The Mac Mini and the iPod Mini were very much matched in style, design and form-factor. The Mini was even supposed to have an iPod docking station built into the top of it until it was taken out at the last minute (possibly due to the realisation that the iPod Nano would be mechanically possible a few months down the line).
Now I wonder if the Mac Mini will be continued. You can get Intel P-M based notebooks into pretty incredibly tight spaces even without Apple's expertise. Maybe the next 'Mini'-like computer part will be a Mac Nano which will be white (or maybe black) and will be approximately half the height of the current Mini. Maybe they'll even use the smaller hard drives currently found in the iPod Photo and previous 4G iPods. By killing off the iPod Mini they've started the process of killing of the 'Mini' name and brand. People will start to associate the word 'Mini' as old hat and that could spread to the Mac Mini, dropping sales. Add in the factor that the Mini hasn't had a proper update since it was released (increasing RAM while increasing prices does not count as an update) then it seems clear that the Mini is waiting to be replaced with an Intel model. Maybe this will be the birth of the Mac Nano.
After all the iPod Mini was seen as an amazing audio product squeezed into a tiny form factor and that there was no way you could get 4gb into a smaller size. Then the iPod Nano came along. The Mac Mini came out and again it was seen as an amazing computer for its size and that you could not squeeze the same power system or a more powerful system into any smaller space until.... Apple do it again.
Phil
Now I wonder if the Mac Mini will be continued. You can get Intel P-M based notebooks into pretty incredibly tight spaces even without Apple's expertise. Maybe the next 'Mini'-like computer part will be a Mac Nano which will be white (or maybe black) and will be approximately half the height of the current Mini. Maybe they'll even use the smaller hard drives currently found in the iPod Photo and previous 4G iPods. By killing off the iPod Mini they've started the process of killing of the 'Mini' name and brand. People will start to associate the word 'Mini' as old hat and that could spread to the Mac Mini, dropping sales. Add in the factor that the Mini hasn't had a proper update since it was released (increasing RAM while increasing prices does not count as an update) then it seems clear that the Mini is waiting to be replaced with an Intel model. Maybe this will be the birth of the Mac Nano.
After all the iPod Mini was seen as an amazing audio product squeezed into a tiny form factor and that there was no way you could get 4gb into a smaller size. Then the iPod Nano came along. The Mac Mini came out and again it was seen as an amazing computer for its size and that you could not squeeze the same power system or a more powerful system into any smaller space until.... Apple do it again.
Phil