[Merged] New Mac Mini/iPod

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by BBKing

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.

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..

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.

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.

[Lew]

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

[punky]

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.

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by punky

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.

"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.

[BBKing]

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.

[Millay]

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..

Originally Posted by BBKing

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.

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.

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!

[dilli-theclaw]

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

[Tristan]

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...

[Richard M]

Originally Posted by Tristan

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?

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

Originally Posted by Tristan

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...

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.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Tristan

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?

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.

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

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

[punky]

Originally Posted by Tristan

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...

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.

[punky]

Originally Posted by Damien

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.

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.