Travel Technology - New day... New Apple products...

1) New Intel based Mac Mini

2) $99 leather cases (these better be some really nice cases)

3) Ipod boombox (called the iPod HiFi)....$349... Who does Apple think they are? Bose?

Holy carp... the iPod hifi is hideous. Looks like a 1970's retro speaker.

Leather cases are now online as well. Apple has really lost their mind. $99 for a simple leather case that doesn't even have an opening for the controls or screen is just crazy. Nevertheless, I'm sure some of the fanbois will be ordering them as I type.

Only interesting thing today was the the new mac mini. I do feel sorry for the poor people that purchased a mac mini recently; for the same price their machine is now up to 5 1/2 times faster. Apple really did scam people for years with their G4/G5 chips. No wonder they switched to Intel...

I do feel sorry for the poor people that purchased a mac mini recently; for the same price their machine is now up to 5 1/2 times faster. Apple really did scam people for years with their G4/G5 chips. No wonder they switched to Intel...

According to the press release (http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060228/sftu103.html?.v=38), it's up to 4 times faster. Though keep in mind, that's in very specific operations.

Accommodations are made for customers who recently ordered/purchased the previous model of a product just prior to a product announcement. It depends on the nature of the announcement, but every effort is made to reduce the chance that someone may walk away after a purchase with any feelings of remorse.

I'm not sure I follow you with the "scamming" bit. I don't think Virginia Tech felt scammed when they had one of the fastest supercomputers made from clusters of G5 machines that was a fraction of the cost of systems that performed similarly -- or even those that didn't perform as well.

According to the press release (http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060228/sftu103.html?.v=38), it's up to 4 times faster. Though keep in mind, that's in very specific operations.

Accommodations are made for customers who recently ordered/purchased the previous model of a product just prior to a product announcement. It depends on the nature of the announcement, but every effort is made to reduce the chance that someone may walk away after a purchase with any feelings of remorse.

I'm not sure I follow you with the "scamming" bit. I don't think Virginia Tech felt scammed when they had one of the fastest supercomputers made from clusters of G5 machines that was a fraction of the cost of systems that performed similarly -- or even those that didn't perform as well.


This page clearly shows a 5.5x speed increase:

http://www.apple.com/macmini/

I guess "scam" isn't the right word, but Apple always had the "MHz don't matter" attitude when they tried to flog their machines and convince people that their G4/G5 machines were Supercomputers. In reality of course, Intel was always miles ahead of them. I had a Mini and found it to be terribly slow, thankfully I sold mine pretty soon after buying it, but I can imagine some people were not so lucky. Of course the computer world moves fast, but very very rarely do you see something become 5 times faster overnight. I'd never get upset if my Intel 3.2GHz were to be replaced by a 3.4GHz or a 3.6GHz for the same price in a weeks time, but if it suddenly became a 10GHz overnight for the same price I'd be mighty upset. I'm just amazed how quickly Intel has been embraced as the best thing to ever happen to them, when their old chips were considered the same just 6 months ago.

Leather cases are now online as well. Apple has really lost their mind. $99 for a simple leather case that doesn't even have an opening for the controls or screen is just crazy. Nevertheless, I'm sure some of the fanbois will be ordering them as I type.

Only interesting thing today was the the new mac mini. I do feel sorry for the poor people that purchased a mac mini recently; for the same price their machine is now up to 5 1/2 times faster. Apple really did scam people for years with their G4/G5 chips. No wonder they switched to Intel...

Have to agree. I looked at the HiFi, and while it may have matching Apple colors I don't think that is really what everyone wants in a speaker component. Plus, it has no other features (okay, it has an input, but not a tuner for example, which in this case could come in handy as a replacement for a boom box or shelf stereo). I was in, eh, Circuit City (and Costco actually) yesterday where I saw a silver Klipsch speaker setup, two satellites and a subwoofer, which is made with an iPod dock. It costs less than the Apple box, and I'll bet it sounds decent.

I didn't even look at the leather cases. I read that they were $99 and later that they have no play-through capability, and I just shook my head. I guess they're supposed to be big spender trendy items. Don't fancy leather designers already have iPod cases? Can Apple put their own name on a case and compete in that arena? Actually, they probably can, but I still shake my head at the idea. I'll take a functional $20 case any day.

I'd say the processor speed stuff is marketing speak. Apple for a long time used a processor that the majority of other computers did not use. So they found ways to differentiate that and say it's faster, even though it's only faster in some rather specialized situations. Now, they've switched processors. So they have to compare these new units, even though they're more mainstream, to their own previous processors and find something that goes faster in order to validate the switch to those who are skeptical. The same thing applies; only some situations will see a notable speed increase.

In the end, there was a business decision to switch, and it isn't likely to be based entirely on the Intel processors being faster or even better in every way. But the rest of that business decision wouldn't likely play well in the sales spiel.

The iPod hifi could have at least had an integrated airport express, or remote control through the desktop machine. Here we have Jobs on stage saying how Frontrow will allow you to share everything you have through your network, and he doesn't even have a speaker that integrates with anything else they have....

The Mac Mini still lacks a 3.5" hard drive that would make it not only faster, but allow storage up to 500gb that would make the Mini a viable HTPC.

The Mac Mini still lacks a 3.5" hard drive that would make it not only faster, but allow storage up to 500gb that would make the Mini a viable HTPC.

I have no doubt that's due to cooling/noise issues.

Down 3.5%

http://www.google.com/search?oi=stock&q=stocks:AAPL&prev=/search%3Fq%3Daapl%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG

Looks like the market wasn't too impressed with AAPL either.

Trying to get consumers to pay $99 for a case for mp3 player that costs $149 should be a crime.

This page clearly shows a 5.5x speed increase:

http://www.apple.com/macmini/

I guess "scam" isn't the right word, but Apple always had the "MHz don't matter" attitude when they tried to flog their machines and convince people that their G4/G5 machines were Supercomputers. In reality of course, Intel was always miles ahead of them. I had a Mini and found it to be terribly slow, thankfully I sold mine pretty soon after buying it, but I can imagine some people were not so lucky. Of course the computer world moves fast, but very very rarely do you see something become 5 times faster overnight. I'd never get upset if my Intel 3.2GHz were to be replaced by a 3.4GHz or a 3.6GHz for the same price in a weeks time, but if it suddenly became a 10GHz overnight for the same price I'd be mighty upset. I'm just amazed how quickly Intel has been embraced as the best thing to ever happen to them, when their old chips were considered the same just 6 months ago.

Mhz doesn't matter, and Intel still isn't "miles" ahead of the G5. There's things the P4 beats the G5 in, and vice versa. The switch wasn't about desktop chips though, and a G5 just wasn't going to wind up in a notebook, especially not a notebook Apple is willing to sell.

Down 3.5%

http://www.google.com/search?oi=stock&q=stocks:AAPL&prev=/search%3Fq%3Daapl%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG

Looks like the market wasn't too impressed with AAPL either.

Trying to get consumers to pay $99 for a case for mp3 player that costs $149 should be a crime.
There's never been an Apple announcement that didn't cause a drop in the stock price. You're right about that case though. $99 for that thing is obscene. I don't understand the need for the iPod HiFi outside of dorm rooms, either. All in all, today was disappointing. The mini update is nice. I'd buy one if Apple would sell me an HD movie from the music store. I have zero interest in watching their low rez TV shows on my HD plasma. I want downloadable HD movies. Go ahead and DRM them, make me rent them for 24 hours, whatever. I don't understand why no one wants my money.

There's never been an Apple announcement that didn't cause a drop in the stock price.This WSJ article (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114112970013985223.html?mod=home_whats_news_us) says otherwise:Lost in the Google Inc. frenzy is the fact that shares of Apple Computer Inc. are down nearly 3%, despite Chez iPod's unveiling today of new Intel-powered Mac Minis, a Hi-Fi home stereo for iPods and snazzy leather iPod carrying cases. When Apple rolled out its new Macs back on Jan. 11, its shares rose nearly 4%. That they had the opposite reaction today could simply be bad luck; Apple happened to announce its new gear on the day Google's pratfall got all manner of tech stocks muddy. But it could also have something to do with the new hardware. "While the new products are likely to be incremental for Apple, we would view them as evolutionary as opposed to revolutionary, and do not expect them to gain immediate mass appeal," sniffed Prudential analysts (who make a market in Apple shares).

Ok, there's rarely been an announcement that didn't cause a drop in the stock price. The January one was the exception to the rule. Of course, during that speech, I believe Jobs mentioned the previous quarter's ipod numbers during that speech, which may have made the price react differently. In general, with AAPL, its buy on the rumor, sell on the news.

Down 3.5%

http://www.google.com/search?oi=stock&q=stocks:AAPL&prev=/search%3Fq%3Daapl%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG

Looks like the market wasn't too impressed with AAPL either.

Trying to get consumers to pay $99 for a case for mp3 player that costs $149 should be a crime.

I agree 100%. Now where is my VA rep's number! :D

At least when they sold the socks they sold them as 6 pack for $29 - not each!

Ok, there's rarely been an announcement that didn't cause a drop in the stock price. The January one was the exception to the rule. Of course, during that speech, I believe Jobs mentioned the previous quarter's ipod numbers during that speech, which may have made the price react differently. In general, with AAPL, its buy on the rumor, sell on the news.

Not only that, he announced the quarterly revenue for the Sept-Dec quarter, which had never been done at a keynote. That definitely skewed the Market response.

I follow the stock price every day, throughout the day, and have done so for the past 5 years. 25% of my holdings are in AAPL (I get it at a discount). It is typical for the stock price to decline after a new product announcement.

The iPod hifi could have at least had an integrated airport express, or remote control through the desktop machine. Here we have Jobs on stage saying how Frontrow will allow you to share everything you have through your network, and he doesn't even have a speaker that integrates with anything else they have....

Immediately lost interest without desktop connectivity. If you have a bazillion songs on your ipod, what good does it do you if it is across the room?

Immediately lost interest without desktop connectivity. If you have a bazillion songs on your ipod, what good does it do you if it is across the room?

It comes with a remote.

(But I know what you're saying.) :)

From the "Hi Fi Your Home" (http://www.apple.com/ipodhifi/hifiyourhome.html) section of the Hi Fi pages:

AirTunes Ready

iPod Hi-Fi is the ideal speaker system for AirTunes. To ensure optimum sound quality, simply connect it to an AirPort Express with a digital optical audio cable. The music is then sent from iTunes on your computer over the network to the iPod Hi-Fi using only digital signals. Control your music from the computer in your den, but enjoy the sounds anywhere else in the house.

so... Not integrated within the unit, but it's possible to connect an APX to it -- or any other device, since it has Audio In.

Trying to get consumers to pay $99 for a case for mp3 player that costs $149 should be a crime.

Nah. No need to legislate what the market will take care of quite nicely. ;)

I love my iPod, but ***** you Apple.

Nah. No need to legislate what the market will take care of quite nicely. ;)

I love my iPod, but ***** you Apple.


People buy the socks. They'll probably buy these cases, too.

go figure.

;)

This page clearly shows a 5.5x speed increase:

http://www.apple.com/macmini/

Yep, I read too quickly. I think single core is so much faster, and then the claim is that the dual core is up to 5.5x faster. That "up to" is very important, btw.

I guess "scam" isn't the right word, but Apple always had the "MHz don't matter" attitude when they tried to flog their machines and convince people that their G4/G5 machines were Supercomputers.

The MHz Myth campaign happened like 3-4 years ago, when performance based on MHz for any given chip compared to another began to not be directly comparable.

In reality of course, Intel was always miles ahead of them.

Not true. Apple had a disctinct edge in floating point operations in particular when the G4 came out. Then when the G5 came out, they closed the gap again. Unfortunately, the G5 hasn't kept up. Time to change.

I had a Mini and found it to be terribly slow, thankfully I sold mine pretty soon after buying it, but I can imagine some people were not so lucky.

Depends on what it's being used for and what you're used to. It has basically the same specs as my Powerbook, which works great for me. But I don't play doom or whatever. I do manipulate huge spreadsheets, run bloated CRM software, have a vast email database and require no less than 10-11 applications open at ay given time. I'm good with 1 GB of RAM.

Of course the computer world moves fast, but very very rarely do you see something become 5 times faster overnight. I'd never get upset if my Intel 3.2GHz were to be replaced by a 3.4GHz or a 3.6GHz for the same price in a weeks time, but if it suddenly became a 10GHz overnight for the same price I'd be mighty upset.

This is a lame argument. Based on Apple's benchmarks, the new models are up to 5 times faster. Real-world use will not be 5 times faster. It'll be a nice bump, yes, but not pinto to 911 turbo nice.

I'm just amazed how quickly Intel has been embraced as the best thing to ever happen to them, when their old chips were considered the same just 6 months ago.

Could you cite your source? Where and when did Apple claim Apple's PPC machines 6 months ago performed the same as Intel's? In fact, it was nearly six months ago when Apple announced the move to Intel. Prior to that, Apple emphasized the whole package, not how many frames per second one could achieve in a game or how fast a "whateverwhatever dissolve" could be done in Photoshop. Instead, Apple talked about how you can take your songs from iTunes and your photos from iPhoto and blend them all into a movie made in iMovie accompanied by a custom-made soundtrack produced using GarageBand and burn the finished product onto a DVD, all without having to consult a manual. That'll always be where the real performance and power of the Mac lies.

Finally, would you have preferred that Apple hold off on introducing the new models? Would it offend you less if you knew that a better machine could be offered for the same price -- but it won't be announced, because someone may have bought the old one a few weeks ago, and we don't want to make them feel like they got taken? You're putting Apple in an impossible position by claiming that announcing something better is unfair to those who have the old models. Apple has a return policy. They offer quite generous price protection. They may sometimes even hang back on fulfilling orders booked within a certain timeframe so that customers who just ordered the old thing can have the chance to get the newer one. Most of the time their orders are automatically upgraded, and they're first in line for the new thing. What else should or could they do?

...but Apple always had the "MHz don't matter" attitude when they tried to flog their machines and convince people that their G4/G5 machines were Supercomputers. In reality of course, Intel was always miles ahead of them. I had a Mini and found it to be terribly slow, thankfully I sold mine pretty soon after buying it, but I can imagine some people were not so lucky. Of course the computer world moves fast, but very very rarely do you see something become 5 times faster overnight. I'd never get upset if my Intel 3.2GHz were to be replaced by a 3.4GHz or a 3.6GHz for the same price in a weeks time, but if it suddenly became a 10GHz overnight for the same price I'd be mighty upset. I'm just amazed how quickly Intel has been embraced as the best thing to ever happen to them, when their old chips were considered the same just 6 months ago.Mixing apples and oranges, to coin a phrase. The 4x-5x speed increases are relative to G4 systems: PowerBooks and Minis. It's G5s that Virginia Tech and others found quite fast enough to use in their supercomputers - and were, by most objective measures, equivalent to a Pentium 4 of at least 1.5x the clock speed. (It's not that MHz don't matter at all, just that most people don't appreciate the architecture correction factor you have to apply if two chips are from different design families.)

Speed, schmeed. Just look what you can do with your toy Mini Mac:

http://www.macmod.com/content/view/371/2

;)

i was waiting for the mac intel mini :)

great i will order one tommorow.

dp

Mixing apples and oranges, to coin a phrase. The 4x-5x speed increases are relative to G4 systems: PowerBooks and Minis. It's G5s that Virginia Tech and others found quite fast enough to use in their supercomputers - and were, by most objective measures, equivalent to a Pentium 4 of at least 1.5x the clock speed. (It's not that MHz don't matter at all, just that most people don't appreciate the architecture correction factor you have to apply if two chips are from different design families.)
I think ScottC's comment was rather about Apple's marketing language. Regardless of whether you accept an overnight bump in speed (3-4 times as Apple claims) as a true/hard fact or not, it seems that Apple marketing has gotten so much arrogance that they think they can sell almost everything now. Even apples. And oranges.

PS Edited to add: OTOH it is not Mac users' fault that Apple manages to sell all that. Mac users are a meagerly 3-4% in the US (me included!), much fewer in the rest of the world. So, who buys the leather skins, the socks and the speakers and can be held responsible for that hype? Not me.

The iPod hifi could have at least had an integrated airport express, or remote control through the desktop machine. Here we have Jobs on stage saying how Frontrow will allow you to share everything you have through your network, and he doesn't even have a speaker that integrates with anything else they have....

Next model is going to be like that! Otherwise, what would be the reason to buy yet another one set of speakers if everything was included in the first version?

On a related note, has anyone ever wondered why Apple hasn't put an FM receiver in any of their iPods?

On a related note, has anyone ever wondered why Apple hasn't put an FM receiver in any of their iPods?

Because they want to sell you an add-on unit with that instead. ;) (They do now offer such a gadget.) And it's true that many people would find it unnecessary. FM receiver would be pointless for the ways most people I know use their iPods.

The Mac Mini still lacks a 3.5" hard drive that would make it not only faster, but allow storage up to 500gb that would make the Mini a viable HTPC.

Seagate has launched their perpendicular recording technology HDDs, which allow 160GB in a 2.5" form-factor. My old TiVo had 80GB and my new Motorola HD DVR has 120GB, so this drive in a MacMini should be "good enough", especially since you can add external storage to it which you generally can't do (easily or at all) on the standalone DVRs.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/storage/display/seagate-momentus-54003.html

Did they really need a hullabaloo for these products? These products are the bost boring yet from Apple. Ho hum. Zzzz.

Mac users are a meagerly 3-4% in the US

User %age is about 8-10%. Buyer %age (market share) is approaching 5% now, depending on which study you look at.

That marketshare, btw, makes Apple 4th in ranking, below Dell, HP/Compaq and (I think) Gateway. Not too shabby really.

IBM/Lenovo, Toshiba, Sony, etc all have less market share.

Another interesting tidbit... Apple's market share was about 2% 2-3 years ago. So it has doubled in a very short time. funny... As it has market share doubled my office work area has shrunk by 1/3rd. :) I think they're going to be putting cubicles on top of cubicles pretty soon. It already looks like The Matrix where the customer service people are. ;)

Did they really need a hullabaloo for these products? These products are the bost boring yet from Apple. Ho hum. Zzzz.

Which is why there was no webcast of the announcement and why only a very small, low-key press event was done. :)

Which is why there was no webcast of the announcement and why only a very small, low-key press event was done. :)

When it comes to Apple there is no such thing as a "low key press event".

As soon as news was leaked that there was an upcoming even all the fanbois went insane. News of a low-key press event usually makes all the major news sites like CNN.

Apple has a reputation of revealing cool stuff at these events, and for the first time in ages they let people down. These new products could have easily been announced on their website.

i am wondering who is building this speakers for apple.
is it inside bose or harman kardon etc.?

i cant imagine that apple build it themselves .
the price is quite high, and the pod is on the top, which i dont like....

i wouldnt buy a leather case for 99USD but there are a lot freaks out there who will buy it.

i ordered the 1.66 mini , as i think the form factor and the noise is important if you use it in your living room.

but this time nothing exciting from apple.

dp

Apple has a reputation of revealing cool stuff at these events, and for the first time in ages they let people down. These new products could have easily been announced on their website.

Let me down?? I thought that the iPod case was great! :rolleyes: In fact, I already purchased two from the Apple Store yesterday. :D If only they made one for the shuffle.! ;)

On a related note, has anyone ever wondered why Apple hasn't put an FM receiver in any of their iPods?

Because they want to sell you an add-on unit with that instead. ;) (They do now offer such a gadget.) And it's true that many people would find it unnecessary. FM receiver would be pointless for the ways most people I know use their iPods.
Well, exactly! (I only attempted to answer the "puzzle" with the new speakers with a question)

On a related note, has anyone ever wondered why Apple hasn't put an FM receiver in any of their iPods?

Personally I'd rather see satellite radio in one - use radio for fresh content, ipod for my favorites... plus I could re-use existing docks/car kits/cases etc

I almost bought a Mac Mini for my son for Christmas, until I saw the announcement about the Intel iMac coming out early and decided to wait.

I ordered the new Mac Mini from apple.com the day it was announced (just like I did for the iPod Mini). They both got shipped direct from China BTW (Shanghai last time and now Shenzhen). I should get it within 1 week. I did receive the free printer (after mail-in rebate) already.

Apple has a reputation of revealing cool stuff at these events, and for the first time in ages they let people down.Let people down? Oh puhleeze! :rolleyes: I think it's great they finally released the Mac Mini Intel, almost two months after everyone was eagerly anticipating it's release at MacWorld SFO with all the rumours flying around. The only disappointed people out there are the rumour mongers and their loyal following, who were hoping for a new video iPod. I'm sure when the time is right, we'll see that as well.

Let people down? Oh puhleeze! :rolleyes: I think it's great they finally released the Mac Mini Intel, almost two months after everyone was eagerly anticipating it's release at MacWorld SFO with all the rumours flying around. The only disappointed people out there are the rumour mongers and their loyal following, who were hoping for a new video iPod. I'm sure when the time is right, we'll see that as well.

Good for you. The rest of the online world did not seem to agree. This was a waste of time for the journalists that flew all the way around the USA to see 3 products of which 2 have received nothing but poor press.

We got a new Core Solo mini at the office for testing. It is very speedy. Front row and the remote are pretty nifty, too. Our entire windows-using office was very impressed. Two people placed orders the same day.

Good for you. The rest of the online world did not seem to agree. This was a waste of time for the journalists that flew all the way around the USA to see 3 products of which 2 have received nothing but poor press.The rest of the online world? Pretty bold statement when really the only "big" Apple announcements historically have been at shows like MacWorld. Your "online" world should know better, but no, they're too busy chasing their tails on any snippet of apple rumour they can find. "Video iPod, we gotta see the Video iPod!" Good for Apple that they do not pander to the rumourmill. :D

And to think of the poor poor journalists who flew all over the USA, gaining all those frequent flyer points! My heart bleeds for them, the poor souls! Here's some whine to go with their cheese! Now back to reading Dvorak and CNet and laughing myself silly! :D