“Apple is getting rid of its old G4 powered Mac Mini computers at Costco, the store where America buys its cat food and pallets of toilet paper at steep discounts,” Silicon Valley Sleuth reports. “The $699 price tag gets consumers a 512Mb Mac Mini with a 80Gb hard drive, as well as a wireless keyboard and mouse, which originally weren’t included with the Mac Mini. It also comes with a three year warranty, where the Apple stores only offers 90 days.”
“The offering allows Apple to get rid of excess inventory, but selling Apple computers at Costco isn’t without risk. The store isn’t exactly known for its attention in its in store displays. Especially this caged presentation (see picture in full article), makes the Mac Mini look far less impressive than in an [Apple] store,” SVS reports.
Full article here.
Advertisements:
• Apple’s brand new iPod Hi-Fi speaker system. Home stereo. Reinvented. Available now for $349 with free shipping.
• Apple’s new Mac mini. Intel Core, up to 4 times faster. Starting at just $599. Free shipping.
• MacBook Pro. The first Mac notebook built upon Intel Core Duo with iLife ’06, Front Row and built-in iSight. Starting at $1999. Free shipping.
• iMac. Twice as amazing — Intel Core Duo, iLife ’06, Front Row media experience, Apple Remote, built-in iSight. Starting at $1299. Free shipping.
• iPod Radio Remote. Listen to FM radio on your iPod and control everything with a convenient wired remote. Just $49.
• iPod. 15,000 songs. 25,000 photos. 150 hours of video. The new iPod. 30GB and 60GB models start at just $299. Free shipping.
• Connect iPod to your television set with the iPod AV Cable. Just $19.
who in their right mind would get one of these, even with the keyboard and mouse, when they could get an intel box?
I don’t see an issue.
Apple is superior to WinTel machines in terms of customer service and usability which are typically found at Costco and Sams. The point is increasing market share… Apple needs to improve mass market distribution. Some people who have never touched a Mac (maybe an iPod) will fall for OS X. They will then want a bigger and better machine, and then it begins… another Mac Addict is born
The Apple Store offers a 1 year warranty. This 3 yr one must be Applecare. Also, I think Gb and Mb are substituted for GB and MB.
Costco also has an awesome return policy.
Someone who unfortunately may be still tied to a proprietary OS 9 program. You can’t run OS 9 on Intel Macs.
The Costco in my neihborhood is also selling G5 iMacs. I am assuming that they are in stock in other Costcos too.
A few weeks ago, I saw iMac G5s at Costco. About a week later, they were all gone. They either sold out, or they got pulled really quickly which is doubtful. It normally takes longer than that to change their merchandise.
Does anyone know if one can you run panther on the G4 1.5 powerbooks? It came with Tiger but I hate it. How about OS 9?
Thanks
Costco doesn’t seem like the right COMPANY to wholesale Mac minis.
yeah $700 might get you a bundle of ‘stuff’ with it, but bottom line is a G4 isn’t going to cut it if you want to mess around with TV/video.
Well, most people don’t need to mess around with TV/Video.
I can’t seem to find Apple anything at costco online. . .
me>>>>>”Costco doesn’t seem like the right COMPANY to wholesale Mac minis.”
ToysRUS, maybe? Taco Bell? Your local Ford dealer?
Did anyone read the comment on the full article? Too damn funny…
They have been selling these and iMac G5’s for over a month now – Damn MDN you are a little slow on the info these days..
Perhaps Apple is also ditching old stock of keyboards and mice in preparation for new wireless products. The Costco price does not seem like a good deal to me. I sold my G4 MacMini on ebay and bought a new Intel version which seems much faster (but I wish I got the one with a DVD burner in it).
to: A Question, yes you can. Run Panther on any G4 Powerbook.
NEED TO B CHEAPER… my get for my “video collection” :3)
The Costco in Carson City is also selling G5 iMacs, the newer ones with the built in iSight. I sold three of them last week. To bad I wasn’t on commision. Might have stuck around and sold more if I had been on the payroll. It was so easy, people WANTED them.
I disagree with Costco’s service reputation. I was in one two days ago looking for a iPod boom box. An employee came by and went out of his way to take care of my questions. Even going so far as to find the original box for the display model so my daughter could try the nano adapter in it.
Gosh, I remember the day when Apple used to auction off such inventory. I bought an Apple 17″ multiscan monitor on the cheap that way.
I remember some do-do bidding up a top-end PowerMac (with no hard drive or memory) to $4295. List was at least a grand less. The aauctioneer asked the lady if she really wanted it – “it’s not $42.95, but $4295). She said “yes!”….
Well, there were another 100 or so in the lot and they sold for under $2grand each! Ouch!!!!
It was funny wathcing the people outbid each other at prices way beyond list price. So sad, too.
Does anyone know if one can you run panther on the G4 1.5 powerbooks? It came with Tiger but I hate it. How about OS 9?
Actually Tiger is faster than Panther, all you have to do is disable dashboard and spotlight and it will run better. Search the Mac forums or Macupdate.com for a disabler.
Mac OS X is heavily drive I/O speed and RAM quantity dependant for performance. I wouldn’t upgrade Tiger past 10.4.5 though. Search Apple for updates, don’t use Software update.
Andrew: Crud.
My 1 GHz, 512M RAM powerbook runs 10.4.6 perfectly
my 1 yr. old 1.2 Ghz ibook w/ 768 MB, works excellently under the latest vs. of Tiger.
not one issue, yet(mw).
Apple has the 1.42 GHz Mac mini refurb for $599
I ‘d rather go with a new Core Duo Mac mini to get iLife 06, front row and remote plus much better speed.
I have a feeling Costco is going to have to lower that price even with the keyboard. You can’t sell yesterdays Mac mini at today’s prices.
The only way I see Costco making any money this spring is if they sell gas at 30 cents less than everywhere else.
Does Costco sell anything that anybody really wants to buy anymore and at a much lower price than other stores? Not the last few times I was there. That is why I let my membership expire. I’ll renew it when I start seeing some good deals.
At our local Costco store they’re selling the 20″ G5 iMacs, I didn’t see any Mac minis!