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Mac Mini To Be Discontinued?
- Thread starter Planner Dude
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You're right in that Apple probably meant for the mini to be a novelty to some extent -- otherwise, they wouldn't have made the engineering investment to fit all of those internals into such a small enclosure when a machine with similar specs but full-sized memory and storage would have been cheaper. What makes the mini less of a novelty in my mind is the fact that it was priced much more aggressively than the Cube. If Apple hadn't done so much better of a job keeping the iMac up-to-date, the mini might have had a better chance.
I guess what anyone who wants a product line expansion is up against is that as far as the consumer line is concerned, Apple is focused on the simplicity-at-all-costs niche. No one would argue that Apple doesn't do this well -- each iteration of the iMac has proven to make it more elegant, and it continues to sell well. My problem at the moment is that the build quality has slipped to some degree -- the iMac G5 and MacBook (Pro) stand out as examples -- so investing in an all-in-one seems riskier than having the monitor separate, even more so than it would inherently. (I went with a MacBook for portability, and Apple has been fairly responsive with logic board and power repairs, but I lost several weeks of time I could have been using it when it was under repair.)
Save the Mac mini!
Save the Mac mini!
http://www.petitiononline.com/macminsa/petition.html
Please sign the above petition if you have a want to try and save the littlest computer that could.
Thanks,
Jason Cruickshank
Save the Mac mini!
http://www.petitiononline.com/macminsa/petition.html
Please sign the above petition if you have a want to try and save the littlest computer that could.
Thanks,
Jason Cruickshank
Maybe people who owned PC's and have a keyboard, mouse and monitor? Which is the target audience. A starter mac. The mini is my first (and only to date) mac I've bought new. (And for the last time, it is not nearly as "underpowered" as people say it is; you don't need a freaking MacBook Pro to run Photoshop.)
It doesn't directly compete. The Apple TV isn't a media server, it's a media client. You can't put all your digital media on it and stream to another computer from it. You can put a Mini in a closet and wirelessly stream to an Apple TV. And you can also put your Mini under your TV and stream to it from another computer. So it can do double duty.
You can also add a TV tuner. And play and rip (as long as there's no copy protection, of course) DVDs on it. And even the lowend version can deliver 1080p content with enough RAM. And it can be used as a computer if needed.
Exactly! ...and I really don't think that Apple has any reservations about customers buying a $600 product for their home theater over a $300 component...
People who happen to have nice keyboards, mice and monitor are geeks? Stop talking out your ass.
People with dead / infected or otherwise useless PCs.
Anyone wanting to upgrade their current box.
I just dont get the appeal of the all in one. Who decided that tossing away a perfectly good monitor just because the CPU/MoBo is out of date was a good idea?
Personally I hope the mini splits into a AppleTV Pro (built in tv card, large HD, optical drive, maybe BlueRay support and OSX) and a mid range Tower (Mini3) built out of quality desktop parts ranging from $599 - $1399
I just don't see the logic in such a move. If the mac mini is selling poorly its because it is underpowered and overpriced. Placing a product in the budget price range was a brilliant move and it is essential apple keeps a presence there.
The future of Apple operating systems depends on accessibility to as wide a range of people as possible; being a niche for the elite or some other crap means no software and no future. Apple has just started to become competitive with PCs, why blow it now?
Improving the Mac Mini to have a C2D and other goodies as standard is surely the best thing to do (hell even throw in a Keyboard and mouse). There is also room in the Mac line up for the so called "headless" iMac. The G4 cube was a beautiful product that was too expensive- an intel cube with a speedy processor, 2GB ram and a X1900ish at a reasonable price would eat the world.
If any product needs discontinued it is the
TV- 40GB HDD, no OS X, no server functionality, a crappy remote and only 720p makes the thing a joke. If they are scrapping the mac mini because of TV steve needs a slap.
The future of Apple operating systems depends on accessibility to as wide a range of people as possible; being a niche for the elite or some other crap means no software and no future. Apple has just started to become competitive with PCs, why blow it now?
Improving the Mac Mini to have a C2D and other goodies as standard is surely the best thing to do (hell even throw in a Keyboard and mouse). There is also room in the Mac line up for the so called "headless" iMac. The G4 cube was a beautiful product that was too expensive- an intel cube with a speedy processor, 2GB ram and a X1900ish at a reasonable price would eat the world.
If any product needs discontinued it is the
TV- 40GB HDD, no OS X, no server functionality, a crappy remote and only 720p makes the thing a joke. If they are scrapping the mac mini because of TV steve needs a slap.
I've been thinking that too, but why should they want to kill a $600 product in favor of a $300 product? Are their profit margins truly that lousy on the Mac mini? The
TV isn't that much less than the Mac mini, hardware-wise. The CD chip might make a big difference, since I seem to recall that being a couple hundred bucks, but that might be why it's gone a while without an update.I'd like to see a good price comparison on this -- it'd be interesting.
Keep on waiting...
Mine will be proved when they axe the mini... just wait.
If they axe the mini, doesn't necessarily mean because of poor sales.
(ok couldnt be bothered reading every single post - sorry if I'm repeating what others have said)
Like a lot of people here I'm also waiting for the mac mini to go c2d before buying it for its intended purpose as a online/streaming media player (think joost etc) and as a presentation machine linked into a 32" LCD TV, the apple tv does not fit into that arrangement.
Now the rumour is saying that the mac mini is going to be discontinued and I kind of think its right. If for example apple want to change the system to a c2d using the new intel gma 3xxx graphics it would be a new system design and not an upgrade.
I think its going to be discontinued in the same way the imac was when it went g5 to intel.
Kill off one version and introduce a newer updated version, probably with hdcp support, c2d and gma 3xxx graphics (doubt it will get geforce 7 card).
Like a lot of people here I'm also waiting for the mac mini to go c2d before buying it for its intended purpose as a online/streaming media player (think joost etc) and as a presentation machine linked into a 32" LCD TV, the apple tv does not fit into that arrangement.
Now the rumour is saying that the mac mini is going to be discontinued and I kind of think its right. If for example apple want to change the system to a c2d using the new intel gma 3xxx graphics it would be a new system design and not an upgrade.
I think its going to be discontinued in the same way the imac was when it went g5 to intel.
Kill off one version and introduce a newer updated version, probably with hdcp support, c2d and gma 3xxx graphics (doubt it will get geforce 7 card).
Ditto.
But, it is INSANE to spend up to $3,700 on a 24" imac.
Price Sounds Crazy???
click on 24" imac
Max it out... $2,917.00 with 2.33 processor AppleCare and 2 gigs ram, before tax
Make it 3 gigs of ram, $3492 before tax
Add tax, that's like up to $3,700 for an imac. That's wrong. Are people doing this?
Don't be haters!!! I think that Apple would be better off killing the imac and making a mini tower with top, imac specs... as opposed to killing the Mac Mini. Offer them as packages (i.e. mini tower with 20" monitor, mini tower with 30" monitor, etc.). I never liked the all-in one concept.I'll wait for the lashings (I'm covering my head)...
I dont have sufficient disposable income to justify carin too much about the mini, but I do have to agree it's a nice machine, I'm interested to see what they're going to do to it, its replacement or with its marketspace following its possible departure.
I love my Mac mini-it's the Core Solo model (early 2006). Does everything I need and it's silent. Would be sad to see no future updates.
Poor gross margins.
Re-shifting their product lineup. A low end tower?
Small form factor makes it seem too toy-like. Could this be their 21st century cube?
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