Along with the iWork productivity suite (“Pages”, a word processor with style) and the Shuffle Flash-based iPod, Apple introduced the Mac Mini: a small Mac Cube: 1.25/1.42 GHz G4, combo drive, 40/80 GB drive, fw/usb/ethernet/modem ports. This is the most affordable Mac ever, starting at $499. My Take: Very nice product, but I am dissapointed because it does not have Line-In and Mic connectors! The Mac Mini web pages advertise the product in conjuction to iLife big time but GarageBand feels pretty useless without such connectors! There is always the iMic of course, but hey.
Apple Introduces the Mac Mini
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
First of all, this box would make a sweet gnu box. That’s part of the reason I plan on ordering. Try out OSx and install ppc gentoo or yellowdog. This solution is for people who can’t handle their own configs, app compiling etc. I use gnu/linux on my laptop and desktop, but some people aren’t there yet.
Here’s another challenge for you: apparently you don’t like the flavor of UNIX that’s driving OS X. Fair enough. I think it’s just not quite the right color blue, but I’m more of a fashion guy anyway.
Question: if you don’t like Mac OS X, why don’t you start a Terminal session and compile the night away? Can Linux really do so much more than Mac OS X that you couldn’t configure it properly if you ported the right apps to it?
And when the latest, greatest configuration has finally been completed: what do you do with that Linux box that you couldn’t with MacMini [from the point of view of fine tuning the OS, not on the level of the hardware -I know you don’t like the graphics card, the hard drive, the soundcard, the network card, the modem, the chips, the RAM, the controllers, the switches and the sockets, the materials, the colors, the alloy of the metals and even the quarks are spinning in the wrong direction. But other than that]?
I can’t say I follow your point.
My point was defending the mini mac. Recommending other linux people pipe down in this thread. It’s a headless low-end option, that gives people a chance to try out OSX. As I pointed out, gnu people like me can dual boot with whatever we want.
THat’s not enough of a compromise? You ask me why I would install another OS on the box? I’ll answer, if you tell me why you care?
“Seriously, do you live under a rock? Apple announced earnings yesterday (the day of your post).”
Apple is indeed loosing its desktop market share steadily. A huge chunk of apple’s earnings come from the sales of ipods. The problem with a dwindling market share is that Software/Game makers would not have an incentive to port their wares to the Mac platform. I heard that Adobe has started the trend by not porting the latest version of Premier to the Mac. Thank goodness apple came to its senses and offers the affordable Mac Mini.
It is comparable to stating that Toyota cannot survive by selling Lexus only. It needs volume sales it’s Camry’s and Corollas to stay in business (get what I mean). Mini Mac is the right way for apple to go.
@Rayiner Hashem
In what way? This is an INEXPENSIVE entry-level Mac.
What about “For what you get in terms of hardware” do you not understand? The thing has a P3-class 1.25GHz CPU and 256MB of RAM for $500. In this day and age, that’s a lot of money for that kind of hardware.
A G4 is IN NO WAY a P3-Class CPU, and a 1.25GHz a G4 SMOKES a P3.
You cannot compare CPU Speeds just by comparing GHz.
The OS on the computer makes a HUGE difference.
MacOS X is going to give users an insanely great experience, ESPECIALLY compared to Windows XP.
Considering the cost of components, the cost to develop this unit, the cost to ship it from the Far East INTO the U.S. and to the stores, $499 is CHEAP!!!
This machine is using laptop components, that cost MORE than the desktop components you are comparing it against in your mind.
And, it’s worth a premium to have a full featured Computer that’s 6.5 inches square and only 2 inches high…
This isn’t some cheap x86 box thrown together haphazardly, with an unpolished Open Sourced OS thrown on it, with incomplete, buggy, still-in-development OSS Apps.
This is a unit designed to be a complete experience. The OS is heavily polished, as are the apps.
You have a P.O.V. that is biased and unfair in the extreme.
You might as well compare a Yugo to a Volkswagon Beetle and call the Beetle overpriced…
You’d be missing that one is made with MUCH cheaper components, and doesn’t have the useful life of the more expensive unit…
There are a LOT of considerations that you conveniently leave out in order to bash Apple and the Mac Mini.
Thanks for doing that!
@Rayiner Hashem
In what way? This is an INEXPENSIVE entry-level Mac.
What about “For what you get in terms of hardware” do you not understand? The thing has a P3-class 1.25GHz CPU and 256MB of RAM for $500. In this day and age, that’s a lot of money for that kind of hardware.
A G4 is IN NO WAY a P3-Class CPU, and a 1.25GHz a G4 SMOKES a P3.
You cannot compare CPU Speeds just by comparing GHz.
The OS on the computer makes a HUGE difference.
MacOS X is going to give users an insanely great experience, ESPECIALLY compared to Windows XP.
Considering the cost of components, the cost to develop this unit, the cost to ship it from the Far East INTO the U.S. and to the stores, $499 is CHEAP!!!
This machine is using laptop components, that cost MORE than the desktop components you are comparing it against in your mind.
And, it’s worth a premium to have a full featured Computer that’s 6.5 inches square and only 2 inches high…
This isn’t some cheap x86 box thrown together haphazardly, with an unpolished Open Sourced OS thrown on it, with incomplete, buggy, still-in-development OSS Apps.
This is a unit designed to be a complete experience. The OS is heavily polished, as are the apps.
You have a P.O.V. that is biased and unfair in the extreme.
You might as well compare a Yugo to a Volkswagon Beetle and call the Beetle overpriced…
You’d be missing that one is made with MUCH cheaper components, and doesn’t have the useful life of the more expensive unit…
There are a LOT of considerations that you conveniently leave out in order to bash Apple and the Mac Mini.
Thanks for doing that!
Never mind numbers, and walmart prices.
If the packaging of the mini, is anything like what their other products come in, the shipping box will be nicer, and of higher quality, than most low end PC’s, let alone the box they came in.
Ouch……….
I remember runing the same Reason track (sequencer + SW synthesizers) in an Athlon XP 1800+ (about 1500 Mhz) 256MB DDR 266Mhz and on a iBook G3 500Mhz 256MB with exactly the same % of CPU free on both.
So this “thing” is not so powerless. Scaling to G4 1.2 GHz or 1.4 Ghz … good numbers
About the Audio, I’m sure a good USB 2.0 or Firewire modulo will do the job just fine, just the same used on laptops.
The mini mac is no more than a low end notebook without a screen or keyboard.
Any notebook manufacturer can have a similar model on the market within a few months.
THe mini PCs of course will be faster and cheaper.
Does anyone know of any third party wireless keyboard or mouse that will be compatible to Mac Mini? I find the ones in apples store to be a bit pricy. I know you can get them much cheaper from other manufacturers, but is there a compatibility list somewhere?
oops!
By Eugenia (IP: —.osnews.com) – Posted on 2005-01-12 12:49:21
Yes. It’s almost 500 messages. About 489 or so. This story won’t make it.
Never say Never
“it is only a matter of time before Apple throws down the towel.”
Nice fairy tale. Now, would you give us one with a happy ending.
In Australia a mac Mini costs about the same as a similarly configured Windows notebook.
The real mini Mac competition is with low end windows notebooks.
• 256MB DDR333 SDRAM – 1 DIMM
• 40GB Ultra ATA drive
• Combo Drive (CD-RW/DVD-ROM)
• Bluetooth + AirPort Extreme Card
• Wired Keyboard (US) & Mouse Kits
• 56K v.92 Modem
• Mac OS X
• Accessory kit
Subtotal A$ 1,097.00
The 1.4GHz 80 GB HD and Superdrive costs A$1522
Add 15″ TFT monitor $450 (aftermarket monitor)
Total: A$1547 (A$1977 for the 1.4GHz 80 GB HD and Superdrive)
ASUS A2400H Notebook PC
Configuration:
Intel Celeron 2.80Ghz, 256Mb DDR RAM, 15″ TFT Display, 40Gb Hard Disk, DVD-ROM CD-Writer (combo), 56kbps FVD Modem, 10/100 Lan, IEE1394 Firewire, Infra-Red, External Monitor Port, 5 USB 2.0 Ports. Pre-Configured with XP-Home.
Price: $1,599.00
The Asus notebook is very similarly configured yet has a CPU that vastly outperforms the G4 (probably close to double the performance.
By eliminating a screen, keyboard etc it should be quite simple to sell PCs with a similar form factor the Mac mini quite cheaply.
The only glaring hole that I see now in Apple’s lineup is the Powerbook. Did you notice that (in terms of computational power) the Mac mini (a cheap computer designed as a web browsing and email tool) is as good (or nearly) as a Powerbook?
There is nothing powerful about a Powerbook anymore, in fact I believe there is no reason to buy one when you get almost the same thing in an iBook for $500 less (unless you need the larger screen). Apple’s consumer PC (the iMac) can now blow the pants off their professional notebook! Of course, I realize this is not Apple’s fault, they are dependent on Freescale and IBM. IBM’s Power chips were designed as server chips after all, and Apple does not offer enough volume for IBM to spend the money on creating a Mobile version. It is still kind of depressing though because there is no real way out of this whole for the foreseeable future. I am increasingly pessimistic that the G5 will ever make it to a notebook. I think Apple is probably crossing its fingers that Freescale doesn’t run into any trouble with their dual-core G4s which seem like the most likely upgrade strategy by now, but still quite a ways off.
> There is nothing powerful about a Powerbook anymore
Granted, the newest iBooks (and Mac mini) also use the L2 cache level, but the PowerBook has a lot quicker system bus.
Quite whining about there being no microphone connector. There is a USB connector..use that for a Mic.
Eugenia – you claimed $60 for the price to connect a mic through USB on this. What the hell are you talking about. One search and I found a nice Logitech USB mic for $25.
http://shop2.outpost.com/product/3655475?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_P…
Off-topic, but I am genuinely curious. Our Aussie friend states that an Intel Celeron 2.80Ghz beats the pants off a G4 1.25. Has the Celeron been re-engineered to be a much better chip in recent iterations.
Because way back when, I ran a series of tests, using my old Mac (with a G3 266) against my friend’s Celeron-based computer running at 600 or 700 MHz (or thereabouts). It wasn’t even close. In most tests, the old G3 ran circles around the Celeron, finishing tasks two (and sometimes three) times faster.
This wasn’t a scientific test in any way, shape, or form. Just two friends fooling around with their computers on a cold day.
So unless the Celeron is vastly improved, it won’t leave a G4 in the dust.
I have a B&W G3 400MHz and Mac mini and a KVM would be a great upgrade for me.
Compare a 3rd party CPU upgrade to the Mac mini:
$397.99 Sonnet Encore/ZIF G4/1GHz w/1024k 4:1 Backside Cache.
Cons: still can’t boot off Firewire,
still can’t use Firewire target disk mode,
still can’t use option key at boot to select boot
device at startup.
Still stuck with USB 1.1 ports.
no internal wireless option.
no internal Bluetooth option.
still unable to burn DVDs.
still unable to watch DVDs.
Unsupported architechure by Apple software.
Mac mini only $81 more (educational)
Pros: Faster processor then the upgrade option.
None of the above mentioned limitations.
Can now run all Apple software such as garageband
iDVD, etc.
Fully supported by Apple.
It’s a no brainer.
My first computer was a Mac Performa bought in 1992.
Everyone shouted that year -one of the hardest in Apple history- “Apple is dead!”.
Nothing happened.
More than 10 year later I read same comments, probably from same “visionaries”…
enought said.
David
Great value. Mac mini isn’t only hardware, it’s great pack of software (iLife, iWork, Quicken). Now I’m using lot of open source programs… i need stable and secure OS. Only problem for me is that i’m from Poland. Polish reseller is to small (only 3 shops for 40 mln population), and had much greater pricer than other UE resellers.
One overriding theme in the high-spirited debate so far suggests that the new Mac Mini is supremely underpowered because of its slothful G4 processor.
Well, by today’s standards, it is not a cutting edge computer, and the G4 won’t win any speed tests. Power equals Gigaflops, Rayiner Hashem states definitively, (as do many others), and so this computer is underpowered.
Perhaps so. Perhaps that definition of power is the only one that matters, in which case, the Mac Mini isn’t a powerful machine.
But I’d argue otherwise, and suggest that the Mac Mini is powerful because it has the ability to empower its owners. It’s meant for people who think they only need a basic computer to write letters and surf the web. And those people are going to discover that computers can sometimes actually enrich their lives. And for those people, $500 is going to seem like a pittance price to pay for what they’re getting in return.
I am returning to the working world after a long, debilitating illness that has left me deeply in debt. I can’t work at traditional jobs, so I need to be creative and make a living from my home. I wanted to buy a top of the line PowerMac when I reentered the working world, but could only afford a mere iMac G4 running at 800 Mhz (512 MB RAM). And yet this computer — running at barely half the speed of the Mac Mini — allows me surf the web, answer email, write persuasive letters, edit photos, design web sites, burn professional DVDs, and even edited classy digital movies. This lowly computer is allowing me to change my world. It’s bringing me back to life. And not only does it do all that and more, I’m often able to do all these activities at THE SAME TIME (well, not the film editing, but the rest… sure!)
And so the Mac Mini can do at that and more. And I believe that the Mac Mini’s ability to empower its users makes it a powerful machine. It’s the software that matters, software the runs brilliantly on a 1.25 Ghz G4. People are buying an inexpensive computer: that will crash one or twice a year, at its worst; that runs best-of-breed software in every category (except games); that operates the world’s most advanced operating system; that runs an incredibly beautiful OS that knows how to get out of the way; that will help them express their creativity and touch lives. It’s going to blow most people away. It’s going to enrich their lives. It’s going to empower them!
Not everyone, mind you. It’s not for the Ubergeeks, or the scientists deciphering the human genome. But it is going to convince many people to try a Mac for the first time. And when more people see a Mac, and see what it can do, they’ll buy one.
Apple is now a bigger company than it’s ever been, and it’s profitable. It’s going to be around for a long, long time. In fact, there’s never been a better time to be an apple aficionado.
Apple can make technophobes learn to love technology.
When I first came back to the working world, my sister and her husband became my first customers. They had been burned by a former employer who seduced them by offering a piece of his company in return for their services (and then reneging on the deal). Almost broke, they tried to run a tourism-based business on a couple of cheap PCs that broke so often, they were getting nowhere.
I stepped up to the plate. With my lowly G4, I built a pretty web site for them, and started marketing their business. I made them buy two Macs… and iMac and an iBook… and promised to help them. And low and behold, they hardly needed me.
They soon had some customers, and since their computers worked for them, and they started to run the business as they had intended… They were empowered. They developed a database (on their own) that helped them keep track of customers and their various tours. They started to develop neat, impressive information packages (on the cheap) and newsletters that helped sell their business to potential clients. When a customer sent an angry letter suggesting that they had sent a nasty virus that infected their computer, they just had to write a sweet return, stating they were on a Mac, so the virus didn’t come from them. They started editing photos, taking with a digital camera that worked perfectly with their system, so now their web site is full of gorgeous photos promoting their tours. Before too long, I discover that they’re customers keep coming back to them, because they do so many neat little things like sending all their clients a professional-looking DVD with an incredible photographic slideshow from their just completed tour… that the customer can play on their television, set to local music, for their friends…. it’s amazing.
They are empowered. Their Macintosh computers are powerful. They have changed their business, and changed their lives.
Sure, all of this could be done on a PC… but it wasn’t. There computers were just too arcane, and finicky, and they didn’t have the skills, or so they thought. Now they have the confidence to try anything, knowing their computers won’t let them down. From technophobes to power users in three years. And now, owning a business that grows by better than 100 per cent every year, and employs half a dozen people.
That, Rayiner, is one powerful computer. Not your definition, for sure… But I think my point is every bit as strong as yours.
____________________________________________
PS… I do realize that you’re not a Mac hater, from your many posts here. But I do think the point you’re making is wrong. This computer will increase Apple’s market share, and I think Apple’s plan is brilliant.
This little unit is probably the closest competitor to the Mac Mini…
http://www.cappuccinopc.com/cappuccinoez3.asp
Configuring it as close as I could to the Mac Mini
PIII 1.26ghz
256mb RAM
40gb HDD
Windows XP Home
Combo Drive
Comes to $988 without trying to replace iLife and Appleworks.
Maybe I configured this wrong, but I think $499 or $599 ($494/594 including shipping KB and Mouse at MacMall) is a good deal…
Just MHO.
The mini mac is no more than a low end notebook without a screen or keyboard.
Any notebook manufacturer can have a similar model on the market within a few months.
THe mini PCs of course will be faster and cheaper.
Really reminds one of when Windows 1.0 promised to outdo the Mac in 1985.
A PIII 1.26ghz is no way near to a G4 1.26Ghz
I tested with Reason (music SW) that a G3 500Mhz is equal to a AMD XP 1800+
“Software is not an issue on pc anyway.”
No one buys a computer to do nothing. You need software to run on it. If you’re building it in parts ( as most people who say they can do it cheaper ) then you already have the software. The fact that you probably don’t have the licenses to USE that software seems to be ignored.
Using all Apple hardware strikes me as very similar to going out and buying a gaming console. You buy it because the games on them work without crashing or needing patches all the time. It’s the major reason I bought an xbox. Nice games, I don’t need to patch the thing every three days because the software wasn’t ready to deal with brand X video card with rev 20.n.n.y.q drivers and directx version z.
The funny thing about all this is that I’ve paid far less on games simply because the game console works. I don’t need to upgrade it for the latest game ( at 500$ for the video card, 300$ for a processor that now requires a new mother board, etc. )
I don’t own a mac, yet. I’m seriously considering this. It’s a large software bundle on hardware that should have all the bugs worked out of it. If it’s all laptop hardware inside, fine. Then they should have already dealt with any potential issues.
XP costs at least 100$ and a copy of office is quite a bit more. At least factor those costs into your “I can do this cheaper” posts. Maybe you can do OEM prices, but you can’t do it legally if you’re building your own. ALSO something people seem to be ignoring…
“I heard that Adobe has started the trend by not porting the latest version of Premier to the Mac.”
Premier can’t really compete with Final Cut Pro on a Mac, so I’m not suprised they suspended the Mac version.
FC is smooth and suave
Premier is dog… woof
BTW. Linux is going to rule the world without Premier isn’t it? 🙂
Roll on Skynet
527 comments so far..that’s without counting the ones that got modded down! I guess a lot of people were waiting for such a thing to happen…
Yeah, it’s good to see the interest… Even negative comments show that people at least noticed the MiniBrick came on the market…
Yeah, it’s good to see the interest… Even negative comments show that people at least noticed the MiniBrick came on the market…
Of course it got noticed. People have been screaming out for a headless iMac for going on 6 – 7 years now. That they’ve been fobbed off with this thing just makes the disappointment that much more tangible
Some are disappointed, some aren’t… I’m not…
They filled up the gap they had at the bottom end. (I doubt they would take it much lower, they probably couldn’t) A Mac Mini with a G5 in it would be fantastic, I’d love one, but how much would it cost? I don’t believe that was the purpose of this product.
One day there may be a G5 model, if this one sells well, but really how much can you fit in a 6x6x2″ box?
Maybe it would be worth having a competion… everybody can design and build a MacMini and the competitor who can put the largest selection of highend components; G5, RAM, HD, 1G net, Firewire 800 etc, while keeping the price under US$1000, wins a prise of a design contract with Apple. I’m sure the help would go a long way.
And it’s got to be the same size…
A great while back in this discussion, someone asked about the record number of comments posted to an article, and Eugenia said something to the effect of “almost 500, actually about 489”. She said that this article probably wouldn’t acheive that.
All I can say is…WOW! With over 530 comments, this apparently is the hottest topic on osnews.com in its history, and now there is another Mac mini article with almost 200 posts as of this writing!
Oh, right, on topic…I’m saving my pennies for this one. It will be the first Mac I’ve owned since a Mac Classic back in the day. I can’t wait!
I just hope my wife doesn’t take it from me, after she sees how cool OS X is.
“Maybe you can do OEM prices, but you can’t do it legally if you’re building your own.”
Yes, you can. You can buy an OEM copy of Windows perfectly legally with any significant piece of hardware.
THat’s not enough of a compromise? You ask me why I would install another OS on the box? I’ll answer, if you tell me why you care?
Caring is too strong a word. I’m just interested to know why you couldn’t use the Mac flavor of UNIX and adapt it so that it would do everything you can with Linux [not saying you’re implying anything].
I’m 100% convinced the gnu crowd can install Linux on a 1970s compact harvester and make it run a render farm instead of churning out hay, but if modding is the thing, isn’t it really a lot easier to port the stuff you like about Linux on the Mac?
I know OS X contains, among a great many others, python and PHP, which must be oodles of fun for the scripting afficionados. I don’t go nuts about that particular aspect of the OS, but it’s there.
The original question is: what are you doing with your Linux box that you couldn’t also tickle a Mac into doing?
/genuine interest. You will have a perfect reason to work with Linux, even if you can only reach a true state of Zen when you’re grepping random strings in the dark recesses of your memory space.
No mic, no problem… The newest mics have USB inputs.
I know people not owning a decent monitor aren’t quite the target group of the Mini because buying one sort of kills the price advantage. But still I think you could save enough to justify to get a Mini instead of a iMac.
Obviously I won’t buy an Apple Cinema 20″ for a grand, and unfortunately Apple doesn’t make 17″ TFTs. So where would I get one that at least partly matches Mac design and ideally features DVI too?
And I know complaining about the Mini’s feature list doesn’t make sense because the features are tailored to allow a price tag of just below $/EUR 500. Still I think Apple should have included keyboard and mouse, maybe not their standard but cheaper ones. Who on earth would buy such a designer toy like the Mini and then plug in some ugly PC keyboard just because he’s just found one next to the garbage bin?!? As well you definitely NEED a USB hub keyboard which is hardly found in the PC world.
Philotech
It is unfortunate that apple doesn’t make a low-cost 17-in TFT monitor anymore… They were very crisp and cool (though I only played with them at the Apple store)…
However, you can still find one on the Applestore web site… Just follow the Great Deals link (with the red Save tag) to find refurbished 17 inchers for $599 (at least when I’m writing this).
I’m sure the link below with time out… but they did seem to have quite a few!
Good luck!
R
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/723…
Ehem, that price tag is still rather steep. And I just see it won’t connect to the Mini because it needs ADC which Mini doesn’t have. Are there any adaptors? Guess not since ADC means drawing power from the computer, so you’d need another power brick included with the adaptor which would make it unreasonably expensive…
Philotech
Great post!! About your sisters business.
Ehem, that price tag is still rather steep. And I just see it won’t connect to the Mini because it needs ADC which Mini doesn’t have. Are there any adaptors? Guess not since ADC means drawing power from the computer, so you’d need another power brick included with the adaptor which would make it unreasonably expensive…
There are ADC -> DVI adapters but, yes, they are quite expensive.
Try tracking down a Formac screen… They at least try for some sort of design aesthetic.