Discontinuation of the Mac Mini?

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Cybermoo

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I've been saying for the last couple of months that Apple is going to discontinue the Mac Mini? Recent rumors however indicate a possible product refresh of the Mac Mini...

I just wanted to get everyone's thoughts on this?

I still think Apple are going to discontinue the Mac Mini and replace it with another product that is also a small form factor, perhaps a Mac Mini/Apple TV Hybrid? Surely they can manage to do this, especially with the new technology that was invented for the Macbook Air...

...Maybe even a product smaller than the Mac Mini? A Mac Nano? The biggest part in the current Mac Mini is the optical drive, take it out and utilize the disk sharing feature that was invented for the Macbook Air and you could make a damn small machine!
 
They can definitely manage a Mac Mini/Apple TV Hybrid. That is most probably will happen.

I've never really been a big fan of the Mini. It's quite useless in my opinion...

What do people actually use it for?! You still land up spending all the additional $ anyway for the input/output devices, you might as well land up buying a MacBook, no?
 
I use it attached to a plasma as a home entertainment system as it pretty much addresses all the faults of the TV.
 
Maybe a discontinuation could see Apple getting into the Console Wars ???

Imagine the Apple iBox ?... :D
 
OMG! yeah! that would be awesome.

I know it will never happen but imagine that Apple somehow got it right so it could play XBOX, PS3 and Wii games :p :p
 
Skeptik said:
LOL
The longer you are around Apple's products, the more you think like them ...
Yes, take it out, they've already taken off the screen, and the crappy graphics memory is now shared with system memory, so another part can be dropped. Now let's get rid of the drive and maybe take out some RAM. Heck, why stop there - let's get rid of the keyboard - everyone has a spare one of those at home. When we've finsihed it'll be so small and cute we might have trouble finding it .. :D :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

They could also put everything inside the keyboard, ala ZX Spectrum.:)
 
whilst the mac mini was a cool concept, it always seemed a bit of a dud,
i dont think they should discontinue it though, maybe beef it up a little, integrate time capsule/wireless AP inside of it.
 
Cybermoo said:
The biggest part in the current Mac Mini is the optical drive, take it out and utilize the disk sharing feature that was invented for the Macbook Air and you could make a damn small machine!
Click to expand...

Well, the Mini is the perfect Mom&Dad machine. The big problem with it is price. For what it is, it's way too expensive. I expect any Mac to be more expensive than a comparable PC, but on the Mini they're overdoing it.

And whoever is still allowing Macs to be shipped with a DVD-ROM combo drive should be shot. Really. They can give it a DVD writer, enough memory, and entry level nVidia or ATI graphics with dedicated memory, and still sell the entry-level one at a massive profit.

Skeptik said:
Yes, take it out, they've already taken off the screen, and the crappy graphics memory is now shared with system memory
Click to expand...

In my humble but accurate opinion, dropping the ATI graphics (from the PPC) in favour of the onboard intel rubbish was a big mistake. That, along with the price, is killing it.

If they get the specs right, for a reasonable price (within the Apple framework, of course), they'll sell like hotcakes.
 
koffiejunkie said:
Well, the Mini is the perfect Mom&Dad machine. The big problem with it is price. For what it is, it's way too expensive. I expect any Mac to be more expensive than a comparable PC, but on the Mini they're overdoing it.

And whoever is still allowing Macs to be shipped with a DVD-ROM combo drive should be shot. Really. They can give it a DVD writer, enough memory, and entry level nVidia or ATI graphics with dedicated memory, and still sell the entry-level one at a massive profit.


.
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more!
 
You guys make a valid point! Just taking more and more out of the machine until it disappears doesn't make much sense at all. Ok then! New Scenario. Say Apple pops in the same memory controller as the Macbook (i.e. 4GB's memory) beefs up the processor a bit to say 2.16Ghz Dual Core. Puts in a dedicated 128MB ATI X1600 or Nvidia Equivalent and pops in the new 320 - 500 GB Notebook drives, and they price it close to a Macbook, say about R7500 - R8000. Would you go for it then?
 
Cybermoo said:
You guys make a valid point! Just taking more and more out of the machine until it disappears doesn't make much sense at all. Ok then! New Scenario. Say Apple pops in the same memory controller as the Macbook (i.e. 4GB's memory) beefs up the processor a bit to say 2.16Ghz Dual Core. Puts in a dedicated 128MB ATI X1600 or Nvidia Equivalent and pops in the new 320 - 500 GB Notebook drives, and they price it close to a Macbook, say about R7500 - R8000. Would you go for it then?
Click to expand...
Sodd the Mini - I wish they'd price the Macbook closer to that price point! :eek:
 
Cybermoo said:
I've been saying for the last couple of months that Apple is going to discontinue the Mac Mini? Recent rumors however indicate a possible product refresh of the Mac Mini...

I just wanted to get everyone's thoughts on this?

I still think Apple are going to discontinue the Mac Mini and replace it with another product that is also a small form factor, perhaps a Mac Mini/Apple TV Hybrid? Surely they can manage to do this, especially with the new technology that was invented for the Macbook Air...

...Maybe even a product smaller than the Mac Mini? A Mac Nano? The biggest part in the current Mac Mini is the optical drive, take it out and utilize the disk sharing feature that was invented for the Macbook Air and you could make a damn small machine!
Click to expand...

This sounds like iPhone 3.0.
 
Cybermoo said:
Say Apple pops in the same memory controller as the Macbook (i.e. 4GB's memory) beefs up the processor a bit to say 2.16Ghz Dual Core. Puts in a dedicated 128MB ATI X1600 or Nvidia Equivalent and pops in the new 320 - 500 GB Notebook drives, and they price it close to a Macbook, say about R7500 - R8000. Would you go for it then?
Click to expand...

I think it's too much. In terms of the hardware and in terms of the price. Leave the CPU as is, unless the faster ones actually run at the same temperature. A 160 or 250GB drive, 5400rpm. I say that because I actually have 7200rpm drive in mine, and I can tell you, it makes it noisy. Especially since your mini is likely to sit on a desk - it really amplifies the vibration. With the 5400rpm drive it's completely - I mean, completely, as in, in the middle of the night, when there's no other sound, I cannot hear it - quiet. And make the hard drive and memory user servicable. Opening up the current shell makes even this old hand nervous. Ability to put 2GB+ memory is cool Graphics can be entry-level ATI/nVIDIA of today, whatever that is. As long as it can run Google Earth absolutely smoothly. DVD WRITER!! I would also like to see a USB port or two on the front. The new keyboard is USB2, but it still doesn't give enough power to run a flash drive. At least not any of mine.

If they do this for say, 5k, I think it will sell way better. The thing is, it doesn't have to be powerful enough to be a graphic designer, movie maker or pro photographer's primary workstation. But it needs to be powerful enough to handle those task with relative ease. Why? Because that's how Apple will capture the market of people just starting out in that industry. I know so many people in those creative fields who would much prefer a Mac but cannot afford a Macbook/MBP/iMac/MacPro, and for Mini money they can get a pretty damn powerful PC. Then tend to go for the PC. And once they've gone down that route it's a sale lost for Apple. If those users can buy a Mini and actually get their work done, it'll be only a matter of time before they invest in a MacPro or MBP, and Apple has a customer for life.
 
Speaking of the writer: Apple should really capitalise on being the first to ship machines with Blue-Ray drives. There is already a manufacturer who makes Mac compatible Blue-Ray drives, so there's no reason why they cannot do it.
 
koffiejunkie said:
If they do this for say, 5k, I think it will sell way better. The thing is, it doesn't have to be powerful enough to be a graphic designer, movie maker or pro photographer's primary workstation. But it needs to be powerful enough to handle those task with relative ease. Why? Because that's how Apple will capture the market of people just starting out in that industry. I know so many people in those creative fields who would much prefer a Mac but cannot afford a Macbook/MBP/iMac/MacPro, and for Mini money they can get a pretty damn powerful PC. Then tend to go for the PC. And once they've gone down that route it's a sale lost for Apple. If those users can buy a Mini and actually get their work done, it'll be only a matter of time before they invest in a MacPro or MBP, and Apple has a customer for life.
Click to expand...
Heard an interesting quote from someone with an opposing view -
Apple's market share in what NPD calls the "premium" category, or laptop and desktop PCs selling for $1,000 or more, is nothing short of phenomenal: 66 percent. That's right, two-thirds.

With the exception of the Mac Mini, all Apple computers sell for more than $1,000. "If you don't give people a choice, people will spend more," Stephen said.
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Sort of a if you build it they will come mentality. :)
 
I'm assuming they're not including computers selling for $1000 or more in South Africa. :)

I'd be interested to see what percentage of Macs sold are Minis
 
koffiejunkie said:
I'm assuming they're not including computers selling for $1000 or more in South Africa. :)

I'd be interested to see what percentage of Macs sold are Minis
Click to expand...
No - its the US retail share which has always been their focus - 2/3rds of all the computers sold over $1000 are macs.

The point is why cannibalise that market by selling cheap computers when people are flocking to the higher end machines. It might be different if sale were declining and overall market share (not just the above $1000 market) was dwindling but its not.
 
koffiejunkie said:
Speaking of the writer: Apple should really capitalise on being the first to ship machines with Blue-Ray drives. There is already a manufacturer who makes Mac compatible Blue-Ray drives, so there's no reason why they cannot do it.
Click to expand...

I don't understand why they don't make drives available for the 15" :(

Anyhow, they too expensive for the time being! $999!
 
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