Slashdot Mirror
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..."
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.
Slashdotters don't care about screwing perfectly good things up. Look at all the dissection topics!
Making it an option would be nice for people that want it. Add the integrated dock for $50 or something.
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 !"
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.
"He who would learn astronomy, and other recondite arts, let him go elsewhere. " -- John Calvin, commenting on Genesis 1
Use Coral proxy to avoid slashdotting the poor site.
-P
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.
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.
Of course, if Apple did it the other way, they still would have made a right decision.
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
"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."
If it it is to be a "shove-in" dock then it would be a bit nonsensical and un-aesthetic, imagine a mini with a white ipod dangling out of its left side..
Nah..
An extra connector is always a charm but a slot for your pod? hrmm.. considering future changes to the form of the ipod I wouldn't go there. The 60gb is thicker than the 40 and the pod mini... ugh just forget about ok? fugeddabaatit ok?
-if at first you don't succeed, stay the heck away from paragliding.
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.
In fact, the moderator was correct -- you managed the rare feat of an entirely redundant first post. Particularly impressive given that the blurb is only three sentences long!
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
Comment removed based on user account deletion
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.
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.
It's $40, and we're translating "integrated" as "it plugs in."
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.
HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
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.
the mac mini 2 is intended to have an ipod dock.
Actually, what with the relative sizes and all, it's believed that the next iPod will have a Mac Mini dock.
Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
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.
Every dockable iPod ever made supports both Firewire and USB through the dock connection. There's no reason for Apple to use a USB connection for an internal dock.
My reasoning is that they left it off to save money and because an integrated dock would taint people's perception of the Mac mini. Instead of "Wow, this is a great computer for $499", people would think "This is a $499 iPod toy".
It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
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.
Don't be silly. This is not for the iPod. It's the controller for the Reality Distortion Field.