Mac Mini Released

[3Memos]

I'm going to by my first new Apple Computer. It's is going to be the Mac Mini.

I can no longer say hey I can't afford it, it costs too much. I can't use the flat panel monitor I allready have. I'm out of excuses.

It has PROVEN hardware.

Congratulations! You'll find OSX to be a pleasant surprise, not even including the hardware.

 

[aswitcher]

So the Mac mini will have an upgrade within a few months then it will have what: more ram and Tiger or will you also be able to have Tiger as an up to date free piece of software like they do with some iMac G5 with iLife 05, and will the greaphics be upgraded(might be a problem with the heat, so they need a new enclousure = 9200 will be core image compatible hope so coz then i can buy one in the near future )

Tiger will come standard with all new machines when it comes out...hence the $ and hassle saving.

But if it does all you need now and you dont need Tiger, then why hold off...

I doubt the Mac Mini will see an upgrade until at least October or later for Christmas...and even then given the form factor I dont expect to see more RAM options, maybe a bigger and faster HDD (if heat allows), possibly a 64 meg video card option, maybe a deluxe version with all these pus half a gig ram, and with BT and WiFi...

 

[FFTT]

I'm waiting to see the first promotional Mac mini Cooper S <">

What a perfect way to advertise the newest lil wonder from Apple.

Apple could also officially sponsor a design contest in cooperation with
BMW's mini Cooper division.

There could also be a promotional contest with one Mac mini Cooper offered as Grand Prize through each Apple Store location.

 

[aswitcher]

Just Web Surfing....Stuff for school like documents..and playing around with iLife (no major video editing or anything)

Then I dont think you need the slightly faster processor or the bigger hard disk. The extra ram will be the most significant improver of the machines performance.

But before you buy consider carefully getting the WiFi option (Airport Extreme) if you have any plans to use an Airport Express to stream your music to your sterio or to connect to you broadband modem wirelessly.

 

[Mav451]

1.25GHz PowerPC G4
256MB of PC2700 (333MHz) DDR SRAM
ATI Radeon 9200 with 32MB of DDR SDRAM
40GB Ultra ATA
Slot-loading Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
One FireWire 400 port; two USB 2.0 ports; DVI output; VGA output (adapter included)
Built-in 10/100BASE-T Ethernet and 56K V.92 modem
Mac OS X version 10.3 “Panther
iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD and GarageBand), AppleWorks, Quicken 2005 for Mac, Nanosaur 2, Marble Blast Gold

Price: $499

--

Here are the specs of a comparably equipped DIY PC

Intel Pentium 4 2Ghz CPU................$145
P4S800 (SiS 648FX) Series P4 Motherboard................$63
256MB of PC2700 (333MHz) DDR SRAM................$51
ATI Radeon 9200................$90
40GB Ultra ATA................$56
DVD-ROM/CD-RW................$60
Case/PSU................$40
Windows XP Professional................$199
Adobe Photoshop album (Compares with iPhoto)................$50
Windows Movie Maker (Compares to iMovie)................$0
Ulead DVD MovieFactory (Compares with iDVD)................$40
Fruity Loops (Compares with Garage Band)................$80
Microsoft Works (Compares with Apple Works................$50
Quicken 2004................$60
Nanosaur 2................$15
Marble Blast Gold................$15

Hardware Price: $505
Hardware and Software price: $1,022

You can get away posting this here, but I advise against posting this on any major hardware review sites (Xbit, Anandtech, Techreport, [H]ardOCP, etc) that have legitimate PC hardware knowledge. You will be ridiculed for your ignorance. If you want an honest, knowledgeable, and thus credible comparison I would refrain from even trusting that site you quoted, osViews. I have yet to see a pro-Apple site show even the slightest bit of the knowledge on current PC hardware technology, so in a way it is not surprising.

I went to Newegg (relatively mainstream online PC shop), and priced out 2 of the most important components in a "value" PC today:

A64 3000+ $146 Retail
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=19-103-486&DEPA=0
Epox Socket 754 mobo $70.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-123-219&depa=1

A site that dares to post a chip from 2001, the P4 2.0, and then claim it is $145 and the "best they could find" is insulting. The A64 chip can hold its own against even dually 1.42's w/o sweating--only the 1.8+ G5's will even come close to challenging it. (and yes, the 3000+ is only running @ 2Ghz)

They present a RDF that rivals even Job's, and that is saying alot.

*lol, upon scanning their front page, I see a Balmer article and a "FUD" article. This pro-Apple site is not going to expand your knowledge but limit it (from a pure, PC hardware perspective).

 

[BanditBill]

Anodized Aluminum

I plan to place an order for a mini tomorrow. I'm not overly concerned about owning the fastest computer available. It will be fast enough for daily home use. I'll save time by not having to re-install Windows XP 2-3 times per year.

The Mac Mini will be an enjoyable computer for many.

Are there any anodized aluminum monitors on the market, other than Apple monitors? What about anodized aluminum keyboards and mice?

 

[FFTT]

You can get away posting this here, but I advise against posting this on any major hardware review sites (Xbit, Anandtech, Techreport, [H]ardOCP, etc) that have legitimate PC hardware knowledge. You will be ridiculed for your ignorance. If you want an honest, knowledgeable, and thus credible comparison I would refrain from even trusting that site you quoted, osViews. I have yet to see a pro-Apple site show even the slightest bit of the knowledge on current PC hardware technology, so in a way it is not surprising.

I went to Newegg (relatively mainstream online PC shop), and priced out 2 of the most important components in a "value" PC today:

A64 3000+ $146 Retail
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=19-103-486&DEPA=0
Epox Socket 754 mobo $70.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-123-219&depa=1

A site that dares to post a chip from 2001, the P4 2.0, and then claim it is $145 and the "best they could find" is insulting. The A64 chip can hold its own against even dually 1.42's w/o sweating--only the 1.8+ G5's will even come close to challenging it. (and yes, the 3000+ is only running @ 2Ghz)

They present a RDF that rivals even Job's, and that is saying alot.

*lol, upon scanning their front page, I see a Balmer article and a "FUD" article. This pro-Apple site is not going to expand your knowledge but limit it (from a pure, PC hardware perspective).

You may argue the hardware price points to death, but you're missing the point here.

Mac OSX is the primary reason most of us prefer using an Apple product.

Apple is doing their best to make it affordable for everyone.

 

[Platform]

Tiger will come standard with all new machines when it comes out...hence the $ and hassle saving.

But if it does all you need now and you dont need Tiger, then why hold off...

I doubt the Mac Mini will see an upgrade until at least October or later for Christmas...and even then given the form factor I dont expect to see more RAM options, maybe a bigger and faster HDD (if heat allows), possibly a 64 meg video card option, maybe a deluxe version with all these pus half a gig ram, and with BT and WiFi...

So you think that there wont be an free up to date program with Tiger for machines bought now I realy want Tiger becsaue it will speed this machine up and have a lot of new features: Spotlight, Dashboard ++ as well as overall system performance increase.

As you load on more and more software or by time a windows machine tends to slow down, does Mac's with OS X do this

Thank's

 

[3Memos]

I realy want Tiger becsaue it will speed this machine up and have a lot of new features: Spotlight, Dashboard ++ as well as overall system performance increase.

I'm really waiting for coreimage and Quicktime 7 with h.264 with Tiger's release. Planning of buying an ATI x800 once it comes out. I could live without Spotlight, but I understand how important that technology is at the foundation.

 

[Platform]

I'm really waiting for coreimage and Quicktime 7 with h.264 with Tiger's release. Planning of buying an ATI x800 once it comes out. I could live without Spotlight, but I understand how important that technology is at the foundation.

Would like an X800 too but would not fit in an mini and that is what is nearest my budget

 

[James_C]

So you think that there wont be an free up to date program with Tiger for machines bought now I realy want Tiger becsaue it will speed this machine up and have a lot of new features: Spotlight, Dashboard ++ as well as overall system performance increase.

As you load on more and more software or by time a windows machine tends to slow down, does Mac's with OS X do this

Thank's

Apple generally only offer the "up to date program" after they have announced a specific ship date on the new OS, this is to avoid having hardware sales plummet from the time of the announcement to the date the new OS Ships.

 

[Platform]

Apple generally only offer the "up to date program" after they have announced a specific ship date on the new OS, this is to avoid having hardware sales plummet from the time of the announcement to the date the new OS Ships.

So if I want the up to date Tiger i will have to wait untill the release date is given

 

[Platform]

I want ot buy the mac mini but

I want to be able to have Tiger on it, and I want it to be fully compatible as well.

So if I buy it now it will not be fully compatible and will not have Tiger
How long would I have to wait untill a Mac mini comes with Tiger and a core image compatible GPU. (would it have the same price with tiger or )

When is Tiger going to be released(it is said that within the first 1/2 of 2005 but in 1,2,3++ months or

Is it worth waiting for it to have Tiger and a better GPU

I would like to have it as soon as possible but, would be bad to buy and 2 months later it has Tiger($129) and a better GPU($xx)

Thanks

 

[3Memos]

I want ot buy the mac mini but

I want to be able to have Tiger on it, and I want it to be fully compatible as well.

So if I buy it now it will not be fully compatible and will not have Tiger
How long would I have to wait untill a Mac mini comes with Tiger and a core image compatible GPU. (would it have the same price with tiger or )

When is Tiger going to be released(it is said that within the first 1/2 of 2005 but in 1,2,3++ months or

Is it worth waiting for it to have Tiger and a better GPU

I would like to have it as soon as possible but, would be bad to buy and 2 months later it has Tiger($129) and a better GPU($xx)

Thanks

Cool! I was thinking the same thing over at the 1.25 vs 1.42 thread.

 

[aswitcher]

I want ot buy the mac mini but

I want to be able to have Tiger on it, and I want it to be fully compatible as well.

It should be - although get half a gig ram for reasonable performance

So if I buy it now it will not be fully compatible and will not have Tiger
How long would I have to wait untill a Mac mini comes with Tiger and a core image compatible GPU. (would it have the same price with tiger or )

When is Tiger going to be released(it is said that within the first 1/2 of 2005 but in 1,2,3++ months or

Before July if all goes to plan.

And you'll need to pay for it...iirc $129 USD...

Is it worth waiting for it to have Tiger and a better GPU

I would like to have it as soon as possible but, would be bad to buy and 2 months later it has Tiger($129) and a better GPU($xx)

Thanks

A better GPU is unlikely I think for 8-9 months...at least after the iMac gets 128 meg GPUs as a build to order option...

Plus a new rev for the Mac Mini will likely incorporate other improvements but I dont think we will see more Ram slots or open end GPU to 128 this year.

 

[Platform]

It should be - although get half a gig ram for reasonable performance.

Before July if all goes to plan.

And you'll need to pay for it...iirc $129 USD...


A better GPU is unlikely I think for 8-9 months...at least after the iMac gets 128 meg GPUs as a build to order option...

Plus a new rev for the Mac Mini will likely incorporate other improvements but I dont think we will see more Ram slots or open end GPU to 128 this year.

So buying the mac mini now will not make a big difference, because I have to wait 1/2 year for Tiger anyway and then I can live with spending $129 then and rather have a mac now (or did i get it wrong)

If I were to order one it would be
1.42Ghz, 512MB RAM, 80GB HDD, Superdrive

 

[James_C]

So buying the mac mini now will not make a big difference, because I have to wait 1/2 year for Tiger anyway and then I can live with spending $129 then and rather have a mac now (or did i get it wrong)

If I were to order one it would be
1.42Ghz, 512MB RAM, 80GB HDD, Superdrive

You are correct, buy the Mac mini now and it will come with Panther installed. My best guess that Apple will announce Tiger at the World Wide Developer Conference in May, with shipping in May / June. Tiger should work fine with the present release of the Mac Mini and you should just be able to upgrade the OS without affecting your existing files and applications (in theory anyway). Unlike Windows that appears to be slower on the same hardware with every release, all of the OS X main releases have actually improved the performance of the system, hopefully Tiger will be the same.

Buy with confidence now and then upgrade to Tiger for $129 when it comes out.

 

[Platform]

You are correct, buy the Mac mini now and it will come with Panther installed. My best guess that Apple will announce Tiger at the World Wide Developer Conference in May, with shipping in May / June. Tiger should work fine with the present release of the Mac Mini and you should just be able to upgrade the OS without affecting your existing files and applications (in theory anyway). Unlike Windows that appears to be slower on the same hardware with every release, all of the OS X main releases have actually improved the performance of the system, hopefully Tiger will be the same.

Buy with confidence now and then upgrade to Tiger for $129 when it comes out.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH

 

[BillD222]

Consider the iMac

So buying the mac mini now will not make a big difference, because I have to wait 1/2 year for Tiger anyway and then I can live with spending $129 then and rather have a mac now (or did i get it wrong)

If I were to order one it would be
1.42Ghz, 512MB RAM, 80GB HDD, Superdrive

If you're doing all that and need a monitor($300+), kb/m ($50), etc. you may wanna go 4 the iMac. If you are or know a student or teacher and can get the ed. discount - all the better. The $300/400 difference (i u can swing it) goes a long way in specs (G5, GPU, RAM cost (upgradability).

Just a thought.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

If you are or know a student or teacher and can get the ed. discount - all the better. The $300/400 difference (i u can swing it) goes a long way in specs (G5, GPU, RAM cost (upgradability).

Just a thought.

If he is not a student, he can become one by taking any course at the community college level. Sure if might cost upwards of $200, but he will also learn something in the process.

 

[Marx55]

To switch we need FireWire ports? SATA ports?

Hi,

It is ridiculous what Apple has done with the Mac mini:

- No FireWire 800.
- Only one FireWire 400 port.

Does Apple really want to promote FireWire versus other alternatives like USB 2 or SATA? Or should perhaps Apple move to SATA ports altogether, which is much faster and seems the next industry standard?

We were set to switch and place a large corporate order of Macs mini to replace our aging PC-Windows systems, but such move has been postponed since we cannot boot the Macs mini from fast (7200 rpm) external drives (400 GB) and then have at least one real FireWire port free (not hub-like shared). The internal Mac mini disk is too slow (4200 rpm) and small for us. And no, we cannot afford the expensive and noisy PowerMacs G5.

Hopefully the next Mac mini revision will have that. Or else we will definitely purchase PC-Windows machines where you are spoilt for choice. Our chance to switch vanishes again. Oh well...

 

[Blue Velvet]

It is ridiculous what Apple has done with the Mac mini:

- No FireWire 800.
- Only one FireWire 400 port.

Does Apple really want to promote FireWire versus other alternatives like USB 2 or SATA? Or should perhaps Apple move to SATA ports altogether, which is much faster and seems the next industry standard?

We were set to switch and place a large corporate order of Macs mini to replace our aging PC-Windows systems, but such move has been postponed since we cannot boot the Macs mini from fast (7200 rpm) external drives (400 GB) and then have at least one real FireWire port free (not hub-like shared). The internal Mac mini disk is too slow (4200 rpm) and small for us. And no, we cannot afford the expensive and noisy PowerMacs G5.

Hopefully the next Mac mini revision will have that. Or else we will definitely purchase PC-Windows machines where you are spoilt for choice. Our chance to switch vanishes again. Oh well...

Please tell us more about your corporate needs.

400gb on every desktop with FW800?
And how is a 4200RPM drive too slow?

And have you sat next to a PM G5 like I do every day? Is it really noisy?
I don't think so...

 

[ScubaDuc]

Hi,

It is ridiculous what Apple has done with the Mac mini:

- No FireWire 800.
- Only one FireWire 400 port.

Does Apple really want to promote FireWire versus other alternatives like USB 2 or SATA? Or should perhaps Apple move to SATA ports altogether, which is much faster and seems the next industry standard?

We were set to switch and place a large corporate order of Macs mini to replace our aging PC-Windows systems, but such move has been postponed since we cannot boot the Macs mini from fast (7200 rpm) external drives (400 GB) and then have at least one real FireWire port free (not hub-like shared). The internal Mac mini disk is too slow (4200 rpm) and small for us. And no, we cannot afford the expensive and noisy PowerMacs G5.

Hopefully the next Mac mini revision will have that. Or else we will definitely purchase PC-Windows machines where you are spoilt for choice. Our chance to switch vanishes again. Oh well...

I seem to recall that in order to boot from an external HD is has to be hooked up via USB2 and not firewire but I may be wrong.

 

[rdowns]

Hi,

It is ridiculous what Apple has done with the Mac mini:

- No FireWire 800.
- Only one FireWire 400 port.

Does Apple really want to promote FireWire versus other alternatives like USB 2 or SATA? Or should perhaps Apple move to SATA ports altogether, which is much faster and seems the next industry standard?

We were set to switch and place a large corporate order of Macs mini to replace our aging PC-Windows systems, but such move has been postponed since we cannot boot the Macs mini from fast (7200 rpm) external drives (400 GB) and then have at least one real FireWire port free (not hub-like shared). The internal Mac mini disk is too slow (4200 rpm) and small for us. And no, we cannot afford the expensive and noisy PowerMacs G5.

Hopefully the next Mac mini revision will have that. Or else we will definitely purchase PC-Windows machines where you are spoilt for choice. Our chance to switch vanishes again. Oh well...

If you need Firewire 800, SATA and 400 GB drives, clearly the Mac mini is not targeted at that market. It will probably never have those specs.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

I seem to recall that in order to boot from an external HD is has to be hooked up via USB2 and not firewire but I may be wrong.

Nope, booting is only available through FW drives. There have been a number of posts saying it can be done from USB, but nothing to support the claim.