Everyone seems to deem the new mac mini as perfect... but...

[TrumanApple]

I dont see this machine haveing a significant impact on marketshare... yes 499 is cheap, but, compared to cheap PCs, its still expensive... Dont get me wrong, its a great machine... but i believe that airport and a keybored and mouse sohuld be included in that price... because after adding those on to the price you are up to 650 dollars for a computer that doesnt come with a monitor and has basicly 0 expandability and only a 1 year warrentee...

Basicly i think that this is a great computer, but it is nowhere near the machine that people seem to be hyping it as... with that being said... watch it fly off the shelves and poeple just eat it up so that i will have to eat my words... (like some poeple had to with the ipod mini)

PS: a cheap mac is a great idea... but did it really need to be that small? People seem to be fine with buying big bulky computers... and if they want smaller sleeker machines then they are probibly willing to spend the money it would take to get an imac...

 

[maya]

I dont see this machine haveing a significant impact on marketshare... yes 499 is cheap, but, compared to cheap PCs, its still expensive... Dont get me wrong, its a great machine... but i believe that airport and a keybored and mouse sohuld be included in that price... because after adding those on to the price you are up to 650 dollars for a computer that doesnt come with a monitor and has basicly 0 expandability and only a 1 year warrentee...

Basicly i think that this is a great computer, but it is nowhere near the machine that people seem to be hyping it as... with that being said... watch it fly off the shelves and poeple just eat it up so that i will have to eat my words... (like some poeple had to with the ipod mini)

PS: a cheap mac is a great idea... but did it really need to be that small? People seem to be fine with buying big bulky computers... and if they want smaller sleeker machines then they are probibly willing to spend the money it would take to get an imac...

Media Station maybe.

 

[sorryiwasdreami]

Basicly i think that this is a great computer, but it is nowhere near the machine that people seem to be hyping it as...

You are forgetting one teensie little thing. OSx doesn't get infected with viruses, malware, and spyware. Many will deem that worthy of $499.

 

[40167]

You are forgetting one teensie little thing. OSx doesn't get infected with viruses, malware, and spyware. Many will deem that worthy of $499.

True but you tell that to a PC user, hes going to think your full of it... My science teacher mentioned macs dont get viruses and everyone but me in the class was like... yeahhhh rightttttt!

 

[maya]

True but you tell that to a PC user, hes going to think your full of it... My science teacher mentioned macs dont get viruses and everyone but me in the class was like... yeahhhh rightttttt!

Amazing you 2 are the only bright ones in that classroom.

 

[dejo]

I dont see this machine haveing a significant impact on marketshare... yes 499 is cheap, but, compared to cheap PCs, its still expensive... Dont get me wrong, its a great machine... but i believe that airport and a keybored and mouse sohuld be included in that price... because after adding those on to the price you are up to 650 dollars for a computer that doesnt come with a monitor and has basicly 0 expandability and only a 1 year warrentee...

I wouldn't say 0 expandability. You can add more memory, larger hard drive, SuperDrive. Just limited expandability. Many cheap PCs are in the same camp.

PS: a cheap mac is a great idea... but did it really need to be that small? People seem to be fine with buying big bulky computers... and if they want smaller sleeker machines then they are probibly willing to spend the money it would take to get an imac...

Reasons for the small form factor may include significant cost savings in production (raw materials, etc.) and shipping (wasted space costs money).

 

[Les Kern]

You are forgetting one teensie little thing. OSx doesn't get infected with viruses, malware, and spyware. Many will deem that worthy of $499.

And another thing, it's not aimed at me or you per se. I'm a true power user. Rather it's target is windows users who have a PC, have had a horrible time with viruses and spyware (millions?), have a keyboard, mouse and monitor, and maybe an iPod (millions more?).
Five minutes after setting it up they will be smiling. I have FOUR PC-user friends that are ordering them. They have HAD it. My humble prediction: Mac Mini will FLY off the shelves, and MacRumors will have to upgrade their servers because of all the new users.

 

[nyprospect]

As a pc user im looking to buy one of these little cuties.A perfect computer?Well thats like saying i have the perfect wife.The new ipod and the mini has created a buzz.Steve said him self its a stripped down mac.I like the fact that if something goes wrong with it,i can toss it in my pocket and go to a mac store.

 

[dejo]

True but you tell that to a PC user, hes going to think your full of it... My science teacher mentioned macs dont get viruses and everyone but me in the class was like... yeahhhh rightttttt!

I think that demonstrates the group-think mentality of many PC users. If they experience it, so does everyone else. Because it's all the same.

 

[dejo]

As a pc user im looking to buy one of these little cuties.A perfect computer?Well thats like saying i have the perfect wife.The new ipod and the mini has created a buzz.Steve said him self its a stripped down mac.I like the fact that if something goes wrong with it,i can toss it in my pocket and go to a mac store.

This is the second time I've seen someone say it's "pocket-sized". How damn big are your pockets?! The thing is 6.5" square by 2" tall. That's way bigger than any of my pockets!

 

[cemorris]

I think you need to take a look at the whole package. Many have stated the advatages of no/little viruses and addware. But look at the software you also get. Factor in the price for equivalent PC software that comes standard and I think the price will equal out. The ilife applications alone would cost you $300 to find equivalant PC versions. People tend to focus on the hardware and ignore the software when pricing computers. This is a disadvantage for Apple as I wish they would draw more focus on the software they provide for free and the value of that. My 2 cents.

 

[Rod Rod]

I suppose the conclusion may be that the Mac mini is perfect for some and not for others...

I know it's perfect for my dad, so that's why I bought him one.

 

[raeble]

You are forgetting one teensie little thing. OSx doesn't get infected with viruses, malware, and spyware. Many will deem that worthy of $499.

Yeah and if this takes off like it's supposed to those hackers will start looking to make virus' that can affect osx. The only reason they don't bother is because hardly anybody uses it, but if you get between ten and twenty percent of people using it then it will start to look very attractive to them.

I like it but I think that it's not going to look half as nice once all the cables and wires and attachments are attached to it. One good thing about my crt monitor is it hides all the cables. I also think that you won't be able to just use it as is without buying someother accessories either a new keyboard or a usb hub for starters, then add more ram.

 

[brap]

Yeah and if this takes off like it's supposed to those hackers will start looking to make virus' that can affect osx.

You really think that nobody has ever even contemplated writing a virus for OS X?

Fact is, people have tried, nobody has managed it yet. Maybe the big boys aren't playing yet, but it's a far cry from the Windows script kiddies writing virii in their warez copies of Visual Basic. Sure, maybe there'll be one or two creep out, but X is inherently more secure.

Yeah, this horse is dead, an' I'm flogging it like a b**ch...

 

[TrumanApple]

Heres the other issue...

I understand that apple is trying to appeal to a new market... but is it really smart to make a PC users first experience of os x on a machine with only 256 mb of ram... i cant imagine buying anything with less than 512... its about time that apple gave up on 256 mb of memory to start out with... and since there is only one slot for memeory... expanding that becomes less attractive... (and it voids the warrentee)...

lets put it this way... is there anyone in this forum who would buy a NEW computer now and plan on leaving it with only 256 mb? if so i question your sanity...

 

[devwild]

You really think that nobody has ever even contemplated writing a virus for OS X?

Fact is, people have tried, nobody has managed it yet. Maybe the big boys aren't playing yet, but it's a far cry from the Windows script kiddies writing virii in their warez copies of Visual Basic. Sure, maybe there'll be one or two creep out, but X is inherently more secure.

Yeah, this horse is dead, an' I'm flogging it like a b**ch...

Actually people have tried, and done so successfully for longer than OSX has actually existed Start reading some books on the history of unix, hacking, the first worms, the first prosecutions.

OSX's main vulnerability lies primarilly in it's unix infrastructure. It doesn't make the headlines, but I have seen people's OSX boxes get hacked by script kiddies over broadband when an SSH vulnerability exists that hasn't been patched, for whatever reason.

It's a different kind of problem, which isn't as common or widespread or damanging on a global scale as an Outlook vulnerability, but it's still a vulnerability, invisible to the average user. And unlike what the virus companies would like you to believe, most worms/viruses on windows don't give over control of your box (though the potential exists). A root vulnerability in a unix service gives someone absolute control to do whatever they want to with your machine.

Security problems always exist and awareness is always an issue. OSX will probably never have the problems Windows has with viruses, but one cracker finds a hole tomorrow, and maybe it will. Such is life in the business.

 

[devwild]

lets put it this way... is there anyone in this forum who would buy a NEW computer now and plan on leaving it with only 256 mb? if so i question your sanity...

Absolutely not, and especially on OSX. My G5 and PC both have a gig. When I used a G4 500mhz previously it had 384 and swapped like crazy (making it more painful than it was naturally). I would not curse someone with that experience in this day and age

 

[stcanard]

Dont get me wrong, its a great machine... but i believe that airport and a keybored and mouse sohuld be included in that price... because after adding those on to the price you are up to 650 dollars for a computer that doesnt come with a monitor and has basicly 0 expandability and only a 1 year warrentee...

A lot of people are missing the Trojan horse here ... iLife.

Plus the huge amount of freeware that is available.

A few people will buy this system. Not the normal Macheads, but some of the Mac curious. They will play with it for a while, then one day when the friend asks "why did you waste money on that instead of a Dell" he'll point out that the Mac Mini was usable out of the box, he didn't have to spend $100's on software, and hours looking through torrents for the cracks.

He says "Everything I needed was right there. I didn't need to buy anything else! And look at this ultra-cool stuff that I can do with this music app called GarageBand, and look at these homemade DVD's!".

Then the friend's jaw drops to the floor, and he says "i gotta get me one of those".

 

[stcanard]

Security problems always exist and awareness is always an issue. OSX will probably never have the problems Windows has with viruses, but one cracker finds a hole tomorrow, and maybe it will. Such is life in the business.

IMNSHO the biggest current vulnerability in OSX is exposed by this:

1) My day-to-day user is not an Admin, for security purposes (that I can do this is good, Apple should push people to do this during the install so they only get so-so marks here)

2) I go to install an app, drag it into Applications, and get told I don't have permissions, do I want to authenticate (that's good, system files are protected)

3) I authenticate, and the Application is copied (that's good, make admin tasks easy enough from non-admin users, that they aren't tempted to just run as admin like many Windows users are)

4) --- THIS IS HORRIBLE -- the Application I copied over is still owned by me, not by the admin I authenticated as! I now have a huge hole where somebody that cracks my account can install a trojan. I know that every time I install an application I have to do a 'sudo chown -R root:admin MyApp', but this really needs to be automated somehow.

If Apple were to push people on install to create an admin and non-admin account, and get the ownership correct when authenticating, the problems caused by an SSH vulnerability would be greatly reduced to data loss only.

 

[brap]

Actually people have tried, and done so successfully for longer than OSX has actually existed Start reading some books on the history of unix, hacking, the first worms, the first prosecutions.

Darwin's BSD leanings are exactly the reason I said:

...but X is inherently more secure.

Citing holes which have come and gone - been exploited and patched, really isn't relevant to the here and now... unless you're using them to reinforce the fact that X is fundamentally more secure through this trial and error.

Security problems always exist and awareness is always an issue. OSX will probably never have the problems Windows has with viruses, but one cracker finds a hole tomorrow, and maybe it will. Such is life in the business.

Isn't that... what i said?

 

[TrumanApple]

A lot of people are missing the Trojan horse here ... iLife.

Plus the huge amount of freeware that is available.

A few people will buy this system. Not the normal Macheads, but some of the Mac curious. They will play with it for a while, then one day when the friend asks "why did you waste money on that instead of a Dell" he'll point out that the Mac Mini was usable out of the box, he didn't have to spend $100's on software, and hours looking through torrents for the cracks.

He says "Everything I needed was right there. I didn't need to buy anything else! And look at this ultra-cool stuff that I can do with this music app called GarageBand, and look at these homemade DVD's!".

Then the friend's jaw drops to the floor, and he says "i gotta get me one of those".

Yes your right, the software is the reason this computer can sell... but, why have all this great software on a computer that can barely run it... I know the min. req. for these programs is much lower than 256, but the apps will still run slow and sluggish... and will make the mac curious think that all macs are slow and sluggish... some people will not know that the lack of ram is why the computer acts sluggish... they will just look at the apple and associate it with apple computers... a person that knows alot about ram and performance will upgrade it anyway...

 

[Linkster82]

and since there is only one slot for memeory... expanding that becomes less attractive... (and it voids the warrentee)...

Since when does upgrading the RAM in the mini void the warrantee? You can upgrade the RAM in an iMac G5 without doing so. And just because Apple recommends you take your mini to an Authorized Service Provider to upgrade it doesn't mean you have to. They just want more money.

 

[G4scott]

I dont see this machine haveing a significant impact on marketshare... yes 499 is cheap, but, compared to cheap PCs, its still expensive... Dont get me wrong, its a great machine... but i believe that airport and a keybored and mouse sohuld be included in that price... because after adding those on to the price you are up to 650 dollars for a computer that doesnt come with a monitor and has basicly 0 expandability and only a 1 year warrentee...

Basicly i think that this is a great computer, but it is nowhere near the machine that people seem to be hyping it as... with that being said... watch it fly off the shelves and poeple just eat it up so that i will have to eat my words... (like some poeple had to with the ipod mini)

PS: a cheap mac is a great idea... but did it really need to be that small? People seem to be fine with buying big bulky computers... and if they want smaller sleeker machines then they are probibly willing to spend the money it would take to get an imac...

Well, I think this new Mac Mini already has Dell concerned. Yesterday, the cheapest dell you could buy was $459. Now, they have added an extra $50 rebate.

If you go build a Dell, you'll notice the low end models don't have actual "graphics cards." Instead, they have on-board graphics, and their lowest end systems have shared memory, whereas the Mac mini has an actual (although not extremely powerful) graphics card that tops pretty much any integrated gpu. There is no option for a DVD burner (at least on the models I checked), and to actually get the low, low price, you have to mail in a rebate.

Sure you have to have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse, but if you already have them (say, if you're replacing a computer), you won't be stuck with extra hardware that you won't use. If you don't need airport, why pay extra for it? If Apple included Airport, Bluetooth, and a mouse and keyboard in every box, it would add on at least $200. If you don't need airport or bluetooth, and you have the equipment, it saves you money. That was a complaint about the iMac. You were stuck with the screen. If you wanted a different screen, too bad.

The Mac Mini may not be perfect for you, but if Apple gave you any more with it, it wouldn't be as cheap as it is. I'd say it's a great computer, and I can think of lots of people who I know could use one. We'll just have to wait and see how it takes off...

 

[Linkster82]

Darwin's BSD leanings are exactly the reason I said:Citing holes which have come and gone - been exploited and patched, really isn't relevant to the here and now... unless you're using them to reinforce the fact that X is fundamentally more secure through this trial and error.
Isn't that... what i said?

The fact that holes have been cited, and will be cited, makes the OS vulnerable to attack. No operating system is entirely immune, though ours is better than the alternative. Additionally, it just isn't worth any hacker's time right now to attack OS X. If the market share was 90 percent, I can guarantee you we'd be in a similar, if not the same, place as Windows. We can continue to say there are no viruses or spyware for OS X until, god willing, we get that marketshare. Until then, we are fortunate to be overlooked.

 

[angelneo]

Security problems always exist and awareness is always an issue. OSX will probably never have the problems Windows has with viruses, but one cracker finds a hole tomorrow, and maybe it will. Such is life in the business.

I, for one, hope that Apple will start doing more R&D on computer security as Mac is becoming more popular. Unike some companies who only act when the fire start burning at their feet.