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10 Responses to "QotD: Mac Mini"

1. | Reply Ryan C.
   Posted 16 Jan 2005 at 10:49pm #
   

   I'd like to think so. I definitely can't wait to get one and set it up as a server for the Macs in the house. A place to store large media files, or lots of them, and is easily expandable is very exciting to someone with limited funds, such as myself.

2. | Reply Ralph Scheuer
   Posted 16 Jan 2005 at 11:19pm #
   

   Definitely. The cube was a debacle because it was too expensive. Nobody in his right mind could possibly criticize the price of the Mac mini. it offers a great value for the money and it's nice and small.

3. | Reply Adriaan
   Posted 16 Jan 2005 at 11:51pm #
   

   I think the only thing I find stupid is that the default RAM size is a lousy 256Mb. You can't run 10.3 or 10.4 on that little bit of gasoline.

4. | Reply Luis de la Rosa
   Posted 17 Jan 2005 at 1:16am #
   

   Proposal for a Mac mini switcher commercial

   Erik of NSLog() asks: "Did Apple position the Mac mini appropriately (i.e. well enough to avoid a "Cube" debacle)?" Definitely. If the blogosphere is any indication, the Mac mini is already a hit. My only concern is that Apple is

5. | Reply Jared White
   Posted 17 Jan 2005 at 3:54am #
   

   Oh yeah, I think the new Mac mini is not only a wonderful design and price/feature ratio, but I think it's finally hit the sweet spot for potential Switchers to say "hey, what the heck, I'll pick up a Mac now". Again, the only real problem with it is not enough memory! And unlike other Macs, it's not user-upgradable, so that is a problem. I guess resellers will be pretty busy these days sticking memory in these buggers!

6. | Reply karl
   Posted 17 Jan 2005 at 4:33am #
   

   I've always held the opinion that one of the primary goals of this machine is to get reluctant programmers and other IT professionals onto the platform. It takes away many of the gripes they commonly have about keyboards/mice/monitors/price while providing them with a very good baseline system to target as far as macs go.

   I wrote up a while blog entry on it, and the sort of programmers this sort of machine may attract to the Mac OS X market. If my thoughts are what Apple had in mind then not only will this machine move like hotcakes, it may even help apple reclaim marketshare.

7. | Reply jeff
   Posted 17 Jan 2005 at 10:31am #
   

   that's a good article. i concur. 🙂

8. | Reply Kevan
   Posted 17 Jan 2005 at 11:01am #
   

   I'm also inclined to agree with codepoet about the positioning of the mac mini, from the standpoint of the name, and the color. I expected it to be called the iMac mini and to be more in line with the iMac G5's color scheme.

   You KNOW Apple doesn't name or color things randomly/haphazardly (granted, their style changes over time, but in a generation things are very deliberate). It's a "mac mini", which makes it seem exactly like the prosumer model that coedpoet describes, or at least, a miniaturized distillation of all that is a Mac. On top of that, the colors. With the aluminum edge and the inset white plastic on top/bottom, it looks like a complete merge of the latest iBook and PowerBook.

   The other point is, anybody that wants a Mac and doesn't have the DKM can get whatever they want. 25 bucks for generic USB Keyboard and Wheel Mouse, and 125 for a bargain basement monitor, is still going to give that person the Mac experience.

   I think it was a master stroke on the part of Apple.

9. | Reply Derek Kuhl
   Posted 17 Jan 2005 at 1:06pm #
   

   I think the Mac Mini is okay. I was really hoping for it to have some sort of major surprise, like being able to play Gamecube titles. I just BEGS to be a mobile lan party machine. But then again, Apple seems to ignore the potential of such a deal.

   On the other hand this machine is such an IT boon that you have no reason against using Mac for major corporate PC replacements. We just need to write awesome software to give them more incentive. Not sure it will catch on as so many IT employees would lose their jobs since you know Macs are way easier to manage compared to junk part Dells. I am so glad I got out of the IT workplace. I hope I never change out another bad drive ever again.

10. | Reply Medicated Dad
    Posted 17 Jan 2005 at 2:49pm #
    

    I am the target market

    To answer the QoTD, I am the prosumer 'switcher'. (Actually, a 'switch backer', having been Mac only from '87 to '96). I've got a fairly nice PC, most of the bits being about two years old. In some way or another, the machine is about five years old. I...