“When Apple rolled out its Mac mini in January, a lot of Apple enthusiasts excitedly claimed that the device could easily become a living room-based “iHome” device that might eventually incorporate DVR capabilities,” Paul Thurrott writes for Internet-Nexus.com. “…one thing I never bought into is the idea of the Mac mini as an iHome device. It’s just not suitable for that purpose. But [Microsoft’s] Xbox 360. My God.”
“The Xbox 360–while still six months away from shipping–kicks the Mac mini in the butt and makes the whole iHome concept look like a non-starter to begin with. I’m starting to believe that the digital media hub of my home will indeed be in my living room, and not in my home office. But it will be an Xbox 360, and not a Mac,” Thurrott writes.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Is Thurrott suggesting that Apple’s ceased all R&D and will not be releasing any new or updated products between now and Christmas 2005? By the way, Apple never suggested the Mac mini’s purpose to be anything other than an inexpensive Mac OS X machine that Windows users could pick up and easily use with their current collection of monitors, keyboards, and mice. Comparing Microsoft vapor to currently shipping Apple products seems to have become a very popular pastime with the Wintel-centric press outlets lately (Thurrott’s now taken it to an even more ridiculous level by trying to compare a game console to an entry-level personal computer). Thankfully, we don’t have to stoop to comparing future Apple products to currently shipping Microsoft products (while twisting products’ intended uses) to make ourselves feel better about our platform choice.
[UPDATE, 1:55pm ET: Changed “MDN Take” to “Christmas 2005.”]
I wouldn’t exactly call the 360 vapor. I would like to see Apple make an attempt to compete in the living room though. An Apple DVR, drool…
Typical Thurrott… All hot air and no substance.
This takes the cake. What’s next, Paulie, are you going to compare a future washing machine to a shipping refrigerator and start planning where to put it in your kitchen?
yes please stop comparing microsoft or any product to something a mac item was not designed to do.
By his exclamation, are we to understand that the Xbox is his God?
Must be slow news day at the MDN editorial offices…
egarc,
Is Xbox 360 shipping? No. It’s vapor until it ships. Plus, it’s moronic to try to compare it to an Apple Mac mini whether it’s vapor or not.
My god, this isn’t even a comparison! XBox 360 = gaming machine/other media features. Mac mini = computer.
Everyone else except Apple has been on about how that Mac mini might be the basis for future home digital media hub. I’d understand this comparison if Steve Jobs had a keynote speech saying, “The Mac Mini is the future of the the digital media hub in your living room”. However, he did not.
Thurrott apparently wants one more thing to claim MS is superior over Apple for.
The thing is, the XBox 360 isn’t exactly vaporware. It’s been seen, specs have been published, etc. I will agree though that the Mac mini isn’t, and wasn’t, meant to be something to compete with what is first and foremost, a console game system.
Why do people who dislike macs always compare thier weaknesses to something that they were not designed for? and I’m tired of the best argument for why the mac mini sucks being that it only has two usb ports. I’d say thats a pretty good feature if the weakest part of your design is that you only have two ports you can easily exand if you have $25 for a hub.
Good to know Paul is back in the black – eeh I mean: on the dark – side of power. Have been afraid we had to solely rely on this car-salesman guy called Rob.
the xbox 360 is vapor until there is a working console the thing you see pictures of is a mock up of what it is supposed to look like. all the demos of the games have been running on G5 Macs. PS the specs for the 360 say it has an add on 20GB hard drive. With how much it must cost M$ to build the 360 on current specs leads me to believe it would cost over the $700-800 range. It will be the ultimate gaming console but probably only for hardcore gamers because you wont see parents running out to buy kids something with a pricetag like that. the 360 will likely have much lower specs once the machine comes to resolution to make a feesible price point
Can I ask a few questions?
1 – can Xbox 360 run Microsoft Office or iTunes?
2 – can Xbox record movies from TV?
3 – what’s Thurrott’s record on predictions?
4 – who’s the “buyer” for Xbox 360?
5 – who’s the “buyer” for a Mac mini?
6 – where’s the Home Computer these days? Living room in front of TV, or elsewhere?
7 – why do we listen to this guy?
8 – did Microsoft steal the name Xbox 360 from Tera Patricks’ Mac360?
Tera Patricks
Mac360
I see he’s on his meds again.
He kind of has a point, although I’m not wholly convinced. The fact is, MDN and other sites have reported tremendously on the potential of the Mac mini to serve as a living room device that can be a central hub for television, stereo, computing, etc. The fact is, the specs for the X-Box 360 make it much more appropriate for that purpose. It is massively fast. It will play music, play games, run slide shows, connect to the internet, and perhaps they’ll make add-ons eventually for cable television. Right now, the X-Box is much closer to the goal than the Mac mini. And while Apple is still creating, I don’t know of any plans right now to produce anything similar. Let’s see how this plays out, because I think somebody needs to start thinking about creating that Living Room device, and from the looks of it, it can’t resemble a computer.
I’ll give Microsoft it’s due credit. The XBox 2 sounds amazing. I hope the Sony/Apple Playstation 2 (if true) will one-up it. Let’s face it folks, Apple simply does not compete in the gaming world. Every PC owner I know always cites Apple’s lack of gaming muscle and game availability as their primary reasons not to switch. My iMac G5 barely runs DOOM 3 at the lowest quality, although installing Tiger improved it. A multi-button APPLE Mouse, a more intuitive way to find and launch apps (the dock is limited and putting the apps folder there is slow), better gaming muscle, matching peripherals (oh how I miss the old days when Apple made printers), and a solid alternative to MS Office are all sorely needed to effectively build marketshare. Apple is taking baby steps with computers and giant steps with the iPod. The strategy needs to change. The XBox 2 is simply a quantum leap over what Apple has to offer in gaming.
What a joke. Come on Thurott wake up to reality will you. The XBox is a gaming console and the Mac Mini is a very entry level Mac designed to be inexpensive. Apple never declared it to be a home entertainment system. Doesn’t this guy ever read the facts before typing these rediculous articles. I’m also getting tired of reading all of these vaporware comparisons that these people write about. When Microsoft can actually produce a product that actually does something then write about it.
I bet thorott didn’t relize that all that intro stuff of the XBox was done on a PowerMac G5 and not on even a Wintel machine.
I saw a photo of a Mac Mini slid into the dashboard DIN slot of a VW GTI to be used as a mobile entertainment hub.
I’ll bet Thurrott could put his Xbox 360 under the dashboard of his 1967 VW Vanagon and use the heatsink as a defrosting heat exchanger for the front windshield!
Now this is a realistic comparison of performance & functionality
We are working on an open source media Center for Mac.
from the about page:
CenterStage is on open source project to build a powerful and intuitive media center application for the Apple Macintosh, this project was inspired by the launch of the Mac mini, an ideal Mac to use as part of a home theatre system.
http://www.centerstageproject.com
But the difference in the comparison is that the 360 has been built for this home center purpose (MS trojan horse as it were) and the Mini was not, so his whole “comparison” is just stupid. BTW wasn’t he the guy that said the new xbox was NOT going to run on G5 Chips?
“…Apple never suggested the Mac mini’s purpose to be anything other than an inexpensive Mac OS X machine…”
Apple may not have suggested, but MDN sure did:
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/4833/
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/4802/
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/4795/
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/5011/
“The thing is, the XBox 360 isn’t exactly vaporware. It’s been seen, specs have been published, etc.“
Longhorn has also been seen and some specs have also been published. That said, it’s more MIA than a quality computer from Dell.
Given Apple’s penchant for keeping new products under wraps, who knows what we will see in 6 months.
palindromically yours…maccam
The Xbox is a gaming machine with a 20 gig harddrive. Maybe down the road these items will work like a media center but certainly not yet.
The mini is better suited as a media center already. Not a very good one but it would still work.
I’m underwhelmed by the Xbox 360. I hope PS3 blows it away.