The entry-level Mac Mini still costs $599--and that's still too pricey a proposition for some folks. Why won't Apple do a $399 Mac Mini? The market is begging for one at that price--or at least editor David Carnoy is.
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OS X has been shown to be just as much of a memory hog as Vista is on the same hardware, it's just that Apple doesn't sell anything bad enough with OS X to make it look bad itself.
and all of a sudden they r selling good hardware , which is it ?
how about some proof ? vista is a slow O.S it's a known fact !
I've seen leopard running on 2004 Imac G4s
and you can find them on sale in ebay !
try installing vista on a 2004 machine !
slow as in no max settings in Crysis or slow as in it doesn't render so and so fast enough or slow as in the RAM ran out
not slow as in truly slow
I've seen WinXP and Win7 run on old hardware
yes Vista is a slow OS, WindowsXP isn't, nor is Windows 7
Macs are great if a mac is what you are looking for.
SOunds like my $300 acer aspire netbook is equivalent...
If Apple is trying to gear the mini towards a middle of the road user (ala iMac) then it needs to recognize that people are turned off by having to shop at different places to get what they want. I mean come on, $899!? For the same price of the mini and monitor combined, you can purchase a 24" imac with 4GB ram and a 640GB hard drive!
I was really excited for the new mac mini, but this is a complete disappointment. They add a USB port, make two different proprietary video display ports, add 200 megahertz to the processor, and 80 gigs to the harddrive. I wanted more. This is not a substantial hardware upgrade. Anyone else willing to pay the $599 if it had 2 gigs of RAM and a 2.4 GHz Core2 Duo, but not the current base model?
You missed that they moved to DDR3, upgraded the wireless to 802.11N, upgraded the graphics chipset to the the Geforce 9400 over the ancient GMA 950(a huge upgrade by itself), 3MB of L2 cache as opposed to 2MB, 1066Mhz FSB as opposed to 667Mhz, and a DVD burner on the $599 model as opposed to a combo drive on top of the other updates you listed.
I would agree with you if you were bagging on the $799 model, which isn't worth the extra $200, but the $599 is a pretty good deal for a small form factor PC. Compared to the Dell Hybrid Studio this machine is a great deal.
Pay anymore and you have more money than sense.
And can we PLEASE finally admit that Apple is Price Gouging for the upgrades and they deserve all the scorn we can heap on them.
Seriously and if you don't believe it you are delusional.
In My Opinion.
As for the Mini, I, too, am disappointed at the price. I was looking forward to getting a near-zero-footprint computer for the kids, and I was waiting for the refreshed Mini.
Now, however, I'll have to reconsider. Those flashy netbooks have caught the kids' eyes. Nevermind that a netbook is a single-core Atom with crippled graphics. They're cuuuuute!
The Mac Mini is cuuuuute, too. But at least the Mini adds some real nVidia iron and a proper dual-core to the mix. And it can drive a 20-inch cinema display. But you can read the specs for yourself. I see the Mini as an almost niche product. It fits people who don't want a full-size tower, and don't need portability. The Mini is... small, non-threatening technology, perhaps.
But then, I do know one company using Minis in an array as a server farm. Heh.
Anyway, I frankly don't care which operating system (MacOS or Windows) the computer uses. I use both. I support both. I like both, but for different reasons. I own a MacBook Pro. On it I use MacOS X, dual-booting with Windows Vista. I also have Windows 7 in a virtual machine, and will probably dual-boot with Windows 7 when RC1 rolls around.
I do prefer Apple's hardware. I like Apple's build quality and attention to detail, at least in their laptops, which I've found to be consistent over the long haul. Not so much with other companies and their creaky plasticky chassis and sometimes weak hinges (and I've had my share of HP, Dell, and Acer).
And, yeah, the reviewers have to be nice and won't say it. But I will:
1. The tiny hard drive in the base model is a joke. Doesn't a base model MacBook have a larger drive??
2. Hey, Apple, if you're going to sell HD-size video through iTunes, how about giving us the hard drive space to STORE it after we buy it? My TiVo has more storage. Sheesh.
3. One GB of RAM? A measly 1 GB. Please. Don't advertise dual-booting for the Mini. Don't advertise using Parallels or some other virtual machine on the Mini. I mean, you could do that with the Mini... if you had a big hard drive and lots of RAM. In fact, don't advertise more than minimal video editing on the Mini, either. Or games. Don't forget games. Now that it actually has decent video hardware, what does Apple do? Cripple it with.. 1 GB. Ugh.
I'm sure once I have a really good look at the Mini, more compromises will become apparent. Not all compromises are bad, of course, but still, you can never have too much memory.
Yes, the base model MacBook does have a larger hard drive. 160 GB vs. the Mini's 120 GB. And that Acer netbook also has a 160 GB hard drive. Seriously, the Mini desperately needs a larger hard drive.
For those who keep claiming "the parts are the same" or that they could make one cheaper-- you are completed whacked. The basic components (processor, graphics processor, memory, hard-drive, optical) may be similar to ones in other electronics, but there's nowhere you can buy a Mac mini motherboard off the shelf-- or even anything closely resembling it. You simply can't put together a machine yourself and come out with a Mac mini-like computer for $599, much less $499 (or the silly $399).
Sure you can find a mini-ITX motherboard ($150 with Intel chipset); add a 2Ghz Core2 duo ($250); 120GB SATA drive ($75); DVD+/-RW ($75); 1GB DDR3 SODIMM ($50)-- and you've already hit $500 before figuring out a way to squeeze in Firewire 400/800, DisplayPort, 802.11n, Bluetooth, much less get an aluminum case. Oh, and an Operating System and applications? I guess you're stuck running some free Linux variant.
Oh, and incidentally, the mini's dimensions are 165x165x51mm -- that's smaller than a mini-ITX (170x170mm) -- and there's no other motherboard that can run a Core2 processor. Which means you can't find *anything* that's the size of a mini with the same horsepower.
There's a reason no other company has managed to come up with a machine as small as the mini -- the margins just aren't there. Look at the Dell Studio Hybrid (190x184x64) which comes the closest-- the model comparable to the mini costs $699.
there's a reason why there are so many mid towers out there
Mini server farms take up much less physical space than previous farms. They take up so much less space, they require smaller rooms, and less cooling power. It's not trivial. If you can cut your server room in 1/2, your real estate cost is less. Your power consumption to cool the room is less. Your rack costs are less. Your power bill to run the machines is less (due to the low power of the mini). This is a cost effective form factor.
Then there is the use in custom apps like museum displays, kiosks, automation systems, etc. Size does matter.
As an HTPC, a blade style like the XServe may have been a better form factor, but a cube replacement works too.
And just as a plain old machine, my Dad likes the tiny little box on the corner of his desk rather than the huge Dell tower he used to have in the cabinet next to his legs. that space is now used for files. Think about that. Desk space and storage space in the physical world is maximized with the iMac and the mini. Desks cost money, too... ;)
if space is so important, why aren't big companies using thousands of Mac Minis in their farms
the fact is, you get the most for your money price/performance wise in full and mid towers, that's why the Mac Pro is somewhat of a decent deal
you pay for the form factor, often you don't have to
- by March 3, 2009 3:58 PM PST
- Buy a PPC G4 1.0-greater and you will have the same experience. IBook 1.2 ghz = $280.00-340.00 and it is truely portable.
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- by ikramerica--2008 March 3, 2009 8:18 PM PST
- Again, you've obviously never used a Core 2 Duo computer if you can say a 1.2 GHz G4 compares. I own a 1.42 GHz mini, and it is in no way close to what a Core 2 Duo mini can do. No where close...
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