New mac mini, a joke?


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Way too many of these threads. Request lock.

Dito- either lock or merge calling all mods.

For the record, I will not be purchasing another mini, the one I have now does what it needs to do and has a small footprint. I am able to take it to class and hook it up to the projector for presentations, and easily connect it back to my LCD tv at home. I don't think it's overpriced for what you get, OS-X alone is worth it IMO, I just don't understand why people are getting their panties in a knot about the features (or lack thereof) of the newly released mini. Overall it's a great improvement, and the mini is not directed to those who are looking for a main computer, it's only used as a compliment to the one you have. For I, and most people like myself (didn't expect it to but), the mini has become my main computer, why? It's a great machine for a low price, granted I had to buy another keyboard and mouse but the overall cost I in no way regret my purchase. It's always deja-vu when apple ups the price on their models with better features, I'm sure if they kept the price the same they would've lost a lot of money. Apple is a hardware company first and a lot of time and development went into designing and marketing the mini, I'm sure their analysts aren't stupid, and they know who their target audience is, if it isn't you then I don't understand why you are complaining about a $100 incease for a better machine. I am in no way a fan boy but if you look at the overall improvements, the cost of these improvements I'm sure the mini would hit (price range) where it's supposed to be. My next purchase will either be an iMac or a new ibook with the intel processor (I'm trying to wait for the ibook).

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About your price comparisson. The iMac is only about $400 more but it packs more power, better ram, better video card, a monitor, iSight.

It's $400 more if you want to buy a new keyboard, mouse, speakers, and screen - if you not, then that iMac is significantly more expensive.
All this equates for much more than the imac costs. The mini is only $400 less but it has so much less.

That's the point. Mac minis cost less than iMacs - there's a market for that.

About a $360 difference. Need i say more? If you are saying that people cannot afford it, to save an additional $360 to get so much more is not so bad.

$360 deposited into a mutual fund compounding semi-annually with an 11% average rate of return will work out to just over $26,000 if I were to retire at at 65. $800 would turn into about $80,000. If a person will have to get on a savings plan to get $360 to buy a Macintosh - what are the odds they're going to have a retirement saving plan at all? For those that can afford that $360 up front, it means the difference between driving a Mercedes Benz or a Hyundai when you quit working.
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well my duo core mini just got delivered, but my 2gb of ram wont be here until tomorrow, so it will lie peacefully in it's box until then.

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I can't believe this tread is still going. Come on

It's a small computer. It was designed to be small. It has a dvd burner I think and prob. somewhat decent graphics.

If you want more storage just add a firewire 8 bay tower.

You can find this online.

nuf with this joke business imo

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The current integrated card is WAY better than the former Radeon 9200... whats the problem? I swear that some of you guys can complain even about AIDS cure if someday there is one.

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Who else thinks the new mac mini is an overpriced pile of garbage??? I mean, 4 USB ports and crappy unknown Intel integrated graphics???? What a joke this is....It has a very sorry 64 mb of VRAM and no mini-VGA port. I hope Apple loses money over this because they deserve it. I actually expected this new one to be cheaper than the G4 but no, they increased the price and decreased the quality! Oh and the stupid front row is very unstable. It is at times quite laggy and it is frustrating to navigate since it is so unresponsive!

No offence but if you buy one, you are a fool!

well maybe you should get the apple powermac with 16gb ram

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The current integrated card is WAY better than the former Radeon 9200... whats the problem? I swear that some of you guys can complain even about AIDS cure if someday there is one.

Isn't that the truth... I am actually thinking about getting me one of these for my living room, I can stream the videos that are on my PowerBook to the Mini via Front Row and just watch South Park on the couch instead of the bed, lol.

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How come the new mac minis are already being delivered?? It has been what, 2 days since it came out? For the macbook pro people had to wait weeks for them to just ship it much less deliver it...weird

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the mac mini is not so bad, 64 intel GMA graphics is great for home use, 1.66 intel core duo is a great proccesor

if u dont like the 512 DDR2 max it.. if u dont like 80gb of storage buy a 250GB external FW HD.

the mini costs 799$ and its not so expensive if U compare it to the other apple computers.

its small machine, with a small price, the down parts are the u get it w/o KB or mouse..

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How come the new mac minis are already being delivered?? It has been what, 2 days since it came out? For the macbook pro people had to wait weeks for them to just ship it much less deliver it...weird

this happens quite often with apple. announce, wait, get in mail

the mini has a core duo, impressive

I forgot they went dual core on this thing. bet it screams

woo

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question: does itunes accept avi/mp4/divx/xvid videos? and can those be streamed from xp to mac?

in short, can i stream a dvd quality divx from xp to mac over wireless to the mini and play it in front row? *gasp

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Well, as stated my Duo Core mini came yesterday, and I just installed my 2GB of memory, and this thing is nothing short of fast. I am not one for benchmarks, as I am for seeing, or feeling a difference. It is noticeably faster than my 15" 1.67/2GB Powerbook. The hi def videos seem no different with the intel card versus the radeon 9700 card in my powerbook. This unit is simply amazing, silent, fast, and sexy! I can't wait to take it home tonight and hook it up to my 50 LCD and try front row from my couch!

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I have one of the old minis and I think that it is a better deal. I don't see anything wrong with what they did with the new one but I don't think it is worth the extra $100.

Before you jump down my throat and tell me about all the extra stuff you get and all the hardware improvements... I don't care. I like mine the way it is and at the price for which I got it.

I think they should have made a model without the Front Row and Remote for customers that aren't interested to keep the intro price for the product line the same.

Just my two cents.

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I have one of the old minis and I think that it is a better deal. I don't see anything wrong with what they did with the new one but I don't think it is worth the extra $100.

That extra 100 is coming from the bluetooth and airport when the 499 mini came out it was 110 extra to get them wasn't it :unsure: I think this mini is nice, I love that you get front row, now all I want them to do it put a damn tv tuner card in...is it really that hard :p

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Faster CPU at 1.5GHz
Faster graphics processor (see below)
Faster system bus at 667MHz
Faster RAM at 667MHz


IR Remote controller
IR port
Optical digital audio in/out ports
2 more USB 2.0 ports
1 more RAM slot
Built-in AirPort Extreme
Built-in Bluetooth
Gigabit ethernet

These additions are easily worth well over the extra $100 asking price.

http://www.macsonly.com/

i think its quite true, but they shouldve had a model with fewer specs asking for the same 499 price, as mac mini intended, to be a cheap, byokm mac

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I have one of the old minis and I think that it is a better deal. I don't see anything wrong with what they did with the new one but I don't think it is worth the extra $100.

Before you jump down my throat and tell me about all the extra stuff you get and all the hardware improvements... I don't care. I like mine the way it is and at the price for which I got it.

It sounds like you don't care only because you already bought yours. It's not like anything is wrong with that, but it kinda makes more sense to look at it from a less personal perspective. Overall it's a great upgrade, but no one wants to think about that when they already bought an older model. Really, who cares, like it or not whenever you buy it a better one is coming out sooner or later (usually sooner), just part of the deal.

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It sounds like you don't care only because you already bought yours. It's not like anything is wrong with that, but it kinda makes more sense to look at it from a less personal perspective. Overall it's a great upgrade, but no one wants to think about that when they already bought an older model. Really, who cares, like it or not whenever you buy it a better one is coming out sooner or later (usually sooner), just part of the deal.

This is so true and it is part of the technological life, totally unavoidable. The world cannot stop advancing just because of the fear that it might leave you in its dust. I think that technology is dangerous because if you are weak, it will tempt you to always upgrade and spend money too quickly before the thing you bought has a chance to pay for itself. I think it is rather sad, actually.

Take my case for example. I bought my ibook in September and now they are in the midst of releasing the intel version which will probably be a very good upgrade to the G4 but I am not going to start crying and feeling depressed because I didn't buy it to try and keep up with the market. I got it when I needed it, it's as simple as that. You can wait forever and hold from getting something because you know that something new and better will be released but it is very stupid to do that when you need something because everything does its job the way it is supposed to and yes the new ibook will have more features and probably be faster but it is not a huge improvement because the G4 does it's job extremely well.

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i can't remember the spec of the old mac mini, but the new one also uses Serial ATA hard disk drives, when i think (im not sure) the previous used standard ata notebook drives.

with the duo processor, i wouldn't mind grabbing one aswell.

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question: does itunes accept avi/mp4/divx/xvid videos? and can those be streamed from xp to mac?

in short, can i stream a dvd quality divx from xp to mac over wireless to the mini and play it in front row? *gasp

anyone?

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i can't remember the spec of the old mac mini, but the new one also uses Serial ATA hard disk drives, when i think (im not sure) the previous used standard ata notebook drives.

with the duo processor, i wouldn't mind grabbing one aswell.

The SATA makes absolutely no difference in speed and performance. It is just another format. Although if the new one uses standard PC harddrives instead of laptop drives it is a major boost since laptop harddrives are generally slower and more expensive to the equivalent of normal size PC harddrives

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The SATA makes absolutely no difference in speed and performance. It is just another format. Although if the new one uses standard PC harddrives instead of laptop drives it is a major boost since laptop harddrives are generally slower and more expensive to the equivalent of normal size PC harddrives

I don't really agree with that.

question: does itunes accept avi/mp4/divx/xvid videos? and can those be streamed from xp to mac?

in short, can i stream a dvd quality divx from xp to mac over wireless to the mini and play it in front row? *gasp

just network them together and then copy from XP hdd to mac hdd

I don't think itunes will handle avi/mp4 yes I think/divx and xvid prob no

oh, you mean play oVER netowkr. Don't know if wifi will be FAST ENOUGH

you can try it by setting up a share on xp, then access the IP via mac

try opening the file via VLC. MAY work.

I'd be interested in your results

thx :fro:

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