Here's my 2 cents on Mac vs Dell: It's not the price, nor the apps, nor the add-ons. It's simply this:
Mac... Cool!
Dell... Yech!

And that pretty sums up what the Mac has going for it.

It is "cool".

Who cares about price, software, installed base. It's COOL.

Clearly, you've never been to a MacWorld...

It's not about "cool".


Now maybe in the grand scheme, one could argue that everything is relative...

mac:wintel/linux::Millhouse:Comic Book Guy

I have been to many of them, including International versions.

All I ever saw was hyped geeks looking like they were expecting some kind of miracle.

Of course it's about cool, why else would people RUN from the Macworld yesterday to the closest Apple store and buy 10 shuffles? It's about being seen with the product, it's got sex appeal, and people want it.

Apple:Computers :: Bose:Audio equipment

"Better sound through Marketing"

Just looked at the Apple website, the cheapest display they have is $999... Why couldn't they bring back a decent 15" LCD for this machine, they could have pu together a package with the mini, an LCD and a keyboard/mouse for under $800. What a missed chance

You are now forced to buy some off-the-shelf monitor to match your lovely brushed aluminum toaster...

Apple sticks to high-end displays.

mini + display +kb and mouse = emac, which sells for $799.

They just released the product yesterday. I'm sure they plan on testing the waters first before getting too creative.

Throw some pink fake fur fringe around your toaster and a couple of strips around your after market, cheapo LCD, and they'll match beautifully.

I wonder how long it'll be before the accessory market for these really takes off... I mean if there are iPod socks, there's bound to be a whole line of Mac Mini Cozies!

Actually, iMovie was around (2000) long before XP (and Moviemaker) was.

You know, it IS possible to discuss the positives and negatives of various operating systems or hardware without it becoming a p*ssing match. Of course, I can't say I've seen it happen that often....

One comment I wanted to make was regarding using this Mac mini as a "media center" sort of unit. The main drawback I see in this use is the storage space. This tiny box uses a 2.5" (laptop size) hard drive, so the max capacity of the internal is 100GB right now I think (maybe 120GB now or soon?) and Apple will only sell up to 80GB anyway. Essentially infinite storage can be added by plugging in FireWire external boxes, but too much of that would destroy the advantage of the nice small box. You could still keep things pretty small if you keep it to one external HD.

Apart from the limitation of the internals, there really isn't anything it couldn't do in this regard, at least nothing that I can think of. It would take a lot of optional software and probably a couple of hardware dongly things to do all the media center-type stuff, but then it isn't billed out of the box as such a thing. I'm not entirely familiar with all the features that Microsoft's Media Center solution provides, but I'm pretty confident there isn't anything that can't be done in Mac capable software and hardware that would work with this box. Will it be done for less money? Don't know. More elegantly? Maybe sometimes, but it's really subjective from what I see around here. One person's "easier" is another's "clunky" it seems, and who am I to argue that they're "wrong"? The experience is in the eye of the beholder. Yes, some of it may be simple unfamiliarity, but that doesn't mean there is no valid criticism. This holds true from either side. Both are equally prone to standing on ridiculous bias.

BTW, the RAM on the mini is likely to be user upgradable, even though the official line is you shouldn't do it. When you open the unit, apparently the RAM is easy to get to, and this process won't void the warranty. The HD, however, is behind too many things, and this will be against the warranty.

Disclaimer: My bias is that I prefer Macs, and I have one as my desk computer at work in addition to the ones I have for personal use. I try not to jump on anyone for choosing or not choosing a given OS.

Yeah, Spyware. Care to add Hacking, Identity Theft, and Terrorism to the list, too?

Fortunately, Macs are immune to this sort of thing - http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61798

I'll do my own max'ing and risk my 90 day warranty, but I'll wait until the die-hard techie mod'ers get their hands on them and see what they can do (like how big a disk it can handle, for instance).

Oh, so it's YOUR fault I'm felt up by the TSA on one-way last minute tickets with no luggage! I thought it was iPod envy.

Timothy

What I love about this argument, having started it, is that it reenforces the belief that Apple people are zealots and resolves that Windows people still are working on their new reason to hate Macs.

Hey! Look at that: This thread is now travel related!

Good job!

*Takes Bow*

Oh, Please.

If you check back to the start of the thread, I was one of the people who said I was serious considering picking one up to play around with.

But apparently I'm just getting one so that I'll have a first hand experience to allow me to better nit-pick all of the problems w/ Macs.