QotD: Color Mac Minis
Posted January 21st, 2005 @ 10:57am by Erik J. Barzeski
Question: Should Apple offer colored Mac minis?
My Answer: Sure, why not. But something tells me they're going to have a hard enough time keeping up with production here with just one case option. As someone who watched the iPod mini rush first-hand, I can say that color complicates things. People "settling" for their second-choice color because the first choice was sold out, that sort of thing. So, I say wait until you can comfortably meet demand, then offer colors.
It does seem to be a bit of a break for the company. The iPod is white, the mini is colored. The iBook and iMac are white, the PowerBook and G5 are metallic. Oh well.
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Posted 21 Jan 2005 at 11:22am #
I prefer the Mac mini in white. It will look better with my iPod dock on top of it. (Whenever I can afford a Mac mini...)
Posted 21 Jan 2005 at 11:41am #
I think I'd rather see custom colors as an aftermarket item. Like the iBook skins, but better. Say someone reverse engineers the Mini's cover and starts offering other covers/designs. Doesn't really sound hard to do. Sure it's not covered under warranty, but I think you'd see more variety if things went that way.
Posted 21 Jan 2005 at 3:15pm #
I agree with Gary, let someone else make either wraps like there are for iPods and/or complete replacement tops. Heck, why stop at colors, make cases with different shapes. Mini cases could be like desktop equivalents of "art cars" or car body kits ("I like my Mini but it really needs a spoiler"). Anything that changed the thermal characteristics could void the warranty though. Of course people like to put computers inside other things anyway, they don't need to buy anything 🙂
When the Mini was introduced, I thought it could have been a bit bigger w/ a desktop hard drive and still be just as cheap & cool. Maybe somone could make a "doublewide" casemod to accomodate internal additions like a second hard drive. I'm amazed by this week's announcement of a dual processor upgrade for the Cube so a Mini doublewide casemod doesn't seem too crazy.
Posted 22 Jan 2005 at 10:45am #
the imac colors I thought were cheesy looking. However, this is because they just looked too plasticy. The ipod minis however have such a smoother look with the color and the metal.
Posted 22 Jan 2005 at 4:27pm #
The moment I saw one, I was thinking that Apple would save colors for some forms of special editions. Also, just for supply reasons alone, a single color might be the initial offering only.
I am sure that they are looking at iPod mini sales to determine which colors to offer.
Posted 24 Jan 2005 at 1:46am #
The Mac Mini Porn
So many Mac Mini links, so little time....
Posted 24 Jan 2005 at 12:35pm #
Screw colors. I want mine to look like and mount like a smoke detector.