“The designers at Apple Computer have come up with another mini that’s going to be huge. If you’ve never been tempted to switch from the Windows PC platform, the inexpensively priced Mac mini may be hard to resist. It’s the gutsiest move yet for Apple, a company that built its reputation on innovation and, up to now, high prices,” Mike Wendland writes for The Detroit Free Press. “Like Apple’s iPod mini digital music player, which was my choice for the hottest high-tech gadget of 2004, the Mac mini is sleek, simple to use and distinctive to look at. It’s much less prone to viruses and the other hack attacks that harass Windows computers. It comes with easy-to-use software that makes a variety of digital tasks, from editing photos to downloading music, simple and intuitive.”
“Best of all, it’s a great value. Though you’ll probably need to buy some extras to get the most out of a mini, the base model sells for $499,” Wendland writes. “Apple doesn’t see the mini as anybody’s first computer. It’s designed to be a replacement for, or an addition to, the PC you already own — and a lure to get you to change the way you use and think about personal computing.”
Wendland writes, “There is something different about a Mac. Some say it’s a Zen-like quality. Others say it’s just friendly. Others use words like elegant and intuitive or charming. Mac fans — zealots by the millions — often even give their computers names. I’m not that rabid, though in full disclosure, I must say I switched from being all-PC to all-Mac two years ago and would never go back.”
“The mini runs on Apple’s rock-solid OS X operating system, the most secure and efficient operating system you can find anywhere for the average personal computer user. There has never been a successful worm or virus attack on OS X. But it’s what comes with the mini that cinches the deal: Apple’s upgraded suite of iLife software –the sweetest, most seamless and easy-to-operate bunch of programs you’ve ever used… On the mini, iLife is the secret weapon, the entryway into that nirvana of the Mac lifestyle. I wouldn’t recommend the mini as the principal computer in your house. But for a second or third one, it’s perfect. I warn you, though: If you buy one, you just may become one of those Mac zealots.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Microsoft’s house of cards is looking pretty shaky lately, don’t you think?
Great that the writer promotes the operating system as well as the hardware. Perhaps Apple’s message is starting to take hold as more and more Windows users realize that they are operating an unstable and insecure OPERATING SYSTEM.
NYA NYA NYA NYA…..
NYA NYA NYA NYA…..
HEY HEY HEY
GOOD BYE MICROSOFT!
Good article, but he says: “I wouldn’t recommend a Mac mini as a first computer…” . He probably means that with all of the peripherals, the mini is not such a good value.
I disagree. I have recommended two minis to people who don’t have a computer. One bought a mini with an Apple kb/mouse, and a 17″ VGA monitor. The other bought a mini with a Viewsonic 15″ LCD, keytronic USB keyboard and Logitech mouse.
Both thought that the mini system was a tremendous value.
With the Mac mini, aside from the RAM, which everybody scrimps on, they didn’t cut back on the essentials to meet the price point like every other manufacturer does. You want to do the things the Mac mini does on a $500 Dell or Gateway you have to upgrade the processor, optical drive and perhaps even get dedicated VRAM.
Only the first time buyer walks away with their purchase without upgrading a $500 computer. Eventually even they pay for the extras they need.
With the Mac mini you can use $10 keyboards and mice and $50 monitors. In most cases, with all upgrades and software purchased, the Mac mini is cheaper.
He says that there’s no WP in the box. Does Appleworks not ship with the mini ? (I know AW is shit, but it’s better than nothing)
Hywel,
AppleWorks does ship with the Mac mini, as does TextEdit – which provides simple document creation and processing capability and saves to DOC format.
“(I know AW is shit, but it’s better than nothing)”
Only someone ignorant of AppleWorks’ capabilities would say that it is shit.
Al’s right and frankly a $75 RAM upgrade is cheap. Dirt cheap. Then you’re up to 512mb and you’re kicking Dell’s wrinkly a$$ all over the playground.
And to the people who complain that there is no keyboard or mouse…remember when Apple was the first to stop including a floppy disk drive? What the hell can you do with a floppy disk anymore?
Some people have true vision and the rest have to look through windows…
“It’s much less prone to viruses and the other hack attacks that harass Windows computers”.
Can someone PLEASE just admit that there are yet NO viruses for OS X?
iVeritas, he does go on to say that there has never been a successful virus or worm attack on OS X, but I agree, I’m not sure why he wrote what you quoted. Mike is usually spot-on.
You said:-
Can someone PLEASE just admit that there are yet NO viruses for OS X?
He said:-
‘There has never been a successful worm or virus attack on OS X.’
I say:-
It pays to read to the bottom.
Bill,
Apple announces a new computing era: a computer with no display, keyboard or mouse. Who needs them anyway?
Now if Apple had included that remote control they’ve been working on …
Oops. There is no NDAed information in the above. Do not sue me, or MDN.
K – With a DVI to Video adapter, you could hook the Mini up to your tv, run the audio through your home stereo…ooooh, and a remote would kick ass! I’d settle for the wireless keyboard and mouse though. Think of it, iTunes streaming internet radio while enjoying your favorite visuals (don’t forget to blink) or perhaps perusing the interwebything on your widescreen tv.
You’re right K, it is a new era of computing!
I disagree with Mr. Wendland when he says, “I wouldn’t recommend the mini as the principal computer in your house. But for a second or third one, it’s perfect.”
I’m a graphic designer who does freelance print, web, multimedia, and even some video. The fastest of the four Macs I own is my 667mhz TiBook -about half the speed as the low end mini and 10 gig smaller hard drive. I get by just fine with it, and there aren’t really any technical specs on the TiBook that make it superior to the mini. My TiBook has 768mb of RAM but you could put up to a gig in the mini. My TiBook has a 167mhz front end bus, just like the mini (I think that’s the max for the G4 – that’s the bottleneck everyone always talks about with the G4).
I think the mini would be just fine as the principle computer in a household. Now what Apple needs to do is offer a low cost 15″ monitor again. The thought of all those Mac minis running on ugly PC monitors makes me ill.
There are a lot of older people who have never got into computers but hear about them all the time and want to try. BUT, they have also heard about all the problems like viruses and spam. Just recently my mother was talking to my uncle and telling him he should get a computer. He replied that he didn’t need all the problems associated with a computer in his life. He doesn’t want to deal with spam or viruses, etc. Mom told him flat out that SHE was on a macintosh and macintoshes don’t get viruses, and she never sees hardly any spam at all. We will have to wait and see if it takes.
It is so fun to see Mom be such an apple fan now. The other day she was visiting the hospital and they said their computer was down and she said she told them they should get Macintoshes because THEY don’t GO down. It is all thanks to OS X as far as I am concerned. She is a basic basic user and OS X added a new level of simplicity over classic that was just what she needed. (She was on OS 9 before but pretty limited in what she could do-it was mostly just email – now she is into digital photograpy, word processing, web surfing, emailing, and video chatting and actually set up an account at amazon so she can shop a bit on the web too. Next up is music.)
I hope more potential older Mac users can find out about Macs and OS X. The problem being that the chances of some younger windoze user recommending a windows computer is too high. We need to get the word out to people like this. Macs are just what they are looking for. No problems, easy to use, and lots of fun.
iVveritas- ” It’s much less prone to viruses and the other hack attacks that harass Windows computers”.
Can someone PLEASE just admit that there are yet NO viruses for OS X?”
Melanie – “iVeritas, he does go on to say that there has never been a successful virus or worm attack on OS X, but I agree, I’m not sure why he wrote what you quoted. Mike is usually spot-on”
Actually he IS spot on this time too. The Mac is not immune. BUT it IS “less prone”
Mike’s batting average has not been hurt.
“Mac fans — zealots by the millions — often even give their computers names.”
All my mac had a name :
Mac Classic : MiniMac
Mac 7200 : Vulcan
Performa 5200 : Topaz
iBook Tangerine : Tabasco
iMac G3 : Pridolien
iBook : Celestine
iMac G4 : Grimace
Am I a freak?
Geologue, yes, you are a freak. But no more than I am as I have named all of my Volkswagens:
(mine) GTI: Rocket
(wifes) Beetle: Lucy
(beach) Westfalia: Vinny (aka Vincent Van Go)
Yeah Yeah Yeah–the Mini Me is yesterdays chip technology == what no G5 chip? And even as far as
G4 chips go, these chips are slow. I dont understand
how Apple expects to lure current P C users away from their P C s with yesterdays computer in a sleek box. I think that to the extent that people do switch it wont be for long because these people will have purchased the burdens of the Mac without the benefits of the G5. I think these people will wind up switching back to the P C. And doesnt everyone know that if you want to really get people to switch you need two things, the first being an up to date lap top
built for portability, or a serious gamer with real games. Well macfriends, Im glad you are happy but Im waiting for G5s. Yes I want a Mac, but Im not buying a G4 I dont care what kind of box you put it in UNLESS
Apple introduced a dual G4 chip running at much faster
processor speeds. Oh and while I am at it==someone at Apple really needs to tell people that Macs are not more expensive than PCs when you match the PC against the Mac feature for feature. And one last thing–you can deny it if you like but you do so at your own peril–the kid who is bugging the parents for a new computer wants the fastest chip he can get–I always hear computer shoppers ohh and ahh at Macs and then walk back over to the PC area because they are convinced that the Macs are slow–and here is the logic–if it takes to of the fastest G5 chips to make a claim that Macs are faster than PCs, then how fast can lesser configured G5s or G4s be?
****APPLE LOWERS PRICES ON MAC MINI EXTRAS****
Apple offers 1GB RAM upgrades to Mac mini for $325 ($150 price drop).
Microsoft Beleagured? Not a chance. Microsoft is HUGE. MS is ENTRENCHED. Even though Apple is finally looking to recoup some marketshare percentage points, no one is expecting double-digit improvements.
Microsofts house of cards is NOT shaky – not with massive government and business contracts, renewing annually.
At best, in retrospect someday it might be said that this is the beginning of the end….
Lisa is a prime example of the mental trap PC users are caught in. I currently own a G4 1ghz PB but the last Apple I owned was a IIgs. The decade+ in between Apples (the dark years, I call it) I was strictly PC because I thought Apples were too expensive and not as “fast” as pc’s. Then one fateful day I tried the PB at a CompUSA and was immediately sold. What I’ve come to realize is that fast chips are great for benchmarking but wtf does that have to do with daily tasks? You’re blazing fast pc chip doesn’t clock very fast at all when you are faced with a blue screen of death. Windows is a piece-meal operating system that frankly can’t harness all of the computing power of the AMD or Intel chip. My final thought for Lisa is this – kids are incapable of making rational judgements, that’s why they cost a fortune to insure in an automoble. I wouldn’t bet my money on kids screaming for fast chips…it’s not the chips…”it’s the OS, dummy.”
Lisa, I have to disagree with your assessment of the G4. I’d argue that unless you’re doing high end video or enormous scientific calculations, you won’t benefit that much from a G5 over a G4. My dad just bought a 1.8 ghz G5 iMac to replace his 800mhz G4 iMac and he told me yesterday that he was surprised that he really didn’t see much difference in the speed. That’s because he’s pretty much surfing the web, writing e-mail, and text documents. The only place he’s seen any difference is that his photos scroll faster in iPhoto and applications take a few seconds less to open. The G4 is more than enough chip for the casual user.
Also, you mentioned that PC users won’t be interested in “yesterday’s computer”. Can you honestly say that when current Dell ads actually use a Celeron badge? I can’t even believe they paid a Graphic Designer to create a Celeron Badge. They’d be better off running the PC with a hamster in a wheel. The G3 is better than a Celeron any day. The average PC user has no clue as to what is “yesterday’s computer.”
Come on, Lisa–free your mind from the claptrap. I was a G4 Powerbook at 1.33 GHz and the speed is just fine.
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