Posted by
CmdrTaco
on from the that-sure-didn't-take-long dept.
pentae writes "BYODKM are featuring some of the first in line to serve up Mac mini accessories. Exactly how much market share will this buy Apple once the affordable, stylish Mac steals the Windows users who love their iPod?"
Having an iPod with your PC is now just as easy to deal with as having it with your Mac.
maybe, but it's certainly not as 'cool' as having the whole shebang, and that's largely (for many people, at least) what having and using an iPod is about.
I think that this is the answer for those people who got an iPod and became people who love Apple products, but can't afford to really break into the company's line, and it's incredibly chic to boot.
Next time a person needs to go and get a new computer, they will consider spending $500 on a mediocre PC that is in a large and gaudy beige case and runs a pain-in-the-ass Windows operating system, or they could get a very small, fast, and attractive Mac that's as easy to use as the iPod they've come to love.
Pretty weak accessories
by
agent+dero
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
These accessories I'd think can be useful, but not *that* useful. I mean, what is the point of the 'Mac Mini skirt?'
I'm really trying not to troll here, but I think worthwhile accessories would be to the tune of, a dock type thing, that has a built-in USB pro-audio card that looks kind of like this "Mini Skirt."
The Mini is already stylish enough, and I think the only merit of the two latter products is stylistic, if they expanded the usefullness and capacities of the Mini, then i'm all for it;).
-- Error 407 - No creative sig found
Re:Stealing Windows customers?
by
Whafro
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
As far as I'm concerned, just because OS X is developed by a big corporation doesn't put it outside the sphere of *BSD. If you're using OS X, you haven't "left Linux/*BSD" forever.
Re:Computers, or fashion items?
by
remahl
·
· Score: 5, Informative
Read the review from AnandTech. It is very comprehensive (18 pages!) and doesn't fail to point out the design features Apple put in to enhance the user experience. Nor does it fail to hilight the weak points of the design.
In my experience, it is very rarely "form over function" with Apple, it's function intersecting form.
Re:Computers, or fashion items?
by
drinkypoo
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
As long as you put 512MB of ram in it, the mini should be capable of running anything your mom wants to run for the next few years. If you want to do video editing or something, well, the G4 can do it, but you'd be better off with a G5. Frankly no 1+ GHz computer is really a toy, ANY of them can run the office apps and such. To me, 1GHz was the line that had to be crossed to get decent performance. Sure, most of us said this kind of stuff when the 386DX came out - it's a 32 bit processor! blah blah blah! And of course, not all 1 gig chips are created equal, compare via to an athlon xp sometime, but I've never met a 1 gig chip that couldn't do everything the average user needed to do with a modern operating system slowing it down:)
-- "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I picked up a Mac Mini Last Weekend but....
by
ttlgDaveh
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
I wandered down to the Apple Store in London last Sunday and came back with the base Mac Mini and am extremely impressed with it, this being my first foray into the Mac world.
Anyway, having just looked at the accessories (Coral link as the original is/.ed) I wouldn't pick up any of them, they look a bit crap and the Grandstand appears to be the only one with any use and then only if you have very limited desk space.
From the story title I was hoping for something a bit morethan bent plastic/metal.
Better link.
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 5, Informative
they will consider spending $500 on a mediocre PC that is in a large and gaudy beige case
I think this is the first time I've ever seen beige referred to as gaudy.
-- It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
Re:Stealing Windows customers?
by
Whafro
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Yeah, I know what you meant, but I don't see why it matters. OS X is based on free software, plays well with other free software (x11, etc), is relatively easy to use and has fewer "gotchas" than do Linux and *BSD.
This isn't like someone put a bash shell in windows and is calling it "Winix" or something... This is an OS that claims to have the best of both worlds--the availability of using open source and open standards while being accessible to even the newest of users. If you're a nerd who cares the way you seem to, you're still going to use Linux/*BSD, but I don't see how it hurts the community if you switch to OS X.
If I were someone who was a strong BSD proponent, I, for one, would welcome our rich, talented, and innovative overlords.
If Apple's marketing team has any brains...
by
NewOrleansNed
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
... they'll start selling these things in college bookstores with a low monthly payment.
In high school, kids play with their computers, maybe do some instant messaging and gaming and email. But they don't have to USE their computer very much. Heck, many schools still allow kids to either write or type their reports.
College, however, is a whole new ballgame. Students are supposed to start acting more like professionals and they're expected to spend quite a bit of time researching topics and using their PCs for class related activities. THAT is when you get them. Offer packages with the mini along with a 15 inch flat panel monitor, wireless mouse and keyboard, external floppy, 128mb thumbdrive, and a small black and white printer for less than 20 bucks a month, and watch their parents flock to buy em.
Seriously, who needs a big, loud PC in college unless you're dealing with 3d software or autocad?
And even then, you're likely to use the school's computers for that anyway.
Re:Overpriced Keyboard
by
jxyama
·
· Score: 5, Informative
it's got an USB hub built in too. a nice touch, esp. with the proliferation of keychain memories.
Re:Good idea
by
Durandal64
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
It's not about hip; it's about statistics. Apple's research showed that between 6% and 10% of iPod owners who were not already Mac owners would consider a Mac as their next computer as a result of their iPod experience. Another sizable portion said that they'd love to own a Mac, but that the price was prohibitive. That's why Apple made the Mac mini.
4 million iPods were sold last quarter, and 90% of them to Windows users. So that's 3.6 million Windows users with iPods. If 10% of them switch to Macs as a result of their iPod experience, that's another 360,000 Mac users, or an over 33% increase in unit sales. (Apple sold just over a million Macs last quarter.)
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Which has more hard drive space - the iMini or IPod? They have almost the same price point
Having an iPod with your PC is now just as easy to deal with as having it with your Mac.
maybe, but it's certainly not as 'cool' as having the whole shebang, and that's largely (for many people, at least) what having and using an iPod is about.
I think that this is the answer for those people who got an iPod and became people who love Apple products, but can't afford to really break into the company's line, and it's incredibly chic to boot.
Next time a person needs to go and get a new computer, they will consider spending $500 on a mediocre PC that is in a large and gaudy beige case and runs a pain-in-the-ass Windows operating system, or they could get a very small, fast, and attractive Mac that's as easy to use as the iPod they've come to love.
These accessories I'd think can be useful, but not *that* useful. I mean, what is the point of the 'Mac Mini skirt?'
;).
I'm really trying not to troll here, but I think worthwhile accessories would be to the tune of, a dock type thing, that has a built-in USB pro-audio card that looks kind of like this "Mini Skirt."
The Mini is already stylish enough, and I think the only merit of the two latter products is stylistic, if they expanded the usefullness and capacities of the Mini, then i'm all for it
Error 407 - No creative sig found
As far as I'm concerned, just because OS X is developed by a big corporation doesn't put it outside the sphere of *BSD. If you're using OS X, you haven't "left Linux/*BSD" forever.
Read the review from AnandTech. It is very comprehensive (18 pages!) and doesn't fail to point out the design features Apple put in to enhance the user experience. Nor does it fail to hilight the weak points of the design.
In my experience, it is very rarely "form over function" with Apple, it's function intersecting form.
As long as you put 512MB of ram in it, the mini should be capable of running anything your mom wants to run for the next few years. If you want to do video editing or something, well, the G4 can do it, but you'd be better off with a G5. Frankly no 1+ GHz computer is really a toy, ANY of them can run the office apps and such. To me, 1GHz was the line that had to be crossed to get decent performance. Sure, most of us said this kind of stuff when the 386DX came out - it's a 32 bit processor! blah blah blah! And of course, not all 1 gig chips are created equal, compare via to an athlon xp sometime, but I've never met a 1 gig chip that couldn't do everything the average user needed to do with a modern operating system slowing it down :)
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I wandered down to the Apple Store in London last Sunday and came back with the base Mac Mini and am extremely impressed with it, this being my first foray into the Mac world.
Anyway, having just looked at the accessories (Coral link as the original is /.ed) I wouldn't pick up any of them, they look a bit crap and the Grandstand appears to be the only one with any use and then only if you have very limited desk space.
From the story title I was hoping for something a bit morethan bent plastic/metal.
BYODKM is slow ... try...
http://www.plasticsmith.com/
they will consider spending $500 on a mediocre PC that is in a large and gaudy beige case
I think this is the first time I've ever seen beige referred to as gaudy.
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
Yeah, I know what you meant, but I don't see why it matters. OS X is based on free software, plays well with other free software (x11, etc), is relatively easy to use and has fewer "gotchas" than do Linux and *BSD.
This isn't like someone put a bash shell in windows and is calling it "Winix" or something... This is an OS that claims to have the best of both worlds--the availability of using open source and open standards while being accessible to even the newest of users. If you're a nerd who cares the way you seem to, you're still going to use Linux/*BSD, but I don't see how it hurts the community if you switch to OS X.
If I were someone who was a strong BSD proponent, I, for one, would welcome our rich, talented, and innovative overlords.
... they'll start selling these things in college bookstores with a low monthly payment. In high school, kids play with their computers, maybe do some instant messaging and gaming and email. But they don't have to USE their computer very much. Heck, many schools still allow kids to either write or type their reports. College, however, is a whole new ballgame. Students are supposed to start acting more like professionals and they're expected to spend quite a bit of time researching topics and using their PCs for class related activities. THAT is when you get them. Offer packages with the mini along with a 15 inch flat panel monitor, wireless mouse and keyboard, external floppy, 128mb thumbdrive, and a small black and white printer for less than 20 bucks a month, and watch their parents flock to buy em. Seriously, who needs a big, loud PC in college unless you're dealing with 3d software or autocad? And even then, you're likely to use the school's computers for that anyway.
it's got an USB hub built in too. a nice touch, esp. with the proliferation of keychain memories.
It's not about hip; it's about statistics. Apple's research showed that between 6% and 10% of iPod owners who were not already Mac owners would consider a Mac as their next computer as a result of their iPod experience. Another sizable portion said that they'd love to own a Mac, but that the price was prohibitive. That's why Apple made the Mac mini.
4 million iPods were sold last quarter, and 90% of them to Windows users. So that's 3.6 million Windows users with iPods. If 10% of them switch to Macs as a result of their iPod experience, that's another 360,000 Mac users, or an over 33% increase in unit sales. (Apple sold just over a million Macs last quarter.)