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Mac Mini to be Discontinued?
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Does anyone know what the timing will be?
I've posted my experience with the Cube discontinuation here a while ago:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/336152/
Essentially, everyone everywhere were sold out withing hours of the annoncement.
I want to make sure I'm at the Apple Store or Mac Dealer when the announcments hits, with a CC in hand...
I've posted my experience with the Cube discontinuation here a while ago:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/336152/
Essentially, everyone everywhere were sold out withing hours of the annoncement.
I want to make sure I'm at the Apple Store or Mac Dealer when the announcments hits, with a CC in hand...
I agree with those commenting on Apple's pricing structure. I bought an iMac 20" 3yrs ago and thought I was paying about $250 more than a comparably equipped PC. But PC's have continued to drop in price since then and the Mini was probably the last item holding that $250 price difference when compared to a PC. By my estimate the rest of the Mac lineup is at about $500 more than a comparable PC. I really like my mac but paying that kind of premium doesn't seem sustainable. But what do I know, Mac sales are growing much faster than the PC industry.
Yes. And it's frustrating.
I love Apple, but I don't have gobs of expendable income to blow on designer tech. I'm effectively being priced out of the market for a new Mac. Instead of getting cheaper or staying at the same price, the new Macbooks cost even more and they offer less. The student discount for buying a mac was reduced. (I still can't figure that one out..
) and now that the mini is being discontinued, I don't think I have much of a choice but to jump ship to one of those little Dell 9 mini things (which are kinda cool, actually) or an Acer or something.I understand buying a mac requires a little more cash but this is rediculous. There's gotta be SOMETHING on the low end of the price range for people to buy. $1200 is simply not an option for a lot of folks.
No, the mini is a ridiculously overpriced, under-powered box. It is CLEAR Apple (i.e. Steve Jobs) never wanted that thing to succeed, it was, according to many insider reports, built to satisfy stock holder's repeated demand for an affordable headless Mac. Jobs made sure it failed.
With the mini's current spec and lack of mouse or keyboard, it should sell for $399, not it's actual asking price.
Again?
some day this rumor is going to happen. Until then let's keep on repeating it
If Apple would discontinue mini, I think they would have to replace it some way. There is market for a sub $600 Mac - Apple shouldn't ignore it.
Apple believes there to be a market for a $600 Mac as much as they believe there's a market for consumer Firewire equipment...
I suspect the screen on the Macbook costs a lot less than $600. You'd likely end up with a screenless mac costing $999 - would you pay for that?
It makes sense that the current mini is discontinued since the proc inside is pretty crusty for a current machine + Nvidia being Apple's new BFF and dumping Intel integrated video.
I'm not willing to accept Apple is killing the mini off completely though. It would be nice to see a mini/AppleTV hybrid. I use a mini 1.5 core solo as an iTunes server w/ a Front Row interface - this was before AppleTV existed.
I'd be all over an AppleTV w/ Blu-Ray optical drive and the ability to easily install my own A/V apps on it - many an app store for AppleTV. Obviously that's not going to happen.
I'm not willing to accept Apple is killing the mini off completely though. It would be nice to see a mini/AppleTV hybrid. I use a mini 1.5 core solo as an iTunes server w/ a Front Row interface - this was before AppleTV existed.
I'd be all over an AppleTV w/ Blu-Ray optical drive and the ability to easily install my own A/V apps on it - many an app store for AppleTV. Obviously that's not going to happen.
What would be really cool is if they bring back the G4 Cube to replace the Mini and also introduce a lower price Mac Pro and just call it the Macintosh. :0
To be honest I won't miss the Mac Mini. I know some people who love it but I'm not a huge fan of it.
![cube_open.jpg]()
Now that was a beautiful machine. I came this close to purchasing that when I started college... would have made me a switcher a lot sooner, but in the end I decided to get a cheaper (and yes, ugly) Compaq.
Oh well, all's well that ends well.
AppleTV as a platform
I thought this too at one time but not now. Having my mini hooked up to my TV was interesting but not as useful as I thought it would be.
I would rather see Apple create an API model for the AppleTV similar to the iPhone and let developers make the device more useful for the living room. A new platform.
I would also like them to make a more robust iPhone/iPod Touch remote control app for the device, or let independent developers do it.
I thought this too at one time but not now. Having my mini hooked up to my TV was interesting but not as useful as I thought it would be.
I would rather see Apple create an API model for the AppleTV similar to the iPhone and let developers make the device more useful for the living room. A new platform.
I would also like them to make a more robust iPhone/iPod Touch remote control app for the device, or let independent developers do it.
And who's fault is it?
Blu-ray is a competing format to (.....not HD DVD) to downloading media. Apple just added HD TV Shows. I doubt they plan on putting Blu-ray on an AppleTV....
hope not. the mini was the first Mac I ever bought. It brought me into the world of Apple computers. The issue right now, i think, is Apple not putting much effort into it. the mini's specs are hardly updated and the price is just not at the magical $499 point. Maybe if Apple lowered the price and updated it, people would have more interest; because the way I see it, I would not buy an obsolete machine, which is the state the mac mini is in right now. So the lack of Mac mini sales I believe is at Apple's fault. mine's still goin strong after nearly 3.5 years.
AMEN Brotha'! My alum iMac should hold me over for awhile (full time designer, no so pro photographer) but if my only choice is the glorified macpro desktop (I know it's cheaper than a dell workstation but 250% more than a build-it-yourself tower) I may just make the switcharoo once the new i7 hardware hits the market.
For the same price as a mid-range imac you can build a 2.8 quad core / 8GB ram /2x Hard drives for the same or cheaper. (And Vista x64 honestly is not as bad as you hear. It's no OS X but it's only marginally worse) Oh, and I'm cheap =)
Might be interesting to see the merging of the mini and Apple TV into a full-featured-home-computer-media-center-DVD/Blueray-playback-recorder device that can power a large hi-def flat screen TV. Of course I'm dreaming, but I'd like to connect one small box that does it all: DVD & Blueray playback and recording, gaming, iTunes interface for playing and purchasing music and video, viewing iPhoto albums on the big screen, surfing the web, and even importing and editing home movies, plus whatever else a reasonably powered Macintosh computer can do. The logical convergence of media devices.
it's probably having poor sales. They should drop the price to $399 and continue selling it without ever upgrading it for like 2 more years. They would make so much money. I love my mini. They need to drop the price or replace it - but dumping it is a terrible idea.
That's a little unfair!
My C2D Mini is a great performer, I use it more than my MBP. OK, the graphics are lacking, but outside of that it's great. I run multiple VMs, encode video, have dozens of windows open, etc and it's not noticeably slower than my SR MBP, seriously.
My old G4 Mini is a great HT machine, and it's powering my HDTV at 1080p.
Now that was a beautiful machine. I came this close to purchasing that when I started college... would have made me a switcher a lot sooner, but in the end I decided to get a cheaper (and yes, ugly) Compaq.
Oh well, all's well that ends well.
I think it would be a wise move to bring a better version of the G4 Cube back because it was an easy computer to modify(which for geeks like myself love) and it looks a lot better than the current Mini.
What would be really cool is if they bring back the G4 Cube to replace the Mini and also introduce a lower price Mac Pro and just call it the Macintosh. :0
To be honest I won't miss the Mac Mini. I know some people who love it but I'm not a huge fan of it.
![cube_open.jpg]()
If the mini and cube show anything its that the consumer desktop arena is something that the Apple of Jobs and Ive don't quite understand. Pity I was going to recommend my mother get the Mini to replace her dying HP. Guess that money will be going into a dell studio hybrid instead. Still, there is a slight chance of a cheaper iMac with a 9400M, but knowing Apple, they'll probably jack the prices out of reach with that too.
As a waning Vista user, I was hoping to see an update in the near future. I would definitely buy a Mini if it was upgraded to the specs of the new (but lower end) Macbook. I'm hoping that they'll discontinue the current Mini and bring another product into the same product space. Perhaps a different shaped machine that still look professional? I don't really care about firewire, as all my periphs are USB.
Eagle
Eagle
They can have a baby.
Here Here
TheTV just doesn't cut it by itself, I want a full computer and an TV hooked up to my flat screen. Let the TV and the Mac Mini get married, have a baby, feed it some spinach so that it will grow up to be a powerful multi-media computer that will play nicely with all my peripherals.
Here Here
The
TV just doesn't cut it by itself, I want a full computer and an TV hooked up to my flat screen. Let the TV and the Mac Mini get married, have a baby, feed it some spinach so that it will grow up to be a powerful multi-media computer that will play nicely with all my peripherals.You have a point there. I was very excited when the first mini was being announced because we finally would have a headless mac but after the specs came out it was obvious you were getting $300-400 in parts, minus keyboard and mouse, for what $700 at the time? (plus only a 5400rpm HD, limited in ram etc)
People aren't tech savvy so if you had to choose between a crappy compaq e-machine for $400 (with crappy monitor, keyboard and mouse) vs the mac mini with no accessories for almost twice as much there isn't much of a reason to get the mini in that person's mind. After all they obviously couldn't afford anything for more!