Mac mini's New Friend

Thijs van As writes "The miniMate, MicroNet's new external disk drive and port replicator, is created specifically to complement Apple's new Mac mini. With available storage up to 400GB, 4 USB 2.0 ports and 3 FireWire ports, the miniMate extends the capabilities of the Mac mini. Looks impressive if you ask me."

Comments

crappy cable options ...

[torpor]

.. they went to all that work to make an extender box for the mac mini, and ship 'standard' firewire/usb cables .. 7" and 9" long, respectively.

pfft. if they were a real Apple accessory company, this box'd have its own little, short, 'smart'-looking cables which are neat enough, and only long enough, to stretch from mac mini port to hub port.

niggly point, but a point nevertheless. if i'm going to buy one of these things for my mac mini, i want it to be -neat- and not end up promoting ratsnest cable propagation ..

Re:Cute

[RautenkranzMT]

It's a firewire hard drive. One could assume you can format it however you want.

Re:Pricing

[Zemrec]

I have a problem with those prices too.

I just bought a Mini 9 days ago, and wanted an external firewire drive too. None of the locally available stores sold bare FW enclosures, and their prices on pre-installed ones were ridiculous.

I was able to pick up a bare 250 GB, 7200 RPM, 8 MB cache Maxtor drive for $107.50 (clearance at Staples) and then had to order a bare enclosure at Newegg ($31). Saved a bundle going that route, although the bay admittedly doesn't look as cool as this one.

Too bad they specifically say they don't sell them without hard drives installed.

Missing Digital Audio In/Out

[j0kkk3l]

They really should have included an USB Sounddevice with optical Audio in and out and an analog Audio in. That's really missing.
Otherwise, this is an expected product.

Mildly OT, since no one else has said it yet ...

[David Rolfe]

Isn't this just an outright advertisement posing as News for Nerds? You think I could get an 'article' into slashdot if it was just touting a 30% sale at DealRam or Newegg or something?

The only time I would think a product like this was news was if the price was stupidly low. Like ... "new external firewire drive that stacks perfectly with Mini, 3 additional USB2, 2 additional Firewire 400, 250 GB for $99!" Maybe with some more exclamation points so it looks really news-like.

Sorry for the rant. Glad to see there have been so few dupes (possibly none?!) in the last two weeks. :-)

Retro

[HTH NE1]

It's only misleading if you don't assume it has to attach to the Mac somehow. It doesn't claim to be a Bluetooth or WiFi network-attached hard drive. Also, one of the USB ports is a USB B port, so that one could only be used one way: to attach to the computer.

But then they could have designed a proprietary harness port and a special cable with a connector for that port on one end and USB and Firewire on the other if you'd preferred. It would raise the price though.

I like how its under-the-computer design resembles Mac hard drives of old.

But someone's going to have to get one, open it up, and see if it is possible to swap in normal internal drives and what type of drive it uses, e.g. serial or parallel ATA, desktop or laptop.

Good idea, but....

[mblase]

...they messed up on one thing. The majority of the USB and FireWire ports should be in the FRONT of the box, not behind it. If you're going to market your hardware as a port expander, the least you should do is make those ports easier to access than the ones already on the CPU box.

Re:Good idea, but....

[silicon not in the v]

So mount it backwards.

You skillfully missed the point. Usability-wise, it would make sense to have the power cable and the USB or FireWire cable that connects to the CPU in the back, and the rest of the ports in the front.

Well, yes and no. Remember that most of the appeal of this as well as for the Mac Mini itself is about the aesthetics. Many people would probably want the flat clean front of the device that wouldn't be showing a bunch of ports and sockets. For those who aren't as concerned with the clean appearance and want the ports on the front with the requisite cables and such showing on the front, they probably wouldn't mind turning it that way and having the power cord run around to the back.

With this configuration, at least people can choose if they want the pretty form or the practical form.

Re:Mildly OT, since no one else has said it yet ..

[David Rolfe]

Guess you didn't notice the caveat about how no one else has bitched yet.

Of course it happens regularly, but you have to speak truth to power... You have to stand up and shout "damn you slashdot for posting an advertisement as news!"

Additionally I'm not even that pissed about the 'ads as news' in and of itself... it's just stupid that it's not even like a newsworthy ad. It's just "ho hum, another external hard-drive that isn't worth it". A dollar per gig?! Even with a 10 dollars worth of USB/FW hubs? It's a fucking travesty. ('Course now I'll get 5 posts saying "it's a great value having those hubs and stuff built into something that costs 50% of the machine in the first place; I'll then have to retort, ad nauseam, about how "it leaves out some of the glaring oversights of the Mini itself, notably, a line in." Why are you going to spend that much money and not want the sockets on the front? )

Anyway, if you were a subscriber you could see this surely isn't a purchased account, but it's more fun to troll, isn't it? Fortunately your comments usually add to a discussion, so we don't all have to write you off for this one lame post.

Sorry to rant, I guess you asked for it.

Re:Trademark infringement?

[Digital Pizza]

Are you kidding? This isn't a computer, it's a peripheral. It doesn't compete with the Mini, it enhances it, and if anything it would increase sales of the Mini. In fact, the design and limited number of ports of the Mini scream "accessorize me", and I'm sure Apple did that on purpose in order to create a new market. Apple loves these kind of add-ons.

You'll do great as a lawyer, just stay out of marketing :-)

Re: 3 Firewire and 4 USB ports?

[gidds]

So the unit has 3 FireWire ports, of which one has to be connected to the Mac; leaving two. But don't you also lose one of the Mac's own ports too, at the other end of the cable? So the net gain is only one extra port available?

Missed the boat; no AV IO.

[lullabud]

They clearly aren't paying attention to what people who don't already own Apple hardware, and some that do, want. External hard drives and hubs are easy to come by, but a Video IO packaged into a Mac Mini sized device with IR would be *perfect* for all those people looking to turn the Mac Mini into a media center, or generaly integrating it into their AV setup. I'm sure there's a market for this, especially since it adds hard drive space without having to go inside the Mini, but as far as a port replicator solution, it's only got half of the ports that a great many would-be customers would like to see.

Ya know....

[catdevnull]

For the price of a *properly outfitted Mini plus the price of this little widget, you could just get either an iBook or maybe even an entry level iMac G5. I'm not saying this isn't filling someone's niche out there, but for the lion's share of users, you might as well get a better processor or go portable if you're starting to get into that kind of spending. But, if your needs are matched up to a Mini (i.e., tight spaces, etc.), then I can see this widget being useful. Otherwise, I think it's more of an accessory than a necessity.

YMMV.

*by properly outfitted, I mean a machine that will likely be using those extra ports, etc.-- 1.42 GHZ, superdrive, and 1GB RAM. That, of course, is disputable. If you have to buy a monitor, keyboard, and mouse, then you're really spending some money. Oh, don't forget the "AppleCare" (you might need it!) Now you're looking at ~$1,250.00 (give or take).