“Though smaller than a lunch box, Apple’s Mac Mini doesn’t want for computing power. In my tests of a $673 shipping unit equipped with a 1.25-GHz G4 processor, 512MB of RAM, a combination CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive, and built-in 802.11g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, it handled most tasks gracefully, without hesitating or freezing. I even opened and switched among a half-dozen applications without any system slowness,” Rebecca Freed writes for PC World. “But I’m not convinced that Apple’s $499 base configuration model, which includes just 256MB of RAM, would manage task switching or large files as nimbly as my test system. The base model lacks built-in wireless, too. For my money, the upgrades are worth the extra $174. It is possible to upgrade the Mini later, but it can be a tricky job.”
MacDailyNews Take: We agree with Freed about the extra RAM, Airport, and Bluetooth upgrades. Most consumers will be better off adding these upfront.
Freed concludes, “For Windows users who want to experiment with a Mac on the side, the Mini is a great way to get started.”
Full article, “Apple’s Diminutive Mac Mini Seems Pretty Mighty – Powerful but tiny Mac just might lure curious PC users,” here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Apple Mac mini ‘perfect for computer user who wants to leave the tyranny of Window and viruses’ – February 26, 2005
Apple’s Mac mini might well convince Windows users to switch to Mac OS X – February 22, 2005
Chicago Sun-Times: ‘Apple’s Mac Mini is a device of the most cunningly crafted evil’ – February 18, 2005
CNET Executive Editor switches to Mac and he ‘ain’t ever going back’ to Windows – February 17, 2005
Tom’s Hardware: Apple Mac mini’s size, design, attractive price sets it apart – February 16, 2005
Apple’s Mac mini is a convincing shot across Bill Gates’ bow – February 15, 2005
Apple’s Mac mini makes using a Mac more affordable and more attractive than ever to Windows users – February 08, 2005
Washington Times: ‘Mac mini raises the bar for what a good, low-price computer can and should do’ – February 08, 2005
Apple Mac mini, iMac G5 models hold 5 of top 6 spots in Amazon’s Desktop Computer Top Sellers list – February 08, 2005
New Mac mini helps Apple get its secret weapon – creative software – in front of Windows users – February 08, 2005
The Seattle Times: Apple’s new Mac mini is ‘tiny, beautiful and dirt cheap’ – February 05, 2005
BusinessWeek: Apple’s Mac mini comes with elegant, stable Mac OS X and very good software – February 03, 2005
Apple’s Mac mini is an attractive option to Windows-based PCs – February 02, 2005
Computerworld: Apple Computer ‘has a hit on its hands with the new Mac Mini’ – February 01, 2005
Apple’s Mac mini offers relief from Windows viruses and malware – January 30, 2005
Associated Press: With Apple’s Mac mini ‘you could abandon Windows altogether’ – January 27, 2005
CBS News: Grab a new Apple Mac mini ‘and kiss the old Wintel machine goodbye’ – January 27, 2005
AnandTech reviews Apple’s Mac mini: ‘tempting Windows users everywhere’ – January 26, 2005
Apple’s strategy here is a good one: hit the sub-$500 price point to get your customer to look, then hit them with a few recommended add-ons (with higher profit margins) that most folks will spring for. The consumer pays a bit more for a souped-up machine, and Apple almost certainly gets as much actual profit from the wireless/RAM upgrades as they do from the original box itself.
Gonna get me some more of them RAMs for my mini. Only gots 512 meggybiters as it ’tis now…
Thelonious Mac gives pop under Windows 1 out of 5 stars. God that’s annoying.
These fricking pop under Windows are bigger than my Mac Mini!
It’s not just MDN any more either. These evil bastards, yes EVIL BASTARDS are popping up Windows all around my Safari and Firefox browsers. Somehow Omniweb seems to block them.
Yeah but it still chaps me the rip off prices Apple charges for ram upgrades. Give me a break $75 for going from 256->512. $75 for 256megs of RAM! Heck a 512 PC3200 DIMM can be purchased for $50-$60 bucks, sell the old 256meg stick and get $30 for it. The ram upgrade would cost an end user $30-$40. Not $75. Apple get real 256 is a joke.
theloniousMac,
So, turn them off then. MacDailyNews has explained how to easily do it here:
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/safaris_and_firefoxs_pop_up_blockers_broken_update/
t-Mac (and anyone else not happy with the pop-under annoyances)
Try this – and so far I’ve found that you only have to go through this exercise once – at least until it changes:
1 – Get the freeware program “SafariCookieCutter” – from MacUpdate or some other fileserving site.
2 – Quit Safari
3 – Open SafariCookieCutter 1.3
4 – Find the cookies for MacDailyNews (there are two that I’ve found) that have “he” in the Name section and “llo” as the Value.
5 – Double-click on and change the expiration date to sometime well into the future – like January 15, 2025.
6 – The annoying pop-unders will be a thing of the past. A figment of your prior frustration. Gone. Eliminated. (For now, at least.)
I’ve not seen a popunder from MacDailyNews in the last several days following the implementation of this little fix.
Enjoy! (Hope it works for you, too… my thanks to a much earlier poster who suggested this – would give credit, but now I can’t find it.)
Who was the tech guy who posts here who swapped his Mac mini in for some guy’s busted Dell server, which they wanted $1500 to fix? How is that working out for him?
I still think you need to write up your side of the story, and assuming things are still working for him, get him to write up his side and then send both off to Apple.
Post an update for us if you don’t mind.
That was theloniousMac, mike.
Funny thing about popups/unders … who in their right mind would do anything but just click them off, yet companies pay to serve such annoyances.
Advertisers wouldn’t pay for pop-under ads if they weren’t successful. And sites wouldn’t offer such advertising if advertisers didn’t want them. Pop-under ads are one of the most successful of all ad types on the ‘Net. These are facts, based upon reality, not based upon one soul’s lone perception of the way they think things are or should be. I now return you to your Apple Mac fantasy land where everyone is switching to Mac from Windows.
Giggle, giggle.
Yeah, if all you read is MDN you would think that there are no more Windows computers out there because everyone has bought a mini mac and an ipod.
Sorry, but it ain´t true. For every mini mac sold there are probably 10,000 new peecees sold…and some to mac owners.
I thought MDN was getting rid of the popups? I even donated too…
Just read the updated pop up article, and I installed fastclick, so hopefully no more popups
Actually, r8on asked a good question – how many Mac users are going to PC’s?
I know of a graphic designer friend who turned to PC’s after not being able to afford a newer Mac (in Australia Mac’s are quite expensive) She would buy a Mac, but simply can’t afford it with house renovations, babies etc.
But that’s only one person. I don’t know too Mac users (except all you guys) but I know a hell of a lot of PC owners.
(I knew of one other who’d gone from Mac to PC, but he bought himself a Mac mini this week.)
My last computer purchase was a PC – bought in December.
I am a graphic designer-freelance illustrator.
Was going to buy a Mac, was checking out some other artists PCs, the one I got was at a super price, fast, loaded – so I bought it. (Also wanted to see if what everyone said (negative) about Peecees was true.)
All other computers I have owned were Macs.
PC Works fine, no complaints so far, but my next computer will be a dual 3+ Ghz Mac.
If Apple ever makes it.
Apple Macmini is cute, but not for me. Something that would be perfect for my grandparents. Easy to use and reliable.
I know 2 other people that switched from Mac to Pc.
They had to buy all new software whether they bought Mac (and new OSX) or Pc, so they bought the lower priced pc computer.
I know of a graphic designer friend who turned to PC’s after not being able to afford a newer Mac (in Australia Mac’s are quite expensive) She would buy a Mac, but simply can’t afford it with house renovations, babies etc.
They are also very expensive in New Zealand as well
http://store.apple.co.nz/public/product/group.php?pgid=AP03
that link is for Power Mac Prices from Apple NZ
and this one is for Mac mini http://store.apple.co.nz/public/product/group.php?pgid=AP25
Note that the +gst means you add 12.5% for tax.
Some of the guys at work use PCs for designing labels since Adobe Illustrator is cross platform. Most design places in NZ use Mac, some still use old G4s running OS9 becasue so many people still love OS9 and dont want to have to go through another learning curve for OSX. Home computer users will use PCs and put all their photos, music, games and stuff on them since it is more affordable to buy a new $1200 PC for the family than a NZ$2600 G5iMac unless you need the Mac for business.
OS X is not much of a learning curve. That’s a pretty weak excuse.
—Pop-under ads are one of the most successful of all ad types on the ‘Net. These are facts, based upon reality
I used to see the tripod popup on tripod sites; don’t remember any others. My browser allowed me to send popups/popunders to a tab in the background years ago, from which they were handily dismissed – unseen. Then popup blocking killed even that. Only since the update to 10.3.8 or some new advertiser code out lately have I seen popups (still very rare) or popunders (only one for fraction of a second when I quit one browser). As for the rare popups, they don’t get a chance to load fully.
And these are one of the most successful of all ad types? How can they be successful if you can’t see them? Or maybe you mean that quite a number of people do not block them, see them all the time, and fall for the various pitches:
Congratulations! You are the 100,000,000th visitor….
Your computer is not secure! Click here….
Just asked a friend who presumably can’t block them (Exploder/PC) which ones does he remember. None of many, apparently.
OSX learning curve;
I didnt think there was one until I went back to Classic to do something in Photoshop.
But what does that say? It says that the transition to OSX was so easy and painless that I never realized how different it was until I went back to 9.
So would I ever go back to 9? Well, it is better than Windows XP.
But my experience just shows how good OSX is.
“OS X is not much of a learning curve. That’s a pretty weak excuse.”
Anything involving a change or transition involves a “learning curve”
It is just that some people find learning new stuff easier than others and are more adept at making the transition.
There is a little bit of a learning curve between OS9 and OS X… but that’s all behind me now. I remember being a little freaked out that there wasn’t “Control Panels” under the familiar apple in the upper left corner of the screen, but once I got past that, no sweat.
I’ve been offered to teach a colleague about the diiferences between the 2 OS’s, since she took her iMac in for repairs and it now boots into OS X instead of 9, even though she understands how to change the startup disk. Whatever. I need the dough.
Speaking of pop under windows, on my Mac I get one every time I visit this site and very time I hit the show previous page button to pick another topic from the list.
On my XP PC laptop with SP2 and fully updated security updates, using IE I never get pop under windows from this site.
Go figure, the only thing XP with IE is good for is visiting the MacDailyNews site.
I think Apple are still losing some OS 9 users to XP because they aren’t aware of OS X, and Windows is the soft option because “everyone else” uses it.
We just have to hope the Mac-to-Windows switchers are equalled, or preferably outweighed, by the Windows-to-Mac switchers, and first-time buyers choosing Mac.
The way I figure it, if a Mac user switches to Windows and doesn’t feel their quality of life has decreased, the whole Mac user experience must have been wasted on them anyway!
From today´s Washington Post: “The research firm IDC estimates that of the roughly 514 million paid-for copies of Windows on desktops and laptops worldwide at the end of 2004, almost 21 percent were the aging Win 95, 98 and Millennium Edition releases. Among the 19 million Mac OS desktop and laptop installations IDC surveyed, just about half were running releases predating Mac OS X.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55207-2005Feb26.html?referrer=email
Half of all Mac users running OS9 or earlier!!!
Hmmmmmmmmmmm….why aren´t Mac owners going to OSX?
(Or are they just going and buying a new PeeCee???)
Here´s another link that may not require registration:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A55207-2005Feb26?language=printer
Half of all Mac users running OS9 or earlier
I was one of them with a G4/500 that still runs sweetly though rarely now. HD was full, work busy, no way was I gonna make the switch except via new hardware. All the OS and upgrade fees saved went into “Woosh” — my dual 2.5.