“Consumers who buy a Mac Mini this week may or may not end up with a machine that’s faster than the desktop Apple Computer was selling in prior weeks,” Ina Fried reports for CNET News. “The company confirmed to CNET News.com that it has started offering machines that in some cases have improved processing powers and other enhancements. However, Apple is not labeling the new machines in any special way, so buyers have no way of knowing if they are getting the more capable models.”
“‘Some Mac Mini systems may contain components that slightly exceed the published specifications,’ Apple said in a statement. ‘There are no changes to the published specifications or part numbers,'” Fried reports. “Industry watchers were confounded by Apple’s decision not to explicitly label the upgraded models. ‘It doesn’t make sense to me why they would do this,’ said Technology Business Research analyst Tim Deal, who added that Apple’s tactic creates something akin to a ‘grab bag.’ An Apple representative was not immediately able to say why the company decided to handle things as it has.”
More details in the full article here.
Think Secret reports, “One source reported receiving a 1.5GHz Mac mini Tuesday, although the box still featured the old 1.42GHz label… The SuperDrive equipped Mac mini features a new 8x dual-layer SuperDrive from Matshita (Panasonic)… The Mac mini’s graphics card remains an ATI Radeon 9200 but now features double the VRAM at 64MB. The video card remains incapable of supporting Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger’s Core Image technology. The hard drives have also been upgraded to 5,400-rpm models… the new Mac mini features Bluetooth 2.0+EDR support.”
Think Secret reports, “Sources have informed Think Secret that Mac mini box labels will continue to list the older specifications with no indication of whether the newer or older systems are contained within. The motivation behind this is to help clear current inventory without lowering prices. Essentially, customers are promised that the Mac mini they purchase will have specifications “at least” equal to the label, but that their system may exceed those. Customers who purchase a new Mac mini to find they ended up with the older configuration will not be able to return the system in the hopes of getting the newer configuration without paying a restocking fee.”
More details in the full article here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Report: significant Apple Mac mini update imminent – September 27, 2005
RUMOR: Apple to introduce faster Mac mini models soon – September 21, 2005