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Why is everyone selling their Mac Mini?
- Thread starter zachj
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stoid
macrumors 601
Eevee said:
ditto
I too am confused where this 'everyone' observation is coming from. As far as I have heard the Mac Mini is selling very well, and initially far outstripped supply. However, if someone is desperate to get rid of their Mac Mini, I'll gladly take it off your hands! 😀 😉
Pardon me . . . allow me to qualify and quantify.
I understand that demand outstripped supply and that they're wildly popular. But I also notice that there's one for sale in the classifieds of this forum every day (almost). People are always looking to trade them for something a little bigger or they just can't believe they got one. I haven't read anything about hardware failures, but I was wondering if it's just a bunch of people deciding it wasn't right for them.
As far as PowerBook performance, they've got 4200rpm drives in them and 256MB of RAM by default. Swapping to disk is bad enough, but it gets SO much worse when that drive is so slow. I guess there's nothing "wrong" with PowerBook performance, but I've never been impressed with the G4's speed. It was always OS X for me.
Z
I understand that demand outstripped supply and that they're wildly popular. But I also notice that there's one for sale in the classifieds of this forum every day (almost). People are always looking to trade them for something a little bigger or they just can't believe they got one. I haven't read anything about hardware failures, but I was wondering if it's just a bunch of people deciding it wasn't right for them.
As far as PowerBook performance, they've got 4200rpm drives in them and 256MB of RAM by default. Swapping to disk is bad enough, but it gets SO much worse when that drive is so slow. I guess there's nothing "wrong" with PowerBook performance, but I've never been impressed with the G4's speed. It was always OS X for me.
Z
wordmunger
macrumors 603
For a completely nonscientific study of the issue: I count 11 non-mini computers and 2 minis for sale on the first page the classifieds. Doesn't exactly seem to me to be a torrent of sales.
Allow me to edit my post then, as I really did not intend to suggest that every sale is a mac mini and that EVERYONE is selling the mini.
Z
Z
I agree with the OP. There have been a fair amount mini's posted over in Marketplace. How many make up "a fair amount"? I don't know, but enough to make some people ask 'why'. With such a new machine you have to wonder why people buy it and within two or three weeks determine that they want/need to sell it.
I saw the same thing with iMac G5's a few weeks back. Seemed like there were a lot up for sale here and on craigslist. I wondered if people felt there wasn't a big enough performance gain from G4s or if the fan and noise issues were worse than we've heard about. Most of the replies I got were from people who love their iMacs.
I'm interested in these topics because I'm trying to decide if I should upgrade a few machines. Is it worth it? Will I get good ROI? etc.
I saw the same thing with iMac G5's a few weeks back. Seemed like there were a lot up for sale here and on craigslist. I wondered if people felt there wasn't a big enough performance gain from G4s or if the fan and noise issues were worse than we've heard about. Most of the replies I got were from people who love their iMacs.
I'm interested in these topics because I'm trying to decide if I should upgrade a few machines. Is it worth it? Will I get good ROI? etc.
wordmunger
macrumors 603
Of the 4 for sale in the first 2 pages in classifieds, one person wants an iPod instead, one person didn't think it would work for a home theater (but didn't say why), and the other two provided no reason. I still don't think this is that big a deal.zachj said:
However, I also don't think the mini is for everyone. Obviously it's the perfect switcher machine or dual use machine (Mac/PC setup with KVM switch). I could see using it as a music server, but it's not a real powerhouse, so I wouldn't recommend it for the main computer for anyone doing anything other than basic, day to day tasks.
za9ra22
macrumors 65816
One can't help but wonder, on the basis of the volume of mini's that appear to have been sold so far, how the dribble of mini sales here, on eBay and various other places could possibly warrant any real concern.
I'd say that a few people bought minis in the hope of selling them at a profit (as per the original iPod minis), some bought minis on impulse simply because they were cheap, and then discovered they are really nothing special - just a Mac in a small box, some bought them and have discovered limitations caused by the lack of upgradable options and thus want to sell, some bought them because they wanted to try MacOS but discovered they don't like it, some bought them because they wanted a Mac and liked it so much they then bought an iMac and need to sell the mini to help pay for it, and some have found problems such as the Seagate drive noises, or dim video output with some monitors and decided to sell as a result.
One way or another, the number of people selling because of problems is likely to be quite small.
I'd say that a few people bought minis in the hope of selling them at a profit (as per the original iPod minis), some bought minis on impulse simply because they were cheap, and then discovered they are really nothing special - just a Mac in a small box, some bought them and have discovered limitations caused by the lack of upgradable options and thus want to sell, some bought them because they wanted to try MacOS but discovered they don't like it, some bought them because they wanted a Mac and liked it so much they then bought an iMac and need to sell the mini to help pay for it, and some have found problems such as the Seagate drive noises, or dim video output with some monitors and decided to sell as a result.
One way or another, the number of people selling because of problems is likely to be quite small.
My first thought when the Mini came out was that Apple was positioning it to create two sales to many switchers. The first sale would be the Mini, essentially proving to the PC user that the Mac is a great alternative. The second sale would come a bit later when the switcher decided that it would be even better to have a more powerful system like the iMac, or even a Dual G5.
These switchers then selling their Minis allows for the process to repeat itself.
🙂
These switchers then selling their Minis allows for the process to repeat itself.
🙂
daveL
macrumors 68020
I don't suppose it might have something to do with the mini being a low price, high volume product, whereas all other Macs are higher priced and lower (significantly) volume?
It's like looking at the auto classifieds and saying there must be something wrong with Fords, since there are a lot more Fords for sale than Porsches.
It's like looking at the auto classifieds and saying there must be something wrong with Fords, since there are a lot more Fords for sale than Porsches.
Am I on crack? Yes, I believe I am. Thanks for pointing that out to me 😕
To be serious, I guess nobody shares my opinion. That's fine with me. It just seemed to me that there are an unusually high volume of Mac Minis, considering the fact that they're new computers.
Z
To be serious, I guess nobody shares my opinion. That's fine with me. It just seemed to me that there are an unusually high volume of Mac Minis, considering the fact that they're new computers.
Z
solvs
macrumors 603
1. Impulse buy, second thoughts.
2. Want to upgrade to something else... or downgrade to a PC. 😛
3. They're in short supply, people think they can get their money back on them, for whatever reason they may not want them.
4. Tiger is going to be released soon. For some, they might think it would be cheaper to sell and take a loss than pay for the upgrade. Especially before April 29th. Yeah, it doesn't make sense to me either.
2. Want to upgrade to something else... or downgrade to a PC. 😛
3. They're in short supply, people think they can get their money back on them, for whatever reason they may not want them.
4. Tiger is going to be released soon. For some, they might think it would be cheaper to sell and take a loss than pay for the upgrade. Especially before April 29th. Yeah, it doesn't make sense to me either.