Apple has officially created a product line which will prevent this long time mac user from buying my next machine from Apple...
I will not buy an iMac... That is just simply ruled out. I've owned too many iMac's, and I've never had a good experience with any of them (except for the original CRT ones). But, every iMac I've had since the LCD generations, has been short lived. I won't go there again. Too many times I've owned an iMac only to be in immediate need of dumping it at a loss. Never again.
I have a Mac Pro, but it's getting to a point of needing to hack it to run the latest OS version, and needing to spend money on another video card to do that and successfully use it. Otherwise, the machine is fine. Just getting to outdated on OS 10.6.8 to run some of the software I need. And, the thought of unstable hacks to enable it to run on a machine that I need to be reliable... well, not attractive. I need to run OS 10.8 minimum by January (or switch to Windows).
I have no reason to spend money on a new model Mac Pro. The price point is ridiculous for my needs (and impossible for me to obtain).
And, the new Mac Mini... that's just an insult... It will run OS X 10.10, sure... but it actually does not meet the simple system requirements for the software I'll be needing. CPU speed is inadequate, and likewise, dual core is inadequate.
The prior Mac Mini.. that would be great, except that it's GPU was inadequate.
So, for someone who has been burned by too many iMac's and is not willing to gamble on them again, who will not buy a machine with less than a quad core cpu, will not settle for the lower GPU of the prior mini, and will not spend $2000, they have cut me out of the mac market. It took them a long time to do it, but sadly, when I am forced to retire my current Mac Pro, that will be the end of the line for me with Mac's, unless they move back to producing useful machines at reasonable prices.
Downgrades are not improvements. And, the price point for this downgraded mini is ridiculous. Even worse, is that even once you get it near Mac Pro price, the specs are still an insult for the ridiculous price tag on build to order for the current mini.
I will be required to purchase a new machine by January. And, nothing in Apple's product line will meet my needs and budget. How unfortunate...
I have come to prefer OS X, and have enjoyed my break from Windows. But, OS X is not worth more than a thousand dollar premium to get a machine that is more capable than this ridiculous mini and isn't an iMac.
If it's not a disposable laptop, I will not buy a machine with a built-in screen. Not going to happen. By disposable laptop, I mean less than $300 laptop.
It's just crazy to watch Apple going backwards. I was ready to spring for the new Mac Mini. All they had to do was bump the CPU up slightly, and bump up the GPU a little bit from the prior model. And, then I was going to buy it.
I won't buy an iMac... never going to happen. Learned my lesson after more than 10 extremely expensive lessons with iMac problems in the last 10 years.
And, while I'd love a new Mac Pro, the price is impossible.
Apple has successfully found a way to cripple and segment their product line so that myself and many other people will never be able to justify buying their computers again.
Here's hoping that Apple's sales numbers show them the error of their ways, and they realize that they need more reasonable mid-range options at affordable prices. And, no, the iMac is not that machine for a large number of us.
The mini was so close... Now it's not even adequate. Even maxed out for a ridiculous price tag, the new mini is still inadequate.
This strategy of creating gaps so large that they try to force their buyers into an iMac or a Mac Pro is a strategy that will kill them in the end. Many of us extremely longtime loyal customers (yes I date back to the 80's as an Apple customer), are being segmented into Windows machines because Apple has left huge gaps in their product lines.
