Revised Mac mini now shipping?

[gravitysux]

I just lost a lot of respect for Apple. You might get a new one... or you might not. You pay your money and you take your chances. What kind of crap is this? Just lower the price on the previous models like any other company would do. I hope they get sued over this.

Yes, I totally agree, its bad enough to start on a "@#$%& the switchers" campaign but long time Mac users are the losers here. I WANT TO BUY AN UPDATED MINI, but I won't now cause they don't seem to want to indicate what I will be getting. I depend on this thing for my living and/or lifestyle and I need to know I can depend on 5, 10 or 20% better photoshop efficiency, better frame rates, faster write times or i'm not buying. Go to the back of the class Steve.

 

[Diatribe]

Apart from the fact that PB is a portable laptop with built-in keyboard, screen and mouse, whereas Mini is a desktop with no keyboard, screen and a mouse?

So you're saying that those components add $1000 to that price tag?

 

[Evangelion]

So you're saying that those components add $1000 to that price tag?

No, did I say that they do? They do add few hunded (well, the CPU adds a bit more as well). But do you think that that means that PB can be at most few hundred dollars more expensive than the Mini? Companies have different profit-margins on different products. The cost to produce the product might be identical, but products might still have wildy different retail-prices.

Take CPU's for example: if you have two identical CPU's, with one running at 2GHz, and the other running at 2.4GHz, the 2.4GHz CPU will cost you more, even though the cost to make them is identical. It boils down to what consumers are willing to pay for the product. And laptop is so much more versatile than a desktop is, that consumers are willing to pay more for one.

The point of my original post was that you can't compare dekstops and laptops. Desktops will always cost less that equivalent laptops will cost. If you need a mobile computer, desktop is not an alternative to you. If you want as powerful computer as possible, laptop is not an alternative to you. Saying "OMG, Mini is almost as good as Powerbook now!" is rather pointless, since the other is a laptop, while the other one is a desktop. They are meant for different things. While some of the specs might be similar, neither is really an option to the other.

 

[petej]

Apple is experimenting with the mini. Dell being an online retailer can happily bump specs as they see fit. Apple however will always have stock sitting in warehouses. The old fashioned model of running stocks down before an upgrade and leaving retailers with empty shelves for weeks is not good for sales. Neither is announcing a new model when there is old stock sitting in the warehouse. This looks like an experimental strategy to even out sales whilst still providing regular updates. It also sounds like a good strategy for dealing with regular intel updates. Could quarterly updates be on the plan for the future?

 

[Evangelion]

Yes, I totally agree, its bad enough to start on a "@#$%& the switchers" campaign but long time Mac users are the losers here. I WANT TO BUY AN UPDATED MINI, but I won't now cause they don't seem to want to indicate what I will be getting.

*sigh*.... is you really, REALLY want the updated Mini, is it too much to ask to wait for few days? Seriously? You are NOT in any shape or form forced to buy right now.

If Apple did NOT offer any updates to the Mini, you guys would be happy campers. But now that they DO offer updates, you bitch and moan. It just boggles the mind.

 

[Squire]

Won't be buying a Mac mini until Apple officially ships the new ones.

There's the solution, folks. If you want the newer specs, wait. Very plain. Very simple.

Remember, we--the mac rumor-site reading geeks-- are very far from the norm. We're only a small portion of the mac-using public. In fact, I'd venture we're about as large of a group as the group that doesn't even know how to check their machines specifications. Seriously.

No big deal.

And regarding the car analogy...

Imagine going to the car dealer and being told...

"Well, for $25,000 you'll either get a 170HP engine or a 100HP engine, leather seats or cloth seats, sunroof or no sunroof... we can't tell you though. You just have to take your chances."

Apple's not telling anything other than what's on the box. But that horse is just a stinking carcass in the corner. It needs no further beating.

Squire

 

[50548]

*sigh*.... is you really, REALLY want the updated Mini, is it too much to ask to wait for few days? Seriously? You are NOT in any shape or form forced to buy right now.

If Apple did NOT offer any updates to the Mini, you guys would be happy campers. But now that they DO offer updates, you bitch and moan. It just boggles the mind.

Ditto...these guys are worse than whining kids...oh sorry, they ARE kids...

Again...Apple is A PRIVATE COMPANY, and free to launch its products WHEN and WHERE it finds fit, period. The fact that the company is giving a few 20th Anniversary Mac to a select few does not entitle YOU to receive the same thing, it it's not officially advertised. Apple NEEDS to clear inventory and will update its pages and ads whenever it feels necessary. For some the Minis are coming, for others not yet, and there is NOTHING to complain about...please do me a favor...study some basic consumer law and go figure.

 

[Diatribe]

No, did I say that they do? They do add few hunded (well, the CPU adds a bit more as well). But do you think that that means that PB can be at most few hundred dollars more expensive than the Mini? Companies have different profit-margins on different products. The cost to produce the product might be identical, but products might still have wildy different retail-prices.

Take CPU's for example: if you have two identical CPU's, with one running at 2GHz, and the other running at 2.4GHz, the 2.4GHz CPU will cost you more, even though the cost to make them is identical. It boils down to what consumers are willing to pay for the product. And laptop is so much more versatile than a desktop is, that consumers are willing to pay more for one.

The point of my original post was that you can't compare dekstops and laptops. Desktops will always cost less that equivalent laptops will cost. If you need a mobile computer, desktop is not an alternative to you. If you want as powerful computer as possible, laptop is not an alternative to you. Saying "OMG, Mini is almost as good as Powerbook now!" is rather pointless, since the other is a laptop, while the other one is a desktop. They are meant for different things. While some of the specs might be similar, neither is really an option to the other.

The reason I compare the two is that they use the same components. Notebook components. The Powerbook shouldn't be twice the amount of money... I understand margins but this is ridiculous.

 

[Hattig]

Quit being such a smarmy little bastard. I'm supposed to order one not knowing what I'll get? Gee, I think I'll go out and buy a new car not knowing what kind of engine it will come with. What a great idea.

You're not buying a 1.5GHz Mac Mini and getting a 1.42GHz Mac Mini.

You're buying a 1.42GHz Mac Mini, and may get a 1.5GHz Mac Mini.

If you didn't read this site or others, then if you wanted a Mac Mini, you'd order what Apple were selling - 1.42GHz Mac Minis.

It'd be like ordering your car, and getting that car PLUS free air conditioning and a better audio system.

Some people simply can't think, and they just react. They should learn to think before making fools of themselves with their reaction.

 

[gravitysux]

*sigh*.... is you really, REALLY want the updated Mini, is it too much to ask to wait for few days? Seriously? You are NOT in any shape or form forced to buy right now.If Apple did NOT offer any updates to the Mini, you guys would be happy campers. But now that they DO offer updates, you bitch and moan. It just boggles the mind.

You can't mean that - you simply deserve to know what you're paying for. I called today to ask about any revisions to mini, and the answer "sorry, I can't say, we don't know what we've got until we arrive at 9am in the morning" just didn't sit well for me. Let alone you don't know until you plug it in. If YOU recieved your brand new dual 2.7 G5 and your best mate ordered and paid the same but got a dual 3.0 with faster HD and graphics, you'd ask the question.

 

[Stella]

Yes, but you do know what they mean...


If the Ripple effect doesn't occur when you drop a Widget on to Dashboard desktop, then the GPU doesn't supported Good Enough core graphics in most people eyes.

Your posting is correct of course.

A nice evolution, if true. And my first Mac ever came with a bigger HD than stated on the order and on the box. So you never know...

PS, just to be clear: contrary to popular misunderstanding, ALL Macs support Core Image.

Core Image will leverage whatever hardware resources you have available: if you have AltiVec (G4/G5), it will use it. If you have multiple CPUs, it will use them. If you have a programmable GPU that will do the job better than the CPU, it will use that.

But you do not NEED a GPU with that capability. Core Image is an ingenious software technique that reduces multiple image-processing steps down to one step--and anyone can benefit from that, whether using the CPU or GPU.

Details here: http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/macosx-10.4.ars/15

And Apple says the same thing:

"For computers without a programmable GPU, Core Image dynamically optimizes for the CPU, automatically tuning for Velocity Engine and multiple processors as appropriate."

From: http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/coreimage/

So to set the record straight: an individual app can demand stricter requirements of its own choosing--it can demand a G5, a programmable GPU, etc. But Core Image itself does NOT need a programmable GPU.

 

[Evangelion]

The reason I compare the two is that they use the same components. Notebook components. The Powerbook shouldn't be twice the amount of money... I understand margins but this is ridiculous.

I'm sorry, but it does not quite work that way. Instead of looking at the components, look at the capabilities. Powerbook has more capabilities (it's transportable, it has Core Image-capable vid-card, it has a screen, mouse and a keyboard etc.) than the Mini does. So what if they use mostly the same components? BMW and Ford use quite similar components as well, yet BMW costs more. 1.25GHz and 1.42GHz G4 are identical, yet the 1.42GHz model is more expensive. Some digital-cameras are identical, apart from few changes in the firmware, yet one camera might be twice as expensive as the other camera.

Laptops will always be more expensive that equivalent desktops are.That's just the way it works. Again, it boils down what people are willing to pay. you could use PowerBook as a regular workstation, like you would use Mini. But you could also use it on the road, and that's something you can't do with a Mini. And there are lots of people aho are willing to pay extra for that feature. Who cares if the components are similar?

 

[Evangelion]

You can't mean that - you simply deserve to know what you're paying for.

You are paying for 1.42Ghz Mac Mini with 32MB of VRAM. If you happen to get a machine with better specs, isn't that a good thing? So why the whining? Seriously: this is not rocket-science!

I called today to ask about any revisions to mini, and the answer "sorry, I can't say, we don't know what we've got until we arrive at 9am in the morning" just didn't sit well for me.

Then don't buy it! Wait for few days! Sheesh!

Let alone you don't know until you plug it in. If YOU recieved your brand new dual 2.7 G5 and your best mate ordered and paid the same but got a dual 3.0 with faster HD and graphics, you'd ask the question.

So, you order a dual 2.7GHz G5, and you receive a dual 2.7GHz G5. Where is the problem here? If your friend receives a dual 3GHz G5, is that somehow taken away from you? You get what you paid for, someone else just happened to get more than he paid for. How does that matter to you at all? You decided to buy machine with certain specs, and you then receive a machine with those specs. Pray tell: what exactly is the problem here? The fact that someone received a machine with better specs?`Does that somehow make your computer slower?

 

[andiwm2003]

How long have you folks been using computers? This was common practice for years in the PC world. We would very routinely order 100s of PCs at a time for rollouts and some would arrive with tweeks and minor upgrades. At least on a Mac the changes won't send you searching through boxes looking for driver revisions.

I can't get over reading this thread how many people treat the mini as some high end machine and act like Apple is holding out on them. Would you be upset to buy a $399 Dell from your Sunday Best Buy ad and find out the box next to it had some minor difference? Who cares. Its a CHEAP consumer level machine. Its not a PowerMac. Its not even an iBook. Some of you should quit your analysis of every spec of the mini and just take it for what it is - the bottom of the line Apple made for homework, iTunes and email.

you are so right. at least somebody in this thread gets it.

apple has now a real consumer line. this line will be marketet like stereo systems or watches! how many different casio models exist under the same model name? or citizen watches?

at a price point of $400 nobody cares about exact specs. if it looks good and works as expected you buy it.

if they get a lot of cheap 1.6 ghz g4's they'll put them in. before they underclocked them to keep the line consistent. how is that better than the "spec's lottery" that we have now?

 

[mddharma]

are you in the market for a mini? would you buy a mini with the specs listed on the box? if not then DONT, if yes then DO IT.

how could such a simple decision throw you into confusion. i'll try to say it another way. if your willing to buy a mini with the specs on the box then do it and DONT EXPECT the increased specs that some are getting.

see how easy that is. thats all i have to say about it. if you cant see how simple that solves the issue then i really dont have anything more to say to you. besides why would you wanna correspond with such a smarmy BIG bastard like me?

Wow, you most be well liked everywhere...

 

[Squire]

Wow, you most be well liked everywhere...

You should've read the post beatle888 was replying to. The reaction was, well, warranted.

Squire

 

[cr2sh]

Wow, you most be well liked everywhere...

Haha. This is a pretty intense issue.. very high stress.

I think it's fun though... I'd love to see apple do this with all new products.

It really integrates the mac-fanatics into the release cycle. Imagine the guy who realized he had the new mac mini first, started emailing... it's a reason to keep buying... and now we have the Let's Make a Deal factor weighing in.

 

[SiliconAddict]

Oh damn that is so tempting....how does a 1.5Ghz handle HD content? e.g. H.264? If I'm getting a Mac mini its for a home entertainment center PC.

 

[~Shard~]

I wonder when we'll see something official on this from Apple... should be soon one would think! Tuesday has passed now for this week, but Apple has made a couple announcements on Wednesdays as of late, so we'll see. This update doesn't warrant a lot of fanfare and such, so it can be relatively quiet, however it still needs to actually happen!

 

[gravitysux]

You are paying for 1.42Ghz Mac Mini with 32MB of VRAM. If you happen to get a machine with better specs, isn't that a good thing? So why the whining? Seriously: this is not rocket-science!

No, the point is, from about now a purchaser of a new machine who is aware of an update - if they are on the shelves "somewhere" would have wanted to own a 1.5Ghz with 5400 HD and 64MB VRAM - why would they pay the same for less? And hell, I can wait for a few days, if they just said to me "in a week or month you can have that" I would put the money down now. And maybe it is a (Wintel) PC practice to drip feed updates but do we have to trade some core brand values to join the crowd?

 

[bodeh6]

Does anybody here believe that this could have been a mistake. Say Apple is Planning on releasing the updated Mac mini on October 4. They don't start production of the new unit that day. They start a few weeks ahead of that time so that they can start shipping out that same day. Now imagine that one of these updated machines instead of going to the side of the plant that has updated machines, it went to the side of the current machine as they are trying probably to get rid of the last of the slower ones. It got boxed and shipped out as an old one when it should have been in the backroom of the warehouse waiting for Tuesday the 4th.

There is my logical explanation. Take it or leave it. Apple is not trying to screw anybody or deceive people. If the computer you ordered came with a slower processor, then you would get mad. But if you look at Apple refurbs, there have been a ton of stories on here where people have gotten slightly better specs then what the Apple website said. Did they feel that Apple is a bad company or is not loyal to the consumer. Heck No. They were happy because they got a better computer then they expected.

 

[Agent69]

Well, why not have some fun and try to determine when the change started?

First, read this article on Mac serial numbers. After reading, we should be able to determine when things changes to the new specs. (There is also an automated site that will do this for you, which you can reach here.)

For example, checking Macnews's system with serial number YM5375TLTAA, I can tell the following:

Factory: YM (China (Hon Hai / Foxconn))code_to_number: 5TL - YM5375TLTAA

Production year: 2005
Production week: 37 (September)
Production number: 6718 (within this week)

 

[phairphan]

Oh damn that is so tempting....how does a 1.5Ghz handle HD content? e.g. H.264? If I'm getting a Mac mini its for a home entertainment center PC.

I posted FPS in the other new Mac Mini thread located here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/150629/

This is based on The Brothers Grimm trailer on the Apple website:

480P: Nary a dropped frame
720P: Tops out around 12 FPS
1080P: Unwatchable, as you can imagine. The video stutters and the rate oscillates between 5-ish and .5-ish FPS

 

[phairphan]

Well, why not have some fun and try to determine when the change started?

First, read this article on Mac serial numbers. After reading, we should be able to determine when things changes to the new specs. (There is also an automated site that will do this for you, which you can reach here.)

For example, checking Macnews's system with serial number YM5375TLTAA, I can tell the following:

Factory: YM (China (Hon Hai / Foxconn))code_to_number: 5TL - YM5375TLTAA

Production year: 2005
Production week: 37 (September)
Production number: 6718 (within this week)

Cool. My newer Mini is also from the Hon Hai / Foxconn factory. The rest of the info is as follows:

Production year: 2005
Production week: 35 (September)
Production number: 32XX (within this week)

 

[Evangelion]

No, the point is, from about now a purchaser of a new machine who is aware of an update - if they are on the shelves "somewhere" would have wanted to own a 1.5Ghz with 5400 HD and 64MB VRAM - why would they pay the same for less?

But they are not buying a 1.5GHz machine. Officially they do not exist. The machine Apple offers is a 1.42GHz model. If you buy it, you might get a better model, which would be just an added bonus. They would not be paying "same for less". They would be paying "same for more". Like I said before, when Mini was introduced, there was a chance that you got a model with 4200RPM HD, or a 5400RPM HD. There was no way of knowing which you would get. And people didn't complain back then. But now they do. And they do it because they have a good chance of getting a better specced machine for same amount of money, but it's not 100% certain. It would be 100% certain if they waited for few days.

I repeat: it just boggles the mind. Apple is upgrading the specs of the Mini, and people complain. I mean, REALLY? And why do they do it? "If I buy the Mini now, I can't be sure that will I get the official version, or the unofficial version with better specs!". Well, cry me a river, and wait untill the unofficial version becomes the official version!

Let's repeat: The specs of the Mini include 1.42GHz G4 and 32MB of VRAM. That is the machine you are buying, and that is the machine you will get AT LEAST. If you have a bit of luck, you could get a better specced machine. And that is a GOOD THING!

Do people here somehow think that they are entitled to the Mini with better specs? And if Apple doesn't ship them that (as in, they ship the machine the machine the buyer is actually buying!), people feel that they are being ripped off? This just isn't making any sense! Apple is offering some people an added bonus, and people feel ripped off if they don't happen to get that bonus.

And maybe it is a (Wintel) PC practice to drip feed updates but do we have to trade some core brand values to join the crowd?

What "brand values" are you talking about here? Apple offers a better machine for same amount of money, and people bitch and moan.

this has got to be one of the strangest discussions I have even seen....