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Gradual Mac Mini Updates?

bigrustyjc said:
I don't see the Ipod carrying their whole business for very long. It will only take one company to come up with something that blows the Ipod out of the water, and everyone will jump over to that player, leaving the Ipod, and Apple, in the dust.
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I think you've fallen into the trap of many of the companies who keep releasing their misnamed 'ipod killers'. It's just as Steve said at the expo, the player specs aren't the whole story (although they are nice), its the entire package (player, itunes, music store) that keeps people buying the ipod.
 
powerbook911 said:
I think there is a chance they will be updated. If so, the updates would probably value more than the $179 of the mini price, but that doesn't necessarily mean it would be worth it to you.
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Here is my current plan...

The US iPOD offer ends Saturday night. I'm going to buy the 12' powerbook and iPod then. When I get it in the mail I will wait a few days for an update before opening the box, while still sending in my rebate coupon.

If an update comes before they ship date, wont apple usually call or e-mail you about just upgrading your order or getting the product cheaper?

I also wonder what that will do to my rebate, they woudl probably deny it if they then shipped me an updated model... I wonder? Suggestions?

B
 
more on binary multiples

lexfuzo said:
Actually, it's the difference between 1kB being 1000 Bytes and 1 KiB being 1024 Bytes. Drive manufacturers calculate with 1000 to boost the capacity numbers, the computer calculates with 1024. The drive in question features 149 GiB or 160 billion bytes.
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A "giga" is a billion, not an "advertising billion". Your gigabit ethernet is one billion bits per second, your 2 GHz G5 is 2 billion Hertz. Your 160 gigabyte disk is 160 billion bytes - but your 1 "gigabyte" of RAM is about 1 billion 74 million bytes.

The international standards organizations (SI/IEC/NIST/...) are trying to fix the misuse of K/M/G etc by the computer industry. They're proposing prefixes for "binary multiples", so that nobody needs to guess whether a "giga" is 10^9 or 2^30.

One kibibit (1 Kibit) is 2^10, or 1024 bits
One kilobit (1 kbit) is 10^3, or 1000 bits
One mebibyte (1 MiB) is 2^20, or 1,048,576 bytes
One megabyte (1 MB) is 10^6, or a round million bytes
One gibibyte (1 GiB) is 2^30, or 1,073,741,824 bytes
One gigabyte (1 GB) is 10^9 or a round billion (thousand million - that battle's over, we guess) bytes.

For more information on the standards work, please read:

http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/11/08/i_say_petabyte_you_say/
http://members.optus.net/alexey/prefBin.xhtml
 
I'm flying to Chicago in a few hours, so I won't have access to my Mini until Sunday. If nobody else receives the new revision before then, I'll be happy to post more info when I return.
 
macnvrbck said:
Here is my current plan...

The US iPOD offer ends Saturday night. I'm going to buy the 12' powerbook and iPod then. When I get it in the mail I will wait a few days for an update before opening the box, while still sending in my rebate coupon.

If an update comes before they ship date, wont apple usually call or e-mail you about just upgrading your order or getting the product cheaper?

I also wonder what that will do to my rebate, they woudl probably deny it if they then shipped me an updated model... I wonder? Suggestions?

B
Click to expand...

you have to cut out both UPC's from the powerbook and ipod boxes for the rebate, thus, you are technically "opening" the boxes, which apple will not allow you to return to the store without a restocking fee.
 
lickily said:
For all of the griping about the pace of Apple upgrades, I'd have to say they've done right by the mini. In two months, they will have updated 2 (and maybe all) of the 3 components that have crippled the minis performance: insufficient ram, slow hard drive, and non-Core-Image video card (we'll have to wait and see if this gets updated). Not bad for the price point, and don't forget all the other goodies they threw into the top two models.
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I'm just starting to read this thread, so forgive me if this has been thrashed out.

I really don't see the mini as "crippled". $500 on the used market will buy much less than a new mini. Low-end iMac G4's, maybe a dual 533, with old video cards, worn out hard drives, etc.

I bought a mini in February for work, and I don't find anything crippled about it. So it doesn't "ripple"..oooohhhhhh. Big loss. I primarily do graphics work, with Deneba Canvas X GIS Edition, and the mini holds its own. For the $$$, it can't be beat.

I'm not saying it shouldn't be upgraded; of course it should. I have just grown weary of people complaining about the mini. Take $500 to Dell and see what it gets you: an Intel Extreme vampire-video card, 256mb Ram, a crippled Celeron, and a butt-ugly case.

For the target market, the mini is fabulous. If you're into gaming, it's not for you, period.
 
mikataur said:
Does the Mini's graphics card currently support the enhanced graphics effects in Tiger, eg, the "ripple" when new Dashboard widgets are used?
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Unfortunately, not. My mom's doesn't at least. Perhaps when the graphics card gets an upgrade, there will be support. The only issue I find with the mini is a slow harddrive, other than that, it's a great bargain.
 
GPU sufficient for HTPC?

I have read many threads about the old and current Mini's being used as HTPC's. I had not realized until reading this thread quite how underpowered the GPU is. In fact, I am surprised that the Mini seems to perform fairly well driving, 40" and 50" displays.

I am planning to buy a mini to drive a 50" plasma. I will not be attempting to replace my PVR with it nor will I be looking to drive HD content. I rather will only be looking to stream music and photos to it from other Mac boxes and I would also like to be able to surf the web on it. I gather from other threads that even the 32mb GPU will suffice for this, but am I just being naive? If so, would 64mb help much?
 
Macphreak--

I think you are exactly correct. The Mini, as a package for its price, is (IMO) a terrific deal! And it does what it is supposed to--it offers a low cost way of entering the Mac universe.

Best,

Bob
 
macnvrbck said:
Here is my current plan...

The US iPOD offer ends Saturday night. I'm going to buy the 12' powerbook and iPod then. When I get it in the mail I will wait a few days for an update before opening the box, while still sending in my rebate coupon.

If an update comes before they ship date, wont apple usually call or e-mail you about just upgrading your order or getting the product cheaper?

I also wonder what that will do to my rebate, they woudl probably deny it if they then shipped me an updated model... I wonder? Suggestions?

B
Click to expand...

Ok, this might be an ok idea, but you wont' be able to send in the rebate, for you need the UPC labels (including the cardboard) off the boxes of the computer and iPod. They give you like 30 days to send it in, so just wait until you know, if you're going to return the products.

Also, make sure you do *not* build-to order anything on the computer, or get engraving on the iPod, for they won't take it back, if you do.
 
An update too 'Mini'

MacMarino said:
Well its good to see updates even if they are minor ones :p I think its better this way as there is often too much expectation on the expo's and people tend to let themselves down because they hype themselves up so much reading into all the rumours.
Now if only we got something new every Tuesday... :p

Macmarino
Click to expand...

Sorry, an 80 & 83mhz upgrade - what's the point?
Increase the memory to 512MB as standard, that's an upgrade that useful at least.I guarantee that no-one has ever walked into an Apple store & said 'I'd have bought that mini, if only they were 80mhz faster'! The last 'upgrade' to the mini pushed the price up £30.00. At £359.00 they aren't even cheap anymore. By the time you add a keyboard, mouse & monitor , you're getting close to £500. Ship this 5 year old (G4) technology with 512MB for £299.00 & it would be a good little buy.
Come on Apple, stop taking the piss!

Geoff
 
IEatApples said:
Another thing about it: It shows capacity as 149 GB. That seem small when they call it a 160 GB.
Click to expand...

Hard-drive manufacturers define a "GB" as 1000 x 1000 x 1000 bytes (1,000,000,000 bytes).

Software and RAM define a "GB" as 1024 x 1024 x 1024 bytes (1,073,741,824 bytes). It is defined that way since computers work in binary, otherwise known as base 2 and 2 raised to the power of 10 (2^10) is 1024. So a "GB" is 2 raised to the power of 30 (2^30).

So if the hard-drive says 160 GB then it has space for 160,000,000,000 bytes which in the software definition for "GB" is 149 GB (divide 160,000,000,000 by 1,073,741,824).
 
JazzyGB1 said:
Sorry, an 80 & 83mhz upgrade - what's the point?
Increase the memory to 512MB as standard, that's an upgrade that useful at least.I guarantee that no-one has ever walked into an Apple store & said 'I'd have bought that mini, if only they were 80mhz faster'! The last 'upgrade' to the mini pushed the price up £30.00. At £359.00 they aren't even cheap anymore. By the time you add a keyboard, mouse, monitor & the compulsery memory upgrade into the equation, you're getting close to £600. Ship this 5 year old (G4) technology with 512MB for £299.00 & it would be a good little buy. But in 2005 to expect £359.00 for a computer with only 256MB RAM & no keyboard & mouse is ridiculous. Computers are meant to go down in price over time, not up.
Come on Apple, stop taking the piss!

Geoff
Click to expand...

Errr, it DOES ship with 512Mb of RAM!
 
JazzyGB1 said:
Sorry, an 80 & 83mhz upgrade - what's the point?
Increase the memory to 512MB as standard, that's an upgrade that useful at least.I guarantee that no-one has ever walked into an Apple store & said 'I'd have bought that mini, if only they were 80mhz faster'! The last 'upgrade' to the mini pushed the price up £30.00. At £359.00 they aren't even cheap anymore. By the time you add a keyboard, mouse, monitor & the compulsery memory upgrade into the equation, you're getting close to £600. Ship this 5 year old (G4) technology with 512MB for £299.00 & it would be a good little buy. But in 2005 to expect £359.00 for a computer with only 256MB RAM & no keyboard & mouse is ridiculous. Computers are meant to go down in price over time, not up.
Come on Apple, stop taking the piss!

Geoff
Click to expand...

Take Steve's advice: don't buy into the Mhz myth. The meat in this upgrade isn't the slightly upped processors (but I'll take those), but the faster HD, and the (apparent) boost to the video memory . These will significantly boost performance. I'm glad Apple is finally doing a better job (at least in the mini) with looking at overall system design and balance to optimize performance. Having the fastest processor doesn't mean anything.
 
.....Thinksecret also say the mini will be upgrading to a faster hard drive - 5400 RPM.
 
If Apple is coming out with new updated Mac without too much fanfare, it is because they don't want to send mixed signals to the market regarding the PowerPC vs the Intel switch next year... they will keep making the Macs better in a more gradual manner and low profile way... customers will keep buying those ...

Apple Exec seems to think: 'we're switching to Intel fine, but we come out every few month with incremental upgrades on every Mac plateformes to keep the market live and well for the current PowerPC offerings... we won't make too much noise at every lunch because doing so would confuse the potential buyers regarding the future Intel Macs...'

Again, Apple Marketing is clever.

:eek:
 
My sister lives in Houston and is getting ready for Rita to hit. I told her to pack all of the important stuff in the car - including all backup CDs, program CDs (and keys), but leave her G3 PM for Rita - looks like insurance will be replacing her old Mac and the Mac mini upgrade will be perfect for her.

Since I use a 1.5 PB at work (hooked up to a 23" display) I don't think that the upgraded mini is a bad deal at all.
 
P/Book Updates...

ininjacorndog said:
I would also be saving 100 off the powerbook its self. I plan to purchase a powerbook and an 20g ipod
Click to expand...

PowerBook Updates...

Next Tuesday, after Microsoft release Longhorn!!!

Oink, Oink, Swish... (That's a pig flying btw)

I'll be claiming my bus pass by then!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:(
 
grab the hard drive from the PM...

kenaustus said:
My sister lives in Houston and is getting ready for Rita to hit. I told her to pack all of the important stuff in the car - including all backup CDs, program CDs (and keys), but leave her G3 PM for Rita...
Click to expand...
Someone posted here that when he evacuated before Katrina he took his powerbook and removed the hard drive from the iMac G5 and took the drive.

Smart puppy.
 
MacSA said:
.....Thinksecret also say the mini will be upgrading to a faster hard drive - 5400 RPM.
Click to expand...

Now just can't wait to see the new upgrades arrival. Should also mean a decrease in price for the older models.
 
Just testing! <eg>

callan said:
Errr, it DOES ship with 512Mb of RAM!
Click to expand...
I knew that, I was just testing!! <g>
I realised about 10 seconds after posting & had amended it straight away.
Would have gotten away with it too, if not for those medlin' kids!
 
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