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Apple Quietly Updates Mac Minis

Multimedia said:
They toss in the current system DVD and the iLife '08 Install DVD. If it doesn't arrive in your box you simply phone Applecare and they send them right out free of charge. No problem. You neglected to phone right away and demand satisfaction in a polite way.

Store still down - education and/or refurb paths.
Click to expand...

You got lucky/the AppleCare rep you got was nice/they have an unwritten policy because they're nice guys. You're not entitled to software that didn't come with the machine originally. Now that the store is up, I checked:

What's in
the Box


* - Refurbished Mac mini
* - Apple Remote
* - DVI to VGA adapter
* - Power cord
* - Install/restore DVDs
* - Printed and electronic documentation


Software

Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger
The world's most advanced operating system including these system applications:

* - Address Book
* - DVD Player
* - iCal
* - iChat AV
* - Mail
* - Preview
* - Safari
* - Xcode


Applications
Mac mini also comes with the following applications:

* - iLife '06
* - Front Row
* - Front Row
* - Photo Booth
* - iWork '06 30-day trial
* - Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 30-day Test Drive


Note: Other software may or may not be included (pre-installed or on CD's/DVD's) with refurbished products, subject to availability.
Click to expand...

Royale w/cheese said:
Sorry, $1149. Your post actually made me consider getting an iMac for the first time in many years, but is it me, or is apple starting to cut the edu discount quite a bit?
Click to expand...

Ya, you trimmed out the "if" part of my comment. :p I swear the old EDU discount knocked $100-200 off the iMacs at various levels, so I had high hopes they would leave SOME sub-$1000 machine in the lineup... but alas, barely a discount at all. Better off buying from Amazon and not paying sales tax. I also think they are starting to phase that program out. Probably to many people scamming that system. Maybe the should offer good discounts again, but only at campus stores/through the school. Ah well.
 
G5power said:
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
Click to expand...

Store's already sold out - what was that? About 1/2 hour?
 
Compile 'em all said:
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 :(.
Click to expand...

In Sweden at least, there is a price drop. The 1.66CD was 5995 SEK, now the 1.83C2D is 5495 SEK. Then again, the SEK has appreciated with 10% towards the dollar in the last year.
The Mini now again fares very well compared to the PC clones with the same form factor.
 
Tara Davis said:
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
Click to expand...
You're funny. Compared to the $599 mini, "most of those items" are...well, let's just say I don't know how you counted them:

Price: Dell
Processor Speed: Dell
FSB Speed: Dell
HD Speed: Dell
HD Capacity: Dell
Writing DVDs: Dell (Combo drive is utterly ridiculous)
GMA graphics: Dell (this is a big one)
Wireless g: tie
1 GB memory: tie
Comes with Keyboard and Mouse: Dell
Form factor: Mac
OS: Mac (I do like OSX)

I'll give you one cheapo one:
Wired ethernet: Mac (with the largely unused gigabit ethernet)

Compared to the more expensive mini, Dell still wins on most counts.

I don't know how many USB ports the Dell has, but I did add the optional firewire port to even it up a little. And I previously mentioned the better form factor and OS of the Mac. Also that I don't much use their productivity apps. If that's whining and complaining, then I guess I'm a whiner.

It's probably true, as somebody mentioned, Apple didn't really intend this as a competitive desktop machine. Since they're not going after that market, they won't make many sales into that market. Oh well. I don't need or want to run nearly every application on the planet. I imagine few people do.
 
qtx43 said:
You're funny. Compared to the $599 mini, "most of those items" are...well, let's just say I don't know how you counted them:

Price: Dell
Processor Speed: Dell
FSB Speed: Dell
HD Speed: Dell
HD Capacity: Dell
Writing DVDs: Dell (Combo drive is utterly ridiculous)
GMA graphics: Dell (this is a big one)
Wireless g: tie
1 GB memory: tie
Comes with Keyboard and Mouse: Dell
Form factor: Mac
OS: Mac (I do like OSX)

I'll give you one cheapo one:
Wired ethernet: Mac (with the largely unused gigabit ethernet)

Compared to the more expensive mini, Dell still wins on most counts.

I don't know how many USB ports the Dell has, but I did add the optional firewire port to even it up a little. And I previously mentioned the better form factor and OS of the Mac. Also that I don't much use their productivity apps. If that's whining and complaining, then I guess I'm a whiner.

It's probably true, as somebody mentioned, Apple didn't really intend this as a competitive desktop machine. Since they're not going after that market, they won't make many sales into that market. Oh well. I don't need or want to run nearly every application on the planet. I imagine few people do.
Click to expand...

Here we go with the Dell thing again - is there any way we can ban mentioning Dells on this site?

My point - Dells stink up to high heaven.

http://www.ihatedell.net
 
qtx43 said:
You're funny. Compared to the $599 mini, "most of those items" are...well, let's just say I don't know how you counted them:

Price: Dell
Processor Speed: Dell
FSB Speed: Dell
HD Speed: Dell
HD Capacity: Dell
Writing DVDs: Dell (Combo drive is utterly ridiculous)
GMA graphics: Dell (this is a big one)
Wireless g: tie
1 GB memory: tie
Comes with Keyboard and Mouse: Dell
Form factor: Mac
OS: Mac (I do like OSX)

I'll give you one cheapo one:
Wired ethernet: Mac (with the largely unused gigabit ethernet)

Compared to the more expensive mini, Dell still wins on most counts.

I don't know how many USB ports the Dell has, but I did add the optional firewire port to even it up a little. And I previously mentioned the better form factor and OS of the Mac. Also that I don't much use their productivity apps. If that's whining and complaining, then I guess I'm a whiner.

It's probably true, as somebody mentioned, Apple didn't really intend this as a competitive desktop machine. Since they're not going after that market, they won't make many sales into that market. Oh well. I don't need or want to run nearly every application on the planet. I imagine few people do.
Click to expand...

More comparisons of Apples to Dells.

If you insist on comparing Apple and Dell, be fair about it. The Mini is built from portable stock, which costs more due to increased demands on miniturization and heat. Of course the Dell's going to cost less that way.

Put your best-matched Dell up to a full-size Mac, and then see how they compare. You wanna go up against the Mini, show me a Dell with comparable hardware (ie, small form-factor). Don't want to compare Dell laptops? Then Dell's got nothing. Have a nice day. Thanks for playing. No, there is no consolation prize.
 
gkarris said:
Here we go with the Dell thing again - is there any way we can ban mentioning Dells on this site?

My point - Dells stink up to high heaven.

http://www.ihatedell.net
Click to expand...
Ok, make it HP, it really doesn't matter that much. They all use commodity parts at this point. An Apple computer is not going to be hugely more reliable, even in RDF-land. And yes, I'm sure you've had bad experiences with Dell, but they're just anecdotal. People have bad experiences with Apples also (yes, that would include me). The point is, the specs on the mini are not impressive. At all. There have been times when the mini was fairly competitive on price, and if it wasn't quite, it made it up with OSX and a nice form factor and being quiet.

I buy computers mainly to work on, not to sit around and look pretty. Apple doesn't seem to be making the grade with this update. On the iMacs, they seem more competitive, but they're too narrowly targeted to include me as an consumer. I think, at this point.
 
Where is the FireWire 800 in the Mac mini? Leopard Time Machine will love that!!!

Did you know that the Mac mini is MUCH FASTER booting from an external FireWire 400 disk that from its slow internal disk when tested with Xbench? Now imagine if it had FireWire 800 or even eSATA II bot booting and more!
 
network23 said:
More comparisons of Apples to Dells.

If you insist on comparing Apple and Dell, be fair about it. The Mini is built from portable stock, which costs more due to increased demands on miniturization and heat. Of course the Dell's going to cost less that way.

Put your best-matched Dell up to a full-size Mac, and then see how they compare. You wanna go up against the Mini, show me a Dell with comparable hardware (ie, small form-factor). Don't want to compare Dell laptops? Then Dell's got nothing. Have a nice day. Thanks for playing. No, there is no consolation prize.
Click to expand...
You're making my point for me. I'm not interested in buying a laptop at this time. And yes, the small form factor is nice, but if Apple wanted, they could put something in a small tower, or Apple TV footprint/Cube, and use desktop components. That's their choice, to go after a particular market.

They're not interested in being a full line computer company. They're chosen a few narrow markets, and if I did compare to a "full-size Mac" as you say, the only option with any real expandability is the Mac Pro. Do you really want to go down that route?

Oh well, enough I guess. You won't agree with me no matter what I say, so I've babbled on enough.
 
qtx43 said:
You're funny. Compared to the $599 mini, "most of those items" are...well, let's just say I don't know how you counted them:

Price: Dell
Processor Speed: Dell
FSB Speed: Dell
HD Speed: Dell
HD Capacity: Dell
Writing DVDs: Dell (Combo drive is utterly ridiculous)
GMA graphics: Dell (this is a big one)
Wireless g: tie
1 GB memory: tie
Comes with Keyboard and Mouse: Dell
Form factor: Mac
OS: Mac (I do like OSX)

I'll give you one cheapo one:
Wired ethernet: Mac (with the largely unused gigabit ethernet)

Compared to the more expensive mini, Dell still wins on most counts.

I don't know how many USB ports the Dell has, but I did add the optional firewire port to even it up a little. And I previously mentioned the better form factor and OS of the Mac. Also that I don't much use their productivity apps. If that's whining and complaining, then I guess I'm a whiner.

It's probably true, as somebody mentioned, Apple didn't really intend this as a competitive desktop machine. Since they're not going after that market, they won't make many sales into that market. Oh well. I don't need or want to run nearly every application on the planet. I imagine few people do.
Click to expand...

Cute how you changed your spec list when you saw you were losing the argument.

Let's have a look back at what you originally posted, shall we?

Core2Duo Tie with the $800 mini, slightly beats the $600

Vista LOSER!!!

No Monitor tie

1GB RAM tie

160GB HD tie (Dell's is faster, mini's burns less power, runs quieter, and takes up less space)

16X DVD+/-RW Drive beats the cheap mini, loses to the good one

Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100 tie, in that both suck. if it ain't a discrete graphics card, it's nothing special.

Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio tie. only a choad buys both side and rear channel speakers.

Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse tie. both give you $0 worth of mouse & keyboard hardware.

13 in 1 Media Card Reader for?

Internal PCI 802.11g Wireless Network Card LOSER, no bluetooth for you!

OPTIONAL PORTS IEEE 1394a Adapter LOSER


Hmmm... looks an awful lot closer than "Suffers in comparison in pretty much every respect", don't it?
 
Tara Davis said:
Cute how you changed your spec list when you saw you were losing the argument.

Let's have a look back at what you originally posted, shall we?

Core2Duo Tie with the $800 mini, slightly beats the $600

Vista LOSER!!!

No Monitor tie

1GB RAM tie

160GB HD tie (Dell's is faster, mini's burns less power, runs quieter, and takes up less space)

16X DVD+/-RW Drive beats the cheap mini, loses to the good one

Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100 tie, in that both suck. if it ain't a discrete graphics card, it's nothing special.

Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio tie. only a choad buys both side and rear channel speakers.

Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse tie. both give you $0 worth of mouse & keyboard hardware.

13 in 1 Media Card Reader for?

Internal PCI 802.11g Wireless Network Card LOSER, no bluetooth for you!

OPTIONAL PORTS IEEE 1394a Adapter LOSER


Hmmm... looks an awful lot closer than "Suffers in comparison in pretty much every respect", don't it?
Click to expand...

I haven't seen anyone mention FORM FACTOR. Smaller is generally more expensive with technology. A computer is not a diamond.
 
The Mac mini always shared the technology of the low-end laptops in Apple's line-up. Anybody expecting the mini getting better specs than the MBs, was setting himself or herself up for a disappointment.

Now you can lament that the MBs don't have better specs but I think it is obvious that the cheapest Mac also is the slowest Mac on offer.

The only real issue I have, in respect to the mini, is the lag between updates to the MBs and the mini.
 
Happy with the update to be honest. Price wise it isn't great. However in the UK they've given us £30 off Now it's 'only' £499 and the cheap one £399.

I hate the all in one solution that is the iMac, my current monitor is fine and doesn't have to be replaced when the computer is out of date.

Not too sure if i'll get the update. Might hold off for the Mac Pro update.
 
Sure it's still alive, but it's dead to me even more than before, as much as I'd love to get one to use with my hdtv.

This sucks.
 
No 802.11n wireless

I would have liked to have seen 802.11n included in the update but I am guessing the updates it got were the only ones that could be done with no modifications to the design. It seems like Apple is going to be keeping the mini so maybe the next update will bring the latest wireless networking to the mini.
 
Well, be glad the mini is still here...

I'm just glad they didn't axe it entirely. Yes, it could be better, but since the video cards on the iMac are disappointing (and non-upgradable), I've completely given up on using a mac as even an occasional gaming computer. The video cards in the mac pro are a sick joke, especially considering what they cost.

Why no blue ray? Where's the revolutionary design? My "desk lamp" style iMac was a triumph of design in its time. There's no WOW with Apple anymore, unless you're into toys. Apple seems to think that their products should generate a buzz just because they're Macs, but now changing the frame to steel with a glossy display passes for inspired design, sheesh...

And because the mini didn't sell a meeelyun, beeelyun units, they're hoping (or forcing) that the mini will die out on the vine - while they completely missed a chance to market this awesome little box to the market it was intended for, people that want a computer that just works but doesn't cost as much as a down payment on a car. The mini has not been marketed properly, just like the apple TV.

When October comes around, I'll be buying either a MacBook or a mini to replace my aging (but aging well, thank you) 17" widescreen 1Ghz G4. Unfortunately, because I like to game and (lip service aside) because Apple seems to not care about gaming at all, I'll probably end up getting a gaming machine as well. At that point, I'll be off the Apple bus for three or four years, hoping that they wake up and give me something worth spending some REAL money on.
 
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