Apple Special Event Today..


Recommended Posts

I like Apple products too, and have owned MANY of them. But this just seems like a cash grab on their part. The Mini made a really good bare-bones PC for doing the basics. But trying to morph it into a half-ass media center while knocking on more full-featured products deserves ridicule. I'd rather see them put out products that perform their intended purposes well, than see them try to spread their products too thin and do it mediocre.

betasp; this is what I'm referring to;

Memory available to Mac OS X may vary depending on graphics needs. Minimum graphics memory usage is 80MB, resulting in 432MB of system memory available.
Minimum.

I like Apple products too, and have owned MANY of them. But this just seems like a cash grab on their part. The Mini made a really good bare-bones PC for doing the basics. But trying to morph it into a half-ass media center while knocking on more full-featured products deserves ridicule. I'd rather see them put out products that perform their intended purposes well, than see them try to spread their products too thin and do it mediocre.

I'm still better off building my own media center w/ an XPC. And with Shuttle's newer smaller form factors, I might as well price out one of those and see the comparison.

1) What is missing from this half-assed media center?

2) You will not get the integration of the Apple "dog food" or OSX with the Shuttle, but I bet you would save some money. It would be tought to get internal 802.11 and bluetooth, but it could be done. I but in the end, without discounts it would be close to a wash once you factor in the PC equivent of the iLife suite.

1) What is missing from this half-assed media center?

2) You will not get the integration of the Apple "dog food" or OSX with the Shuttle, but I bet you would save some money. It would be tought to get internal 802.11 and bluetooth, but it could be done. I but in the end, without discounts it would be close to a wash once you factor in the PC equivent of the iLife suite.

Um..maybe recording and watching TV from my couch? Something I'm able to do with MCE2005, along with every other "feature" offered with the Mac Mini, with the exception that I got a Pentium D 830 64bit proc, twice the ram, dedicated video memory and card, triple the hard disk space, and it cost $50 more than the upper-scale Mac Mini with Core Duo (which has a processor so rare that I found 5 major laptop manufacturers shipping systems with that chip with a 10 second google search).

Down side is that I don't get a cute little case, and I have to put up with a oh-so-confusing remote control...and I can't run iLife apps from my couch across the room. Oh. Darn.

I'm sorry...as a Media Center, the mini is a ripoff.

Um..maybe recording and watching TV from my couch? Something I'm able to do with MCE2005, along with every other "feature" offered with the Mac Mini, with the exception that I got a Pentium D 830 64bit proc, twice the ram, dedicated video memory and card, triple the hard disk space, and it cost $50 more than the upper-scale Mac Mini with Core Duo (which has a processor so rare that I found 5 major laptop manufacturers shipping systems with that chip with a 10 second google search).

Down side is that I don't get a cute little case, and I have to put up with a oh-so-confusing remote control...and I can't run iLife apps from my couch across the room. Oh. Darn.

I'm sorry...as a Media Center, the mini is a ripoff.

Seems to me your only gripe is the lack of a DVR. Then maybe the mini is not for you. I ahve a TIVO, so I could care less. Then again, you are heavily invested in MS stuff. You can't have the integration of Apple's "dog food." For you, it is not worth the money. For someone like myself, the money is less of a factor.

This will soon be my workflow...

Record TV shows on my TIVO and send them to iTunes to archive or transfer to my iPod. Rip DVDs on Mac into iTunes. Rip music into iTunes for listening. Add photos into iPhoto. Access all of the above from anywhere on my network with any machine. Play music though my stereo(s) in any room. Watch my videos on any computer or output to any TV (including photos and ripped DVDs). Download any of the above to my, or my wifes's ipod for the road/car viewing or listening (through car's entertainment system).

Edited by betasp

2) You will not get the integration of the Apple "dog food" or OSX with the Shuttle, but I bet you would save some money. It would be tought to get internal 802.11 and bluetooth, but it could be done. I but in the end, without discounts it would be close to a wash once you factor in the PC equivent of the iLife suite.

That's just it. With only one computer, what do I need 802.11 for? And I don't own a single bluetooth device.

While I used iPhoto a lot when I had my powerbook, I'm once again accustomed to managing my photos manually. I never used iMovie much, or iDVD.

If the price was closer to the previous mac minis, I might have gotten it regardless, because I really do like using Macs. But considering I could cannibalize my current PC for parts to go into an XPC media center, I think I'd wind up saving a few hundred bucks in the process. All I'd really need is an XPC barebones, a good card for DVR functionality, an extra storage hdd, and perhaps a new processor. I'd be able to transfer my memory, primary hdd and optical drive.

But on the other hand, there'd be less 'extra' PC stuff for me to sell in an attempt to recoup my losses. So there's pros and cons on both sides. Like I said, i've gotta look it over and price everything out.

the new mac mini is very interesting and i will in the future grab one.

DVR is a funny issue for the mac mini, as you have people(not all) who use MCE (like myself) who can see the possibility of have DVR on something as small as the mini, and will apple's flare for software design it would be nice to see how they approach the DVR environment. As front row is very elegant and easy to use.

The only thing i don't like seeing during the presentations, is that steve jobs compares the remote controls of the front row system and the MCE system. The MCE will of course have more buttons as it will first have to use a numeric keypad for quick channel access, channel navigation and the ability to record and quickly access recorded content. My Panasonic DVD-RAM / HDD DVR has as many buttons as a MCE, as does the remote for my Mac's EyeTV TV adapter, it's the nature of DVR devices. So i think thats a bit of an unfair comparison.

However the mac mini has always been about tempting windows users to purchase a brand new cheap mac to play with, as they are usually curious about OS X but don't want to pay ?1000+ for a machine they may not like.

I thought the $99 leather cover for the iPod was a little extreme/pricey. The boom box / iPod Hi-Fi looks very good though. I would hold off until some reviews are posted online of the sound quaility, but im up for one.

Overall i happy with the event, i think a nice couple of products have been added, and really this isn't a very special time of year, as macworld has just gone and the next real event is in summer.

Here are the facts on the specifications of the older Radeon 9200 and the new GMA950:

ATI Radeon 9200

- DirectX 8.1 compliant

- Uses R200 technology which was used for the 8500-9200 cards

- The 9200 is actually a *slower* version than the 8500 based cards

- The 9200s use a RV280 core

- Have a core speed of 250Mhz

- Memory speed of 200Mhz

- 128 bit memory interface (12.8GB/s)

- AGP8x connection

- Does support hardware T&L (but very very old)

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radeon

Intel GMA 950

- DirectX 9.0 compliant.

- Have a core speed of 400Mhz

- Memory speed of 667Mhz (The system's DDR-2)

- Pixel Shader 2.0

- Memory bandwidth of 20GB/s if using 8 lane PCIe or 40GB/s if using 16 lane PCIe

- PCIe connection

- Does not support hardware T&L

So the integrated GMA950 system is faster in every way technically but does not include hardware T&L. But the 9200 uses 2nd generation AI T&L. The X1300-X1800 graphics cards all use 5th generation T&L. That's how old it is.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=183454&page=26

6 D-cell batteries?

Kind of reminds me of my 10 year old radio...

Thats exactly what I thought......the new iBoombox (or whatever) is IMO one of the worst iPod accessories released thus far. I've seen some bad ones (ex: iPod Sex Toy, iPod Boxers, the iPillow etc.) but the design and bulkiness looks horid.

My take on this is that the community, the fans, we, we alone hyped this event. Not Apple, they made it from the beginning a low key. No hints (besides the iCal thing but that just meant there might be some Mac stuff), no big auditorium like most of the major announcements are at, just a simple update with some well fun new products.

This wasn't supposed to be the huge bang, look at all of this stuff, take that competitors kinda of event. This was meant to be, well what it turned out to be, a low key Macworld Keynote clean up. And considering that, this was pretty good.

Now April 1st, that will be the big one. If they screw that up, then we have all the right to be angry. But in all reality, the media even predicted what we saw. MSNBC has a report saying we would see the hifi and the mini. I was disappointed but now I think about it, it was our own faults and I for one am anxious to see what April has in store.

My take on this is that the community, the fans, we, we alone hyped this event. Not Apple, they made it from the beginning a low key. No hints (besides the iCal thing but that just meant there might be some Mac stuff), no big auditorium like most of the major announcements are at, just a simple update with some well fun new products.

This wasn't supposed to be the huge bang, look at all of this stuff, take that competitors kinda of event. This was meant to be, well what it turned out to be, a low key Macworld Keynote clean up. And considering that, this was pretty good.

Now April 1st, that will be the big one. If they screw that up, then we have all the right to be angry. But in all reality, the media even predicted what we saw. MSNBC has a report saying we would see the hifi and the mini. I was disappointed but now I think about it, it was our own faults and I for one am anxious to see what April has in store.

true, we did get carried away, who read countless mac-tablet stories that never turn out true, or the fake ipod video pics, and frontrow with dvr and such

My take on this is that the community, the fans, we, we alone hyped this event. Not Apple, they made it from the beginning a low key. No hints (besides the iCal thing but that just meant there might be some Mac stuff), no big auditorium like most of the major announcements are at, just a simple update with some well fun new products.

This wasn't supposed to be the huge bang, look at all of this stuff, take that competitors kinda of event. This was meant to be, well what it turned out to be, a low key Macworld Keynote clean up. And considering that, this was pretty good.

Now April 1st, that will be the big one. If they screw that up, then we have all the right to be angry. But in all reality, the media even predicted what we saw. MSNBC has a report saying we would see the hifi and the mini. I was disappointed but now I think about it, it was our own faults and I for one am anxious to see what April has in store.

Well said.

We're all disappointed because we were expecting a lot more - that's our fault, not Apple's. Like MonkeyClaw said, they're probably saving all the big stuff for April 1st.

One thing I don't understand is why everyone is disappointed that the Mac mini has no DVR features. The Mac mini has always been intended to be a budget Mac to help entice PC users - it was never intended to be a media center. I'm surprised they gave it Front Row and the Apple remote, to be honest. Although I agree that both the graphics and the price hike are a huge setback on Apple's behalf, I think we all need to take note of a few things here;

• The low-end Mac mini now has Airport Extreme and Bluetooth as standard

• The high-end Mac mini is so expensive because it has a dual-core processor

• It's faster - maybe not 4x faster like Apple claim, but it's still faster than the PPC models

• You won't find anything that comes close to iLife or OS X on a budget PC

It's plain and simple; the Mac mini is more expensive because it gives you more.

And as for the iPod Hi-Fi, that thing looks sexy IMO. I won't be buying one because I have no use for it, but it looks great. The leather cases seem like a waste of money to me though - $149 (AUD) for a bloody iPod case?! I'll stick to my iPod sock and pocket thanks.

Yea really, that was the only real thing I was mad about, 100 bucks for a leather case. Yes yes yes, its fancy nice hand crafted Italian leather, but still 100 dollars USD!!! And I mean I thought Apple was more environmentally friendly, lol

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Dude, im talking about simply disable it from settings app. Because of the eu regulation, you could disable it here for years.
    • One big question about Mars was answered thanks to Einstein's 100 year old theory by Sayan Sen Image via DepositPhotos Scientists at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have calculated how time passes on Mars compared with Earth, adding detail to how timekeeping would need to work beyond Earth’s orbit. The study, published in The Astronomical Journal, found that clocks on Mars run an average of 477 microseconds, or millionths of a second, faster per day than clocks on Earth. A microsecond is one millionth of a second, a very small unit used in precise scientific timing systems such as atomic clocks, which measure time using consistent atomic behavior. This difference is not constant. Because Mars moves around the Sun in a non-circular path (an eccentric orbit, meaning its distance from the Sun changes over time instead of staying fixed) and is affected by gravity from other bodies, the daily difference can vary by as much as 226 microseconds over a Martian year. The study also identifies smaller repeating changes of about 40 microseconds per day linked to synodic cycles (repeating periods that describe how planets line up with each other as they orbit the Sun from different positions). These longer patterns affect how time differences slowly rise and fall. To make these estimates, researchers compared Mars with Earth and the Moon. The work looks at relativistic proper time (the time actually measured by a clock depending on its speed and the strength of gravity where it is located, as described in Einstein’s relativity). This shows that each world has its own slightly different “rate” of time. This becomes more important as space missions expand into cislunar space (the region between Earth and the Moon) and toward Mars. On Earth, time systems rely on atomic clocks and satellites, which stay closely synchronized for navigation and communication. The study is based on Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity, which shows that time is affected by gravity and motion. Stronger gravity makes clocks run slower, while weaker gravity makes them run faster. “The time is just right for the Moon and Mars,” said NIST physicist Bijunath Patla. “This is the closest we have been to realizing the science fiction vision of expanding across the solar system.” A day on Mars is about 40 minutes longer than on Earth, and a Martian year lasts 687 Earth days. But the main question is not just about days and years, but how fast time itself passes. An atomic clock placed on Mars would function normally, but compared with one on Earth, the two would slowly drift apart due to differences in gravity and motion. This requires careful calculation of what is similar to a time-zone difference across planets. Researchers modeled Mars using a reference surface and included gravitational effects from the Sun, Earth, the Moon, and other planets. This includes a multi-body gravitational system (often described as a three-body or four-body problem, where predicting motion becomes difficult because multiple large objects all pull on each other at the same time through gravity). Mars also follows a Keplerian orbit (an idealized elliptical orbit based on simple gravitational laws that assume smooth motion, before adding real-world disturbances from other bodies). In addition, the researchers accounted for solar tides (small changes in gravitational force caused by the Sun that slightly distort planetary motion and timing, especially in systems involving Earth and the Moon). These combined effects are described as relativistic proper-time offsets (small but measurable differences in elapsed time between locations caused by gravity and motion), which must be included when comparing clocks across planets. “But for Mars, that’s not the case. Its distance from the Sun and its eccentric orbit make the variations in time larger. A three-body problem is extremely complicated. Now we’re dealing with four: the Sun, Earth, the Moon and Mars,” Patla explained. “The heavy lifting was more challenging than I initially thought.” Although the differences are extremely small, they matter for navigation and communication systems that depend on precise timing. Even modern networks on Earth, such as mobile systems, rely on timing accuracy at very small fractions of a second. Communication between Earth and Mars currently takes about four to 24 minutes or more depending on planetary positions, meaning signals are not real-time. A shared and accurate time system could help future missions reduce confusion in navigation and data exchange. “If you get synchronization, it will be almost like real-time communication without any loss of information. You don’t have to wait to see what happens,” Patla said. Researchers note that fully developed interplanetary communication networks are still far in the future. However, understanding how time behaves across planets helps prepare for those systems. “It may be decades before the surface of Mars is covered by the tracks of wandering rovers, but it is useful now to study the issues involved in establishing navigation systems on other planets and moons,” said Neil Ashby. “Like current global navigation systems like GPS, these systems will depend on accurate clocks, and the effects on clock rates can be analyzed with the help of Einstein’s general theory of relativity.” Patla added that the results also help improve understanding of time itself under relativity. “It's good to know for the first time what is happening on Mars timewise. Nobody knew that before. It improves our knowledge of the theory itself, the theory of how clocks tick and relativity,” he said. Source: NIST, IOPscience This article was generated with some help from AI and reviewed by an editor. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, this material is used for the purpose of news reporting. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.
    • TeraCopy 4.0 Build 26 by Razvan Serea TeraCopy is a compact program designed to copy and move files at the maximum possible speed, also providing you with a lot of features. Copy files faster. TeraCopy uses dynamically adjusted buffers to reduce seek times. Asynchronous copy speeds up file transfer between two physical hard drives. Pause and resume transfers. Pause copy process at any time to free up system resources and continue with a single click. Error recovery. In case of copy error, TeraCopy will try several times and in the worse case just skips the file, not terminating the entire transfer. Interactive file list. TeraCopy shows failed file transfers and lets you fix the problem and recopy only problem files. Shell integration. TeraCopy can completely replace Explorer copy and move functions, allowing you work with files as usual. TeraCopy is free for non-commercial use only. For commercial use you need to buy a license. The paid version of the program includes the following features: Copy/move to your favorite folders. Save reports as HTML and CSV files. Select files with the same extension/folder. Remove the selected files from the copy queue. TeraCopy 4.0 Build 26 changelog: Added support for receiving files via the LocalSend protocol. Improved exception handling and automated bug report upload. Fixed several minor bugs and small memory leaks. Build 26 (June 24) Fixed a rare exception when a transfer completed. Features added since version 3.17: Enhanced speed graph. New multi-threaded copy engine. Support for copying to multiple targets. Queue system for managing multiple copy operations. Support for receiving files via the LocalSend protocol. TeraCopy entry in the modern Windows Explorer context menu. Integrated toolbar in the title bar. Why receive LocalSend transfers with TeraCopy? Handle file conflicts: Skip, overwrite, or rename files when a file with the same name already exists. LocalSend always creates another copy, which can waste time and disk space, especially when resuming an interrupted transfer. Filter unwanted files: Apply ignore lists or remove files manually before accepting a transfer, so unnecessary files are not downloaded. Better performance on fast networks: In tests over a 10 Gbps connection, TeraCopy received files several times faster than the standard LocalSend app on Windows. Download: TeraCopy 4.0 Build 26 | 14.5 MB (Freeware, paid upgrade available) View: TeraCopy Website | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • Briefly used Turbo Pascal (and Turbo C++) in 97 and soon after that I bought PC magazine that included a full version of Delphi 2. I still use Delphi today, some 29 years later.
    • Age of Empires Mobile comes to PC, here's how to carry over progress from your phone by Ivan Jenic Image: YouTube/Microsoft Microsoft just released Age of Empires Mobile for PC. The game, officially called Age of Empires Mobile: PC Edition, is available for free on Steam and Microsoft Store, almost two years after its initial release for handheld devices. Age of Empires is one of those franchises that entire generations grew up with. The original came out in 1997, and immediately got people hooked to building civilizations and crushing their enemies on the battlefield. However, the franchise today is a far cry from its roots, as Age of Empires Mobile is, well, a game optimized for handheld devices, and not a classic RTS title we’ve all loved for years. And, of course, it includes in-game purchases. The PC version is still a mobile game at its core, but it’s been optimized for desktop play. There’s mouse control, full keyboard compatibility, and a refined UI. Microsoft also refreshed the visuals with some 4k textures, so the game should look better on larger screens. The game supports Crossplay, so you can switch between your phone, tablet, and PC without losing anything. But linked progress doesn’t come out of the box, as you have to enable it first. Here’s how to link your progress: On your mobile device, open Age of Empires Mobile. Go to Settings (Gear icon) > Account. Select Bind Account and choose a sign-in option. Once you enable account binding, sign in on PC using the same method, and your progress will be accessible across all your devices. Xbox Game Pass subscribers also get a bonus reward pack on PC, which includes: 1 Monthly Pass Token 1 Custom Resource Chest 10 Universal 60-Minute Speed-Ups 1,000 Empire Coins Exclusive Player Portrait Frame You can find more info about Age of Empires Mobile: PC Edition, as well as download links, on the Age of Empires official website.
  • Recent Achievements

    • One Year In
      Philsl earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Dedicated
      Scoobystu earned a badge
      Dedicated
    • First Post
      Tom Schmidt earned a badge
      First Post
    • One Month Later
      D0nn13 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Rookie
      +ChiefOfNeo went up a rank
      Rookie
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      459
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      177
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      124
    4. 4
      Michael Scrip
      79
    5. 5
      Xenon
      76
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!