Add "mini" Category for MR Buyer's Guide?

[Santaduck]

I just wanted to float an idea that I imagine MR admins have probably thought about.

In the MR Buyer's Guide there are separate listings for each comptuer line (eMac, iMac, powermac), as well as pB, iB, and XServe.

What about a separate category for iPods for the Mini?

I understand the Mini line has never been updated, so the notion of a past product cycle will be null. This is an argument against creating a new category.

However, the introduction of Minis would/did affect the calculation of product cycles for "normal sized" ipods, making the Buyer's Guide recommendation on buying-or-waiting (based on the said product cycles) somewhat more dubious than necessary.

Opinions?

ps and while we're at it we can update those product thumbnails =)

[dotnina]

Yes yes yes, please!

I've suggested this a few times as well. I'm guessing it will be updated someday, perhaps once the 2G Minis are released.

[quagmire]

When/if you do add the mini once they are updated, please update the pbook,iMac, iPod, the cinema displays, and I believe Xserve(?) pics. The pbook is still the titanium, the iMac is still the G4, the iPod is still the 3G, the displays are last generation, and I believe the Xserve is the G4.

[Santaduck]

yes, however the new category addition (and any recalculated product cycles) would be a higher priority than the updated thumbnails.

[AmigoMac]

it makes sense only when apple update the minis ... doesn't it?
and the pictures should be updated asap, IMO.

[dotnina]

Originally Posted by AmigoMac

it makes sense only when apple update the minis ...

Not necessarily. I like looking at the little bars. Sometimes I like to compare the bars of related products to each other (ie, PB vs. iBook). Nerdy, I know.

[Doctor Q]

The assumption of the Buyer's Guide is that Apple updates its products at somewhat consistent intervals. So the question is whether the iPod line would be updated independently of the iPod mini line, or whether Apple would treat them as models of the same product when spacing the scheduling of new models. If they add flash players to the line, we'd have yet other guess to make about whether updates of those players would be independent too. My guess? That the two iPod lines are treated as one when planning the scheduling of marketing activities.

It's still best to evaluate the data yourself rather than blindly assume the Buyer's Guide prediction is infallible.

[combatcolin]

That dosn't work.

The Mini is how old?

Answer: Older than the iPod.

The ipod buyers guide should now reflect the 3 distinct types of iPod.
(As for the U2, nice but a one off.)

We all know that Apple product release's are haphazard, the point of the guide is to provide a rough guesstimate as to when the next version of a paticular piece of kit is going to be released.


And no excuses either for the pics!

[Mechcozmo]

Originally Posted by Doctor Q

It's still best to evaluate the data yourself rather than blindly assume the Buyer's Guide prediction is infallible.

The pictures, however...

[Santaduck]

Originally Posted by Doctor Q

So the question is whether the iPod line would be updated independently of the iPod mini line, or whether Apple would treat them as models of the same product when spacing the scheduling of new models. If they add flash players to the line, we'd have yet other guess to make about whether updates of those players would be independent too. My guess? That the two iPod lines are treated as one when planning the scheduling of marketing activities.

good point. We don't know how Apple is treating the two (or three) lines, which translate into product cycles. And some updates like the U2 ipod don't really factor into the broad product cycle.

However the ipod Mini's introduction certainly has little to do with the cycle from 2G to 3G to 4G.

But at this point when we don't know what is going on with Mini & Flash, perhaps it is prudent to let buyers think on their own, and for MR to wait on a new category.

___________________


update: January 5G mini update rumor. . . if this happens, the the Mini should definitely be split off from the iPod category.

[Santaduck]

(doublepost to update an old thread from last November):

With the ThinkSecret-rumored pending iPod Mini revisions comes another excuse to revisit this topic:

Should MR add a new iPod Mini section in the Buyer's Guide?
If so, what color should the thumbnail be?

I vote Pink

btw: great new thumbnails for iMac (g5), CD (new), and iPod (4th gen)