Apple 'to launch £51 iPod'
 

Love the fact it crashed www.Themacmind.com

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/b...d85370?source=

APPLE Computer will launch a stripped-down version of its popular iPod music player for just $99 (£51) next year, according to an industry report.

Themacmind.com website reported that the virtually indestructible iPod Flash will use an energy-efficient flash memory to hold up to 250 songs.

The iPod and the iPod Mini both use disk drives, which have moving parts and use more battery power than a flash memory, to store the music. Such was the interest in Themacmind. com's apparent details of Apple's hottest new offering that its website crashed.

Apple is expected to announce the flash-based iPod at its Macworld conference on 11 January.

Themacmind.com said the new device will have no screen, and is intended to be worn around the neck.

It will be smaller than a business card and about the same size as an iPod Mini, it said.

Re: Apple 'to launch £51 iPod'
 

i read about this last night, ill see if i can dig out the link as there were leaked pictures of it.

Re: Apple 'to launch £51 iPod'
 

I think I will stick with my Sony Atract3Plus CD player which can store about 500-600 tracks on one CD without hardly any quality loss. It also has a nice screen and an in-line controller which ALSO has a screen on it :p:

Re: Apple 'to launch £51 iPod'
 

:clap:

Well done Apple, if this news is true. Their product development team is very impressive and they're doing well to capitalise on what is becoming an incredibly powerful brand.

Re: Apple 'to launch £51 iPod'
 

I'll bet a month's wages it WON'T be £51

Re: Apple 'to launch £51 iPod'
 

Yep, more like £80 probably, if the price difference between UK and USA is similar to the tracks for sale on iTunes. But I suppose it would also depend on the cost of comparable flash-based mp3 players already available in the UK.

Re: Apple 'to launch £51 iPod'
 

I don't think it'll be £80 either, in fact, I sincerely doubt it'll be $99 on release, this is Apple we're talking about. We'll have to wait and see, if it IS less than £100 I'll buy one, if it isn't I won't bother wasting my money on it and spend the extra £60 on a Creative Zen.

Re: Apple 'to launch £51 iPod'
 

Here is a picture....

Re: Apple 'to launch £51 iPod'
 

Well for a start it will be £51 plus import duty and VAT. VAT on £51 is almost £10. Import duties on electronics can be up to 20%.
Secondly the £51 comes from the current 4 year high 4/£ rate of 1.94. You can bet Apple will not be using that rate when they come to workout prices, but will put some padding in for exchange rate fluctuations.
Finally, the $99/£51 is to get them to US soil. There are probably additional costs of getting them to the UK.
So £80 sounds about right.

Re: Apple 'to launch £51 iPod'
 

Assuming it's 512mb that's undercutting all of the cheap japanese mp3 players in that market range, pie in the sky ..... and if it's 256mb it's not going to be worth buying as there are hundreds of different mp3 players WITH displays that you could buy cheaper.

The addition of firewire to it to me seems a bit pointless, surely transfers will be only as fast as the flash memory it uses?

Re: Apple 'to launch £51 iPod'
 

First paragraph - we'll have to wait and see I guess.

Second paragraph, well thats more of a Mac connectivity thing. Macs like their drives connected by firewire not USB, hence firewire.

[Merged] New Mac Mini/iPod
 

I'd heard loads of talk about it, but here's the spec and some pics of the new sub $500 Apple Mac Mini.....

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

A couple of years ago I'd have never considered a Mac, but my opinion is changing. I even almost like what I've seen of OS X now!

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Ill be getting one of these, Id heard the rumours but now its confirmed this will definately grace my computer desk.

How fantastic though to fit that hardware into that which is little more than a thick CD Walkman.

Only Apple.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

I dont buy computers for the aesthetics of the case...i buy it for performance. Macs dont offer that.

:Peaceman:

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

jtwn are you serious? Apple machines perform amazing compared to the same spec x86 systems.

they were just too damn expensive before, and its not for the aesthetics of the case although all of there stuff does look damn sexy.

I will definately get a machine running OS-X excellent :D

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Looks nice. But cheap? Hmmm...

At the current exchange rate, $499 = £265.77 . Add on 17.5% VAT and you come up with a theoretical street price of £312.28 .

Yet I bet anyone that that will magically jump to £399 (or more) when it's launched in the UK...

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

But you could always use the exchange rate argument with them and get them to knock money off.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

£339 for the 1.25GHz/40GB version
£398.99 for the 1.4GHz/80GB version

I'm seriously considering the 1.4GHz one with 512MB RAM. I have keyboards and mice already and I can easily blag a 17" CRT from work :)

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Don't forget that it also comes with the latest version of iLife:

iPhoto 5 - For managing your digital photos
iMovie HD - For editing your digital video. Now supports widescreen formats
iDVD 5 - For transferring your iMovie projects to DVD Video.
GarageBand 2 - Music creation/recording software
iTunes 4.7 - Freely downloadable, but what the hell :D

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

From a design point of view, all Apple equipment has fantastic looks !!!
And the design of its size is great.
Good stuff it is indeed.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

new gimmick

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

they look ace
have you also seen the ipod shuffle?

[urlwww.apple.com/uk/ipodshuffle/]http://http://www.apple.com/uk/ipodshuffle/[/url]

£69 for the 512MB or £99 for the 1GB

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

I'm considering one of those Macs. :erm:

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

:shocked: a new Ipod, not bad for the price, suppose it opens up the market a bit more for apple!

and the Mac Mini looks very nice, wouldnt mind one, although ive got a desktop pc so a laptop would be nice, maybe they will bring out a cheaper laptop! :)

EDIT: The Mac Mini is on the UK store now, it starts from £339!! :D

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

But far, far worse than x86-64 systems which are not only a lot more powerful they're also a lot cheaper. Have a look at some A64 vs. G5 benchmarks.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

They arent screwing us in the UK for the price either, well played Apple, must admit I hold strong fears that once I use OS-X regularly ill end up buying a Dual G5 Desktop and a 19" Apple CineScreen :D

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

but there isnt a decent 64bit OS for x86-64 Architecture available at the moment, so those x86-64 cpu's are a bit pointless at the current time.

Id take a dual G5 over most things (SGI or Sun systems excluded)

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Athlon 64's are far quicker running 32 bit apps than their 32 bit counterparts so I'd say there's every point in owning them, again, look up some benchmarks. And very soon XP 64 will be released joining a few already available 64 bit Linux distro's. And you might be interested to know that an Athlon FX 55 (single chip) totally wipes the floor with a dual 2.5ghz G5 ;)

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

An Athlon FX55 is also near on 500 quid isnt it?

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Have heard good feedback from some geeky friends running 64 bit versions of Linux on their Athlon 64's. If I could afford to, I'd love to run that combination. Nobody told me having a family would leave you forever broke :cry:

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

A dual 2.5 gig G5 will set you back £2000 ex monitor. You can buy a lot of kit for that.

http://www.jigsaw24.com/proddesc.asp?ITEM=M9457BA

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

And how much would two G5 2.5ghz chips cost you? ;) According to Apples UK site a dual G5 with no monitor, only 512mb of memory and an out of date 9600XT will set you back £1999 ... I could probably build a far more powerful machine with better specced hardware for less than £1300 (including an FX 55)

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

And it only contains 512MB SDRAM? :rolleyes:

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

I have long moaned that everything Apple is expensive, but a $499 does sound tempting, even though you need to spend a few quid/bucks more for a superdrive and maybe some more RAM.

Only thing that worries me is about the cooling though. I wonder how well you can leave it going for long periods, like all desktops should be able to do. My powerbook doubles as a bar heater on cold nights :)

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Yeah granted but it wouldnt look as nice, have the apple quality or run OS-X

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Yes but as already said, relative price to performance its still better. Give up, macs lose :p:

edit: bit late with that post :o Still do not see the advantages of OS-X, and if 'apple quality' is a 9200se then that says it all.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

And no monitor :) The cheapest monitor apple do these days is a £700 20" one :rolleyes:

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

You can get loads of case mods to make your PC look cool, and there's plenty of themes out there on the internet for XP :erm:

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

I have a dual 2.0 gig and a dual 2.5 gig g5 at work. Both sit on the floor, in between the radiator and the desk. Far too bulky to keep on the desk. OS-X is nice though :)

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

If I'm spending 2 grand, I want something that's going to PERFORM like 2 grands worth of machine, not end up paying a premium for how it looks.

I'll not deny that apple USED to make great, powerful (and expensive) machines, however, x86-64 architecture seems to have put them in the shadows, now they're selling based on their historical reputation alone and not on the performance of their hardware, which is sad really. They're supposed to be innovators but they're being left behind (in the computing market).

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

strange i keep thinking the same thing :erm: but i guess the 'market' is out there and people are wanting this :shrug:

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Mini Mac offers as many features that some users need packed into a tasty box.
Design, cool, street cred is an important part of ownership adds to the mix.
It seems "a nice bit of kit", that may attract new users to the world of computers,

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

It makes an ideal system for internet usage, DVDs and general office type use.
It's not designed for heavy duty gaming, video editing or any other CPU-intensive stuff but it's ideal for browsing with a stunning UI, the anti aliased fonts are nice too, especially if you don't want to run Linux. :)
I think it would also make a nice system to have in the living room if it had a decent sound card but it only has a stereo output. :(

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

ive gotta say I am tempted, and im a die hard PC fan. the reason being, I would like to have run just for sorting photos music etc... I think this is fair to say that this is designed to go head to head with AMD's internet box thingy and not against serious computing power.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Definitely tempted here - I have a server under my stairs which is 55cm high, built out of battleship steel, is rock solid reliable, 256Mb RAM, Duron 600Mhz (ok, it's old) and runs FreeBSD 4. If I can replace that with a box the size of a small brick which weighs naff all, can sit under my router, has superior performance, the same reliability, a more modern version of FreeBSD, runs all my current server software (ssh, webserver, DNS server, Samba fileserver, mail gateway, IRC client) at approximately the price of a new motherboard, RAM and CPU for the current box but plug and play I'll bite their hands off. Never mind the OS X front end. And the missus has been badgering me for an iPod - that £69 one will do nicely (miserly, am I...).

Actually, the rest of my family are all Macophiles, apart from my dad who has a Dell laptop on which he installs spyware, judging by the results of the last adaware scan I made on it. Should stick to the Mac.

I love x86_64, incidentally, my office workstation is an Opteron 150 running 64-bit Linux (a boring RHEL respin, cos we use RHEL and clones on servers and I need to test stuff before deployment using the same OS) and it's fine, barring the odd compilation problem on obscure code. But there's definitely a place for this Mac mini - I'd like to see how many you can fit in a couple of U of server rack space - a small web farm of 5 or so would take naff all room and cost half as much as a modern 2 CPU server.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Sounds like what I'm going to do with my system, but has a Duron 1800MHZ and 512MB memory ;)

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Ah, but I built mine when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Sounds like the PC under my desk..

It has a Celeron 600, 256 Meg Ram. About 28 gig of storage on assorted hard drives and runs Windows 2000 Server, coldfusion server, flash comms server, IIS and Windows Media Server (all fully patched and protected by firewall). It's my second PC at work, and I use it to play around with Server side stuff and web development. As I pointed out to my Boss, no one else needs it (it's too low powered for XP) and it's better I play around on my own server rather than the production servers. That way, if I bugger it up, nobody is affected apart from me.

I also use it for Lab managment stuff.

The MacMini is interesting though. I won't be buying one. At home I already have a Tower PC and a laptop running XP Pro, another Tower running 2003 server, all running licenced copies of Windows (Ahh, the joys of working for a Uni that's a member of the "Microsoft Academic Alliance" - I get one copy of each development tool or OS free, although I did buy my first copy of XP at the standard student price), so an extra Mac will be difficult to justify.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

But would you be happy if the price fluctuated daily as the exchange rate moved? £312 today, £330 next week, £299 the following? When does the price fix? When the retailer buys it from apple, when they sell it to you?
Who pays to put it on a plane/boat over here? Who pays the import duties and customs clearance fees.
If you import from outside the EU you soon realise why a simple conversion never works.

You also need to remember that the $499 is the ex tax price in the US, most US customers (except those in New Hampshire) will pay sales tax on that price. This can easily be up to 8% these days.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

I realise the $499 is excluding sales tax, which is why I added on VAT after I did the conversion (it's not just those from New Hampshire who avoid the tax -- internet purchases are exempt, too).

And I'm not expecting to pay £312. I just used it as an example because, historically, Apple have used something like a £1=$1 exchange rate for their products in the UK, and so I was fully expecting the new Mac to start at £400. The fact that it's not is refreshing, to say the least!

(I don't think shipping fees are relevent, though: these things will almost certainly be assembled in the Far East, and so getting them to Europe will if anything be cheaper than getting them to the States.)

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

I think the only problem Apple have is the relatively slow CPU speed.

Joe Soap, who knows nothing about about computers will go into PC world, see these Macs that the price ticket/spec sheet on the shelf will tell him runs at 1.25 Ghz, then in another part of the store, will see a PC that comes with monitor, keyboard, mouse and at least a 2.5Ghz processor, but for a similar price.

I would say he would go for the PC. He would not know that the Mac is more efficient for a lot of things, so the speed difference isn't actually that great.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Did everyone miss my post its on the APPLE UK site for £339, go have a look for yourselfs!

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

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

You are but many will buy for the asthetic appeal too. This argument can be applied to the Zen vs iPod, BMW Mini vs Ford Fiesta and almost any consumer product. Both do a similar job (to most users) one looks nicer and has a status symbol element built into its pricing.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Plus Apple has a lot of iPod fans who having used the iPod may well buy this.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

As for the low clock speed, yes, Joe P isn't up on the intricacies of RISC, superscalar architecture and pipeling, but Intel (which is what he'll be comparing against) are going to have to move away from pure clock speed to model numbers, as their best performing chip is the Pentium M, which has clock speeds in the same range as the G4.

The Mac mini is no worldbeater at performance, but neither is a similarly priced Dell Celeron box, the difference is in the space requirement, aesthetics (which you now *aren't* paying a premium for) and ease of use. I think (and the office Mac head disagrees with me here, he thinks it's aimed at old G3 iMac users like him) that it's aimed at people looking to upgrade an existing Windows PC, and the sell is 'take your current monitor, mouse and keyboard (if they're USB), bin the large noisy case and sit this on your desk, and did I mention that it's as cheap or cheaper than any replacement PC you might be thinking of'. I think they'll sell shedloads.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

The Centrino is also pretty quick for its clock speed.

EDIT :dunce:

Intel Centrino mobile technology includes the following components:
Intel® Pentium ® M processor
Intel® 855 chipset family
Intel® PRO/Wireless Network Connection Family

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

I am seriously thinking of getting one as a secondry comp for internet access in another room.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Centrino isn't a chip though, it's a marketing term for the combination of a Pentium M with an Intel wireless chipset. The Pentium M is a kicking chip though - clearly faster than a G4 at the same clockspeed - I wouldn't mind a Linux appliance of the same form factor as a Mac mini with one of them in.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Okay, so I've made my mind up. I want one.

Has anybody got £340 they can lend me?

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

No, my 340 nicker is going into a Swiss bank account so my girlfriend doesn't know what I'm buying.

Do you think if I get her an iPod shuffle for Valentine's Day she'll let me have a Mac mini?*

* Permitted answers are 'Yes', 'No' or 'You're effing joking, look out for your balls'

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

I've actually thought Intel should move away from clock speeds to show speed for years. It doesn't accurately reflect the actual speed of the CPU anymore..


I think they possibly will, Especially to those who have a iPod and are looking to change their PC. They will already know how easy to use and well-built Apple stuff is from the iPod.

It also has the advantage (for men who are married or in a couple) that it looks a lot nicer in the living room (or anyway) than a bloody great PC. It should make the purchase easier to justify than it might be other.

Stiil, Apple have a bit of a cheek showing it on their website plugged into their Studio 24 inch display. People would have no trouble pay £300-400 for a computer, but £2000+ for a display is a bit more difficult. Looks good though.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

The QuickTime VRs of the mini show it with either the cool-but-pricey Apple monitor or with affordable 3rd party gear.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

I am tempted to buy one and try and smuggle it home. At $399 + 7% sales tax, that still makes it 227 quid. The trouble is though, all the extras add up. You need at least 512m of RAM, and with built in wireless and superdrive it comes out to $805 including tax. Although the British version with the same specs comes out to 549 quid, which works out at over $1031 (Business owners get the VAT back)

Tempting... Even saying they'll deliver it by the 22nd, so before I get home.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

"try" won't be difficult, unless your planning a 20in Cinema screen too. I'd put it in my carry on though with the new Theiving **** Agency (TSA) checking bags things hava a habit of going missing out of hold luggage.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Presumably it's a standard DDR333 DIMM inside it, so bag a 1Gb one from somewhere and screw the top off (it's only got 90 days support anyway). Got to be cheaper than buying Apple's RAM. I've got a spare 512Mb DDR400 DIMM around that might fit, anyway.

Macs work OK with 256Mb, but 512Mb would just give you that extra bit of headroom. 40Gb is fine if you've got a fileserver already, too.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Watched the Webcast this morning from mac expo.. really really impressed with there product line up and OSX Tiger.. made me dribble.... now ive never owned a mac or used one, but i now know I want one and at the first availble oportunity im going to get one.... talk about hte future being here. If only M$ could do product rollouts like that..

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

My G3 iMac shipped with 64Mb ... now it's up to 640Mb thanks to the nice people at www.crucial.com. Upgrading Mac memory is nice and easy (well, with an old iMac anyway) and well worth the extremely modest cost. It's kept my tired old G3 going well past its sell-by date anyway.

I'm really tempted by this new Mac. I have all the peripherals I need except the monitor (and I can get one of those easily enough), so it means an upgrade without the big price tag. The only thing that gives me pause is that it's a G4, which means it's not 64-bit. This isn't a big problem for me right now, but with Apple now pushing hard to sell its G5-based machines, I'm a little concerned at how future-proof this new Mac is.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Apple have made a amazingly good move here. As seen by the amount of people here considering one.

I use a powerbook and mac are incredible computers. Tiger, iLife and iWork are gonna be mine!

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Well I plan to get one just as soon as I can. And when I can pursuade buxom woman I need one :)

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

I wonder if it uses standard PC components?

How easy would it be to up the RAM to 512MB yourself? Or replace the HD with a much bigger one?

Also, what Bluetooth USB modules does OS X support? £45 for the built-in one seems very steep...

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

I would guess that it's packed tighter than a tin of sardines inside that box.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

NO to first

I am not sure about bluetooth. But mac would normally suppport it. But you really really want to make it bulit in.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Don't know about the new iMac, but previous iMacs have the memory slots hidden behind a small panel, which you unscrew with a coin. I assume it will be the same with this.

AFAIK, it supports any that are supported by XP. Support is often more reliable too.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Generally, Apple are extremely anti-upgrade. They go to extroadinary lengths to prevent prevent people from doing it.

The RAM is something they don't mind you doing, although opening the case voids the warranty AFAIK. I don't know about the Apple Protection Plan. The ram is just standard PC2700 DDR RAM. I think there is only one slot though. Dabs are doing 512m Crucial RAM for about 47 quid, so not mcuh difference there (although if you do it yourself, you would have a spare 256m)

You could save money using USB wireless devices and bluetooth dongles, if you didn't want to have it built in. That would save you a bit of money.

The superdrive traditionally wasn't upgradable, but you might be able to now. just swap the drives, although getting hold of one is tough. Apple sell them for like $300 last time I knew. I can't even find a sole superdrive for sale now. I wanted to get a combo drive powerbook and upgrade the drive, but Apple wouldn't do it period and America's version of PC World was charging a fortune. Some companies will do it if you send it away, but sod that. They aren't even cheap either.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

HD and RAM are standard. Generally the only Mac specific thing is the chip and the motherboard.

I wonder if Panther supports any other drives apart from the apple standard combo and superdrives. I wonder who they are made by. There are always external options.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Not sure about drives connected directly to the main board through IDE or SCSI, but I know that Mac OSX Panther and above support Sony firewire DVD writers. I have written a DVD with one on Panther.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

thats quite amsuing, infact the reason i say that is when people are restricted by a product they usally moan at the fact they cant upgrade or change components, yet people are willing to accept this on a mac :shocking: :spin:

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

That's 90 days' telephone support. It has a 1 year AppleCare warranty ;)

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Interesting page here

Although I don't think Apple ever have or ever will be about value. Jobs is still a while off before he can truly say that "people now have no excuse to switch".

Allegedly, there is a copy of Panther sitting in Apple's vaults that is compiled for x86, and that tomorrow, anyone witth a PC and $130 can switch and try. I doubt they ever would though :(

Imagine the market share it could eat up though if it did that? I don't think they like that though because they would lose money on the overpriced pieces of acrylic that you are forced to buy if you want to run OS X

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Interesting page, but I disagree with its author. I guess you could have said the same thing when Apple announced the iPod. At the time (and still today, imo) it was overpriced, yet with hindsight, everyone would admit it's been a huge commercial success, with the iPod reportedly having a 65% market share of all digital music players, and it also being instrumental in Apple announcing that its quarterly profits more than quadrupled.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Indeed. I would have been tempted if it wasn't so over-priced, and (AFAIK) less functional than the Creative Zen. It would be nice to have some Mac drivers for my Zen (USB harddrive ones maybe?). The Ipod though has been nothing short of a marketing masterpiece. Especially when competitors with a stronger brand name and experience are cheaper.

But I am not rich and saving nearly a 100 quid is a big deal to me. Like a month's food bill.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Yep, punky, exactly the same reason why I have an el cheapo Thomson MP3 player that is nowhere near as stylish but just as functional and a helluva lot cheaper.

But, I agree, their marketing skills are phenomenal.

ps - do you suffer from insomnia too...?

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Interesting Article, I wonder if the author is missing the point though.

I was down my local last night and overheard the barmaids talking and one said.

'Have you seen the new apple mac mini thing that they have just brought out'

'No' says other barmaid

'Oh its gorgeous im going to get one to go with my ipod' says girl..

I think thats the market they are looking for.

and then there is the IT geeky people like me, who just wanna try one and see what mac is like and are going to get one. I also have a feeling that as an IT support person it won't be long till I get my first customer calling up wanting support.

If this is a way for apple to dip there toe in the water of lower price machines and increase there market share by a percent point or half then its a winner.

IMHO.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

LOL. Well I am in the States atm, so I am 5 hours behind you, but generally I prefer to work late rather than work early, so I am often working til 3-4am even back in England.

Late breaking news though: Last night I managed to find an Itunes plugin for the Creative Zen, and it managed to connect my Zen Xtra to my powerbook, and transfer music which is really nice. I wish I found it earlier. You can get it from http://homepage.mac.com/creativemail/FileSharing40.html It was actually written by Creative funnily enough.

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

Oh yeah, didn't see you were back in Florida again. Sheesh, what a drag, eh? I donb't suppose you wanna switch jobs? Swindon is particularly nice at this time of year ;)

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

So how is it Punky? I'll be in Miami again for a week next month. I take it I should pack some sunblock and my shades? :D

Re: Details of New Apple Mac Mini
 

It should be well into the 80s for you. Last couple of days it has just peaked at 80 aleady. Having said that we have a cold front at the moment so it is cold, and we have some much needed rain. When I say cold, I mean still like 65-70 :)

I went to the Apple store the other day and asked the "Genius Bar" dude about upgrading the superdrive with a decent one. He didn't seem much of a genius to me, but he said that the superdrive is now dual-format. I asked him about upgrading to a 3rd party dual layer, he didn't seem to enthusiastic about it. He pointed me at the external burner route.

I wanted to see about the cooling side of it, but it won't be in store until the 22nd of Jan.

Re: Apple 'to launch £51 iPod'
 

well seems it wasnt what bifta said, or 80, it was £69. Anyway, if its as difficult to get hold of whats the point, not one shop in belfast has a 20GB ipod in stock today

Re: Apple 'to launch £51 iPod'
 

Bifta laid bets that an MP3 player from Apple that (in the first post on this thread) could store 250 songs, most of my MP3's are around 4 meg plus so I assumed it'd have 1 gig of storage, would not be £51, Bifta was right, it was just under double that price.

Re: [Merged] New Mac Mini/iPod
 

£31, is just inder?....you mean it was just over £51

Re: [Merged] New Mac Mini/iPod
 

No, re-read my last post, the initial post on this thread mentioned 250 songs, 250 songs = the 1 gig player which is £99 on Apples UK site, that's nearly double £51.

Re: [Merged] New Mac Mini/iPod
 

oh right, my bad.

Sorry Bifta

Re: [Merged] New Mac Mini/iPod
 

noboller! I'm not denying it's still a good price though, No Apple stores near me and I'm not keen on a 4 week delivery period buying it online :|

Re: [Merged] New Mac Mini/iPod
 

yes, no shops in belfast have ANY ipods at all, was buying one today and everyone said the same thing "none in stock sorry, any day now..."