Update: Apple ups the ante with Mac mini, iPod, and Xsan

InfoWorld ^ | January 13, 2005 | By Tom Yager

[Swordmaker]

Very POSITIVE article about Apple's marketing moves and future PING!

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

[coconutt2000]

XSAN is a BIG deal...

[Ff--150]

For business I have a program that is "non Mac-compatible." I'd rather use a Mac--is there a way to run that program on a Mac?

[SunkenCiv]

"Tech industry analysts that chuckled over the iPod company's efforts to rack up real market share in computers now have to deal with a well-heeled Apple minus the humility and projected timidity of old. Apple's $500 Mac mini is going to eat the lunch of low-end desktops. But not just that: Tricked out with accessories that are on the Macworld Expo show floor now, Mac mini is a DVR (think TiVo) without capacity limits, intrusive advertising, or phone-home reporting of users' viewing habits. It's a Playstation with a hard drive, USB, FireWire, Ethernet, expandable memory, a keyboard, and a mouse. Mac mini burns CDs, plays DVDs, and puts out composite, S-Video, VGA, or DVI (LCD flat panel) video. QuickTime 7 does that HD playback and editing thing, and the system's performance is on par with Apple's newest PowerBooks. It really is everything other Macs are, just smaller."

Quick, somebody, how do I order a Dell? [snicker]

[avenir]

"It really is everything other Macs are, just smaller."

And in a rare fit of absentmindedness, Apple chose to only charge $499 for it.

Everyone, sell your G5's before they become boat anchors!

[Question_Assumptions]

There is a program, now owned by Microsoft, called VirtualPC that lets you run Windows on a Mac as a virtual machine. It's not as fast as dedicated Windows hardware but it might be good enough for what you need. As the article points out, you can also get MS Office for the Mac.

[litany_of_lies]

I predict the G5 will be in the Mac Minis by this coming Christmas. G5 doorstops, indeed.

The current $599 mini has exactly what my PB G4 (bought Feb. 2004) now has in hard drive, is a bit faster, and its RAM is upgradable to what I have. It's BYODKM (bring your own display, keyboard, and mouse), but still....WOW. So I'm guessing I could replicate my PBG4 with a fully configured and accessorized Mac Mini for about $1200, and all I would lack is the ability to take it from place to place without turning it off (and I would have to have a monitor everywhere I went).

Scratch that--just went to the Apple Store and did a what if. Going to a gig of RAM is another $425 (that's WAY out of line), going to a SuperDrive is another $100, Airport Extreme is $79, a keyboard and mouse (wireless) are $99, and AppleCare (necessary IMHO) is $149. Total: $1451, and haven't even bought a monitor. Still a major OUCH for all but the rich and famous. Going with 512MB of RAM instead would save $350, but that would be inadequate in less than 12 months, if it isn't already.

[AZLiberty]

I hope the reapprochement with Sony means that Apple will finally support the Sony camcorder my wife bought a couple of years ago. There are a lot of disappointed IP-5 and IP-7 owners who assumed that a Firewire interface meant Apple connectivity.

[AZLiberty]

Total: $1451, and haven't even bought a monitor.

DealRAM shows 1 GB of RAM for $215, so that will save you a couple of hundred. But you also need to add $45 for Bluetooth to support the wireless mouse and keyboard. Applecare for the mini is priced at only $99.

I see the Mac mini as the next step in Apple's "Switch" program. It's targeted at people who already own a keyboard, mouse, and monitor, because they already have a PC. For $499, you get adequate performance in a very cool, very small form factor -- and you get Mac OS X. Even at $99, AppleCare is expensive insurance for something that can be replaced for $499. Apple's failure rate is WAY under 20%., and most failures occur during the regular warranty.

[rwfromkansas]

Mac's continue to lag severely in processor speeds. PC's offer much more for the money.

[litany_of_lies]

Thanks for the catch on Bluetooth.

I have to wonder if "generic" RAM will fit into the Mini or if it's somehow special (i.e., proprietary). Apple is also very funny about supporting machines with third-party RAM. I also had a weird experience going from OS9 to OSX on an older PowerBook where OSX didn't recognize Kensington RAM, and the old OS9 did, so I had to replace the Kensington with Apple (grrr). It made no sense, but that's the way it was.

Just went to Apple's site, and Applecare on each Mini is believe it or not $149. The logic of getting it escapes me too, now that I think of it, since the ratio is like 4 to 1, meaning a fail rate of 25% is break-even. I personally like the phone support, though, as I always seem to have questions I can't get answers to at the Support site (and I do try to get them there first). I would just get support using existing AppleCare agreements on other machines.

[N3WBI3]

Processor speeds dont matter! Macs are much more a RISC architecture than Intel which is CISC. My wifes 1.4 G4 burries my P4 2.0G

[Bush2000]

Processor speeds dont matter! Macs are much more a RISC architecture than Intel which is CISC. My wifes 1.4 G4 burries my P4 2.0G

Look, the fact of the matter is that I can buy more processing power with a PC for a lower price -- than you can with a Mac. It's that simple. Don't like it? Deal.

[N3WBI3]

Based on what measure?

[Bush2000]

With objective measurements, where Apple and VeriTest don't get to rig benchmarks by disabling rival CPU advantages (hyperthreading, SSE2, etc), using sub-optimal compilers and tools (GCC versus ICC), etc.

[af_vet_rr]

If you want to truly amaze somebody that doesn't care for Macs or doesn't know much about them, if you have a somewhat recent video camera that has firewire (maybe called 1394 or iLink depending on the mfr.), record some footage, import it straight into iMovie and then straight into iDVD. The fact that HD support is being added to these applications is amazing. I have yet to see anything quite like these two apps on the PC. Adobe is trying hard with Premier Elements, but it still...

Sony should be worried, but at the same time, Apple doesn't make cameras, and if Sony could ship an HD camera under $1000 or so...Sony would own the consumer video camera market. If Sony was smart, they would try to jump on the Apple bandwagon, there is still plenty of room, and the fact that the head of Sony spoke at MWSF, tells me Sony may realize that.

[AZLiberty]

Apple uses the same memory types as PCs, but often has more rigid specs, hence the existence of Apple-only versions of memory. DealRAM makes it easy to find Mac memory.

Sorry about the AppleCare price -- I was looking at the educational price, which is $99. The $149 price is truly outrageous. If anyone in your family is in school full-time, they may be eligible for educational prices. On hardware you only save a few dollars, but software savings can be huge.

The Genius Bar at the Apple Store is another option -- free -- for support, if you need it and you're in driving distance

[litany_of_lies]

And these objective measurements would be........where?

Links, please.

[litany_of_lies]

Believe me, I leverage the education price whenever possible and ethical (wife is teacher, plus two kids who are still students).

I've never quite understood why the education market gets such a break on Applecare, because most of the other breaks are more in the 10% range.