Mac Mini To Be Discontinued?

[oldwatery]

hello all: love the forums and love the discussions as well as all the resources you have on the site. personally, i hope they do update the mini. although, if they don't, i'll probably get one from costco or some place. (costco had the g4 models, when apple switched to the intels, so i'm thinking they would carry minis to get rid of the invetories). i'm torn as i'm not sure if i would want an imac yet or not, but will wait and see what is announced at wwdc.

not a mac user, yet, but will be before the summer is over

Cool post echols.
If anyone at Apple is reading this forum....well hello isn't this last poster the exact person you are looking for...or are Apple over the "switcher" thing.
Kill the Mini
No...make more...more better
Apple are putting much effort into the whole convergance thing and killing the machine with the most potential on the market.
Give the Mini an iPod dock, multi card reader and every modern connector and/or adaptor. Huge hard drive. Interface with iPhone as the remote á la Salling Clicker. No TV or music addict would be able to live without it.
Hey sign me up!

 

[serpico]

I agree, keep the Mac Mini around because it's a great computer for switchers as well as other mac users. I switched many users to OS X because of the price on these computers. When I talk to people it always comes down to cost when asked about switching. The Mac Mini was perfect. I sold my first generation a few months ago and miss it. I was hoping to get a more powerful model and waited for a new one from Apple but nothing yet.

If it had the ipod dock, alot of connections (especially USB) and faster speed, I would get one today. I'm stuck using 2 dell systems for business & personal because of cash flow. The Mac Mini would be on my list for sure. Please Apple bring out a new model.

 

[Wolfpup]

I hope the new model has more easily user accessible parts. Just bump it up to Macbook specs at least, and use a better, accessible design. (Or if not Macbook specs, throw in a Core 2-wouldn't have to be 2GHz+)

 

[yamabushi]

It would be a mistake to kill the Mac Mini without a similarly priced or lower priced replacement. It is very useful as a marketing tool. It draws people to the website to take a look, who then start looking up the product line and sometimes make a purchase.

Most of the major computer manufacturers have a low price point model to draw potential customers in. These models seldom sell extremely well because most people start wishing for more than the bare minimum and wind up purchasing something a few steps up.

 

[tristan]

It looks like its really difficult to upgrade the RAM on the new Mac Mini. Could this be part of the problem?

 

[AlexisV]

They should keep it, up the memory to 1Gb, stick a Core2 Duo in and drop the price.

Keep the casing design the same size, but alter to finish to match the new iMac (if it's going to be aluminium).

If they're going to discontinue the 17" iMac, what's going to replace it?

 

[Wolfpup]

It looks like its really difficult to upgrade the RAM on the new Mac Mini. Could this be part of the problem?

Could be, although I suspect most people won't bother looking that far. I won't buy the Macbook Pro because of it's non user-replaceable hard drive.

 

[mathwhiz90601]

One rumor coinciding with another?

Getting rid of the low end machines would remove a critical slot in the halo effect, wouldn't it? One that's apparently been very successful...

I like the offerings as they currently stand.

Perhaps the mac mini and 17 are dead, but they will release a new kind of low end machine to replace them.

I'm thinking ultra-portable laptop to get that market too.

 

[iDave]

I'm thinking ultra-portable laptop to get that market too.

Yebut any ultra portable is going to be expensive, probably as much or more than the 15" MBP. That's not a replacement for either the mini or the 17" iMac.

 

[mathwhiz90601]

he original Bondi iMac G3 - yes, they still run

Lol: barely, even if you still have a working keyboard.

 

[mathwhiz90601]

Everytime the iMac has gotten a bump the Mini should have as well, and it hasnt been the case. A couple of times now the Mac Mini has slipped way behind the iMac only to then get a handsome bump that makes it half way competitive again. It seems rather stop start for the Mini rather than regular bumps like the other macs.

Nobody but the laptops have had regular bumps recently.

From www.rhythmac.com (superior to macrumors' buyers' guides):

iMac current cycle: 309 days. Longest cycle: 318 days.
Mac mini current: 309. Longest: 217.
iPod current: 303. Longest: 336.
iPod nano current: 303. Longest: 414.
iPod shuffle current: 303. Longest: 224.

Something's gonna break soon. Apple's first two legs (desktops and iPods; the third is extra media stuff (iPhone tv, etc.)) haven't had updates for a very long time.

 

[mathwhiz90601]

If they're doing away with the Mac Mini and the 17" iMac, I hope they replace them with a Mac Tower. The new "Mac" would basically be a low-end PowerMac with lower end and lower priced components and a limited, but still acceptable, upgrade path so as not to eat into sales of the PowerMac. Prices could start at $600-700 without a keyboard and monitor, and go up to just below the low range of a PowerMacs cost.

They haven't sold powermacs for years.

 

[mathwhiz90601]

exactly! I think Apple is lining up a quite extensive product launch in the coming weeks/months. this could actually mean:

1. new mac mini concept
2. new imac concept
3. new mbp's (Flash-disks, LED etc)?

I totally agree. Don't forget the iPod lines. It's coming ... July 24th.

 

[mathwhiz90601]

Judging by the price points and development effort, the iPhone will replace the Mac mini.

With the rumors that the iPod is going to have a small Mac OS X version, I think it will blend with and absorb the mac mini.

I mean, why not have your iPod be a full, complete computer?

 

[mathwhiz90601]

Exactly. Not everyone needs a hardcore machine. My mom and aunt do email, surf the web, uses iTunes and iPod nano and transfers photos from a digital camera. You don't need too much of a computer to do that. A mini is perfect.

Or get one of the iMac G3's that have OS X on them for cheap!

 

[mathwhiz90601]

because it doesn't matter. Maybe that is just the size of the future like the letter "i" is the prefix of the future.

iPod, iMac, iCan't stand that iStuff

iThink the iPrefix iS going to be iPhased out of the iComputer lineup - only the iMacs still have iT.

 

[mathwhiz90601]

So obviously if true, the MacMini didn't sell very well. Its a low end computer and by the time you get a keyboard, mouse, and display, you're in iMac territory as far as price goes and the iMac is a far better computer than the MacMini. Yes, the MacMini has its places, but more often than not, people will go for the iMac instead. Its an end to end solution.

But you don't put money for a display, mouse, keyboard, printer, etc. You already are supposed to have those.

 

[mathwhiz90601]

Most users (general users) don't upgrade anything on their machines, maybe RAM or HDD space... most use their machines through the warranty then buy new ones... in about three --> four years.

Hmm. Except for the RAM and that stinkin' hockey puck, I haven't upgraded a thing on my iMacG3.

 

[mathwhiz90601]

Which begs the question: what would a mac shuffle be?

At least we can be sure you could clip it to your shirt.

You can't look at your files; instead, it either opens them in order, or at random.

 

[mathwhiz90601]

I'll tell you what... i think we're going to see a big redesign of the mac lineup in June. The MBP, and imac, and mac mini will all see form changes. the mac mini will probably see a name change. I'm guessing the mac pro will be down the line.

July 24th. It is coming.

 

[GregA]

July 24th. It is coming.

Care to point me to a post where you elaborate on this.
IT is a bit vague on details or reasons.

 

[Wolfpup]

With the rumors that the iPod is going to have a small Mac OS X version, I think it will blend with and absorb the mac mini.

I mean, why not have your iPod be a full, complete computer?

Because it won't be. If it's like the iPhone, it'll be a closed platform that can't replace a full featured PDA/Handheld, let alone a full computer.

 

[FJ218700]

July 24th. It is coming.

one word - multiquote

 

[peharri]

Care to point me to a post where you elaborate on this.
IT is a bit vague on details or reasons.

I'm pretty sure he's right, I just checked the calender and we are scheduled to have a 24th of July in 11 days from now. There's also a July 24th next year, apparently.

Coming soon to a week near you: Monday.

 

[FJ218700]

I'm pretty sure he's right, I just checked the calender and we are scheduled to have a 24th of July in 11 days from now. There's also a July 24th next year, apparently.

Coming soon to a week near you: Monday.

is this from a trusted source?