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Apple Announces Wonderful Toys
XMilkProject writes "Apple just released 5 new products, all of which should show up on the Apple Store within minutes. You can already see the most interesting new product, the iPod Hi-Fi, a supposed high fidelity boombox for your iPod. Other new products are an iPod Leather Case and three new media-center-style Intel Mac minis which will hit the Apple Store within the hour."
How about the new Mac mini, which has a 1.5GHz Intel Core Solo or 1.66GHz Core Duo, 512MB RAM (expandable to 2GB), a combo drive or DVD±R/RW SuperDrive, up to 120 GB drive, DVI/VGA/composite/S-Video out on Intel GMA950 graphics (up to 1920x1200), 802.11a/b/g, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, gigabit ethernet (!), four USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 400 (Yes, FireWire is here to stay, folks), analog and digital (S/PDIF) in/out, and an IR remote with Front Row media center software that supports sharing music, photos, and videos between libraries on any other machine on the local network, starting at $599 ($579 govt/education), all in the same tiny form factor as the old Mac mini (6.5"x6.5"x2")?
;-)
;-)
And a freaking set of speakers and a $99 leather case for the iPod are the "most interesting"?
I love how the submission is like "IPOD SPEAKERS", "LEATHER IPOD CASE", and then at the end, "oh yeah, and media center Intel-based Mac minis, too".
What I want to know is what Apple's going to do with its new 107,000 square foot Tier IV data center... iTunes Movie/Media Store, anyone?
In case anybody cares...the video chipset on this thing was MADE for home theater! It has hardware motion compensation, MPEG-2 hardware decoding, support for native HDTV resolutions and 16x9 aspect displays..among other nice stuff. It's NOT a big 3d gaming platform but definitely has the stuff for decoding video.
http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets/gma950/
Not three.
Standard features: Tiger + iLife '06, Apple Remote + Front Row, Airport Extreme + Bluetooth, DVI Video Out, USB, FireWire, Gigabit Ethernet. This is nice because you don't have to get an upgrade to get Airport Extreme and bluetooth.
"All Mac mini models also include an integrated Intel GMA950 graphics processor with 64MB of shared DDR2 SDRAM(1), 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet, four external USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 400 port, optical digital and analog audio in/out, and built-in mono speaker."
Optical out is a nice thing to have standard now, although I'm not sure about the video processor. The GMA950 is not capable of running games (see this Extremetech review). It uses a minimum of 80mb of the memory in the Mac Mini, further reducing what you can use for applications. In short, it's a major step down from the old Mac Minis, and not useful for those who liked running WoW on their Minis.
Low-end model: 1.5Ghz Core Solo 667 mhz fsb, 512mb memory, integrated graphics, 60GB drive, combo drive - $599 US, 699$ CDN reg.
High-end model with Core Duo - 1.67Ghz, 80GB drive + SuperDrive 8x (dual-layer capable) - $799 US, 949$ CDN reg.
They've also updated the iTunes and Frontrow capabilities; now you can stream any movies or music from any computer running iTunes, and it interfaces with the Frontrow software that is included (with a nice little remote).
A bettel looking option is the new universal dock + remote (about 100$) that lets you use a video iPod like a little media device attached to speakers or a TV. Very portable!
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You Apple fanboy!
Don't you know you can get a machine from Dell with similar specs for about $100 less! A machine exactly the same in all respects! Well, I guess except a bit bigger. Well, quite a lot bigger actually. And heavier. But otherwise the same! Oh except it will be grey and kind of crappy looking. But the specs will be the same! Oh apart from running Windows XP rather than OSX. And without the iLife software. But otherwise exactly the same. You Apple fanboys are nuts!
An Apple logo, duh.
Can the Mac Mini boot via PXE? I'd love to be able to rip out the hard drive and just have a couple of these boot and run via GigE...
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
Ever since the Mac Mini came out, I considered using it as a media PC in my living room. I currently have a stylish Shuttle box I built myself for $800 that, while not the quietest thing in the world, looks good amongst the receiver and other electronics equipment. I use it to dish out ripped DVDs to a 40" HDTV with Windows Media Center 2005 (not a bad OS, although lately I've had a few issues with crashing).
Once I saw Front Row, I always said, if Apple were to release a version for Mac Mini, I'd buy the little box immediately. Just did.
To me, this fits perfectly with what I want: quiet, small, cheap, able to play a large DVD collection. I'll have to save them as MPEG4s, but that's no big deal. The fact that it can play videos across the network from both Mac and PCs pretty much seals the deal.
With a wireless keyboard and 1 GB of RAM my box came out to $750 (employee discount). The video card is pretty crappy, but otherwise it fits perfectly with what I want. I'm not a Apple fanboy by any stretch of the imagination (I like all machines, and run a ton of different boxes/OSes in my home), but this is a very nice product for what I need to do.
I wonder if Apple is going to go this route next. It would be certainly far more usable than a dedicated gaming console.
Thats my biggest gripe about this new version:
Graphics and Video Support
* Intel GMA950 graphics processor with 64MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared with main memory.
Shared memory? Yuck! If you could only get a 128mb or a 256mb I'd get one. However, I bet it would be more than $1,000, but I'd still be interested.
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
Laid.
A leather ENVELOPE for ONE HUNDRED dollars.
Mac Minis for one hundred extra bucks, and a neutered video card.
This is just CRAP. Why was there even a show? This stuff should just appear on the Apple store, not have a friggin' party.
Ugh. Is this what the Intel Transition is bringing me? Is Apple delirious?
Apple needs to leave the accessories market to the little companies and crappy eBay sellers, and stick to what it was good at.
Why did Steve even show for this one? Has he lost immunity to his own Reality Distortion Field?
This is truly disappointing - I expect weak crap like this from someone who's copying Apple, not Apple themselves.
I hope anyone who buys the iMoBviouslyaNiDiot box starves, because I really don't want that in the gene pool.
Before an Apple Zealot mods this down, please note. I have more Macs than you.
Well, let's look at the specs!
Apple iPod Hi-Fi (from Apple):
* Class D amp
* Two 180mm midrange drivers (acoustically suspended)
* One 130mm woofer (ported)
* Frequency response: 53Hz to 16kHz ± 3 dB
* Maximum peak sound pressure level: 108 dB at 1 m (AC); 102 dB at 1 m (DC)
Bose SoundDock (from Bose):
* 6.65" H x 11.91" W x 6.48" D 16.89 x 30.26 x 16.47 cm 4.56 lb (2.1 kg)
Can you show specs that demonstrate the Bose product to be superior? To anything? Can you even find specs for the SoundDock on Bose's site (beyond those shown here)? If so, trot 'em out, Bose-tool.
Just junk food for thought...