Apple announces $499 Macintosh

AppleInsider ^ | January 11, 2005

[HAL9000]

Preliminary info from MacWorld Expo -

Jobs introduces Mac mini. New member of Mac family including a slot-load Combo optical drive, FireWire, ethernet, USB 2.o, both DVI/VGA output. It plays DVDs, burn CDs, and is very quiet and tiny. Its height is half the size of an iPod mini. Jobs calls it "BYODKM" -- Bring Your Own Display, Keyboard, Mouse. Will come in two models: 1.25GHz 256MB/40GB for $499. A second model with a 1.4GHz, more memory and larger hard drive will sell for $599. Mac mini will ship on January 22. Ships in a box smaller than the regular iPod box.

[ECM]

Got two of 'em and they're every bit as functional as my old tower (Shuttle boxes).

However, now I'm thinking about going SLI so I'll have to re-think it ;D

[BunnySlippers]

USB but I've gone wireless on my Apple optical mouse.

[frankenMonkey]

True, they are well screwed together and work...

no, they don't even do that. my 8 month old dell latitude d600 is a piece of crap - battery just gave out. it, and its windows operating system is just plain unstable. on any given day something goofy happens. i've run a windows emulator on a mac and it's much more stable - never crashed.

[olde north church]

Foe same price you get a Dell with 512MB Dual Channel DDR SDRAM at 400MHz, 40GB3 Ultra ATA/100 7200RPM Hard Drive and most importantly a 17 in (16 in viewable,.27dp) E773c CRT Monitor!
This Apple doesn't even have a monitor.
You gotta go spend all that extra money to buy yourself a monitor for the Appe.
Comes free with the Dell.
That's true, so then you have a door stop and a monitor.

[speekinout]

I'm looking for new laptop (A used one that is ) and I take Dell laptop is not that good...

I bought a used laptop last year. There were plenty of Dells available at low prices. I bought one, and now I know why there are so many Dells available. I wouldn't keep it for 10 more minutes if I could afford an Apple laptop (and I'm saving for that.....)

I'll never have a Dell again.

[Mr. Blonde]

"That crazy Bill Gates, .... he doesn't want to make a compatible product.

You make it sound like that's a criminal act. It's not."

I was trying to be funny. I should just get over it and realize I'm not. But as the later post says Microsoft is generally compatible. I have just seen some that didn't say they were compatible.

[olde north church]

Dell also include free worms, viruses and spyware.
Only if you're stupid enough to click on email attachments from people you don't know, or are too dumb to download ZoneAlarm for free.
Most people get viruses from attachments they DO KNOW!!!
Number One, because they trust the sender and that "cute little photo" they send.
Number Two, because viruses often attack e-mail lists and then send them to people on those lists.

[avg_freeper]

Speaking of Apple products there is a Photo Essay of the President engaged in day to day activities. You can see it here:

A Private View of the President

Towards the end are three or four pictures of Bush using his iPod, calling up a song, and riding a bike while listening to it. It would sure be interesting to see his play list.

[speekinout]

they can't afford $1,200+ for an iMac.

The eMac is <$1000. For everything - hardware and software. It's not the computer for people who like to build their own, but it's a good price for anyone who is just looking for a computer to *use*.

[Richard Kimball]

I'd get a wireless mouse, but I'd probably have to tie it to the desk with a string to keep from losing it.

[SengirV]

Windows XP will eat up most of that "1/2 the price" of this Mac mini. But then again, I'm sure you are not including your cracked version of XP in the cost of your machine. Nor any of the other comparable software that comes with the mini as well.

[JenB]

"Cracked" version? You're accusing me, a complete stranger, of downloading pirated software? That's rather obnoxious.

Actually I can, and did, get a legitimate copy of Windows XP for $11 through a program my college has in place. I can get all my software development tools free the same way, so all I need to buy is Word, and probably not that since I'm building this machine as a backup/test platform.

And at least it'll have real software instead of that gooey Mac crap. I'm a sys admin for the computer science department at the local university. We refuse to service Macs because it just adds to our headaches, espcially with networking. If you're doing graphics, sure, get a Mac. If you're developing code you probably want a real computer.

[SengirV]

That's great. So you purposely mislead everyone who read your orignal post. A normal person can not put together a system which is twice as fast for 1/2 the price of the mini. Only a very small % who have this special access to "Free" components/softwarae can do what you claimed.

And your claim that Macs are more of a headache to maintain than PCs is laughable. Better go get your 10th XP update of the day, and install it on every wintel box you have. I develop just fine on my G5. Now go spread some more disinformation on the other Mac threads. Such hate for a company with a minuscule marketshare. Perhaps you should look into the root of your anger.

[N3WBI3]

Actually I can, and did, get a legitimate copy of Windows XP for $11 through a program my college has in place.

Not available to 99% of people who can build their own PC's let alone the general public..

And at least it'll have real software instead of that gooey Mac crap.

Wow, thats specific, OSX is more stable, and secure than Windows. I gave an OSX box to my 63 year old mother and I have had one call about an issue in the past year and a half. When she was on windows (2000) I was getting calls weekly.

I'm a sys admin for the computer science department at the local university.

Is it ok if I dont bow? I mean I was doing that a decade ago, and there are those around who were doing it a decade (or more) before I was so you'll pardon me if the 'Im a sys admin for a cs department' does not make the appeal to expertise you might have been hoping for..

We refuse to service Macs because it just adds to our headaches, espcially with networking.

I think your policy was written when apple talk ran free in the world. Given that Apple used the *NIX implementation of TCP/IP either

A) Nobody in your dept has looked at Apple in 3 years or
B) Nobody in your department is smart enough to network a UNIX box

If you're developing code you probably want a real computer.

Again you're forgetting that macs are running UNIX? Macs/UNIX are every bit the development environment that windows are (in my opinion more but I am a systems Architect now a developer)..

[olde north church]

That's funny!

[JenB]

What the heck? I'm just telling you we don't take care of Macs because it adds too much complexity to an already confusing combination of three Windows OS, four or five *nix flavors, and hundreds of different pieces of hardware.

Windows and *nix can run on the same sort of boxes, which means when one dies, we can salvage the parts. Are we supposed to add a whole seperate line of incompatible hardware to service and upgrade?

A number of my acquantances have Mac laptops running Unix, which is why they got them. They have more problems than I do with my Dell laptop. My Dell can do everything their machines can do. I have Norton sitting on my system and it runs a scan once a week; it never finds anything. I don't know the last time I actually put in a Windows fix; it's not a problem. Heck, the only problems I've had with this machine have been hardware related.

Maybe you've had great experiences with Macs and bad ones with Windows. I like XP, it does what I want, without Mac issues.

[JenB]

Ok, with a quick search of Newegg, I find you can easily get a copy of Win XP for $92, which is still going to save money on pre-assembled. Or put on some Linux variant and save that huge amount of money.

[anonymous_user]

I've never had a problem in the 20 years I've been a Windows user.

Still running 3.1 then? ;)

[zarf]

With a little third party device, this little thing could be a kick butt music server

[anonymous_user]

I'm a sys admin for the computer science department at the local university.

"So you went to DeVry for six months, now I'm your b*tch?"
          -- Jon Stewart