[Merged] New Mac Mini/iPod

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by punky

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.

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.

[kronas]

Originally Posted by scastle

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.

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

[Lew]

Originally Posted by BBKing

†¦it's only got 90 days support anyway.

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

[punky]

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

[Gareth]

Originally Posted by punky

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".

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.

[punky]

Originally Posted by Gareth

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.

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.

[Gareth]

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...?

[Millay]

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.

[punky]

Originally Posted by Gareth

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

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.

[Gareth]

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

Originally Posted by punky

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.

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?

[punky]

Originally Posted by Chris T

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?

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.

[ntlrocks]

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

[Bifta]

Originally Posted by ntlrocks

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

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.

[ntlrocks]

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