So, which iPod (or PC) users are considering the $500 Mac?
 

So, are any iPod/PC users considering picking up the new mini Mac? With travellers so tied to their iPods (and their iPods tied to them), will this have an impact on your other purchases as you construct your distributed office?

http://ct.com.com/click?q=e5-9ZLOQgy...BrKGFHoUartGaF

From Apple:

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

Timothy

Of course, you still need a monitor, mouse and keyboard, but you'll still have those after you throw out your Windows machine. ;)

The mac mini will (finally) replace my B&W G3 as my video editing station, though I expect to buy the cheapo and upgrade the memory and disk myself.

Quick query, I'm considering buy a Mac mini from the States while I'm over there next month as they're £75 cheaper.

Question is, would I be able to use it back here OK, and what would I need to do regarding power supply as I don't really what to just use a travel adapter permantly.

Definitely check before buying (in fact, I'll look now and see what I can find while still at work). Not every machine Apple makes handles 110 and 220 both by default.

stay tuned...

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update
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Electrical and environmental requirements
Meets ENERGY STAR requirements
Line voltage: 100-240V AC
Frequency: 50Hz to 60Hz, single phase
Maximum continuous power: 85W

From the photos being posted from the MacWorld people, the power brick and cables for this one look a bit unique. It's a shame that they couldn't just use the standard iBook/pBook bricks. Being a hopelessly ignorant American, I'm not sure what sorts of dongles you'd need for this to work based on the specs above, but perhaps you'll know.

The most you'll need is a US->UK plug adapter for the end of the cord. They're *really* cheap.

Let's see, $499 will get you (among other things): a 40GB hard drive, 256K RAM, integrated graphics with 32MB DDR SDRAM, a DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive, one firewire port and 2 USB ports. I think I'll pass! :p

I want one for the cute factor, but with the fact that upgrading the memory MUST be done by an apple tech, and the fact that if I want to put in the memory I want and a superdrive I might as well just buy an Ibook...not unless someone gives me one...*hint* Anyone wanna give me one? :-)

After adding a mouse, keyboard, more ram and airport express I think I'd be better off getting a regular Mac. It's cute but it might be a tad underpowered for me.

Other things:

iLife '05, which includes...
iPhoto, which now has greater photo editing capability and can accept RAW and MPEG 4 formats
iMovie, which now edits HD video
Garage Band, which now records 8 tracks of audio and writes sheet music as it is recorded
iDVD, with additional menu themes and, not sure, but I thought Steve said it'll burn HDVDs as soon as the burners are out
iTunes
All 5 apps work together, so you can pull media from one into the other seamlessly.

iWork, which includes...
Keynote 2, which is as good, and in some ways better, than Powerpoint. (can import and export powerpoint formatted docs also)
Pages, a brand new word processing app. Looks pretty decent for a first version. It should eliminate the need to purchase MS Office for many.

Mac OS X, including...
Mail
iChat
iCal
Safari
Address Book
All of which work together

Then you have the geek apps, like...
xCode
Just about anything out there for Unix
AppleScript

This is where the true value of a Mac lies. Yes, there are equivalent products available and even bundled with comparable Wintel boxes, but they suck. All of the above apps can be learned within 5 to 30 minutes with no rtfm necessary.

If you compare the Mac Mini to the cheapest machines at Dell or Gateway, they're about the same, maybe $50-$100 cheaper accounting for the fact that they include keyboard, mouse and display. Keep in mind, though, that Dell and Gateway both add a $99 charge for shipping to every desktop order, whereas shipping is always free at the Apple Store. It costs both companies nowhere near $99 to ship their computers, so this is really just a way to hide some of the cost.

So in the end, Apple has brought the Mac to, conservatively, within $50-$100 of a Wintel system.

Would you pay $100 to not have to worry about viruses and spyware? That alone would be worth it to most users, not to mention being able to actually use and, in fact, enjoy the bundled media apps that come loaded on their machine.

And all in a very tidy package: 6.5" on each side, 2.5" tall, 2.5 lbs. :)

I can't give you one, but I can make it a little less painful on the bank account. ;) PM me if you want to take the plunge. :D

OUCH, the configuration I'd like:

512MB DDR333 SDRAM - 1 DIMM
• 80GB Ultra ATA drive
• SuperDrive
• Internal Bluetooth + AirPort Extreme Card
• Wireless Keyboard & Mouse Set
• 56K v.92 Modem
• Mac OS X - U.S. English
• 1.42GHz PowerPC G4

Estimated Ship:
Deliver by Jan 22nd
Free Shipping
Subtotal $1,002.00

That is insane.

For that you still don't even have a monitor.

Mac?
 

Ugh, that was supposed to be a PM. :-) So consider this a music in thread...
*sings* STOP, IN THE NAME OF LOVE...
Ok, back to the thread. :-)

:) yeah, it's not such a good deal if you're wanting to max it out...

It'd probably be better to go with the iMac to acquire these specs.

First, I'm not suggesting that this be anyone's primary machine for massive amounts of hardcore business (I mean, that's what we all carry Powerbooks for), but if my mother said she wanted to email her grandkids or someone without huge demands or skills on computers wanted to join the Internet age, the base machine--sans Superdrive, Bluetooth, Airport and any fun stuff--is completely functional at $499. Plus, few viruses, no spyware, fully functional email and home software, which means there's actually little to actually support.

Buy a cheap mouse, a cheap keyboard and a $100 monitor and you're done.

As for the factory installed stuff, there will be a human being that, within a day of the release, will have taken the entire thing apart step by step and will have shown you everything you can install. The only thing that usually comes with difficulty is the bluetooth enhancement, but until I see this stuff, who knows.

Sure, if you pimp your ride, it'll get to $1000. But, don't pimp it. Give it to your nieces, grandparents and (in my case) parents. Then buy them a digital camera and they'll have it up in iPhoto without even a telephone call.

Timothy

...then wait for them to start whining about how SLOW their broadband is. :)

Also, as one of my staff members pointed out today, this is kind of the perfect PORTABLE machine (i.e. not like in the laptop definition, but more the ACTUAL sense of being able to move a machine). Try bringing a $400 Wintel box in carryon. I'm wondering how well these machines will do in tradeshow kiosks, since you could theoretically fill a wheelie with a dozen of these things, including power supplies, and have them as carry-ons--I can't tell you how much it costs to ship (or rent on-site) PCs to just be dumb Powerpoint viewers and do the occasional VoIP soft client demo.

I think that the universal nature of the keyboard and mouse, plus the headless aspect, will make this an attractive X-Windows box and will cause Unix geeks to reconsider the $100 Red Hat subscription--just the patch management system alone is worth it. With a $120 external hard drive, this machine is also a reasonable SME server.

Timothy