Apple Quietly Updates Mac Minis

[qtx43]

Just doing a quickie comparison with Dells, not trying too hard, but trying to get something roughly comparable...

$559
Dell Inspiron 530s

Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E4400 (2MB L2 Cache,2.00GHz,800 FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium
No Monitor
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2DIMMs
160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
16X DVD+/-RW Drive
Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse
13 in 1 Media Card Reader
Internal PCI 802.11g Wireless Network Card
OPTIONAL PORTS IEEE 1394a Adapter

Apple's offering suffers in comparison in pretty much every respect, except for form factor and operating system. They pretty much just dropped in a newer processor and a slightly larger HD. That's not enough. Since they're all built out of commodity parts, I really doubt the reliability will be that much different. If I used their productivity apps, that might be something too, but I don't. I can easily stick Linux on a 2nd partition or HD. Not that I've completely made up my mind, but this is a pretty pathetic update to the mini.

I think Apple doesn't really want this market, but they're willing to put out a substandard product at good margins if they don't have to try too hard. It's too bad, I think they'll still increase market share, but not like they could have done.

 

[WannaGoMac]

I totally agree here...no way Apple would give Mini SR before MacBook.

Yes, because how else can they continue to sell over-priced hardware.

Sorry, I don't mean to be bitter because i am. I really wanted to finally switch to Mac, but for these prices I can't justify a machine that isn't even near current....

 

[Jowl]

THe Mini is a close to perfect for what I want it to do - be a Media computer in my lounge.

Together with an EyeTV product, it's just what I need. I was going to get one regardless (perhaps wait for Leopard) - so It now saves me £80 on the spec I was going to buy....and I get faster/64-bit CPU and more HDD space.

 

[iSee]

Eat CROW all you who said it was dead!

And complaining about the specs is silly. We all know it's not going to surpass the MacBook in any way. So how were they going to put in SR and a GPU?

 

[G5power]

Refrubs

The refurb prices on the just replaced mini's looks pretty decent:

Refurbished Mac mini, 1.66GHz Intel Core Duo
512MB memory
60GB hard drive
Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
Intel GMA 950 graphics processor with 64MB of DDR2 memory

Original price: $599.00
Your price: $429.00



Refurbished Mac mini, 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo
512MB memory
80GB hard drive
SuperDrive (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Intel GMA 950 graphics processor with 64MB of DDR2 memory

Original price: $799.00
Your price: $479.00

 

[jellomizer]

wired:

bluetooth:

http://www.apple.com/keyboard/

Bluetooth one lacks numeric keypad. Wired one has "two USB 2.0 ports provide high-speed connectivity for your iPod, Mighty Mouse, digital camera, and other USB-based electronic devices."

Already purchased... I have been looking for a USB Keyboard with as many Keys as an Old DEC VT Keyboard (which I kinda need for work) ... This one fits the bill and it is thin enough to put in my bag for may MacBook Pro (17" so the bag should be wide enough)
To Bad the wireless didn't have the extended keys... Ohwell

 

[iSee]

Yes, because how else can they continue to sell over-priced hardware.

Sorry, I don't mean to be bitter because i am. I really wanted to finally switch to Mac, but for these prices I can't justify a machine that isn't even near current....

Ummm... If you want some more power, why don't you check out the iMac?
I think they might be updating that soon, too...

 

[davidmyers]

I'm sort of glad they stuck with it, given there is not an imac below 1000$.
However, I do think a convergence is in the works with the mini and atv,
ripe for some kind of all-in-one box at some point in 2008. I'm very
disappointed the price was not slashed further though, on the mini. I think
that would have made more of a statement and commitment to the lower
end users.

 

[tom5304]

Sorry for the minor threadjack, but if I'm choosing between a refurb Mini and a refurb iMac, is the Mini substantially more quiet than the iMac? Any experienced opinions appreciated. The refurb iMac looks awfully good, but the refurb Mini is half the price of the iMac...

 

[Tara Davis]

Everybody whining about specs or comparing the mini to the "value" of other computers (Mac or otherwise) are completely missing the point.

The mini is not really a desktop machine. Never was.

It was conceived as a "PC top" machine, meaning that Windows devs who needed to do a few minutes a day of Mac support could plop one on top of the case of their PC.

It's an iBook/MacBook notebook motherboard in a tiny case with no monitor, keyboard, or mouse. In addition to it's intended use, people have found a lot of other great uses for it which no other machine does quite as well.

1. Hook it up to an HDTV or projector, and it makes an awesome media player (which also happens to let you browse the web, read e-mail, play the occasional light-weight game, etc.)

2. Hook it up to a USB sound module, launch & control Garage Band via remote desktop, and it becomes a great rack-mounted guitar/vocal signal processor that can sit anywhere in the room/concert hall and be controlled from anywhere else via laptop (or even with limited "blind" control usings BT devices).

3. Mount it in the car.

4. Headless server in your closet (or hell.. your kitchen cupboard).

etc.

They are handy gadgets, but they are not, and never were, the best available solution for OS X desktop computing. If that's what you want, buy an iMac and be happy.

I, for one, love the little buggers. I'm planning on buying two of them next October when 10.5 comes out. Hopefully they will have upgraded the airport cards to 802.11n by then.

 

[sundancemc]

Core 2 Upgrade, But No Wireless "N"?!?

I was super pleased to see the CPU upgrade, but I assumed that wireless "n" would come with it. After all, that is the easy-to-remember threshhold for "g" vs. "n".

Now, the Mini will be the only Core 2 without wireless "n". That seems odd to me, especially considering its obvious role as a HTPC streaming content to Apple TV.

With so many Mini's as HTPC's, it seems strange that you need a MacBook to stream hi-res content to Apple TV.

Odd.

 

[macjonny1]

I was super pleased to see the CPU upgrade, but I assumed that wireless "n" would come with it. After all, that is the easy-to-remember threshhold for "g" vs. "n".

Now, the Mini will be the only Core 2 without wireless "n". That seems odd to me, especially considering its obvious role as a HTPC streaming content to Apple TV.

With so many Mini's as HTPC's, it seems strange that you need a MacBook to stream hi-res content to Apple TV.

Odd.

I too think it is pretty sad that they didn't update the wireless. I have an all wireless 'n' network and don't want to put a 'g' device on it. Also, they need to update the airport express...how hard can it be to make the transition seamless across all of the devices....

 

[Kosh66]

Everybody whining about specs or comparing the mini to the "value" of other computers (Mac or otherwise) are completely missing the point.

The mini is not really a desktop machine. Never was.

It was conceived as a "PC top" machine, meaning that Windows devs who needed to do a few minutes a day of Mac support could plop one on top of the case of their PC.

It's an iBook/MacBook notebook motherboard in a tiny case with no monitor, keyboard, or mouse. In addition to it's intended use, people have found a lot of other great uses for it which no other machine does quite as well.

1. Hook it up to an HDTV or projector, and it makes an awesome media player (which also happens to let you browse the web, read e-mail, play the occasional light-weight game, etc.)

2. Hook it up to a USB sound module, launch & control Garage Band via remote desktop, and it becomes a great rack-mounted guitar/vocal signal processor that can sit anywhere in the room/concert hall and be controlled from anywhere else via laptop (or even with limited "blind" control usings BT devices).

3. Mount it in the car.

4. Headless server in your closet (or hell.. your kitchen cupboard).

etc.

They are handy gadgets, but they are not, and never were, the best available solution for OS X desktop computing. If that's what you want, buy an iMac and be happy.

I, for one, love the little buggers. I'm planning on buying two of them next October when 10.5 comes out. Hopefully they will have upgraded the airport cards to 802.11n by then.

Excellent points. This little computer is a powerful beast for a media center, a server, or general computer usage (surfing the web, emails, office apps). It would even be a good office computer.

 

[Chisholm]

Just doing a quickie comparison with Dells, not trying too hard, but trying to get something roughly comparable...

$559
Dell Inspiron 530s

Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E4400 (2MB L2 Cache,2.00GHz,800 FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium
No Monitor
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2DIMMs
160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
16X DVD+/-RW Drive
Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse
13 in 1 Media Card Reader
Internal PCI 802.11g Wireless Network Card
OPTIONAL PORTS IEEE 1394a Adapter

Apple's offering suffers in comparison in pretty much every respect, except for form factor and operating system. They pretty much just dropped in a newer processor and a slightly larger HD. That's not enough. Since they're all built out of commodity parts, I really doubt the reliability will be that much different. If I used their productivity apps, that might be something too, but I don't. I can easily stick Linux on a 2nd partition or HD. Not that I've completely made up my mind, but this is a pretty pathetic update to the mini.

I think Apple doesn't really want this market, but they're willing to put out a substandard product at good margins if they don't have to try too hard. It's too bad, I think they'll still increase market share, but not like they could have done.

Yeah, you're comparing Apples to Dells. There is something called quality control that Dell is lacking. The mini is a targeted product. Maybe some of these folks complaining aren't the target audience for this particular product.

 

[rcha101]

Other updates

I dont remember the macbook pro being 2.4ghz or an 8 way mac pro, have these also been refreshed??!

 

[SkyBell]

just a wee bit of a bump then, too bad
whaaat! 2gb max ram still???? I thought we were past this by now... comeon at least 3gb please....

I'm still chugging away on 512 MB on my mini, and 256 MB on my iBook G3, both running Tiger.

I really want to buy a mac. Shame Apple won't get off it's high-horse on pricing high for old equipment. If the Mac Mini had been given Santa Rosa x3100 video, it would have been a great update and I would have purchased my first Mac.

Even the refurb at 479 seems pricey for a Core 1 Duo to me...

Pshh, people paid $600 for that.

Yes, because how else can they continue to sell over-priced hardware.

Sorry, I don't mean to be bitter because i am. I really wanted to finally switch to Mac, but for these prices I can't justify a machine that isn't even near current....

Current is a matter of opinion

Everybody whining about specs or comparing the mini to the "value" of other computers (Mac or otherwise) are completely missing the point.

The mini is not really a desktop machine. Never was.

It was conceived as a "PC top" machine, meaning that Windows devs who needed to do a few minutes a day of Mac support could plop one on top of the case of their PC.

It's an iBook/MacBook notebook motherboard in a tiny case with no monitor, keyboard, or mouse. In addition to it's intended use, people have found a lot of other great uses for it which no other machine does quite as well.

1. Hook it up to an HDTV or projector, and it makes an awesome media player (which also happens to let you browse the web, read e-mail, play the occasional light-weight game, etc.)

2. Hook it up to a USB sound module, launch & control Garage Band via remote desktop, and it becomes a great rack-mounted guitar/vocal signal processor that can sit anywhere in the room/concert hall and be controlled from anywhere else via laptop (or even with limited "blind" control usings BT devices).

3. Mount it in the car.

4. Headless server in your closet (or hell.. your kitchen cupboard).

etc.

They are handy gadgets, but they are not, and never were, the best available solution for OS X desktop computing. If that's what you want, buy an iMac and be happy.

I, for one, love the little buggers. I'm planning on buying two of them next October when 10.5 comes out. Hopefully they will have upgraded the airport cards to 802.11n by then.

THANK YOU! Finally someone who isn't complaining that the mini isnt close in specs to the iMac. It's not supposed to be.

 

[Eidorian]

Yeah, you're comparing Apples to Dells. There is something called quality control that Dell is lacking. The mini is a targeted product. Maybe some of these folks complaining aren't the target audience for this particular product.

I've never had any more quality control issues with Dell then with Apple in my department.

Everybody whining about specs or comparing the mini to the "value" of other computers (Mac or otherwise) are completely missing the point.

The mini is not really a desktop machine. Never was.

It was conceived as a "PC top" machine, meaning that Windows devs who needed to do a few minutes a day of Mac support could plop one on top of the case of their PC.

It's an iBook/MacBook notebook motherboard in a tiny case with no monitor, keyboard, or mouse. In addition to it's intended use, people have found a lot of other great uses for it which no other machine does quite as well.

1. Hook it up to an HDTV or projector, and it makes an awesome media player (which also happens to let you browse the web, read e-mail, play the occasional light-weight game, etc.)

2. Hook it up to a USB sound module, launch & control Garage Band via remote desktop, and it becomes a great rack-mounted guitar/vocal signal processor that can sit anywhere in the room/concert hall and be controlled from anywhere else via laptop (or even with limited "blind" control usings BT devices).

3. Mount it in the car.

4. Headless server in your closet (or hell.. your kitchen cupboard).

etc.

They are handy gadgets, but they are not, and never were, the best available solution for OS X desktop computing. If that's what you want, buy an iMac and be happy.

I, for one, love the little buggers. I'm planning on buying two of them next October when 10.5 comes out. Hopefully they will have upgraded the airport cards to 802.11n by then.

Don't plan on running Leopard very well on the GMA950

 

[Compile 'em all]

IMHO the mini got a decent upgrade, specially after everyone thought it was dead. I am getting one to run as a HTPC but the euro prices are killing me. 600$ for the lower end model, that is 435 Euros. But this very same model goes for 600 Euros in Europe .

 

[FunkyELF]

Mac mini gets leftovers?

Could it be that the reason these aren't Santa Rosa is because they needed something to do with the overstock from previous macbook's / iMacs?

 

[Tara Davis]

Just doing a quickie comparison with Dells, not trying too hard, but trying to get something roughly comparable...

$559
Dell Inspiron 530s

Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E4400 (2MB L2 Cache,2.00GHz,800 FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium
No Monitor
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2DIMMs
160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
16X DVD+/-RW Drive
Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse
13 in 1 Media Card Reader
Internal PCI 802.11g Wireless Network Card
OPTIONAL PORTS IEEE 1394a Adapter

Apple's offering suffers in comparison in pretty much every respect, except for form factor and operating system. They pretty much just dropped in a newer processor and a slightly larger HD. That's not enough. Since they're all built out of commodity parts, I really doubt the reliability will be that much different. If I used their productivity apps, that might be something too, but I don't. I can easily stick Linux on a 2nd partition or HD. Not that I've completely made up my mind, but this is a pretty pathetic update to the mini.

I think Apple doesn't really want this market, but they're willing to put out a substandard product at good margins if they don't have to try too hard. It's too bad, I think they'll still increase market share, but not like they could have done.

Suffers in every respect? It matches it spec-for-spec on most of those items.

Plus, the mini can run every major desktop OS, and therefore nearly every application, on the planet.

Get back to me when you're reliably running Garage Band, iMovie, or Keynote on that Dell. Until then, I proclaim the Dell Inspiron (and any other non-Apple PC) to be mere crippleware by comparison. kthxbye

 

[iCe Cube]

brilliant to see it updated

..not so brilliant that it wasn't publicised. I don't know why Apple are not advertising this more! This is perfect for the potential switchers.

 

[princealfie]

Suffers in every respect? It matches it spec-for-spec on most of those items.

Plus, the mini can run every major desktop OS, and therefore nearly every application, on the planet.

Get back to me when you're reliably running Garage Band, iMovie, or Keynote on that Dell. Until then, I proclaim the Dell Inspiron (and any other non-Apple PC) to be mere crippleware by comparison. kthxbye

plus the dell is way too big... the mac mini is perfect size for media recording.

 

[Tara Davis]

IMHO the mini got a decent upgrade, specially after everyone thought it was dead. I am getting one to run as a HTPC but the euro prices are killing me. 600$ for the lower end model, that is 435 Euros. But this very same model goes for 600 Euros in Europe .

So snap one up next time you travel abroad on vacation. It's small enough to fit in your carry-on luggage.

In the Mall of America (a bafflingly popular tourist site), you will find the Apple Store on the first floor of the South Wing, just a few paces West of the South main entrance of the mall.

Cheers.

 

[Tara Davis]

brilliant to see it updated

..not so brilliant that it wasn't publicised. I don't know why Apple are not advertising this more! This is perfect for the potential switchers.

Probably because a modest speed bump and extra glob of memory didn't really warrant the kind of fanfare the new iMac called for.

An incremental upgrade might be Big News for those of us who were worried about rumors of the mini being "Steved" in the immediate future, but otherwise it's not really worthy of a big press release.

 

[Chisholm]

I've never had any more quality control issues with Dell than with Apple in my department.

I've never attached a pic before...notice the duct tape? Gaffer's tape works better if you need to open the case on a regular basis.

Sorry, I just had to correct the typo too.