced search, and the way Apple OS upgrades generally get faster with each release, even without CI it would probably be a worthwhile upgrade.
Re:And here are the more interesting posts: (Score:3, Informative)
That includes switching in some more memory.
Not that it stopped me buying one and speccing it with 512MB: it's not as if it's going to be doing a lot of memory intensive work for me: for that I use my DP G5 :-)
Re:And here are the more interesting posts: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Headless Alternative for Less (Score:3, Informative)
Right-click.
Why not? Since the Mac OS 7.5 days you could replace the mouse that came with your machine and right-click. Now the Mac mini lets you chose your own first mouse, so just get one with two or more buttons.
Start-R For Run.
Are you suggesting you'd rather use Windows' limited little command line than a full Unix terminal? That you don't want the flexibility to choose your own shell (sh, csh, ksh, bash, etc.)? Or are you talking about the fact that you have to use Start-R because Windows puts all of your programs in the Start menu, so you can't find the one you want. Then my question becomes, would you rather have to know and type the name of the executable, rather than have the Dock, which only contains the applications you use often, and use a Command-A in the Finder and jump to the Applications folder for the rest of them?
Upgrade.
Upgrade what? What do you want to add that doesn't plug in to either the Firewire or USB2.0 ports? If there really is something, Apple has a whole line of machines with multiple PCI or faster slots.
Re:And here are the more interesting posts: (Score:5, Informative)
Heard where?
The RAM I've got in my old G4 began its life in a Dell server. It runs OS X just fine. It ran OS 9 and 8.6 just peachy, too. I have trouble believing that an OS could identify the difference between OEM and 3rd party RAM, or behave any differently.
Cheap, flaky RAM, on the other hand, can hose a machine no matter what OS you're running.
Re:And here are the more interesting posts: (Score:5, Informative)
This simply isn't true. I'll let Henry Norr, veteran Mac journalist at http://www.macintouch.com/mwsf2005notebook.html/ [macintouch.com], tell it like it is:
Apple "does not recommend" that users upgrade the memory themselves - you're supposed to have a service provider do it if you want to add more after purchase - but doing it yourself does not void the warranty unless you damage something. A booth person told me the memory slot is easily accessible once you get the case open.This has been Apple's policy for donkey years.
Re:Headless Alternative for Less (Score:2, Informative)
------>
I went back to the booth later and got a little more info on upgrading the Mac Mini.
Apple "does not recommend" that users upgrade the memory themselves - you're supposed to have a service provider do it if you want to add more after purchase - but doing it yourself does not void the warranty unless you damage something. A booth person told me the memory slot is easily accessible once you get the case open.
-------
I doubt intel OEMs honor warranties if you end up "toasting" the machine
Re:Shipping date... (Score:3, Informative)
What I'd like to see is a better audio out option. This thing could make a sweet HTPC. Or HTMac as it were.
Re:Moving toward the pc? (Score:2, Informative)
Here's a recent discussion about 3rd party keyboards: http://www.lowendmac.com/misc/05/0110.html
And it is true, keyboards are non-powered hubs and you can only rely on them for low-powered devices. For instance, half of USB thumb drives will work from a keyboard (more or less). I doubt if the iPod Shuffle will work very well out of a keyboard; probably won't charge, and won't get USB 2.0 speed transfers.
Re:And here are the more interesting posts: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Does it come with a Fortran compiler? (Score:1, Informative)
Re:It's ALL about the software, stupid! (Score:3, Informative)