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Apple Quietly Updates Mac Minis

Man I'm a bit disappointed with the mini. I thought apple was sorta obliged to include santa rosa, but instead apple stuck in a slightly less obsolete CPU and called it an upgrade.

For what it is, its rather expensive. An older platform, 80gb HDD, 965 graphics...
They should just have included the x3100 and made it run at 667mhz FSB or something. That would differentiate the product lines, and give a low-end graphics upgrade. Its just a pity because they could have done so much more with the mini (which is a great idea anyway).

I suppose I'll get one anyway...
 
booksacool1 said:
Man I'm a bit disappointed with the mini. I thought apple was sorta obliged to include santa rosa, but instead apple stuck in a slightly less obsolete CPU and called it an upgrade.

For what it is, its rather expensive. An older platform, 80gb HDD, 965 graphics...
They should just have included the x3100 and made it run at 667mhz FSB or something. That would differentiate the product lines, and give a low-end graphics upgrade. Its just a pity because they could have done so much more with the mini (which is a great idea anyway).

I suppose I'll get one anyway...
Click to expand...

If you don't like it, why buy it?

Besides the MacBook didn't get the x3100 chipset, what gave you the idea that the Mini would? You were actually expecting Apple to surpass your expectations? Wow.

Apart from the MacBook Pro with its better than expected GPU and LCD update this has been a pretty crappy year for the Mac so far.
 
iW00t said:
If you don't like it, why buy it?

Besides the MacBook didn't get the x3100 chipset, what gave you the idea that the Mini would? You were actually expecting Apple to surpass your expectations? Wow.

Apart from the MacBook Pro with its better than expected GPU and LCD update this has been a pretty crappy year for the Mac so far.
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I feel generally abandoned when it comes to Apple computers this year.

I just can't bring myself to be an Apple apologist for the hardware they decide to put out.
 
I'm kinda pleased they renewed the mini even though it's not fabulus - it is an entry level machine and for the price I wouln't expect much better from a PC. I also noticed on the NZ store that they have finally dropped the price in relation to the NZ$ - its about 20% cheaper than before!:DWe would consider the cheaper one as a replacement for our 98PC and my dad's 95PC!!!:eek:
 
qtx43 said:
Just doing a quickie comparison with Dells, not trying too hard, but trying to get something roughly comparable....
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Um, that's nowhere near "comparable". There are more to computers than just bunch of specs.
 
hooray!!!

Just a little disapointed that airport build in, is still the "g" variety, and not the draft "n" standard the other Mac's ship with......

Don't care about the integrated graphics, I don't need graphic power, nor do I do Gaming on a mac, I have a Wii for that kind of fun. :apple:
One thing though, I am so going to order the new iLife and iWork suites :):apple:
 
iW00t said:
Like?
Click to expand...

Like the design and software that runs on the machine? Mini is a gorgerous machine that feels like a hi-end piece of equipment. It's so tiny that you can literally lose it on your desk. It's also virtually silent. The Dell? I bet that its a black minitower that is made from cheap plastic? Can you put it on your desk and forget that it's there? No. Is it silent? I doubt it. Can it run OS X? No.

I have Mac Mini, and I also had a tower-PC. And the design-difference between those two was enormous. The PC was huge and it kept getting in my way. I could not keep it on my desk since it was too big, and it took large amount of precious legroom under the desk. When I used it, it felt like I was operating a piece of machinery, since it kept on humming and distracting me. The Mini on the other hand did NOT get in to my way. I could concentrate on the thing I was doing, instead of being constantly reminded that I have a computer running next to me.

Whenever I read these "But the Dell is better!"-comments I'm reminded of Zune and iPod. Zune looks better on paper: It has bigger screen and WiFi. But in reality iPod mops the floor with it. Why is that? Because there are more to these things than just specs. If specs were the only thing that mattered, we would all be using Archos and Zunes, instead of iPods.

Just because something looks better on paper does not mean that it's actually better in real-life use. And fact of the matter is that for someone who is looking for an inexpensive Mac, the Dell is not an option, since it's not a Mac.
 
Evangelion said:
Like the design and software that runs on the machine? Mini is a gorgerous machine that feels like a hi-end piece of equipment. It's so tiny that you can literally lose it on your desk. It's also virtually silent. The Dell? I bet that its a black minitower that is made from cheap plastic? Can you put it on your desk and forget that it's there? No. Is it silent? I doubt it. Can it run OS X? No.

I have Mac Mini, and I also had a tower-PC. And the design-difference between those two was enormous. The PC was huge and it kept getting in my way. I could not keep it on my desk since it was too big, and it took large amount of precious legroom under the desk. When I used it, it felt like I was operating a piece of machinery, since it kept on humming and distracting me. The Mini on the other hand did NOT get in to my way. I could concentrate on the thing I was doing, instead of being constantly reminded that I have a computer running next to me.

Whenever I read these "But the Dell is better!"-comments I'm reminded of Zune and iPod. Zune looks better on paper: It has bigger screen and WiFi. But in reality iPod mops the floor with it. Why is that? Because there are more to these things than just specs. If specs were the only thing that mattered, we would all be using Archos and Zunes, instead of iPods.

Just because something looks better on paper does not mean that it's actually better in real-life use. And fact of the matter is that for someone who is looking for an inexpensive Mac, the Dell is not an option, since it's not a Mac.
Click to expand...

How old is your tower PC?

I too have a PC tower running on one of those new Core 2 Duo chips. Absolutely silent.

It sits nicely under my desk, I have no trouble adding an additional harddrive to my machine without turning my workspace into a snake's nest, and I can easily upgrade my graphics card as I like, a pain that even the recent iMac users know just too well.

Everything has pros and cons.
 
my mac mini I bought second hand that I upgraded is still better then this poor excuse of a refresh. -sigh- I guess ill keep dreaming of that mythical mac that is somewhere between a mini and a mac pro :rolleyes: (and does not have a built in display no thank you imac!)
 
iW00t said:
How old is your tower PC?
Click to expand...

I assembled the tower-PC in 2004 using ultra-silent enclosure and quite fans. Mac Mini was bought in 2005.

It sits nicely under my desk
Click to expand...

I have no room under the desk, so in my case it would have to sit on the desk.

I have no trouble adding an additional harddrive to my machine without turning my workspace into a snake's nest, and I can easily upgrade my graphics card as I like, a pain that even the recent iMac users know just too well
Click to expand...

I too swore for upgradeability not too long ago. But then I realized something: I never really took advantage of it. Yes, I had added a hard-drive or two to my PC's, but that's about it. Vid-cards? By the time I wanted to upgrade, I had to get a new motherboard since connectors had moved on. CPU's? They went and changed the sockets, so I would have had to get a new motherboard. Same thing with RAM. In essence: when I upgraded, I practically got a new computer. It never made much sense to me to upgrade just one component, so I went ahead and upgraded everything.

Cable-mess when adding hard-drives? Well, I have two external HD's connected to the Mini, and there is no mess. They look practically identical to the Mini and they are stacked underneath it. They are connected to it through short FireWire-cables.
 
I guess if I wanted a new Desktop computer then I'd be annoyed at the small Mini updates. But as I want one (or 2!) as a HTPC then it's great. Small, silent, enough power to feed a 26"/32" TV and enough storage space for all the TV I'll record until I archive it to a fileserver.

It seems that Apple don't really do Desktop hardware. I love their laptops but apart from the Mac Pro - beyond most consumers price budget - then there isn't a form factor that really does it.

Im not asking to change the motherboard - just want to upgrade/add HDD's, possibly graphics card and perhaps add an internal IO/TV card.

Is it only MacRumours members that want a mid range tower? Must be otherwise woudn't Apple listen to their customers and give us one?
 
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...

Don't forget to add VAT to the price after converting to euro. That's €527 in Belgium (21% VAT), so we're not getting ripped off quite as much as you think.
 
TaterSalad said:
I just want to know if they are going to be in retail stores today. I called my local store and they didn't know anything. Apparently, consumers are higher up on the new product chain of command than the store employees.
Click to expand...

Apple Store employees are not permitted to talk about unreleased products until the moment Apple actually start selling them. It's a standard Apple clause in the contract. There's a difference between them not knowing anything and just saying that they don't know anything, and let's be honest, the average Apple Store employee is going to know at least as much as we are because they're going to visit the same sites.

According to DaringFireball.net, "Jobs hates the Mini, so it got neither a mention during the event (until the Q&A) nor a press release, but Apple did refresh it today... as for why Jobs hates it, think about his comments during the event making fun of Dell machines because of the all the cables you need to hook them up to displays and webcams. That all applies equally to the Mini."

Err... doesn't that also apply equally to the Mac Pro? :confused:

Anyway, I for one am glad they kept the Mac Mini after all and even furnished it with a slight speed bump, though I confess to a twinge of disappointment that they didn't do something about its sucktacular GPU. I mean, even the AppleTV has a GeForce 7300 with 64MB of discrete VRAM these days. Ah well - as long as it's around I'm not going to complain too hard.
 
I have been waiting for it for too long.
I will place my order once 10.5 release!

Thanks apple for not killing the mini~
I am going to connect it to Bravia in living room:apple:
 
Ordered a 2GHz mini today

Given the disappointing graphics chip in the iMac, I decided to pick up a 2GHz Mac mini, and put the AU $900 saving towards a PC gaming system or Xbox 360 instead. Placed my order this morning...hopefully should have it within the next few days. Will be a nice upgrade from the 1.33GHz 12" PowerBook that I'm currently using as my sole machine. :D
 
network23 said:
More comparisons of Apples to Dells.
Click to expand...

Tell me about it.

Which company has been worth more since early 2006 despite selling far less units?

The Dell bargain bin strategy has, and continues to fail. Why would Apple want to get dragged into a failed business model that it has always known would fail? The Mac mini is an entry level Mac that focus on the most basic user with the understanding that hardcore video editing, gaming, or any other tasks as difficult or more difficult than those require at least the consumer iMac or higher and possibly even other applications like Final Cut Express in the case of video editing, etc.

There are 4 computer markets: bargain, consumer, professional, and information management (IT). Although Dell is well positioned in the highest level, it's not enough to offset the fact that they're at the top of the bottom of that market. That is why they're bleeding, and Apple has no desire to get wounded along with them. Not when Apple is SO damn healthy because it's NOT doing what Dell is.

Get it? Got it? Good.

You won't see Macs in Wal-Mart anytime soon either, but you sure can get a Dell. That speaks volumes about their quality and worth.

I swear, if I have one more Dell switcher (of which I've encountered thousands over the past 5 years) come whining to me about "Dell's Tech Support in India" (I'm not at ALL racist, but enough is enough), they're Piece of Crap (PC) hardware, and ESPECIALLY their general problems that they get because of the lack of seamless integration between junk windows OS and even junkier Dell hardware, I'm gonna personally kick michael "I'm gettin' my a$$ handed to me by Steve Jobs" dell in the nutz.

FIN.
 
No. the reason that Apple is so darned healthy is because enough people bought the iPod. It has very little to do with computers at this point in time.

As for the choice, people use them because they have become a fashion and are more of a no-brainer (literally) to use. The same, of course, goes for the Mac but it is not contributing to Apple's bottom line and the market confidence to date anything like the iPod ecosystem.
 
oingoboingo said:
Given the disappointing graphics chip in the iMac, I decided to pick up a 2GHz Mac mini, and put the AU $900 saving towards a PC gaming system or Xbox 360 instead. Placed my order this morning...hopefully should have it within the next few days. Will be a nice upgrade from the 1.33GHz 12" PowerBook that I'm currently using as my sole machine. :D
Click to expand...

Let us know how it performs in comparison - I'm looking to do exactly the same thing (I have a 1.33 G4 12" Powerbook too, and I think it's pitifully slow), I'm curious how much faster it feels if any, when it comes to day-to-day stuff.

Is the Intel graphics chip actually worse than the NVidia Go5200 that's in the Powerbook? I do very very little gaming on a Mac (got a PC for that), but I've been known to run World of Warcraft (amazingly operates quite smoothly on that old PB) and Second Life (slideshow, but it runs)
 
Sesshi said:
No. the reason that Apple is so darned healthy is because enough people bought the iPod.
Click to expand...

The iPod Halo effect excuse is done and gone. Has been for well over a year now since the transition to Intel was complete. Of course iPods still contribute heavily to Apple's bottom line, but not like they did from 2003-2006 where Apple's computer line was gimped.

Fact of the matter is that people have been switching from windows pc's to Macs for over a year now for ONE reason: because they are NOT windows pc's.

Sesshi said:
It has very little to do with computers at this point in time.
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Macs are outselling windows pc's by 3:1.

It has EVERYTHING to do with computers at this point in time.

Sesshi said:
As for the choice, people use them because they have become a fashion and are more of a no-brainer to use.
Click to expand...

Wow. I haven't heard the "Macs just look pretty" argument for a couple of years now since a large part of the public has figured out that having a computer that looks so much better AND works so much better is the reason that windows users are switching to Macs by the hundreds of thousands year over year.

Sesshi said:
Many others on the market give better results in many ways but require more effort and knowledge to use well.
Click to expand...

Exactly. As I've said for years now, "It takes intelligence to focus and streamline processes and in Apple's case, products. However, any idiot can make things that can be easy difficult... microsoft and windows pc manufacturers have proven that."

It's like if I had a choice between buying a refrigerator that I had to constantly tweak according to various factors (how much food is in it, what kind of food is in it, did my removing any of that food "destabilize" the fridge and do I have to "optimize" it to get it back to it's original state, what's the temperature outside, etc.) and choosing one that takes that all into account for me so that all I have to know is that it "just works".

Macs "just work".
 
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