[Vermonter]

Will Rush and Steve ever be best buds?

Tune in tomorrow

[Vermonter]

ping

[Prairie Pubbie]

Amen! Our household includes 4 very conservative, registered Republicans AND 9 Macs (everything from a Mac Plus to a dual-processor G5!). Steve Jobs needs to learn that Macs & conservatives are not mutually exclusive:^)

[Jackie]

I don't think that price ($499) includes a monitor.

[Bommer]

Know nothing about Macs, but this is pretty cool

[The Great RJ]

While the sub $500 Mac is a step in the right direction, it is still a Windows dominated world. It is ironic that my son's new Mac comes with the ubiquitous Microsoft Office. If Apple succeeds in better integrating the Microsoft software into its platform it may open new markets particularly at the lower price. However, many of us still have large software investments in our Windows machines and would be reluctant to make the trade if it meant starting over.

[Golden Eagle]

Just as there are red states and blue states, there are also Mac Democrats and PC Republicans. These battles were especially nasty after Apple went public with its politics and added Al Gore to its board of directors.

Not sure what Rush is up to anymore. At least he's not running foreign freeware like Linux.

[rs79bm]

Macs are very overpriced pieces of equipment with fancy cases and colors and sleek looks that are built with the same equipment that I payed for a $899.00 Dell. Probably a couple thousand less than you would pay for a Mac of similiar quality and speed.

[Stars N Stripes]

WOW, why didn't Commodore think of this...

Time to dust off the 'ol Amiga!

[benjaminjjones]

For anyone wanting to read the real history of the Apple and PC computer revolution, I would recommend reading "Hackers"

Link to Amazon: Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution by Steven Levy

I found it after my fifth year as a LAN administrator and it was wonderful.

Here's a review from Amazon:

Steven Levy's classic book explains why the misuse of the word "hackers" to describe computer criminals does a terrible disservice to many important shapers of the digital revolution. Levy follows members of an MIT model railroad club--a group of brilliant budding electrical engineers and computer innovators--from the late 1950s to the mid-1980s. These eccentric characters used the term "hack" to describe a clever way of improving the electronic system that ran their massive railroad. And as they started designing clever ways to improve computer systems, "hack" moved over with them. These maverick characters were often fanatics who did not always restrict themselves to the letter of the law and who devoted themselves to what became known as "The Hacker Ethic." The book traces the history of hackers, from finagling access to clunky computer-card-punching machines to uncovering the inner secrets of what would become the Internet. This story of brilliant, eccentric, flawed, and often funny people devoted to their dream of a better world will appeal to a wide audience.--

[Political Junkie Too]

Limbaugh talked about this on his show a few months ago. A caller asked if he uses the products he endorses, asked why Apple hasn't called him, and asked if he gets products for free, like the SleepNumber bed. Limbaugh said that he uses the products, says that Apple won't let his sales people anywhere near their offices because Apple's so liberal, and said that he doesn't take freebies because he wants a straight business arrangement -- they don't give him free stuff and he doesn't deal on the sales rates. He said that he has to buy 11 SleepNumber beds for his home. Then he offered the caller a gift of a top-of-the-line SleepNumber bed, just to prove his point.

-PJ

[wagglebee]

Rush has been almost single-handedly responsible for the success of the Select Comfort mattresses, Snapple beverages and the Hotwire travel site, not to mention being the savior of AM radio and the "voice" of conservativism. I'm getting ready to buy a Mac for two reasons: 1) I fooled around on a friend's recently and loved it, everything about it blows Windows away; and 2) I am so sick of all of the ongoing problems with Windows. I think if Rush gets behind the new Mac, it will become huge.

[HAL9000]

We discussed the concept of Rush as an Apple spokesman recently. Rush already does what amounts to free advertising for the Mac, but if Apple hired him, they would have to include a liberal figure in the ad too. So I don't think that will happen. Instead, I'd rather see a business icon like Lou Gerstner added to the board of directors.

The best idea would be for Apple and Steve Jobs to avoid politics altogether. But for the record, Jobs does favor some conservative concepts, like school vouchers and home schooling.

[Orion27]

Rush would have welcomed Apple ads for years but Steve would not buy Limbaugh's show. I always thought Steve was extremely short sighted and let his inane politics get in the way of business. God knows, Gore isn't selling any Macs. If truth be told, Gore does keep a low profile when it comes to Mac
evangelism. Wasn't it the Clintom Justice Department that went after MSFT?
I know Rush was not a supporter of that move either.

[razorback-bert]

I was a big Mac booster and user, but to upgrade meant buying a completely new computer. Then there was the Mac clones, which I came close to buying, but Jobs bought them first.

[A CA Guy]

It needs to grow it's percentage of the market and so ar only ipod had done that.

I think they are more or less doomed.

[rmlew]

The new Mac Mini ends up costing more than $500. You would need ot add a keyboard and mouse ($58 at the Mac store) and a onitor. While a $150 17inch CRT Display would suffice, I would not sully a such a streamline system with anything short of a good (~$300) 15inch LCD.
Personally, I plan to buy a Mini with a KVM and share peripherals with my PC.

[paulat]

It seems the advertising world has forgotten what Rush did for Snapple.

[John Lenin]

It's th arrogance of MAC people that offends me. The call me stupid because I have a better, faster machine for half the cost.

[Ticonderoga34]

Limbaugh could sell the new Mac to conservatives, no problem. The problem would be that liberals would then boycott Apple because Rush was promoting the brand.

[Echo Talon]

One thing I don't like about the Mac Mini is it's use of a 2.5" laptop hard drive... If it used a 3.5" higher capacity say 100GB-200GB, 7200rpm SATA drive, it would be much better.