Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Updated Mac Mini Aims For the Living Room

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the need-a-review-unit dept.

WrongSizeGlass noted that besides the pre-order of the new iPhone appearing on the Apple store today, Apple has revved the Mac Mini and started selling those too. "PC World is reporting on the latest version of Apple's Mac Mini. At only 1.4-inches tall the unibody aluminium enclosure includes an HDMI port, an SD card reader, and more graphics and processing power. Even the power supply is inside now. The base model comes with 2.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB of RAM and a 320GB hard disk — for $699. Graphics power comes from an NVIDIA GeForce 320M GPU (as found in lower-end MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops). Apple appears to be aiming for living rooms by including the HDMI port and eliminating the external power brick."

12 of 638 comments (clear)

  1. Expensive by nyctopterus · · Score: 1, Troll

    Buy it with a screen and a keyboard ant it will cost you more that a 27" iMac with a quad Core i7.

    1. Re:Expensive by nyctopterus · · Score: 0, Troll

      Troll? Come on, one of the big differences in this revision was the price hike (the vary first Mini was HALF the current UK price). This has got to the point where the Mini is not a cheap option, even if you don't care about specs.

    2. Re:Expensive by ClosedSource · · Score: 0, Troll

      "The subset of people who would want a Mini and who refuse to upgrade past PS/2 keyboards and mice is null."

      Hey, you're gutsy to claim that nobody on the entire earth decided not to buy a Mini because they couldn't use their existing PS/2 peripherals.

      Most people avoid such broad statements because such statements require only one case to render the statement false.

    3. Re:Expensive by Myopic · · Score: 1, Troll

      Uh... yeah... it's aimed at people in the 21st century. We've all had USB peripherals for longer than there has been a War on Terror. What, are you still clinging to parallel cables or something? Maybe a token ring network? Are you angry that the Mac Mini won't work with your 2400 baud modem? Or is it that you can't buy new gear from your Compuserv account? maybe you insist on using the "real" name for the Internet: ARPA Net? Did you lose trick of computing after keyboards replaced dip switches? Do you rant about how bloated operating systems got after you upgraded from 4 to 8 megs of memory?

    4. Re:Expensive by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 0, Troll

      That's exactly right. This price is no longer anywhere near the "hmmm, maybe I could switch" zone. And I say that as someone who really did encourage switching at the $499 price point. You could just barely justify it. No longer.

      I suspect that this starts the transition from the existing OS X to the walled garden model for Apple desktop offerings. The new baseline offering is iPad.

    5. Re:Expensive by horza · · Score: 1, Troll

      Silly question, but rather than throw out the whole computer why not just install Ubuntu on it? All the same benefits for free. And more environmentally friendly.

      Phillip.

      --
      Property for sale in Nice, France
    6. Re:Expensive by ndixon · · Score: 0, Troll

      Agreed.

      2GB RAM and 320GB disk is the spec I bought (admittedly in a generic Dell PC) three years ago, for £450. Now Apple would like me to pay £649 for much the same thing.

      Yes, I know Apple hardware is better built (ignoring for a moment the more serious design mistakes) but that Apple price premium always keeps me away from their products - I consider it a tax on stupidity.

      --
      Oh, how convenient: a theory about God that doesn't involve looking through a telescope.
    7. Re:Expensive by mdwh2 · · Score: 0, Troll

      If you want a tiny, low-power-consumption, attractive system that can easily be used as a set-top box, then paying a premium

      Then why not get a laptop? Small size, and it's portable. How big is the Mac Mini when you take the rather important screen and keyboard into account?

      Not everyone shops only on price - value can be derived from places other than raw computing power.

      Not everyone shops only on size - value can be derived from places other than simply having a desktop that's slightly smaller. But do we get a Slashdot article everytime a new PC is released?

    8. Re:Expensive by mdwh2 · · Score: 0, Troll

      Apple, it Just Works, Out Of The Box. You just have to order some special adapter, wait for it to arrive, then have to plug it all together. No wonder people say that even their own grandmother could use a Mac!

  2. This article confuses me because... by easterberry · · Score: 0, Troll

    I could have sworn I clicked the option to have ads on /. not show up.

  3. Re:Thanks by elrous0 · · Score: 0, Troll

    Tell me, if Steve told you to jump off a bridge, would you ask which one?

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  4. Dear Sirs by Brett+Buck · · Score: 1, Troll

    I would like to protest, in the strongest possible terms, the appearance of several non-Apple-related stories on the Slashdot front page. In reviewing, I can currently see 5 stories that don't mention Apple Computer company, Steve Jobs, the iPad, or the iphone in any way whatsoever . Please correct forthwitih.

          p.s. I am not a nut.