Hey, they updated the MacMini as well!!

Smallest model has 1GB now! I know for a fact it had only 512MB last week, I was looking at them, and the fact that they had only 512MB was making me want to go for an iMac instead.

 

Yeap they did. It wasn't significant though, just a bump up to the "present generation" of processors. I'm still wondering if this move shows they're not killing it yet, or if its just to get a bit more sales before they discontinue it.

 

I think it'd be a bit of a shame to kill off the Mac Mini... they're quite popular with friends who want to give OS X a shot but don't want to take a $2000 plunge.

Also, I've seen many set ups with the Mini sharing displays/keyboards/mice with a Windows desktop... oh, if only they'd discover Boot Camp.

 

It really is a great product for certain uses - I hope they don't discontinue it. Nice to see the boost in power for the same price point.

 

I agree, I really hope they keep Mac Minis around. If they kill them, then the cheapest Macs will be the MacBooks, which is still a considerable jump in price from the Mac Minis. They'd lose any hold they may be getting in the low-end market, which is where Dell reigns supreme.

 

Still too expensive.

Seriously, I thought mac mini was invented for people who are thinking of getting a mac but unable to do so because it was too expensive? Look at the desktop PC ecosystem these days... you can find windows desktops bundled with monitor, keyboard, and mouse for ~$500.

 

Well I can't speak for everyone, but my brother set up one in his apartment to basically act as a server that he could interact with remotely. Works great for him - he just uses terminal to control torrents, etc. Yes, a Windows desktop would be cheaper, but it would be larger and wouldn't be running OS X.

So it does have its uses...

 

Hmm, yea, something crappy with a sempron and a cheap 15'' LCD. Not saying that's wrong, but the MacMini packs quite a power punch.

See, jsis, in order to do that in your ~$500 you'd have to fiddle some.

Again, MacMinis are a great alternative to those ~$500 Semprons, they come with MacOSX which is probably easier on the user than Vista Home Basic, and you really get your money's worth in hardware.

 

Glad they updated it, I thought it would get discontinued. Nice updates that help make it a better value and a lot faster (espessially since it's 64 bit Leopard ready). You need at least 1 GB in OS X to run it well also.

 

You can get a 20-year-old car for $500 too. Great deal!! Heck, they might even throw in a cloth to wipe the rain off the windshield. Let's all drive that, eh! "Look at that guy over there! That guy with the Lexus! He's an idiot for buying that! They're so overpriced! Look at me, I'm using a car, just like him! But I paid $500 for it! He paid $40'000! Hah! I got such a good deal!"

The Windows PCs you get for $500 aren't the same as a Mac Mini. The form factor of the Mac Mini has no PC equivalent. How well does that $500 Windows PC run? Can it run Microsoft's "best operating system ever released", a.k.a. Vista comfortably? In the meantime you have this little computer that you thought was a hard drive, and its got a Core 2 Duo in it.

jsis, I've been noticing a lot of your posts in the Apple forum lately. They're all some sort of complaint towards something Apple does. What's your purpose?

 

Just like to throw out there that we are ordering the base model mac mini tomorrow at work. It'll be running a combination of 3rd party and in house software to track and control satellites(well, it'll only really control the one we built, but still).

So, the mac mini has its uses, and it's quite the neat little thing. A lot of people do think it's a hard drive when they first see it(especially if you've got a mini-pal or whatever they're called, they're hard drives that are the same form factor as the mac mini), and it's fun to tell them what it actually is.

 

The average Joe knows how to drive a car and more importantly the difference between a cheap-ass beater car and a high-end Lexus convertible. The price is justified for the amount of features you get such as leather seating surfaces, traction control, ABS, and extra cupholders lol. Of course, Joe will take the Lexus if he can afford it.

Now, the average Joe does not know how to use a mac. However, he knows how to use Windows. Provided that the price is the same, and he is more familiar with Windows and the PC comes with extra goodies such as a monitor, a mouse, and a keyboard, the average Joe will most likely take the Windows PC. You have to convince him really really hard to use OSX in addition to getting him to run 3ds max, Maya, Aperture, and Photoshop for his day-to-day work in order to get him to purchase the Mac and get most out of his dollar.

This is a discussion forum and we have to create a point and a counterpoint? lol

 

I had a G4 1.42GHz mini and after I popped a 7200rpm drive in their, I rather came to like the little fellow.

I see Apple is back to their no good ways with a standard 2x512MB offering. Teh lameness.

 

A $500 desktop PC will run Vista just fine. And even if the processor is a little slower, it'll be faster than the Mac Mini overall due to having a 3.5" hard drive.

Actually, the closest thing to the Mac Mini in the PC world is any $600-$700 Core 2 Duo laptop. The components will be pretty much the same, and you can use each one with an external keyboard, mouse, and monitor. The Mac Mini will have a few more ports, which is nice, but the PC will have a built-in display, keyboard, touchpad, and battery -- just in case you want to occasionally use it somewhere other than your desk.

 

That isn't Apple being cheap, that is Apple being considerate. Since the Mac Mini uses an IGP, it is beneficial for the memory to be running in dual channel mode so they include 2 SODIMMs.

And I believe the reason why the GMA X3100 wasn't used was because the drivers to activate all the hardware features aren't ready. (Even Intel can't figure it out for Windows yet). And the GMA X3100 would require the GM965 chipset which doesn't support 667MHz Meroms.

 

Truth.

It's totally possible to get a PC laptop for Mac Mini money.