Mac Mini to be Discontinued?

[Firefly2002]

WRONG.

"A streamlined lineup ENSURES Apple's success."

Longtime Mac users like me know what a mess Apple was in back in the 90s, exactly because of so many models and specs. SJ came and cleaned up that mess, so as to give a CLEAR message to the market.

And this is one of the main reasons Apple is dominating this market. No branding confusion, no cryptic model names, no plethora of look-alike Macs.

It's one AIO, one professional desktop, one professional server and 3 notebook lines...there is space for only one more thing, and that's a single-model personal desktop.

I kinda like it and bought one for my parents. IMHO, its EOL status means either that a NEW Mini is coming, a NEW Cube is coming, or a lower-specced MacPro is coming...

Actually the main reason Apple was in the toilet in the 90s was because of sky high prices and little middle ground. The naming system just confused things further.

And oh, look... their prices are (relatively) high again.

 

[FrenchKheldar]

^^^^

Anyone know what the status is so far? I haven't heard about any discontinuing the Mini from Apple.

Shuttle is going small PC-crazy. Here's their latest, $399 for Linux.

It's nice and cute but it's running an Atom proc... The G4 Mini is probably more powerful !

I checked their website and if you go to a "real" processor, the size of their machine increases a lot, to what looks like something bigger than 2 stacked Mini... No thanks !

 

[Lesser Evets]

"The MacRumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated."
~Mac Mini

 

[maccompaq]

It's nice and cute but it's running an Atom proc... The G4 Mini is probably more powerful !

Mac Mini G4 1.25 GHz Geek Bench score = 565
Mac Mini G4 1.42 GHz Geek Bench score = 816
Atom 1.6 GHz Geek Bench score = 965
Atom dual core 1.6 GHz Geek Bench score = 1364

 

[Kebabselector]

The Mini was intended for switchers, and in my case it succeeded. Though now Microsoft have their own mac switching platform - Vista. The perception that Vista is bad is probably helping the switch to Apple more than the MacMini ever did.

 

[sushi]

Too many models that overlapped each other with confusing names, and confusing marketing directed at an increasingly less interested marketshare.

Isn't that the truth.

It was hard to make recommendations at the time. The line up was too complicated.

Shuttle is going small PC-crazy. Here's their latest, $399 for Linux.

There definitely is a market for small computers.

OT: I wish Apple offered a business version of the iMac for under $1,000.

Most businesses don't need:
- WiFi since they use wired LAN for security.
- BlueTooth for the same reason.
- DVD burner. Combo drive is enough.
- Large HD. A 100GB is more than plenty.
- Fast CPU.
etc.

"The MacRumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated."
~Mac Mini

 

[headfuzz]

<off topic>

OT: I wish Apple offered a business version of the iMac for under $1,000.

Most businesses don't need:
- WiFi since they use wired LAN for security.
- BlueTooth for the same reason.
- DVD burner. Combo drive is enough.
- Large HD. A 100GB is more than plenty.
- Fast CPU.
etc.

In effect you may as well ask for a thin client that runs OS X; however with no application serving software such as Citrix in existence for OS X server it'll probably never happen.

Aside from X11 forwarding POSIX apps to clients, I'm not aware of any such solution for OS X... Nice thought though.

</off topic>

 

[flopticalcube]

<off topic>



In effect you may as well ask for a thin client that runs OS X; however with no application serving software such as Citrix in existence for OS X server it'll probably never happen.

Aside from X11 forwarding POSIX apps to clients, I'm not aware of any such solution for OS X... Nice thought though.

</off topic>

Whatever happened to NXHosting?

and as regards mini competition, I know Aopen does (did) a near identical clone of the mini with 915, 945 and now 965 chipsets but I don't think it was ever very popular as it was alwys sold without processor or hard disk which may have confused people.

 

[thechidz]

the iphone is the new mac mini. sells more and converts more pc users. fact

 

[flopticalcube]

the iphone is the new mac mini. sells more and converts more pc users. fact

cheaper and longer revenue stream as well.

 

[headfuzz]

Whatever happened to NXHosting?

Afaics this.

 

[elcid]

Well what is truely on the books for MWSF. Riddle me that and I will buy into the notion that they will not do something with the mini.

 

[headfuzz]

Well what is truely on the books for MWSF. Riddle me that and I will buy into the notion that they will not do something with the mini.

True enough. We've had new aluminium Macbooks, Macbook Pros, and iMacs as well as the iPhone 3G this year.

We'll get new Nehalem based bumps at MWSF 09 I reckon, and the obvious Snow Leopard launch / development update.

All bets are off on other new hardware imho. Could be anyone's guess.

An updated Mini or suitable replacement would be damn sweet though.

 

[flopticalcube]

Afaics this.

That's unfortunate but reasonable, I suppose.

 

[gooffer]

Mac Mini....

I like my 64 Bit Mac Mini with a 2.33Ghz 4mb cache chip and 500 gig drive plus 4gb ram rather nicely, I also added 802.11n wireless internal. The final product is about 50% faster then anything that apple offers, they are as always out of touch with their most loyal fans... No firewire ? glossy screen only ? you can see quickly that Steve must be really sick !!

 

[Urenstaat]

I support a few home-office users who use Minis now, quite happily. One of the benefits is quick replacement. If there's no Mac Mini to buy, none of them will pay for an iMac or MacBook, since there are no apps in their workflows that aren't also available on PC.

Quite true. I have a home-office with a Mac mini as my desktop solution. Actually, I 'transferred' my office to my parents place for a week - writing there now - just packing the Mac mini, Apple wireless keyboard and Logitech VX Revolution mouse. I plugged a (crappy) 24-inch Iiyama screen and ethernet cable into the mini and have an 'office' on the go. I love this solution! If Apple releases an updated mini and kept FW I'd sell my old one and buy a new one: the slower wifi is slowing down my home network and yeah, the graphics on the mini suck big time.. The new displayport, well, that would mean I'd have a mini-displayport to DVI dongle, a DVI cable, and a DVI to HDMI dongle to hook the mini up to my parents screen, which only has HDMI and VGA: no DVI. Will Apple ever make a mini-displayport to HDMI cable? I doubt it... A mini without FW? I'd pass. I have too many external FW-hardrives at the moment.. and where does my iSight go without FW?

 

[latchthekid]

ALRIGHT everybody. I didn't bother reading through the last 4 or 5 pages of the thread but check out appleinsiders newest post. the mac mini WILL AGAIN RISE!!!! WHOOHOOOO!

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/10/24/informed_players_say_apples_mac_mini_still_kickin.html

 

[toke lahti]

Actually the main reason Apple was in the toilet in the 90s was because of sky high prices and little middle ground.
The naming system just confused things further.
And oh, look... their prices are (relatively) high again.

Exactly, history repeating once again, Steve & Ive!
When Apple made intel switch, their computers were about 20% expensive than pc's, which is pretty ok with excellent OS. Now they are about 200%...

 

[relimw]

Mac Mini G4 1.25 GHz Geek Bench score = 565
Mac Mini G4 1.42 GHz Geek Bench score = 816
Atom 1.6 GHz Geek Bench score = 965
Atom dual core 1.6 GHz Geek Bench score = 1364

Just to point out the obvious before moving to the new thread, you stated the specs for a 3 year old Mac mini PowerPC-based machine against a relatively new Atom machine. Nice way to make the specs look good for the Atom

 

[maccompaq]

Just to point out the obvious before moving to the new thread, you stated the specs for a 3 year old Mac mini PowerPC-based machine against a relatively new Atom machine. Nice way to make the specs look good for the Atom

All I was doing was providing information to show the comparative speeds of the Atom and the G4 Mini. See below.

Quote:
Originally Posted by FrenchKheldar View Post
It's nice and cute but it's running an Atom proc... The G4 Mini is probably more powerful !

Mac Mini G4 1.25 GHz Geek Bench score = 565
Mac Mini G4 1.42 GHz Geek Bench score = 816
Atom 1.6 GHz Geek Bench score = 965
Atom dual core 1.6 GHz Geek Bench score = 1364

 

[discostu668]

how is this possible? did they not announce an update mac mini during the october 14th keynote?

 

[Eidorian]

how is this possible? did they not announce an update mac mini during the october 14th keynote?

It was all laptops.

 

[Joe The Dragon]

Isn't that the truth.

It was hard to make recommendations at the time. The line up was too complicated.


There definitely is a market for small computers.

OT: I wish Apple offered a business version of the iMac for under $1,000.

Most businesses don't need:
- WiFi since they use wired LAN for security.
- BlueTooth for the same reason.
- DVD burner. Combo drive is enough.
- Large HD. A 100GB is more than plenty.
- Fast CPU.
etc.

at the cost of the system go DVD burner all the way.

Also it could use 128-256 of it's own vram for the desktop / ps4 as mac os uses video ram for basic stuff.

 

[discostu668]

It was all laptops.

if i am not mistaken, they also announced a speed bump for the mac mini.

 

[flopticalcube]

if i am not mistaken, they also announced a speed bump for the mac mini.

Nope. minis are still 1.83GHz and 2.0GHz.

https://buyersguide.macrumors.com//#Mac_mini

Last Release August 07, 2007
Days Since Update 445 (Avg = 188)