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Gordio · Mar 1, 2006, 11:50 PM

At first I was VERy disappointed in mini--although I would have gotten it anyway. Now I understand that 100$ is a luxury and necessity. I admit not all the following is not qualitative, some are qtative. Here are some that make the 100$ worht it.

a) the new one has airport wifi. Old one didn't. Getting one may even cost 100$
b) 667 mhz from 333
c) faster RPM HD. 5400 may be slow, but it was fast enough for my powerbook.
d) optical audio. I admit i won't use this nor i care, but maybe later i will. PB came w/ firewire, which i thought was useless me being a PC fan (and a mac hater) as recent as 6 months ago. then i got digital camera and i found out how great firewire is. optical audio is like firewire: projecting to the future
e) higher RAM max.
f) component output. altho people complain w/o the tv, it's still short of perfect. I agree, but at least on all tvs, u can switch from antenna, video 1, video 2, DVI 1, DVI2 inputs, etc. This fact of tvs makes it unimportant for mini to have a tv in (unless u care about recording movies).

unlike macbooks or imacs, the mini's improvement is much more drastic. in fact, w/ the old specs, mini doesn't even look usable.

I also skimed other forums and I hate how poeple compare cheap PCs w/ minis. Theres one important thing about the mini: it's size. Look at this picture http://news.com.com/2300-1041_3-6044...tag=ne.gall.pg look how much leg room and desk room you can have w/ the mini. no 800$ PC can do that so they have to stop comparing the numbers.

mduell · Mar 2, 2006, 12:09 AM

Regarding the price, Apple just dropped the low-end model. The $599 model is equipped the same as the old $599 model (Airport, Bluetooth, RAM, hard drive).

MacOS-Fan · Mar 2, 2006, 12:28 AM

Do you guys mean to tell me that there's more to the new Mini than the GPU???

I am just glad to read a thread finally that is based on logic.

rdf8585 · Mar 2, 2006, 12:47 AM

A couple points

1) 5400 RPM HD are not necessarily an improvement. Lowendmac.com reports the "late 2005" unconfirmed/stealth upgraded Mini's came with 5400 RPM HD.

2) Is the new Mini better? Yeah, much better. But the old Mini's are certainly usable. I have a 1.33 G4 Mini (stealth upgrade from 1.25) and 1 GB RAM. That is more than just usable for my day to day needs, like browsing, chatting, basic word docs/spreadsheets and itunes stuff.

"The original Mac mini was introduced in January 2005 at 1.25 GHz and 1.42 GHz. In July, Apple bumped base RAM from 256 MB to 512 MB. The "late 2005" model boosts CPU speed to 1.33 GHz and 1.5 GHz. The SuperDrive is bumped from 4x to 8x, can burn dual-layer discs, and also works with DVD-RAM. The Late 2005 Mac mini has 64 MB of VRAM in the 1.5 GHz model, twice as much as other minis. It uses the same Radeon 9200 graphics processor. 5400 rpm hard drives are now standard, replacing 4400 rpm drives found in earlier minis."

http://lowendmac.com/mini/late2005.html

cambro · Mar 2, 2006, 10:23 AM

Originally Posted by mduell

Regarding the price, Apple just dropped the low-end model. The $599 model is equipped the same as the old $599 model (Airport, Bluetooth, RAM, hard drive).

I think Apple should have kept a low-end version without Airport and Bluetooth.

Some people don't need this connectivity and it may have allowed a near $500 model.

badnewsblair · Mar 2, 2006, 10:59 AM

Well thought out.

I appreciate what you did here. I think people are just used to Apple's "one more thing..." and huge announcements. Some people were disappointed with the announcement, but to have Intels into half of their product line 6 months ahead of schedule and for the transition to be going so well is nothing to scoff at.

Now, iPod Hi-Fi? What the...?

mduell · Mar 2, 2006, 10:53 PM

Originally Posted by cambro

I think Apple should have kept a low-end version without Airport and Bluetooth.

Some people don't need this connectivity and it may have allowed a near $500 model.

The problem is that Apple was charging a ridiculous price for AP/BT; cutting it out saves them closer to $10 than $100.

ajprice · Mar 3, 2006, 05:02 AM

Yeah I thought the price hike was a bit much at first, but then realised that they had basically dropped the base model. I think this is also another piece in the 'Apple in the living room' aim. I don't think there is going to be a 'Media Centre' Mac, I think it will be done through the introduction of extras and new tech to the standard Macs, ie. FrontRow, Apple Remote, optical AV ports, iLife, iPod and future OS updates. The mini will be the preferred base for the media system, as it would sit well as a set top box.

How well does the mini display on a TV, I don't mean for watching DVD's but the actual OS display on a TV?

mavherzog · Mar 3, 2006, 05:28 AM

Originally Posted by mduell

The problem is that Apple was charging a ridiculous price for AP/BT; cutting it out saves them closer to $10 than $100.

Also, I think Apple has pretty much decided that all their systems going forward will have AP and BT. (heck, and maybe FrontRow)

Gordio · Mar 3, 2006, 05:36 AM

Originally Posted by ajprice

How well does the mini display on a TV, I don't mean for watching DVD's but the actual OS display on a TV?

I assume very badly. S video is crap and worse than composite (yellow, red, white cables) which cannot display digital well. DVI if ur tv has it, I can assume it's good, especially if the resolution matches. LCDs display lower resolutions than their max uglily.

kikkoman · Mar 3, 2006, 09:59 AM

Originally Posted by cambro

I think Apple should have kept a low-end version without Airport and Bluetooth.

Some people don't need this connectivity and it may have allowed a near $500 model.

It's likely these features are integrated into the chipset.

stuffedmonkey · Mar 3, 2006, 11:15 AM

From the take aparts posted yesterday, it still looks like Airport is a seperate card.