New Mac Mini Announced! [MERGED]

[lunarworks]

If it had Blu-ray, I'd consider buying one to put next to the TV.

But, it doesn't, so I'm still considering a PS3 (half the price) for my media playback needs.

 

[geta]

nice update,
really wanted to get the Mini for the the living room but no Blu-Ray, and only 2GB 😕

for that price - €800 , at list give 4GB, keyboard and mouse....

 

[alent1234]

Because its basically a laptop in a wider plastic shell.

Weirdly, I'm not impressed this time. I wanted the CPU's to be i5 or i7.
But I think they would never do that because it would take the shine off the iMacs.

the current Mini has better graphics than the iMac's now. i'm shocked they upgraded the Mini instead of the iMac for the iphone launch. i'm guessing that the iMacs will be the first ones to get AMD CPU/Graphics combos come October

 

[notjustjay]

2.5" drives in a desktop-class machine makes me nervous.

 

[Eidorian]

2.5" drives in a desktop-class machine makes me nervous.

Why is that?

 

[alent1234]

No that isn't why at all, in fact. The Mac mini is on the lower end of things, for people who have no use for an i5 or i7. The point is to keep the price down, a veritable Nano of the Mac world, and if they raised the price of this model $100 what do you think would happen if they added an i5?

since the PC's with i core CPU's are cheaper than last year's C2D models nothing should have happened.

still amazes me that iFans think that prices somehow go up with new faster tech. it's usually cheaper to produce the new faster tech than the old tech

 

[steve2112]

Wow, I love the new look. I hate the new price, especially since the innards aren't really upgraded that much. Since I just bought my Mini a couple of months ago, I think I will hold off a while and see what happens. I'll probably follow my usual strategy of waiting for it to show up in the refurb store.

 

[rw3]

All Apple Stores in the DFW Metroplex do not have them in stock right now. Stonebriar said they will have them tomorrow as did Willowbend. I will be picking one up tomorrow morning at 9am.

 

[belvdr]

I wonder if the internal power supply will have the same problem as the Time Capsules (dead in 18 months).

 

[Full of Win]

Meanwhile, there are literally MILLIONS of people sitting just in between the new Mini and the current Pro, and Apple steadfastly refuses to service them. If I hadn't had enough tax return scrilla to go with the Pro, I'd have forgone Mac entirely.

Peace
Ty

Preach it brother! Preach it brother!

I'm the same., I want something more than a mini but less than a pro w/ bays for removable hard drives and NO integrated monitor. everyone else has been offering systems like this for DECADES, why can't Apple?

 

[Eidorian]

since the PC's with i core CPU's are cheaper than last year's C2D models nothing should have happened.

still amazes me that iFans think that prices somehow go up with new faster tech. it's usually cheaper to produce the new faster tech than the old tech

Prices stay the same. Please lets avoid PowerPC 970MP changing into Xeon like the plague as well. That adds in a whole new mess entirely.

Intel has set processor and chipset price points where they bring slightly faster parts or new architectures.

 

[Corax]

The point is, the form factor doesn't get you anything. If it were a half-inch wider, would it be anything less than what it is? No. It's impressive that Apple managed to squeeze all that stuff into that box . . . but there's no reason the box has to be THAT small, when it could be twice as compelling with a only little more horsepower.

Peace
Ty

It doesn't get YOU anything, every person has different needs and demands, so it will fulfill someone else's needs. How strange it may seem to you and your needs, there are people who prefer design and smaller over horsepower and bigger, but they're probably not planning to do the same things you might do with your computer. When they would make it a bit bigger, then it wouldn't be that compelling to them anymore, how strange that may seem to you.

That is the reason why there are different form factors.

 

[G4er?]

Instead of thinner they should have made it three times taller. Then heat concerns wouldn't be an issue. Build it with room for the optical drive and two internal hard drives. Then there would be room on the front for the SD slot and some jacks. If the Mac Pro can have jacks on the front why not other Macs?
I think Apple will discontinue the mini after this model. They will state that sales decreased and say that it was because people don't use computers like it anymore. Instead it will not sell because Apple has gone too far on form and has forgotten function. Form is causing prices to be higher than necessary. People will either give up and buy all in one Macs that force throwing away the whole thing when the monitor dies, (how green is that?) or buy a PC which isn't as elegant but is built with some common sense to usability. Having to work around a bunch of cables and wires to find the SD slot on the back because they wanted to make something small even smaller doesn't make sense. Remember when Apple computers were about doing more? Being more productive? I guess searching for a SD slot on the back is doing more but it isn't more productive.

 

[LordTyroxx]

Hey. I've been thinking about getting a mac for presentations. This seems to be the one to get. I need some help though. There would be a total of 4 screen attached to the Mac Mini. 2 monitors would be 150+ feet from the mac mini and will mirror each other. there will be another monitor a little bit closer probably be 20 feet displaying an extended screen. A monitor will also be displayed next to the mac mini displaying another extended screen.

is this even possible and what are all the adapters i need for the screens?

 

[vista.john]

That looks just amazing... but the price tag is way too high. I have owned three mac minis. The last was purchased last year. I think I can live with that for another year or two. But again, it is a great looking little machine. 😀

 

[Furrybeagle]

Hmm, I really like the design, but it is expensive... Perhaps the Mac mini is being positioned as less of an entry-level system and more of a niche product (for things like home theatre systems and other fun hacks and mods).

Is this a new feature? Handy to have, given a lot of microphones don't work with Apple's line-in ports. (sorry if this was already covered in the last 20 pages!)

It means you can plug in headphones with a remote/mic (like the ones that come with the iPhone), and those features will work with the computer. The uMBPs do this.

 

[misfit356tsw]

Exactly. The Mac mini started from £339 when it was introduced. It only cost £399 until it was last updated 15 months ago.

All this talk of pricing discrepencies reminds me that there is a VAT tax in Europe and Britain, 17.5% in Britain I think. I don't quite understand the details but I think that might explain the lack of parity between our countries.

 

[OllyW]

All this talk of pricing discrepencies reminds me that there is a VAT tax in Europe and Britain, 17.5% in Britain I think. I don't quite understand the details but I think that might explain the lack of parity between our countries.

There was 17.5% VAT in the UK when it cost £339. 😀

 

[ceraz]

Maybe the plan is to re-use the same shell for the new ATV by putting in a bluray instead of DVD, A4 chip instead of Intel, iOS instead of Mac OSX, etc.

And charge 400-500 USD.

At least it would give explanation for making a thin desktop device

 

[saikyan]

I see the iPhone halo effect is working its magic on the Mac Mini. If you're confused about the price increase... It has nothing to do with the specs. It has everything to do with Apple leveraging its brand to get higher margins from everything they sell.

This Mac Mini is very weak in terms of value. But Apple customers aren't going for value, they're going for style, packaging and integration.

 

[GeeYouEye]

If Apple hadn't dropped the price of OS X Server Unlimited Client when Snow Leopard came out, this would basically be free hardware with purchase of server software. Very cool. Without BluRay on the desktop version, the server version is a much better value.

 

[cult hero]

I see the iPhone halo effect is working its magic on the Mac Mini. If you're confused about the price increase... It has nothing to do with the specs. It has everything to do with Apple leveraging its brand to get higher margins from everything they sell.

This Mac Mini is very weak in terms of value. But Apple customers aren't going for value, they're going for style, packaging and integration.

I don't know that I agree with that entirely.

The thing is like... half the size of the old model WITH the power supply built in. That has to account, at least partially, toward the price increase.

(It wouldn't affect me much anyway. The machine that interests me is the server model. They don't waste space on a stupid optical drive. And the price of that didn't go up, which is no surprise because the profit margin on that is wider because most of the price jump in that is dictated by the software.)

 

[mudbug99]

Sticker shock

There is a bit of sticker shock on this that will likely keep me from buying one. However, a similar windows system (e.g. the dell Studio Hybrid) will cost as much or more, at least in the US ($689 with same processor, RAM, etc). And, 4GB memory limit and Intel Integrated graphics on the Dell. Also no VGA support which, while outdated, is still in use. Finally, the Dell is ugly as pus. Somewhat better warranty though....

I don't doubt that the system is worth the price, I just would have preferred a cheaper option. I just want a media server to hide under my TV.

 

[hkechoes]

Why it didn't got mentioned in WWDC Keynote? Spending a few minutes with Mac's update and unveil this beautiful machine in "one more thing...." is cool.

 

[Queso]

Why it didn't got mentioned in WWDC Keynote? Spending a few minutes with Mac's update and unveil this beautiful machine in "one more thing...." is cool.

Because the "One More Thing" slot is reserved for the big name product, which for WWDC Apple wanted to be the iPhone 4.