Posted on 01/11/2005 2:03:19 PM PST by 1stFreedom
$499 is a teaser price. It's for the lowest speed processor, pathetic video memory, 40GB HD, and only 256MB of system memory. I'd consider getting one too, to go along with the XP and Linux boxes I've got. But (1) I have no idea what I'd do with it, and (2) By the time I pay tax, shipping, and get appropriate upgrades, this thing will probably cost over $800.
ping
This new ipod has no display. Useless.
Or did I miss it on the cord...
I bet you thought a 5Gig MP3 player for $399 was going ot be a total failure as well.
All that stuff is to support my work. All personally purchased except for the PC104 and EBX single board computers. The Mini iMac would be mostly a novelty toy... for the limited number "free" time I have available.
>>Anyone know if you connect a 2 button mouse to a Mac if you can bind the 2nd button to something?
Yes, it's a setting -- I forgot where it is. This works on any Mac running OSX I believe...
I think some of you have the wrong idea...
OS X blows away Windows in terms of luxury... It looks, feels, and acts better bar none. It is a beautiful OS, and it has put the fun back into computers.
Sure, you could go out and buy a $399 pc, but big deal. It's not as nice to use as OSX.
Plus, many users have an extra monitor lying around (old CRT) so why pay $$$ for flat screens, when they are at a premium? Especially if you already have one?
I use a PC, and I program in C# / VB.Net. Windows is the better of the two for application development, bar none. But it stops there. For pure fun, OSX is it.
I'd speculate that the target audience for this machine are kids with dated PCs and who own Ipods.
There are tonnnnns of these kids out there. Their folks may have purchased a pc years ago and a monitor is available. Kids owning the Ipod seeking a new computer now have a choice.
And the Apple is sexy, both in style and use. Expect this to be the big market for this machine.
(BTW, there are gazallions of IPODs out there).
how long have (bargain) PCs been coming with USB mouse and keyboard?
Uh never, My newest computer a Dell about two yrs old has USB ports but the mouse is Ps2.Why is everyone so enthused about USB?I haven't had the best of luck with anything connected via USB since my camera.To use the technical term it's kinda "sketchy"
The iPod Shuffle looks pretty lame to me. Get the real thing. I've had a 40GB iPod since September and I still can't get over how amazing it is. The thought of using a 512MB or 1GB "flash" device with no display depresses the hell out of me. I'm currently shuffling a playlist of 5248 songs right now. It will take me until about Memorial Day to hear it all and by then, I'll have loaded about 5000 more songs. Then I'll probably have to get one of the 80GB or 100GB iPods that will be out by then. Then I'll truly have a lifetime of music at my fingertips and I can hit "Shuffle All" and hope to hear them all before I die.
I don't see how between now and the introduction date of PS3 or Xbox2 to market, Apple will see any market share growth, or much increased profit from this product.
The mini Mac should have been introduced 3 years ago.
You can put a two button mouse with a scroll wheel on almost any Mac available.. and it works! and if you push down your control key on one of those no button jobs.. you see what happens when you push the right click on a two button mouse.. this has been supported for years but almost no one knows about it.
The vga adapter comes in the box as I understand. You can buy a PS2 to USB adapter for less than $10
The video is a DVI/VGA port with an adapter for VGA included
First, the computer illiterates are not dependable. They will pick based on price, familiarity, easy-of-use, and at random (pretty much in that order). The killer for Apple is the familiarity part of the equation. A tremendous number of offices use PC based products, and a computer illiterate will be far more likely to have used a PC at work than a Mac (as Macs tend to be in computer-intensive professions: graphic design, etc.)
Second, single-issue purchasers won't be sold on the system due to its bare-bones setup. For example, my Mom recently had me build her a computer. She was only interested in a system for accounting, spreadsheets, and internet browsing. At her job, she used Excel. So a Mac would have imposed learning costs (no matter how "superior" or "easy" they might be after you learn them) that she didn't want. I specced up a system for her that was good performing in some areas (lots of RAM), but bare-bones in others (stock video card), and she was happy. It performed well for what she wanted, and she didn't care that it couldn't render high-end graphics. If one of these single-issue buyers gets a cheap Mac that doesn't do the one thing they want easily and quickly, it doesn't matter how great it is at other things... they won't like it.
Third, it is obvious that you guys must not be around kids very much. As someone who works with them 8 hours a day, I can tell you with complete surety that no computer literate kid in his right mind would so much as glance at one of these. Kids might want something to hook up to their I-pods, but from the discussions I hear from them at school, they want powerful machines (they compare video cards like past kids compared baseball cards. Probably the most impressed I've ever seen a class was when I told them I had an Nvidia 6800GT in one of my rigs at home [this was right after they were launched]... I thought they were going to knee and worship). Only the least computer saavy kids are going to even glance at this. The ones who want computers want something they can play Half Life 2 on.
I just don't see who is going to buy this machine...
Yes. The two button (or more) mouse (or other input device) will most likely auto-detect and work just by plugging it in to the USB port. My 3 button wheel trackball defaults to L button - regular click, R button - contextual menus, wheel - scroll, push wheel - double click.
OSX has built in recognition of most multi-button input devices... no drivers needed.
For 500 bucks I could build something that absolutely blows that machine off the map. And with a better OS to boot in Linux.
They could give it away for free and I wouldn't get another iMAC. iMAC sucks eggs!!! For so many reasons, and in so many ways. Gaaaaaa!!!!!!!
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