Mac Mini Updated (All Core Duo)

[CyberB0b]

BUt who uses DVDs anymore?

Only people who watch movies.

 

[7on]

I checked around at comp usa, best buy and even the apple store to see if the mini's they had in stock would be reduced in price because of the new ones that came out.

Best buy and Comp USA had no clue that new models were released and would not budge in price. I dont know what the apple store policy is.

Shouldnt comp usa and best buy reduce the price of the core solo minis they have left?

you can get them refurbed off the Apple site for less. 479 USD for the old lowend, 649 USD for the old high end.

 

[Leesure]

Only people who watch movies.

Combo drive still playes movies.

 

[OldSkoolNJ]

The prices in CompUSa will be dropped on Friday for what they may actually have in stock. They have been constraining them for the past couple weeks. All I have is the display core duo and one box stock core solo. Alot of the apple employees who work in the CompUSAs had extra days off this week due to the holiday (much needed) so they may not have been back into CUSA to let the staff know.

Kevin

I checked around at comp usa, best buy and even the apple store to see if the mini's they had in stock would be reduced in price because of the new ones that came out.

Best buy and Comp USA had no clue that new models were released and would not budge in price. I dont know what the apple store policy is.

Shouldnt comp usa and best buy reduce the price of the core solo minis they have left?

 

[generik]

So I guess Minis will get Core 2 in 2007?

 

[Passante]

I checked around at comp usa, best buy and even the apple store to see if the mini's they had in stock would be reduced in price because of the new ones that came out.

Best buy and Comp USA had no clue that new models were released and would not budge in price. I dont know what the apple store policy is.

Shouldnt comp usa and best buy reduce the price of the core solo minis they have left?

At the apple store today. There were core solos there yesterday for $499 ( I think)
Refurbished Mac mini 1.66GHz Intel Core Duo $649
512MB memory (667MHz DDR2 SDRAM)
80GB Serial ATA hard drive
Double-layer SuperDrive (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Built-in AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth 2.0
Apple Remote
Learn More

 

[Spica]

I just bought a brand new core solo from a reseller 4 days ago!!! Is there any remedy for me?

This sucks.

 

[syklee26]

order it from newegg! $20 cheaper

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16832110004

or get the family pack. only $45 more than what apple wants for the cheap single license haha

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16832110003

i don't think buying family pack for .Mac gives you 5 licenses. i think it's more like spliting one .mac account to 5.

 

[MacManTexas56]

i don't think buying family pack for .Mac gives you 5 licenses. i think it's more like spliting one .mac account to 5.

here's a direct quote from apple.com store


"You'll get one main .Mac subscriber account with 1GB of storage space and four additional .Mac accounts with 250MB of storage space each"

so still a decent deal compared to apple price

 

[syklee26]

I checked around at comp usa, best buy and even the apple store to see if the mini's they had in stock would be reduced in price because of the new ones that came out.

Best buy and Comp USA had no clue that new models were released and would not budge in price. I dont know what the apple store policy is.

Shouldnt comp usa and best buy reduce the price of the core solo minis they have left?

technically they are NOT the same system because previously 1.66 Duo had superdrive but the new system has combo drive in it. and i think for 1.66 system Hard drive shrunk to 60gb.

 

[syklee26]

here's a direct quote from apple.com store


"You'll get one main .Mac subscriber account with 1GB of storage space and four additional .Mac accounts with 250MB of storage space each"

so still a decent deal compared to apple price

well the problem is that sub accounts cannot exist without the main account and main account has to be renewed every year. so this essentially means i cannot use family pack by myself for 5 years.

 

[Multimedia]

17" iMac Supports External 1920 x 1200 24" Second Monitor Spanning

Now that iMac is Core 2 Duo, the Academic $899 17" iMac is a mini killer config.

Except that I want to use my 24" monitor...

Exactly. And because the 17" iMac Supports External up to 1920 x 1200 24" Second Monitor Spanning you not only can, you gain the benefit of an additional 1440 x 900 desktop space almost for FREE @ $899. It's still only Intel 950 IG, but it's cheap and doable like from the mini & MacBooks only with 3.5" SATA HD inside etc etc. It's a miracle.

 

[Multimedia]

I Use DVDs To Archive All My HDTV Recordings in mp4 Format From Handbrake Rips

Did I miss something or did the top end mini model go from $799 to $599. Ok. it has a smaller drive and no superdrive. BUt who uses DVDs anymore?

I do. That's how I archive all my HDTV and SDTV recordings. I burn Disk Images with Toast then rip those images to mp4 files with Handbrake to take what starts out as a 6GB HD master and winds up a 351MB mp4 file that looks almost as good as the original - just a little softer is all. So I can get 12 one hour prime time HDTV shows on one 4.38GB DVD or two on a 702.8MB CD.

For me this is the future of TV show recording and storage. I've got it down to a science that is as good as is possible with today's technology to get something that is very big to be very small and still deliver a decent viewing-listening experience on a HD Screen while remaining iPod compatible at the same time.

Only drawback is computing power. Even the 3GHz Mac Pro is too slow to do this in rapid time. So it takes a more time than the programs lengths to do right now that should in future take only a few minutes each. I'm hoping that amount of power will be with us by 2008 or 2009. It's a fundamental challenge that needs to get solved before what I am doing can have mass appeal. It's almost tlike a full itme job - no it is a full time job. Except I'm not getting paid to do it.

 

[~Shard~]

As other people have recognised..... the reference to G5 is in relation to the exterior, not the chipset.

"G5" is processor branding which refers to the 970 chipset, not the design of the machine itself, so you are using that terminology incorrectly. Do people go around saying, "Gee, that new Pentium Dell sure is nice!" It's the equivalent of saying that you like the design of the V10 BMW when in fact you mean the M5. If the current iMac design only housed G5 chips, and was changed when the Intel transition occurred, then fine, that model could be associated with the G5 chip, however this is obviously not the case.

No worries, just pointing out how you are in error.

 

[chillywilly]

The prices in CompUSa will be dropped on Friday for what they may actually have in stock. They have been constraining them for the past couple weeks. All I have is the display core duo and one box stock core solo. Alot of the apple employees who work in the CompUSAs had extra days off this week due to the holiday (much needed) so they may not have been back into CUSA to let the staff know.

Kevin

I think getting a cheaper older model of Mac mini would be great, if the prices were right. It would be a great starter machine for someone that really doesn't care about having the lastest and greatest.

 

[UnreaL]

So who else apart from me has bought one?

 

[kingtj]

A Mac mid-tower?

I thought this was a great idea too, except when I mull it over - I'm not so sure Apple will really go there. With the larger variety of Intel iMacs available now, it looks like Apple's really trying to build one for every possible home-user or small office user's need. I agree that it'd be nice to have an expandable, upgradable Mac with no display built-in that doesn't carry the price tag of the Mac Pro line -- but think about users like us who say that. We're in the minority of "power users" or "more advanced users". Apple has made it pretty clear that if you're in that category, they want you to invest in one of their "Pro" systems. Otherwise, they cater to folks who see their computer as an appliance or tool and just want something they can pretty much plug in and use. These customers are not interested or comfortable doing things like opening up a system and upgrading video cards.

The Mini is Apple's answer to any remaining "casual users" who throw a fit because they just want a new computer to plug into their existing keyboard, mouse, monitor, and maybe USB hub they bought before.....

The "void" you talk about in Apple's product line is one I *think* Apple leaves there willfully.

cmon apple. get a clue.

these little mini's are nice but not great. there is a real void in your product lineup.

we need something with like a intel conroe chip, larger case, the ability to put in a better graphics card, and the basics like more ram, bigger hard drive and stuff.

give us a bigger mid sized tower type computer.

we all don't want to buy something with a screen. nor do we want some tiny puny non-upgradeable thing like the mac mini.

give us better options.

 

[guez]

Buying Advice

I have been a Mac user since 1986. I'm not a superuser or a gamer, but the one thing I have learned is to avoid models with too much built-in obsolescence (e.g. my old firewire-less, low-resolution clamshell iBook and the late-model CD-burner-less white iBook G3 that replaced it, not to mention the Powerbook 150 [agh!], Mac Classic [aaagggh!], etc.). Except for the lack of built-in DVD capability, the lampshade 700 MHZ G4 iMac has been a great investment.

So here is my question. Are the $599 mini and $999 iMac going to become obsolete much faster than the $1199 iMac? Do the dedicated video RAM and Core 2 Duo (iMacs) make much of difference? I already have an external DVD burner and plan to buy 2GB RAM.

 

[UnreaL]

I have been a Mac user since 1986. I'm not a superuser or a gamer, but the one thing I have learned is to avoid models with too much built-in obsolescence (e.g. my old firewire-less, low-resolution clamshell iBook and the late-model CD-burner-less white iBook G3 that replaced it, not to mention the Powerbook 150 [agh!], Mac Classic [aaagggh!], etc.). Except for the lack of built-in DVD capability, the lampshade 700 MHZ G4 iMac has been a great investment.

So here is my question. Are the $599 mini and $999 iMac going to become obsolete much faster than the $1199 iMac? Do the dedicated video RAM and Core 2 Duo (iMacs) make much of difference? I already have an external DVD burner and plan to buy 2GB RAM.

Actually the move to Intel has opened Apple to fast depreciation - and that isnt going away.

Many here seem to 'bitch' that Mac is now in competition with the PC in the hardware stakes and sadly that damages your resale value however the benefits are immense, I am sure Apple will be able to secure lower unit costs aswell as faster processors and newer technology. Its great for apple and for us buying, just bad if you sell hardware before it looses all value completely. It also means we will see these refreshes more often and so we will be buying more up to date hardware which as a PC user is great...

To me the move to intel has made Mac a viable option, especially given Bootcamp.

 

[guez]

Actually the move to Intel has opened Apple to fast depreciation - and that isnt going away.

Many here seem to 'bitch' that Mac is now in competition with the PC in the hardware stakes and sadly that damages your resale value however the benefits are immense, I am sure Apple will be able to secure lower unit costs aswell as faster processors and newer technology. Its great for apple and for us buying, just bad if you sell hardware before it looses all value completely. It also means we will see these refreshes more often and so we will be buying more up to date hardware which as a PC user is great...

This raises an interesting question. I'm not so much interested in depreciation as obsolescence. My experience has been that if you buy the right Mac (this is key), it can last 4 years, or more, and system updates/upgrades will not seriously degrade performance (sometimes there can even be an improvement, as with Panther). This is NOT my experience with Wintel. Is this going to change with Intel? Perhaps the readership of this blog does not fall in this category, but Macs have historically appealed to those who want to spend a little more money for more value (including a longer useful life)-the same people who drive a Honda Civic into the ground rather than buying a Chevy Malibu every three years (sorry, I couldn't think of another example).

Are we entering the age of the Walmart-ifation of Macs: less value, but cheaper?

 

[MacManTexas56]

well the problem is that sub accounts cannot exist without the main account and main account has to be renewed every year. so this essentially means i cannot use family pack by myself for 5 years.

i never said that u could go 5 years off one family pack. i simply posted those bc people were complaining about apple's price....newegg is cheaper so order from there for the exact same product....

 

[digitalbiker]

"G5" is processor branding which refers to the 970 chipset, not the design of the machine itself, so you are using that terminology incorrectly. Do people go around saying, "Gee, that new Pentium Dell sure is nice!" It's the equivalent of saying that you like the design of the V10 BMW when in fact you mean the M5. If the current iMac design only housed G5 chips, and was changed when the Intel transition occurred, then fine, that model could be associated with the G5 chip, however this is obviously not the case.

No worries, just pointing out how you are in error.

Most of the time when people refer to the 5th Generation of a model here on MacRumors they refer to their Machine as 5G or Gen5. The main reason for this shortcut is to avoid the confusion with the PPC chip G4, G5, etc.

For Example, as Shard points out above, referring to the new iMac as G5 is just wrong and confusing because of the obsolete PPC G5 chip. However it is much clearer if you refer to the new iMac as 5thGen or 5G.

 

[~Shard~]

Most of the time when people refer to the 5th Generation of a model here on MacRumors they refer to their Machine as 5G or Gen5. The main reason for this shortcut is to avoid the confusion with the PPC chip G4, G5, etc.

For Example, as Shard points out above, referring to the new iMac as G5 is just wrong and confusing because of the obsolete PPC G5 chip. However it is much clearer if you refer to the new iMac as 5thGen or 5G.

Thanks for the additional insight digitalbiker, you're right on the money.

 

[generik]

Number of posts in this thread seem to indicate that this update has been underwhelming

 

[echeck]

Number of posts in this thread seem to indicate that this update has been underwhelming

Well, the update certainly wasn't jaw-dropping, it was just a normal product cycle update. So in comparison to the new CPU's in the iMac, oh, and the whole 24" screen business, the mini update kind of pales in comparison.

That said, I did buy one today from CompUSA! I was very surprised that they had them in already, they even got some of the new low end iMacs yesterday, no 24 inchers yet.

So now my office will be pleasantly furnished with a new Mac mini, wireless keyboard and Mighty Mouse. Everyone else in the building runs Windows (although a few have ACD's), but it shouldn't be too difficult to convert them once they see my little powerhouse of a mini. My boss was already blown away when I showed it to him, he called in three other people to look at it.

Fish in a barrel, my friends.