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Was the Mac mini Intended to Have an iPod dock?
RMH101 writes "Was the Mac mini originally designed to have an integrated iPod dock? The Register
has an article that appears to suggest it was. This opens up the option of homebrewing your own dock into a mini for yourself..."
Given this capability...I wonder how difficult it would be to mod your MiniMac yourself to put that dock in...
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~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
the mac mini 2 is intended to have an ipod dock.
I want Mac Mini. I do not want iPod. As far as I am concerned Apple made a right decision.
Pretty leet huh, I'm about to submit it as a full fledged story to /.
Look for me in the dupe.
Given some of the homemade cases I've seen, I suspect tinkering with the Mac Mini to give it an iPod dock would make it a bit less "mini" and considerably less stylish.
Why do we still listen to The Register?
But did anyone else notice the convientley placed R2 and D2 ?
It would a good to have this dock as optional, but that will be in the next flurry of updates?
"Sweet llamas of the Bahamas !"
before someone hacks a mod to make it work...Apple has not been too good at hiding its secrets latley huh!
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While I think it's a good idea to add a "simple" feature like that, it might not be useful if the mini is just sitting on the middle shelf of a home theater system.
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
eom
or we would have had YA device with a non-flat top surface (ie nonstackable).
This ties in nicely to the way that the mini seems tailor-made to be a media-center PC. If some sort of tuner card were plugged into this slot (say in a "Mac Mini Media-Center Edition" or something) you could plug a mini into your TV and be basically set with the ultimate convergence box.
That's my opinion, anyway. Be looking for a Media Center version of the Mini soon.
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I hate people who quote
Don't the different iPod models have different docks? So you could have a one-size-fits-all dock, but when you put a mini in it, there would be a gap around the edges, and Apple just wouldn't let that happen.
The remnants of a possible iPod dock were found by the initial people ripping them open.
No, really...
Can't I just plug it in? Yes!
Maybe because "dock" is 1337?? You see, I don't PLUG my iPod there... that's SO old fashioned, no, I DOCK my iPod!
How kewl is that???
how long until
Whether the Firewire feature was dropped from the first incarnation, or was put in place ready for the Mac's next revision isn't clear. However, early rumours surrounding the so-called "headless iMac" that was to become the Mac Mini, did indeed mention an integrated iPod Dock, fitted to help encourage Windows-using iPod owners to switch to the Mac platform...
I'm sorry but what made ME (as a "PC" user) to switch to the Mac platform was the price. $499 for the base model is 100% perfect. I have said it here before (and I am saying it again)... Once Apple created a computer that was reasonably priced I would purchase one and I did.
It's nice that it runs cool, near silent, and that it is snappy for what I use it for (with 512MB) but it's super nice that it was priced right.
I don't own an iPod and I likely will never own an iPod so the iPod dock wouldn't make me switch. I highly doubt that PC users would switch just because of an iPod docking feature.
YMMV.
...the reality distortion field generator, duh!
...more importantly, I noticed that Safari was using much more memory than Firefox when I had both open. Therefore, certainly we must ask ourselves, "is the Mac mini preferring certain programs over others?"
Take off every sig. For great justice.
If you read the description, the firewire connection pins are directly next to the connection to the ATA optical disc drive. Maybe Apple wanted to have the option of shipping firewire based disc drives should they become cheaper.
I realy hope it's a iPod dock to come. If the next mini mac has the iPod dock installed i'll buy one. Read more here
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I mean, how surprising is it that computer hardware often has unused functionality, that with a little work can be used? Like IDE controllers on cheap-ass Internet TV boxes a few years ago. Great for modders of course, not that I'd want to alter a Mac Mini, it looks nice anyway.
Maybe they'll add it in to a revision two Mac Mini. Maybe the back riser is a generic part that will also be used in an as-yet unknown but similar to the Mac Mini device. Woo woo foo foo.
They'd have done better by having a USB port and a Firewire port on the front/side of the Mac Mini. Easy to plug an iPod Shuffle in there, or a Firewire cable for DV applications. But oh no, it would damage the smooth sleek look of the device.
A great deal of people are buying iPod's these days. If more of them would buy mac's too Apple's market share for personal computers would greatly increase. I'm sure they originally put the dock idea in the low-cost model to attract these windows iPod buyers but the purists at Apple fought to keep the box cheap, simple, and clean.
Also, since I have karma to spare, with I googled for mac mini ipod dock I got a picture of this crazy contraption. Just thought I'd share.
- Cary
--Fairfax Underground: Where Fairfax County comes out to play
I'm the first post, and my post is 'redundant'?
Well done, moderators.
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~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
"Microsoft intended to fix bugs in Windows?" All the signs are there, the half done architecture and comment code stating "To be enabled in Longhorn."
a burrito and soft drink holder, but the little Taco Bell dog held out for too much royalties.
As others here have mentioned, it might have been nixed for esthetic reasons. The innards might have been designed somewhat independently of the case. Could be we'll see a different looking mini later with this feature. I would be a shame to punch a hole through this thing, and I guess Jobs would feel the same way.
Bitsofnews.com Giving you the latest bits
...is backing away from the iPod? Quick! Someone call CNet!
This opens up the option of homebrewing your own dock into a mini for yourself..." Not quite. Since the Mac Mini was not designed to have an iPod dock in it, adding one on your own without buying an officially licensed accessory is clearly a violation of the DMCA. Is Slashdot encouraging law breaking?! The Horror!
I don't need a Mac. I would not mind toying with one. However as a few friends of mine have also said the current Mac-mini is still too much.
/. give it.
When it drops to around $349 then I will jump. I know a few others that want a $299 price point. As it stands now its not truly a $499 machine either as you need a minimum of 512mb of ram to have a good system.
As for the extra circuts, look at the iPod Shuffle. The chipset it uses is capable of far more than they make use of. They probably just got a great deal on the chipset/board combination and left it alone.
If anything any costs associated with it are recouped by all the free advertising places like the Register and
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
This is old news.
There's nothing but vents in the back panel where this would sit. It's possible that at one point they were planning on having the firewire port (or ports) in a second row on the I/O panel, which would have left room for three USB ports.
Save the galaxy!
I had the opportunity not too long ago to speak with someone at Apple that worked on the Mac Mini project and I asked the same question as it had been speculated on a lot by the rumor sites. The answer was yes, it was considered early on in the project but killed because they didn't think that it would work aesthetically along with the possibility that it could interfere with the wireless performance of the Bluetooth and Airport antennas that are located on the top of the case.
The only iPod-branded device lacking firewire is the iPod Shuffle. The new Minis have firewire, they just aren't bundled with a firewire cable.
all of the newgen ipods are shipping with usb2.0, right? so....why is firewire linked to iPod exclusively?
What would you get if you had a Mac Mini, that worked like a Tivo and could use an iPod to transfer files? I don't like mac, mostly because I like my toys to require asambly, but that combo would be cool enough for me to want one.
We are the Borg...
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or perhaps... the mac mini 2 is intended to have an ipod dock.
This got me thinking - my Sawtooth G4/400 has an internal Firewire port. Clearly, the designers intended the next generation of G4s to have integrated iPod docks.
It's not uncommon for features to get added early in the mobo manufacturing process because it's cheap and relatively simple. This is probably an example of Apple doing a CYA 12 months ago and then abandoning the idea (whatever it was - dock or something else).
When you have nothing left to burn you must set yourself on fire
I won't get one until they're free inside a box of specially marked cereal.... but only if the cereal is on sale and I have a dollar-off coupon.
Beat that cheapo.
Apple has the best selling philosophy:
Sell version 1 w/ minimal features
get everyone hooked
release version two with extensive features
profit
look at the shuffle, the chip has the ability to recieve FM, they will add a screen and FM tuner in 1-2 versions to bump sales up. brilliant.
The port is prob for a 7in1 type memory card reader for digital cameras and such!
The iPod Mini has a smaller dock than the regular iPod, though they use the same connector. However, I'm sure that Apple could come up with something, but I'm leaning towards no being the answer to "Was the Mac mini intended..."
Replace the hard drive with a docking station for the iPod. The higher-end iPods already come with a bigger standard drive than the Mini, why make customers pay for two drives?
I can't decide if this post is interesting, funny, insightful, or flamebait.
If you're worried about design and looks, you need to think about laptops and their docking stations. Look at the bottom of the laptop and there are little flaps over the docking connector that gets opened up when you plop the laptop on the dock. Given this basic design + Apple's ingenuity, I'm sure adding an iPod docking station will not detract from the looks of the mini.
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Because slashdot still does not have a "-1, RTF summary you insolent clod" moderation for the grandparent (who just rephrased the last line of the summary). So you have to give the parent something for pointing this out.
That looks interesting but the mac mini connecctor has 20 pins, while the ipod dock connector has 30 pins. The placement of the firewire pins are also different - the mini has the data on pins 1,2,11, and 12, while the ipod has them on 3,5,7, and 9.
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$499 Computer == quite cheap
$499 iPod peripheral == very expensive
John Carmack fan, browsing at +5 since 1999.
The fact that the mount has firewire integrated makes absolutely no difference. If you've been keeping up with the news, you'd know that Apple is now marketing the iPod as a USB2 device. It's no longer shipping with a firewire cable. Why would that make steps towards integrating the iPod with the mini via firewire when they're abandoning their whole stance on firewire to begin with?
Wise men say, "Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza."
That's all fine and good, but does it run MacOS X?
nevermind...
Just use your datagrinder!
Have you read my blog lately?
If this were a USB connector, I might be convinced it was intended as an iPod dock. As of now, all iPods support USB, though only mini's and larger even have Firewire (the iPod Shuffle does not). Maybe I am totally wrong because the dock interface on the bottom might support firewire - I just don't know. What I do know is that my iPod mini is much smaller than a regular iPod / iPod Photo and I don't see how a universal dock could work.
_Perhaps_ the reason this interface didn't see the light of day (until now) is that it was designed for Firewire and got too far down the development chain when Apple Marketing determined the USB route was the way they wanted to go. So with no time to change the circuit to USB, they nixed the dock concept.
Or _perhaps_ they just liked the clean lines the mini has, or felt that at $499, they couldn't justify the feature.
There are plenty of resons why they didn't.
The question really is, if they _had_ would it have increased sales? It would be a "cool" factor, but I don't know that it makes me want a Mac mini any more than I already do.
For the same engineering/component dollars, maybe Apple could increase the ram (much discussed ad infinitem) or bumped up the graphics card - these are the universal #1 and #2 complaints I hear of the mini (forget those who "claim" they would buy at price point X $499).
No one ever bitches that there isn't an integrated iPod dock.
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
On the first few generations iMacs, there was a "Mezzanine" port which you could attach a floppy drive to or a vodoo 2 card (yea the times have changed). Apple never did anything with it, it was just there. I think this port on the Mac Mini will be similarly exploited by some company.
One of the things about buying a Mac is that you can still use it after 7 years. I've got a 400Mhz G4 that I've been using as my main macintosh until a year ago when I got a PowerBook. It runs the latest version of OS X and it usually benefits from the OS upgrades.
I don't understand how whiners like you get modded up. Here we have the finest combination of a UNIX machine, a excellent UI, and decent market support, and you want it for the price of the crappiest computer you can whip up on Newegg?
Please. Apple did a great job of trying to meet the demands of the cheapskates. One of my friends who bitched about the price forever finally admitted he had to have a Mini when they were announced.
If you can't afford it, that's ok. However, nobody owes anything to you, the least of which, a cheaper Macintosh.
On a similar note, the original iMac had the header for a floppy drive. (I guess they planned to ship it with one.) Several companies made a quick buck selling kits to connect a standard Mac floppy drive to this port. Not too much later, a firmware update caused this port to stop working, along with the "ext" port that people had managed to plug SCSI and graphics card into. Perhaps Steve still didn't like the idea of people messing around inside his new Mac? It seems funny that the iMac G5 is designed to be completely disassembled by the end-user now. It's like the Mac II all over again...
I wonder if they might come out with a model thats slightly larger to accomodate a TV Tuner (HDTV?), LCD/LED/VFD and IR receiver, and maybe even a 3.5" HD that'd be more suitable for video than the 2.5" notebook-size drive it uses now.
Of course that's entirely speculation/wish list.
it sounds like he bought the software at the same time as he bought the hardware. if so, the sales rep should have pointed out that the software wouldn't run on the machine he was buying. likely, the rep was more focused on earning the commission and not on servicing the customer.
sum.zero
but it's a nice little hard drive with a nice fast connection on it you can carry about with you. Feel free to shoot my down if I'm spouting gibberish, but maybe you could carry your desktop around on your iPod? Imagine a world with tiny Mac minis dotted about the place. Don't lug your laptop into Starbucks, just drop in your ipod the slot and whoosh, it's your PC. Maybe you're strolling through town and fancy some music, just pop your ipod into a public mac mini and stick a couple of iTunes albums on. You've got an ipod. You've built a desktop on it when you stumbled in for a coffee one day, why not buy a mac for your house as well? Basically, the ipod's pretty dumb by itself, but can hold a lot of your personal data. Drop it into any mac mini and suddenly it could be your machine.
So the consumer is not carrying around all their precious data and applications on a portable and vulnerable device?
Apple stopped shipping docks with the ipods. Perhaps the 5gen ipods will still connect to windows pcs, but only dock to a mac? It would be a way to regain some "ipod exclusivity" for mac users?
"from the bricks to the booth...I predict the future like Cleo the psychic..."
But what you want personally doesnt matter, its what the apple people belive the MARKET wants..
Currently they belive the market does not.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
It's Apple they'll sell the "Addon" Dock for about $49.99..
Which would of cost 5c to add to the device in the first place, theres more then likely a port on the PCB board just not wired up...They'll add it backin as a "Special" Ipoq version in 2/3 months time...
You mean, you can read too!?!?
From the article:
Whether the Firewire feature was dropped from the first incarnation, or was put in place ready for the Mac's next revision isn't clear.
I'd be much more interest in a story about how many mini's can't seem to drive monitors correctly, instead of speculation on a dumb connector.
You may be closer to the truth than you know. Firewire is a DMA interface and can be used for remote debugging even if the machine has crashed. I believe Apple has a kit you can install to initiate this behavior from the kernel.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
... is moving away from firewire support for the iPod in order to be more attractive to USB-2 friendly PCs, I doubt it's for the iPod.
Bark less. Wag more.
I've never understood what the point is of a docking station. Yes, it puts the iPod (or PDA) in a possition that I can read the information on the screen. But I would get that *and* the possibility of using the keys if it was lying flat on my desk. Difficult to knock over as well. I possitively hate the docking station that came with my Palm(s).
The only reason I see for including a docking station is for them to sell us a "special travel cable", which is basically a wire with their own proprietary connector. That and maybe supplying power, but a powered USB hub could handle that as well.
FireWire is the preferred interface for all iPods (except shuffle) since data transfer rates are faster than USB 2.0 (and FireWire is bootable). I'll spell it out for you: Apple still includes the FireWire interface on all non-flashed based iPods. Your post misinforms.
A review of Apple hardware reveals that there are often pieces of architecture that go into the product that are not used (iMac's mezzanine slot anyone?).
This is simply good engineering- they have supplied for future growth as opposed to needing a full redesign. Should we expect anything else from a company that finally seems to be getting it right again and again?
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Don't be silly. This is not for the iPod. It's the controller for the Reality Distortion Field.
Everyone keeps flipping out over the lack of a firewire cable and saying it means iPod+firewire is doomed, no, it is a freaking cable, and the cable would mean absolutely nothing if a dock was built in, which would connect directly to the iPod.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
It's firewire, and I remember reading that Apple is moving away from Firewire to USB2, as evidenced by the fact that you only get USB cables with your iPod now.
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I'm sorry, I've tried to like the mini, I really have, but I must say that I am disappointed. Now, the keyboard doesn't map well, there is several important characters that I am unable to type. The USB harddrive is not recognized, and I know I am doing all things right, I've tried asking in several boards and fought with it for days to work. It won't. And then, my wireless networkcard has no drivers for it.
So this whole machine is pretty much useless to me. I'm really bummed by this, and I still like this machine alot, but I am only going to fire it up once more before I sell it on ebay. Am I going to buy a macintosh at a later day? Not very likely.
Does anyone know of anyone making add-ons (I'm mainly thinking of an external 3.5" hard drive enclosure) that are the same form factor as the mini? This seems like a no brainer to me. You could stack 'em then. It's just the right size for an external enclosure...
Madness takes its toll. Exact change please.
the logic behind the dock connector, as i see it, is in the third party support.
the original ipod's remote connector and standard firewire connection limited its potential to connect to anything but third party remote replacements and, though i don't recall anyone doing so, some clever hacks based on firewire.
with the dock, apple supplies the third parties with a way to get line in and out (not just headphone, but line level, which is important), power, and all kinds of other goodies.
it is a proprietary connector, and one that doesn't exist on any other device, but i think it's safe to say, even with the original dock-connected ipod, that apple could count on enough demand for ipods that they would create a demand for the third party peripherals to jump on board.
it also opened up the possibility to use other means to connect your ipod than firewire - USB, for instance (maybe wirelessly with the right adapter someday) without having to ugly up the lines of the ipod with more and more ports most people wouldn't use. or, for that matter, branching the line with different flavors for different connectors. with a dock-connected ipod, you can connect over USB or firewire, plug in an FM transmitter, microphone, speakers, CF card reader, battery pack, even a laser pointer and flashlight - not at the same time, mind you. if apple had built all that, or even a couple of different, more industry-standard connectors into the ipod itself, it would never have been the jobsian elegant bar-of-soap that it is.
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and he is surprised?!?
Name one store which will accept returns of opened software. One. If you can name one, then just maybe this guy has a valid complaint and the folks at the Apple Store should have refunded this guy his software. Otherwise, that there is a troll. You can't think of one? Of course not.
Other folks have pointed it out, but if he needs Motion, he wants to buy one of these for $1499, not one of these for $499. My advice ? Return the Mini and get a PowerMac, you'll be happy you did... it's worth the money, and if you're buying $300 software packages, you have the money.
Apple spends lots of effort trying to make people believe that they are "different", but when the shit hits the fan, they are just like everyone else, but more expensive and propriatery.
As an Apple non-user, I would expect that all software currently being sold would work with all apple hardware currently being sold.
After all, apple presents an image of monolithic "smoothness" and "oneness". Not to mention "zenness", "coolness", "hipness", and gender ambivalence.
Apple pushes the "This computer is simple, it just works" meme at every opportunity. Apple advertising implies that the user will have a seamless experience with no effort on their part.
Based on the apple image, I would not expect to have to read the fine print on software requierments. Based on all the expectations that apple instills in the consumer, the fact that the software does not work on the mini, and that apple doesn't make that fully , unmistakeably obvious everwhere, INCLUDING AT THE POINT OF PURCHASE shows again that the Emperor is still stark fucking naked.
If your comment was about a PC hardware user or a Linux user having an issue because they did not research a product fully for compatibility before they bought it, your point would be valid. PC hardware is not sold and advertised as being thought and analysis free.
Apple, however, has been making ads which imply that their products "just work", and that is obviously not the case.
Oh, and yes, be sure to mod me down for refusing to bow down to the Cult of the Mac. Heaven forbid that someone should disturb the serenity of the Echo Chamber, or put a warp in the fabric of the reality distortion field.
Feh.
There were a bunch of connectors inside the G1 iMacs that had no external connections; it would not surprise me that there are additional connections inside the mini.
It seems a little hasty to call this a proto ipod dock without a little more evidence than the firewire lines. Now, hack up a dock interface, then we're talking. People made SCSI cards for the mezzanine slot; this just sounds like guessing to me.
+++ ATH0 +++
is this going to be followed by a lawsuit by Apple for revealing "Trade Secrets"?
... when future versions of the iPod are likely to feature BlueTooth connectivity?
Not reading the literature is probably also what prompted you to buy a $100,000 Honda....
and get walked all over by cars half the price.
"But the shifter, it feels so good! The anemic lack of power doesn't bother me ONE BIT," you probably tell yourself at night.
You're a fucking tool, man.
What's the transmission rate on bluetooth? Seems like the perfect Apple-centric design would be a bluetooth iPod rather than a clunky docking station. Although it'd require adding bluetooth to your mac if you don't already have it.
Kodak does exactly that with their digital camera docks.
.
Unfortunately, the camerat didn't react well to water . .
hawk
If you're going to use the fancy words, go to http://www.dictionary.com for proper spelling.
I can only assume you've never actually used the iApps and the Windows alternatives you cite, because the difference in quality (with the exception of iTunes, for obvious reasons) is so high that I don't even think you should make the comparison. Furthermore, at least with my PowerBook, I also got Omnigraffle, iCal, GarageBand, OmniOutliner and Stickies all pre-loaded. Plus Xcode and Interface Builder on the CD.
Most importantly, Macs come with the full version of OS X, not the "Win XP Home" that your Best Buy example probably loads by default.
In addition, I think you're wrong about your iBook/PC laptop comparison. If you compare similarly priced machines from similar eras, I think you'll find that Macs hold their values better. No, I don't feel like getting in even more of a "mine is bigger than yours" contest, but you might want to post some actual comparisons before you make incorrect generalizations.
As usual, of course, you should use whatever computer and system make you happy. If you want the Best Buy special, go for it; just don't go spreading old Apple FUD.
"With Apple iProducts and iMiniProducts, random fruitless speculation is easy and fun!"
he was simply an inept employee and missed agreat opportunity to provide valuable service to a a new [SWITCH] customer and potentially generate subsequent business.
sum.zero
I downloaded the official docs from Apple somewhere. Those docs tell you to grind your putty knife to have a thinner leading edge. I wish I had done this. It was not as easy as some of the websites make it out to be. I am fairly mechanically inclined and it took me a half an hour to get the thing open the first time. Admittedly I was trying to be careful to not mar or break it, but it is not a 10 second job.
Lasers Controlled Games!
In-dash car stereo. Think about it.
Not likely, but a WiFi iPod that did the Airtunes thing would be conceivable. You'd still have a dock, though, as a charging station if nothing else.
I know you can put a whole OS on, but the drive as has been mentioned isn't really fast enough for that. I was thinking more along the lines of:
Apple now have a pretty complete suite of apps and you could chuck in office. A world full of auto updating mini machines with the basic suite and OS, the data on which couldn't be updated by a user. Your ipod would contain the users documents/music/email/email logins/other apps etc. I'm not really a Mac person, but was thinking along the lines of your user folder on an XP machine.
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Hilarious. Nothing in the message warrants the rating except the outright idiocy of Slashdot's moderation system which serves only self-righteous bigots.
/. has become so pathetic. Whats next? A MoveOn.org spin off?
How this get modded as a troll?