New Mac Mini Announced! [MERGED]

[KnightWRX]

Well $699 for those specs is absurd!

649$ for a Dell Studio Hybrid with Intel graphics (X3100), slower processor (2.1 ghz on a 800 mhz FSB) and DDR2 RAM isn't ?

Seriously, Small Form Factor. It's a feature.

crikey, talk about missing the point.

The mini was introduced as a low end mac to get people into osx. It was always at the same relative level of performance compared to the rest of the range.

It was introduced at £339, and is now £649.

Apple has taken the mini to a new market today, and my guess is that it has raised the price this much so as to push the iPad as the entry level mac.

Please, in future, do some research before rolling your eyes

I did do research. I went to Dell's site first thing after reading the complaints only to find out the Studio Hybrid is still grossly underspecced and still the same price as the Mini while giving you less and that the Zino HD is still using those damn low power chips that aren't even in the same league as a full mobile Intel processor.

The fact is, things overtime go up in price. Some more than others. Also, the UK £ isn't what it use to be. It used to be that we would need to spend over 2$ to get 1£, those days are over. With your failing currency, you can't blame companies for selling you stuff for more than they used to. You lost purchasing power. Fix your currency and your problems will go away.

The Mac Mini is still the entry level Mac. It's still very cheap and affordable (anything under 1000$ is easy enough for anyone with a decent job to manage).

 

[Steev45]

The Mac Mini is overpriced only if you don't consider the form factor as being a feature.

That is the important point here. People comparing this to full sized desktops are plainly wrong.

.................................

Form factor is FREE.
It could be ANY shape.
That doesn't make it DO anything more than the last iteration.
And it sure doesn't make it worth anything more than the last model.
You have overdosed on the cool-aid.

 

[baryon]

A bit expensive for a "low-end computer" but it's still a great computer if you look at the awesome new design and how compact it is indeed.

By the way: Apple was very fast to include a screenshot of Team Forteress 2 running on the Mac Mini:
http://www.apple.com/macmini/features.html

I guess they're quite happy about Steam for Mac!

 

[shervieux]

I know the new mac mini is smaller, but really Apple - did you have to make the graphic so small that it is almost lost in the lineup of other macs? I guess they wanted to tout how small it really was

 

[ouimetnick]

649$ for a Dell Studio Hybrid with Intel graphics (X3100), slower processor (2.1 ghz on a 800 mhz FSB) and DDR2 RAM isn't ?

Seriously, Small Form Factor. It's a feature.

I use my computer as a computer not a home theater. So size isn't a big issue for me. I want a Mac with modern specs that's a desktop for under 1K. So let's just focus on specs here for a min. For $700 I get PATHETIC specs.

 

[afrowq]

Very pretty. Perhaps I could buy 5 of these strap them together and forgo the wait for a new MacPro...

Lol, winner

 

[peterhuisman]

Looks awesome, but too expensive!!
799 euro's here in Netherlands is too much, I think.

I can see why Apple didn't choose Intel i3.
Same reason as the MacBook Pro (latest update):
Not enough performance for the price you pay, a Intel Core 2 Duo will do just fine.
Now wait and see when the Mac Pro's will be updated!!!

 

[Mal67]

All kidding aside, the price is silly. $599 would be fine. But it is what it is and if sales are too slow maybe they'll reexamine the price point in the coming months.

As far as buying one, I really like the Mini and have one at home. When the time comes to replace it I'll do what I always do with Mac purchases and buy it from the Apple refurbished page. I always save 20% and have had no issues with any of the purchases which have been many.

I really like the mini too, this version especially, but the price could well be an issue $999 hmmm! I wonder though if this is the kind of price we will see when the mini moves to an i series chip? Also I hope that some of the chain stores like JBs' make it a bit more visible so people at least know that it exists. Between the big screen imacs, macbooks and macbook pros plus the ipads there isn't much room left on the apple display table with the mini being reduced to a small handwritten sign at my local store.

 

[calb]

649$ for a Dell Studio Hybrid with Intel graphics (X3100), slower processor (2.1 ghz on a 800 mhz FSB) and DDR2 RAM isn't ?

Seriously, Small Form Factor. It's a feature.

So a small form factor is worth almost double its value a few years ago?

 

[Piggie]

There's like 10 Motherboards that I know of that have USB3, and they're classed as enthusiast grade boards.

There's like 0 (Or one, not quite sure about the 890FX) current chipsets that have USB3 natively, USB3 is far from becoming a widely adopted standard.

That's funny, as just this month my PC magazine reviewed the 1st USB3 external drives. Amazingly fast.

As I say it's odd, as Apple are normally the one who take the LEAP with new connectors/speeds and others (PC World) may eventually catch up.

Seems strange to not to fit the latest on a brand new model, that's all.

 

[adztaylor]

Looks awesome, loving the HDMI port on the back, but really can't justify the UK price. If that was cheaper I'd be on that like a shot

 

[laclists]

Almost there, again...

Apple _almost_ designed a winner HTPC/gaming box, again:

- No BluRay Drive
- No FullHD output
- No decent graphic board, so one could play games like Call of Duty 4 (which was released 3 years ago!)
- Remote Control is an optional

Once more, it's _almost_ what I wanted. Until when Apple will miss these details?

 

[KnightWRX]

So a small form factor is worth almost double its value a few years ago?

699$ is not double 499$. And considering it's now half as big, as the integrated power supply and more powerful specs, not to mention the now weak Euro and Pound...

- No FullHD output

Wait, what ? My 2 year old Macbook has FullHD output... A Mac Mini with both displayport and HDMI has 2 FullHD outputs...

.................................

Form factor is FREE.
It could be ANY shape.
That doesn't make it DO anything more than the last iteration.
And it sure doesn't make it worth anything more than the last model.
You have overdosed on the cool-aid.

Great, after 2 or so months of being called an Apple hater in all the Flash/Nokia threads, I'm now back to a kool-aid drinking Apple fanboy. Thanks, that made my day.

Form factor is far from Free. If it doesn't matter to you, why are you shopping for a computer that has a small form factor ? Unfortunately, shrinking of internals has a price, it's not FREE like you say. Or else, we wouldn't be buying 4U servers for our racks, everything would be 1U thick for more servers per rack. Unfortunately, we still haven't found a decent Itanium box with 128 GB of RAM and 4 FC/4 GigE ports that are made in 1U form factor...

 

[reebzor]

I need this.

Hrmm to preorder iPhone4 or buy a new mini.....

 

[Anuba]

Uhm.. I understand the VAT story, but why isn't Apple capable of converting the price right?

The base model here costs 799 euros; that's 975$!!!

Yeah, I just noticed the EU prices are crazy.

Mac Pro: 2499 USD / 23995 SEK
iMac: 1199 USD / 11495 SEK
MBP: 1199 USD / 11995 SEK
MBA: 1499 USD / 14995 SEK

See? The price in SEK incl. VAT is always the same or slightly less than the USD price excl. VAT and multiplied by 10. Now enter the new Mini...

Mini: 699 USD / 7995 SEK

A 15% price hike, out of the blue. This is unprecedented in Apple's history, the EU/US discrepancy was never that large, which is odd because the USD certainly isn't at an unprecedented high... if this is any indication of where they're going price wise with upcoming Mac Pro and iMac models, as well as iPhone 4 and iPad in countries where those have yet to be introduced, then bye bye EU sales.

 

[Plutonius]

It's also $100 more. Why is their cheapest Mac getting a price hike?

Note the loss of a USB port from the last model. Otherwise this looks like a winner.

Maybe because prices in everything goes up (cars, food, etc).

 

[calb]

699$ is not double 499$. And considering it's now half as big, as the integrated power supply and more powerful specs, not to mention the now weak Euro and Pound...

£649 versus £339. Not far off double.

 

[troller]

As almost always...Apple RipOff.... this **** with 2.4 GHz costs here in switzerland 872$

Are they nuts??? sorry but -> NO way

 

[Hattig]

How about you telling us a magic method of fitting a GPU that can drive a 2048 x 1536 display inside something 13mm thin?

For 2011? Simple - a new SoC that uses a newer graphics core, and more of them (e.g., multi-core PowerVR SGX544, or the older SGX543) , on a smaller process (32nm, or 28nm) to keep the same power consumption.

I'm sure that such a design is in advanced design works at Intrinsity, probably with a couple of ARM Cortex A9s inside as well. Say hello to the A6 CPU in early 2011 ... maybe.

 

[ouimetnick]

They use so lite on components, don't allow it to be upgraded so a logic board will be small. So use the least amount of money to make an enclosure, so the Mac mini has a small foot print. They could have put it in a regular computer case ad most would be fine with it.

 

[KnightWRX]

£649 versus £339. Not far off double.

Considering the UK pound has dropped double it's value in the last 2 years, I guess it's pretty fair.

Maybe you guys should switch to the EURO ? Oh wait...

 

[Timan]

Can you still install Windows (bootcamp, none of this virtualization crap) with the Mac Mini Server? Either through usb stick/cd drive.

Also where is the IR port?

 

[Scottsdale]

AppleTV updated too???

 

[azentropy]

Maybe because prices in everything goes up (cars, food, etc).

Except for computers where the average cost of computers has fallen significantly over the past years, except of course with Apple.

 

[troller]

LOL...who is talking about the weak euro....the 2.4 Ghz mini costs 809€ = 987 US$

Sorry Mr Jobs, but thats a ****ing joke