Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Mac Mini End Of Life?
- Thread starter Dont Hurt Me
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
- Status
flyinmac
macrumors 68040
You could be right. I'll probably never know since I don't care enough to try and locate a charger to give it a try. It's just not a high priority to me.
I do hope that they keep the mini around. I'm not in the market. But, it would be a shame to lose an entry level machine. Hopefully they'll make it a nice update with a GPU.
Im hoping for a new cube, I think that now that they have the intel processors, obviously heat is not an issue cause the minis dont overheat so, add some space for slots, removable ram, a desktop size harddrive and voila.
Leopard
I'm willing to bet that a lot of people were waiting for Leopard before buying/upgrading their Mac mini. After all, Leopard + iLife '08 is nearly 33% of the cost of the entry-level Mac mini.
Those "upgrades are probably around the corner" rumors don't help, though. And the GMA950 doesn't help either. 😛
I'm willing to bet that a lot of people were waiting for Leopard before buying/upgrading their Mac mini. After all, Leopard + iLife '08 is nearly 33% of the cost of the entry-level Mac mini.
Those "upgrades are probably around the corner" rumors don't help, though. And the GMA950 doesn't help either. 😛
Brianstorm91
macrumors 65816
I spent some time on a Mac Mini with Leopard today and I was pleasantly suprised with how snappy it was, well done 
Quite an old post regarding Mac Mini's versus the similarly-priced machines at the time (May 2006).
"Mac Mini is my most 'Vista-Ready' machine"
Of course It's changed somewhat recently, with the Mac Mini in dire need of an update (fairly certain that will come). But it does say a lot about the machine and it's possibilities.
🙂
"Mac Mini is my most 'Vista-Ready' machine"
Of course It's changed somewhat recently, with the Mac Mini in dire need of an update (fairly certain that will come). But it does say a lot about the machine and it's possibilities.
🙂
The mini has been more competitive at various times, particularly after the first intel update. But windows machines in that price range have improved dramatically while the mini has mostly been stagnant, it's barely better than it was when it first shipped February 2006. Right now, it stacks up pretty poorly.
A feature bump would help a little, but it probably will never be really competitive until apple dumps the model based on laptop parts and replaces the mini with a machine based on desktop ones.
A feature bump would help a little, but it probably will never be really competitive until apple dumps the model based on laptop parts and replaces the mini with a machine based on desktop ones.
I'm sure apple will be doing everything within their power to make the Mini more affordable. Desktop parts sure would make the Mini more profitable to Apple and affordable for the customers. We can only wait and see what Apple's plans are for the machine. If the line is kept, then we should expect to see price reductions and spec increases - which would make the Mini more competitive with it's rival Windoze Boxes.milo said:
I would say a change is coming, when apple does the silent upgrades eol is near. A 2.0 core2 duo mated to a ati 2400xt in a small mini like package would make a nice machine. Heck a ati 2400xt imac was getting 70 fps in ut2k4 vs 23 fps for a mini with the same cpu. And though Mini got a 39% increase in cpu speed its integrated graphics got less then 1 frame more meaning that integrated gpu was doing all it could a long time ago. edit as reported by macworld.
This would be a great machine, I'd much rather have that then the iMac I just bought even if it has a better graphics card. I love my iMac, but I really prefer my computer and monitor to be separate. I think losing the mac mini would be sad, my first Mac was a G4 Mac Mini, and my second one was a Core Duo 1.66 mac mini. Here's hoping they replace it with something cooler! 😀
I think it would be a mistake for them to get rid of the mini, but it always seems to be pushed aside for other macs. If there's anyway to make it shorter (sort of looking like an Apple TV), then I could see more people buying it. Most of the time people can't justify the price of a mini compared to a windows machine. They definitely need to upgrade it more frequently to keep up with the market
dongmin
macrumors 68000
urm, you've just stated EXACTLY the reason why Apple will NEVER spec out the Mini with decent specs: because it would eat into iMac sales, and Apple certainly doesn't wanna do that as the margins on an iMac are prolly considerably better than a Mini.
What's good for consumers is NOT necessarily what's good for Apple. As long as their market share is growing and the iMac continues to do well, Apple won't do anything to jeopardize the momentum.
davenet
macrumors member
Second that. I have the 1.83 CoreDuo model and it's my primary computer at the moment. I'm gonna give me G4 1.42 model to my 5 year old and I just got another used 1.66 CoreDuo on Craig's List that I intend to put on my wife's desk. She doesn't know it yet, but I'm gonna switch her to the Mac from the PC. I guess I might still dual boot the Mini for her until she gets used to OS X, but the point being that this computer will free up ALOT of space on her small desk compared to the behemoth that is there now.
David
This seems like a perfect match to apples current pro's.
The idea of having a high end product competing at a lower price point seems to be Apples strong suit.
Very true, never been much on these all in one computers but then again little over a year ago I thought apple computers where for rich people who like to waste there money too.🙄 I am really loving my iMac though and at least I get a more modern monitor then I probably would have if I did have a headless iMac. lol
Yes...changing this impression is certainly a part of the Apple marketing strategy in France: When I first moved here only high-end stores sold Macs, and many people thought I was a typical rich American (ha-ha) just 'cuz I had an iBook. Now there is a Mac display in the computer sections of Carrefour and Auchan--WalMart-esque megastores--and it's become commonplace to see university students using Macs. The prices are in line with what they were a few years ago, but the brand-perception of Macs has changed significantly. What's more, the Mini has been an important part of this 'de-richification' of the Mac image, so I think it would be poor timing to kill it now without something else to provide entry-level price points that stay below 1000 Euros.
Cheffy Dave
macrumors 68030
Damn, if this proves true, I'll have a mini and MB, Both in glass and aluminum
freakin sweeeeet!
Apple played that game for decades and nearly killed them, its called crippling. Cripple mini for imac,cripple imac for powermac.....eh promac or whatever cripple macbook for macbook pro and all that crippling boils down to crappy integrated cheapo graphics. A $50-75 chip can eliminate that crap. Lets hope Apple is figuring it out , or they may release a new Mini with Intels next generation of still crapo graphics.
dongmin
macrumors 68000
maybe you could've made that argument 5 years ago. but apple's marketshare is growing and investors are happy because of the fat margins. it's hard to disparage apple's strategy, at least their business strategy.
apple's (hardware) design + os X + ipod halo effect is MORE than offsetting the "crippled" hardware.
You just contradicted yourself. Should it be smaller, or should it be cheaper? It can't be both at the same time.
Smaller=more expensive
Larger (even slightly larger)=less expensive, better components, more competitive
Apple has to make a decision between a tiny box and one that's on the smaller side but still able to compete on price and specs. So far they've gone for the former, but I think that was a mistake on their part. I hope they offer the latter, whether it's a new additional model or replaces the mini.
Apple's margins are whatever they want to be since they set the pricing. They just need to sell a headless mac and if they're worried about cannibalizing iMac, price it so it's equally profitable. I don't see why people are so worried about apple selling less iMacs as long as people are buying another mac instead.
Thankfully, apple isn't crippling most of their models as much as they used to, the imacs and laptops are much better than they used to be. But the mini still seems to follow apple's old (failed?) strategy for crippling low end units, and since the mini doesn't seem to be selling well, it does seem to be a bad strategy for them on that particular model.
Allright...earlier in this thread you rightfully challenged me to prove my claim that the Mini has sold well. I then admitted that I can't prove it and abandoned the claim, because my research turned up nothing but contradictions (i.e. lots of 'experts' claiming both sides to serve their position but no one with any real numbers). As you yourself pointed out, Apple doesn't release such numbers...
...so please give us some references as to why the mini "doesn't seem to be selling well." Maybe you found something I missed.
In fact, if ANYONE has some solid data on how the Little One is selling, please chime in: there is a pretty clear answer to this question that would really help with this whole debate, but I don't know how to find it.
This article from 'Coolest Gadgets' back in May states that the Mac Mini is not performing too well as far as sales go, compared to the iMac and Macbook. And since the last update was a minor one, I'm pretty sure the figures have probably remained quite similar. It's a shame, because I think with a little better marketing and an update the Mac Mini could be a great tool for Apple. Still no sign of solid figures though, but I'm on the lookout. 🙂
Right on...thanks for looking. This article is a good example of the problem: with no numbers, it's no more valuable than when I said "the mini sells well dammit" just because I wanted it to be true and it makes sense to me 🙂.
It does seem logical that they wouldn't have bothered with the C2D and configuration update in August if it wasn't selling well...wouldn't they've just sold off existing stock as-is and gone forward with whatever is coming up?
But that's just more speculation without facts [slaps self on wrist].
But speculation without facts is what this site is all about, hence the 'Rumors' 😉
That article I posted was from May this year, when everybody was expecting Apple to ditch the Mac Mini. And what did they do? They gave it the same bump as the Macbooks got rather than ditch it. Now it's a few months on and everybody's expecting Apple to ditch the Mini... I wonder what will happen now.
When you consider that if Apple did stop selling the Mini, there wouldn't be a low-end switcher's Mac available at all. Whether the sales are good or bad, Apple will still be making a profit on every unit sold. With the iPod 'halo effect' currently in motion, it would be foolish of Apple not to have a product affordable enough for the 'slightly curious switcher'. Of course, if the Mini was no more, then Macs once again become a little exclusive corner of the market as they previously were. Nowadays though, due to the iPod, Apple are well-known for making some of the most consumer-friendly products. Nobody complained that the iPod's specs didn't match up to the specs of other mp3 players (the zen for one), and now with the iPod Touch they've reinvigorated what was already a high-selling brand. Casual switchers will not be looking at the specs in as much detail as other tech-savvy users might. And it is these switchers that Apple are targeting with the Mini.
I can perhaps see a possibility of Apple offering price reductions for peripherals with the Mini. Perhaps a discounted wired keyboard and mouse? But one thing is for certain, if the Mini is disposed of, Apple will replace it with a similar product for the casual switcher.
Still looking for the sales figures..... 🙂
- Status