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If they're cheap I'll get one for every room in the house and recommend them to everyone, if they're reasonably priced (for the hardware) i'll consider getting one, if they're apple priced I'll go with an alternative.

Not interested in upgradability. Impossible to buy a machine that you can't swap out memory and hard disks, and I can't see any value in upgrading gfx cards though its lifetime.
 
Apple is worth billions. But they are greedy. That greed will have an end.

...because with record profits and growth, plus billions in the bank, they have set themselves up for total failure.

Apple has said and demonstrated time after time that they are not interested in the low end of any market they enter. Their goal is to make the best - not the cheapest - products available.
 
...because with record profits and growth, plus billions in the bank, they have set themselves up for total failure.

Apple has said and demonstrated time after time that they are not interested in the low end of any market they enter. Their goal is to make the best - not the cheapest - products available.
You could translate this into "Our goal is higher margins", and low end/entry level products don't produce high margins. The high end does. :p
 
...because with record profits and growth, plus billions in the bank, they have set themselves up for total failure.

Apple has said and demonstrated time after time that they are not interested in the low end of any market they enter. Their goal is to make the best - not the cheapest - products available.
I would argue that their greed makes them leave out basic features on the lower end models to force up sales. Examples: Superdrives and Firewire. It works, while it annoys people. I really want to buy a cool new MacBook but the lack of Firewire will probably make me pass. I can't justify a MBP.
 
Not really sure what is 'low end' about the mac mini, obviously it's stupidly overpriced and dated now (and on release?:)

I honestly think a machine thats equally priced to the competition (apple are just standard x86 machines with osx right?) has the potential to drastically increase their home user market share exponentially. There's probably a lot of people with massive buying power to people around them that can't justify the extra cost of an mac.
 
I would argue that their greed makes them leave out basic features on the lower end models to force up sales. Examples: Superdrives and Firewire. It works, while it annoys people. I really want to buy a cool new MacBook but the lack of Firewire will probably make me pass. I can't justify a MBP.

I completely agree that leaving basic features out for the sake of creating an artificial "pro vs home" divide is irritating. I always thought that selling an $1100 laptop without a DVD burner was embarrassing.
 
Of course it is just my background. Everyone here is spitting into the wind, yourself included.

But look at it objectively - why keep a machine with technology so out of date if it was important to you? Tell me what Apple has gained by keeping the Mac Mini on two-year old hardware with a two-year old price while every other model in their lineup has been upgraded once or twice a year.

When did Apple last actively advertise the Mac Mini? Two years ago? Three years ago? Hell, when did they last talk about it? Sure, it showed up on the slide on the 14th, but notice how they didn't even mention it? Why not? Notice how nobody in the Mac press community even asked about the Mac Mini at the Q&A? Or at MacWorld's Q&A? Or WWDC's Q&A? Or at anytime?

All these sources keep saying "New Mini's Coming!" or "Mini is Dead! Long Live the $999 MacBook!", yet not one of them has bothered to actually try and find out what Apple is thinking. Even a "we can neither confirm nor deny the status of the Mini" from Apple. Not even a "no comment".

Apple's executives doesn't seem to care about it, the professional Apple press community doesn't seem to care about it, and it looks like all but your most niche Apple customer doesn't care about it.

That should tell you something, IMO. And that something is not "New Mini Coming!". :(

Mind you, I'd like to see a new Mini coming because it fits a niche for people, but if Apple feels the model doesn't make sense in a post-PPC world, well...

I'm going to spit into the wind too..... :)

I think the reason that Apple is selling 2 year old technology at 2 year old prices is because its selling so well, and making a tidy profit. Can you imagine the close-out prices they got on some of the now/soon to be discontinued parts and chips? The design and launch costs have all been paid for long ago. No expense incurred to promote it, as they not promoting it.

My understanding of economics is that if you have a product that is not selling well, you drop the price to move it out the door. If Apple hasn't dropped the price on a the Mini then that implies that it is properly priced to maximize profit. The Mini must be good profit centre for them, IMO.

As others have predicted in this thread and the Mini thread now closed, I also think we are going to see something new in November. Maybe a new Mini, maybe not (I'd just be speculating, at that point) but the logic adds up.
1) New portables were introduced in October. If the new Mini shares any of the new architecture (and it traditionally has) then it can't be introduced before the portables, since that would take some of the thunder away from the main event. If Apple has been working on the new portables for a while (a good supposition), then they would not have updated the Mini during that time. Why bother if there is a major update to it coming soon?
2) That new LED display that is being introduced in November. Why put an iSight and speakers on it, if its only supposed to work with portables, that already have the iSight and speakers. I think its also supposed to work with something that doesn't have iSight and speakers.
3) From what I'm reading, Jobs is not happy with the AppleTV. If something isn't working, it gets pulled. Perfect opportunity to introduce something new.
4) Something new, introduced just in time for the American Thanksgiving sales, would get Apple a lot of press right now.

My prediction is that the upgraded Mini will have the same footprint (and remember you heard it here first) as either the Time Capsule, or the SuperDrive. Could someone try stacking a SuperDrive on a Time Capsule? I can't find the size for the Time Capsule on the Apple Store. Do they stack nicely?

I think that in the future there will be many more portables sold without optical drives. I think the current white MB is being sold as a placeholder for a new unibody MB without an optical drive (the $800 MB that didn't materialize). It will be rolled out after the Mini.

Apple's Sales strategy will go something like this. Use the new Mini as the brains for your home media centre, and the storage for all that media that Apple wants to sell you. Use the Mini as your optical drive for your portable that doesn't have one. A lot of people rarely need the optical drive. So why carry it around. If you do need an optical drive on your portable, then Apple will be happy to sell you a more expensive machine (reference what they have done with FireWire).

If you need more storage than what the Mini has, stack it with a TC, and use that as network storage. Use the Mini (which will have FW, IMO) as the file server and connection for all the bits and bobs that you used to plug into your portable. Again, look at the new LED display. Its designed to act as a USB hub so that you can just unplug your portable and go - all the bits and bobs stay attached to the display. I think the Mini will be extending that concept.

Or, they will combine the TC and Mini into a file server for your portable. But I don't think they will do that since you can't then use TC to backup with.

Anyway, I did it hear from a good source, on an elevator.... really.;)
 
It would be a shame to see then ond of the Mini. IT is a great little machine. I dont know how it fits in Apples strategy tho - if they want an entry level machine then it will come back in one form or another, if they dont want this market anyore then its dead.

Shame as it was the best of the small form factor machines I have used. I love my Mini and its a great little box (used as a spare machine, Media Station and for the 'loaner' when I am converting people to a Mac).

Lets all light those candles and cross our fingers....
 
Not really sure what is 'low end' about the mac mini, obviously it's stupidly overpriced and dated now (and on release?:)

This just isn't true. There are only a couple of Mini-form factor PCs out there, and the only one you can get much info on is the Dell Studio Hybrid. You have to do a major processor bump to equal the Mini in GeekBench performance, and with it a substantial increase in its cost.

Mac Mini T7200 = Geekbench of 2591 ($800)
Dell T8100 = Geekbench of 2247 ($894)
Dell T9300 = Geekbench of 2682 ($1,169)

The Hybrid gets you HDMI, a larger hard drive, X3100, wireless N and 2 gb RAM, which are nice additions. But while the Mini is old, it's still a great little computer for the price.
 
Jobs isn't happy with the AppleTV?

Great! I bought one of them

It is a rather temperamental beast. Mine still won't turn off BUT it's a great device so close to being 'perfect'...

If it only recorded from teevee...

But seriously folks, aside from the few hissy fits the thing has thrown since I bought it, it actually fills a niche market for intelligent multimedia devices. Probably the missing angle on this device is the ability, from either iTunes or the ApleTV itself to import DVD discs directly into AppleTV.

Since the MPAA and other trade groups have a major bug up their buts about anything that even hints at taking money out of their pockets, that ability will probably, and regrettably, never show up in my lifetime. :mad:

I say that the Taliban are already in America. They are the MPAA, at least in part... The Mullahs of the MPAA decide what goes and what doesn't. BOO To them... Watch 'This Film Is Not Yet Rated'. Very interesting... :eek:
 
Apple has said and demonstrated time after time that they are not interested in the low end of any market they enter. Their goal is to make the best - not the cheapest - products available.

Probably not a bad strategy. American car manufacturers...GM, Ford and Chrysler...are going broke without major job layoffs and substantial product-line restructuring. They try to serve the entire market segment and don't excel anywhere.

Porsche, OTOH, soldiers on with relative impunity and gobbles up VW for lunch. They serve Apple's segment of the market.

Obvious holes in the comparison but you get my point. Apple serves a different clientele with a premium product that has mystique. A much different price elasticity of demand which will leave Apple in far better shape than its rivals when the global economy finally weathers this oncoming recession/depression.
 
This just isn't true. There are only a couple of Mini-form factor PCs out there

I can think of a couple more but none really meet my reqs as close as the mini - I don't like the look of the dell studio either, it's config options and gpu are what the mini should have been 2 years ago. I'd like a c2d dual or quad at around 2.4ghz and a gfx card that 'fully' supports sm3.0 and opengl 2.0 - for 1080 video. I also want digital a/v out and ethernet.

I'm not willing to pay a premium for osx/the mini, and ignoring the crazy offers and honoured misprices that dell have, the price difference between them and apple is even greater in the UK. There are more and more mini-itx boards that take the current intel range, and tonnes of uatx - I'm not sure omaura are in business any more, but I like the look of their cases (and loads of others) if I'm not going to vesa mount/hide it.
 
I don't like the look of the dell studio either, it's config options and gpu are what the mini should have been 2 years ago.

Not even possible. Two years ago the T8100 and T9300 processors, and the X3100 igpu were not available. Even if they were (or even the functional equivalents) you'd be talking about a Mini that would have come in wll over US$1,000. Not a switcher's computer that Apple was marketing, that's for sure.

I'd like a c2d dual or quad at around 2.4ghz...

That's just it, the $800 Mini's 2 gHz T7200 Core 2 Duo is nearly as fast as the 2.4 gHz T9300 on the US$1,169 Dell - and it's two years older than the Dell's.

...and a gfx card that 'fully' supports sm3.0 and opengl 2.0 - for 1080 video. I also want digital a/v out and ethernet.

The Mini has digital audio and video, and already does 1080p and can play Blu-Ray video files (m2ts, sans encryption and HDCP) without any problems, including up to 7.1 Dolby Digital or DTS surround sound. It also has gigabit ethernet.

Again, everyone wants an updated Mini. But if it comes, it will be a repackaged MacBook. If that's not what you want, then start looking elsewhere.
 
Again, everyone wants and updated Mini. But if it comes, it will be a repackaged MacBook. If that's not what you want, then start looking elsewhere.
It already is a repackaged MacBook. Question is, from which year will it be? :cool:
 
...because with record profits and growth, plus billions in the bank, they have set themselves up for total failure.

Apple has said and demonstrated time after time that they are not interested in the low end of any market they enter. Their goal is to make the best - not the cheapest - products available.

Which is why they don't have a 50$ mp3 player.

Oh wait, they do. ;)
 
Yeah, I was talking about the gpu.
I've got 1080 files that won't play on the current mini, and the gpu doesn't do what I want now, let alone when offloading becomes more common.
A repackaged macbook is exactly what I want actually, but only if they can sell it at a sensible price. What I asked for shouldn't come in at 'well over 1000usd'
 
On a 2ghz c2d mini... I use a range of players (xbmc over plex for many reasons too), but high bitrate encodes, sliced or otherwise can stutter on all my hardware on all my os'. I do actually need to break 3ghz to play that 'famous' planet earth bird scene.
 
Another price increase to the mini and I'm jumping ship to Dell 530s or a Shuttle PC.
I know what you're saying.

It just seems like Apple selling a mini like the current MacBook minus the screen, battery and keyboard for less than $899 is unlikely. So I suspect, a revised mini will have the specs of the old MacBook, hopefully an early 2008 model, not 2007, for $799. The $599 low end model will probably disappear. :(
 
I know what you're saying.

It just seems like Apple selling a mini like the current MacBook minus the screen, battery and keyboard for less than $899 is unlikely. So I suspect, a revised mini will have the specs of the old MacBook, hopefully an early 2008 model, not 2007, for $799. The $599 low end model will probably disappear. :(
Apple has neglected the mini for too long. If it doesn't get the 9400M G then I am just going to use a newer PC as my living room computer. I have a Shuttle PC with a Athlon XP 3200+ in there right now.
 
Apple has neglected the mini for too long. If it doesn't get the 9400M G then I am just going to use a newer PC as my living room computer. I have a Shuttle PC with a Athlon XP 3200+ in there right now.

yes that would be a nice option! i have my hackintosh ready to go, the only thing is that:

• there is no room for the thing so dad wont let me put it up there in the living room,

• its as loud as hell

• its massive and ugly (the mini would look right at home).

so yea, new mini please apple
 
If it doesn't get the 9400M G then I am just going to use a newer PC as my living room computer.

OTOH, you could use a 2"x6"x6" sub-three pound white brick (Mac mini) that makes no audible sound instead of a waste paper basket size piece of hardware with fans in your living room.

Choice is up to you (assuming either will do the required computing job) and your wallet. In my case, aesthetics would play a major role. At least in my wife's mind and she "rules" that area of the house just like the kitchen.

Heck, now that I think about it, her influence is everywhere but my den and the garage. :)
 
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