Because of the close proximity to CES, I couldn't make it down to Mac World, which is a bit of a shame considering all of the interesting suff that was announced there. Now that some of the announcements have been made I thought I'd chime in on things:
Mac mini
The Mac mini is interesting, especially given how small it is. It's basically Apple's answer to the Shuttle XPC, except a lot smaller. The thing weighs 2.9 lbs and measures 6.5" on all sides (and is only 2" high), it's basically a laptop without the integrated display and reproportioned to maximize desktop space. The specs are quite similar to Apple's PowerBook line - offering either a 1.25GHz G4 or a 1.42GHz G4 as a CPU option. The CPU options are strong enough to be competitive with the Celerons that Dell offers in their equivalently priced systems, but definitely not strong enough to compete with something like a 2.8 - 3.0GHz Pentium 4. Honestly I think the CPU is powerful enough, but where Apple really dropped the ball is on the amount of memory. After extensively using the iMac G5 I found that even on the 1.8GHz 20" model the system is basically bound by memory size more than CPU performance (it only ships with 256MB). The move from 256MB to 512MB in OS X 10.3.7 results in a tremendous reduction in disk swapping, which is very important to the overall user experience and one area where the cheap PCs generally fall behind in.
The price points are higher than I would've liked to have seen them, but honestly $499 and $599 are still competitive. My main complaint here continues to be the memory size. I'd like to see at least the $599 model have 512MB of memory, although I wouldn't want to give up the faster processor for it. Unfortunately for $499 I don't think it will be cheap enough for PC users to pick up as a secondary system; an OS X experiment box if you will. I'd say the limit for that crowd would be $399, although then you could be compromising performance specs which would be detrimental to the idea of giving people a positive OS X experience.
I'm impressed by the integrated DVI output as well as the overall design of the system, which I think give it the edge over competing ultracheap PCs. The Radeon 9200 GPU isn't anything to get excited about, so it won't be a gaming machine, but then again Macs really aren't these days to begin with.
My only other complaint from a personal standpoint are the sizes of the HDDs, I'd like to see a massive HDD size option as this thing would make for a great personal server. It sounds like the Mac mini is using a standard 3.5" IDE HDD, if so, replacing that drive with a larger one shouldn't be a problem... :)
Overall, I think the Mac mini is a positive move for Apple and it looks to be a decent product. I was definitely skeptical of the "cheap Mac" at first, but I can say I'm quite impressed at this stage.
iWork
I've never used Keynote so Keynote 2 looks interesting to me, but there's not much I can talk about there. What truly interests me is Pages - finally a MS Word replacement for OS X. I'd do anything to replace MS Office and Dreamweaver with better native OS X applications on the Mac, while still retaining full functionality. While I'm not so sure about its HTML export capabilities, Pages does look like the application that could rid my Mac of MS Word.
iPod shuffle
I'm not as excited about the iPod shuffle because it is screenless and thus you lose one of the major strengths of the iPod - its interface. That being said, I think including a slider that lets you randomize your music or play it sequentially on the actual unit itself was a very smart move.
I'm not so sure how well organizing your playlists at sync time would work simply because I can see myself forgetting the order over time. That being said, I can also see the music itself being a reminder of the order I put the songs in while I'm actually using the unit.
I'm not much of a flash based MP3 player fan but the iPod shuffle is interesting.
The rest...
The iLife updates are also interesting, but I have yet to try iMovie or iDVD so I can't truly appreciate the updates.
Anyone else have any inputs on the announcements?
Mac mini
The Mac mini is interesting, especially given how small it is. It's basically Apple's answer to the Shuttle XPC, except a lot smaller. The thing weighs 2.9 lbs and measures 6.5" on all sides (and is only 2" high), it's basically a laptop without the integrated display and reproportioned to maximize desktop space. The specs are quite similar to Apple's PowerBook line - offering either a 1.25GHz G4 or a 1.42GHz G4 as a CPU option. The CPU options are strong enough to be competitive with the Celerons that Dell offers in their equivalently priced systems, but definitely not strong enough to compete with something like a 2.8 - 3.0GHz Pentium 4. Honestly I think the CPU is powerful enough, but where Apple really dropped the ball is on the amount of memory. After extensively using the iMac G5 I found that even on the 1.8GHz 20" model the system is basically bound by memory size more than CPU performance (it only ships with 256MB). The move from 256MB to 512MB in OS X 10.3.7 results in a tremendous reduction in disk swapping, which is very important to the overall user experience and one area where the cheap PCs generally fall behind in.
The price points are higher than I would've liked to have seen them, but honestly $499 and $599 are still competitive. My main complaint here continues to be the memory size. I'd like to see at least the $599 model have 512MB of memory, although I wouldn't want to give up the faster processor for it. Unfortunately for $499 I don't think it will be cheap enough for PC users to pick up as a secondary system; an OS X experiment box if you will. I'd say the limit for that crowd would be $399, although then you could be compromising performance specs which would be detrimental to the idea of giving people a positive OS X experience.
I'm impressed by the integrated DVI output as well as the overall design of the system, which I think give it the edge over competing ultracheap PCs. The Radeon 9200 GPU isn't anything to get excited about, so it won't be a gaming machine, but then again Macs really aren't these days to begin with.
My only other complaint from a personal standpoint are the sizes of the HDDs, I'd like to see a massive HDD size option as this thing would make for a great personal server. It sounds like the Mac mini is using a standard 3.5" IDE HDD, if so, replacing that drive with a larger one shouldn't be a problem... :)
Overall, I think the Mac mini is a positive move for Apple and it looks to be a decent product. I was definitely skeptical of the "cheap Mac" at first, but I can say I'm quite impressed at this stage.
iWork
I've never used Keynote so Keynote 2 looks interesting to me, but there's not much I can talk about there. What truly interests me is Pages - finally a MS Word replacement for OS X. I'd do anything to replace MS Office and Dreamweaver with better native OS X applications on the Mac, while still retaining full functionality. While I'm not so sure about its HTML export capabilities, Pages does look like the application that could rid my Mac of MS Word.
iPod shuffle
I'm not as excited about the iPod shuffle because it is screenless and thus you lose one of the major strengths of the iPod - its interface. That being said, I think including a slider that lets you randomize your music or play it sequentially on the actual unit itself was a very smart move.
I'm not so sure how well organizing your playlists at sync time would work simply because I can see myself forgetting the order over time. That being said, I can also see the music itself being a reminder of the order I put the songs in while I'm actually using the unit.
I'm not much of a flash based MP3 player fan but the iPod shuffle is interesting.
The rest...
The iLife updates are also interesting, but I have yet to try iMovie or iDVD so I can't truly appreciate the updates.
Anyone else have any inputs on the announcements?
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jsares - Thursday, January 13, 2005 - link
Read my post on why comparing the Mac mini to cheap and used PCs is crazy.http://macmini.blogspot.com
Jigga - Thursday, January 13, 2005 - link
I think it'd be interesting to see how the Mac mini works as Apple's initial entry into the personal media server market. I understand the 80GB drive of the top-end model is small by today's standards, but it compares favorably to Tivo, and with H.264 compression it should be adequate (don't know if the GPU can handle it though?)But imagine if Apple could build a unit with G5, 512mb RAM, built-in wireless/bluetooth, dual-layer SuperDrive, HD multichannel audio and HDMI output with a "Media Center" version of Tiger. I think that would be an instant hit and the machine to beat in the Media Center market.
yelo - Thursday, January 13, 2005 - link
Has Cnet used quoted this blog in their article?See page 2 of this article(the link goes directly there for your convience):
http://news.com.com/Mac+Mini+a+maxi+deal+Depends+w...
And, search the page for "Shimpi"...seems to be a reworked quote from this blog.
mlittl3 - Thursday, January 13, 2005 - link
For those of you who say that the Mini is not enduser upgradeable as far as memory, should go to the apple website and see the picture of the inside of the computer.http://www.apple.com/macmini/design.html
As you can see from the picture near the end of the page, there is a full size 184-pin DIMM at the side of the Mini. Simply pulling off the top of the Mini, pulling out the RAM and putting in another one would take about 3 minutes.
Unfortunately, there is only one memory slot. So you will have to replace the 256 MB with a 512 MB or 1 GB RAM stick which are both available at www.crucial.com for $81 and $227, respectively (cheaper elsewhere). The Mini uses regular DDR333 PC2700 Modules.
By the way, looking at the picture of the inside, there is no way a 3.5" drive could fit in there. It is definitely a 2.5".
hopejr - Thursday, January 13, 2005 - link
#23, thanks for the tip. I'll do that if I can't get something out of begging the retailers here in Perth, Western Australia. I'm just a bit weary about shipping from the US, but DHL is ok I've heard.Bob - Thursday, January 13, 2005 - link
Yeah, there's a USB-TOSlink adapter listed on the accessories page for the mini. Apple Store price $99, less elsewhere.Ed - Thursday, January 13, 2005 - link
SFF -- checkDVD player -- check
Available TV Tuner + DVR software-- check (ATI announced one)
DVI -- check
S-Video -- check (available seperately)
SPDIF -- ????
Whisper quiet -- supposedly
Seems like we almost have a really really good HTPC here... Does anyone know if there is an USB to SPDIF adapter that Mac OS X supports?
Ed
... : - Thursday, January 13, 2005 - link
I never thought I'd see the day [in my lifetime] that Apple would come out with a sub-$500 computer!This is truly amazing, and the engineering behind this computer is absolutely astonishing!
My first apple computer was the Cube, and that was truly an engineering marvel ... but now this?!!?
My only complaints really is that it should come with 512mb RAM standard [on all their products] .... but I guess it's not TOO big of a deal to upgrade it via apple for $75. But for their other computers [iMac, Powermac, etc.] don't buy from them, and buy it 3rd party.
Hopefully this will get a lot of people interested in OS X. Though it has it's downfalls, it truly is a very fun OS experience [and powerful]
Mephisto - Wednesday, January 12, 2005 - link
#22 hopejr What you need to do is head over to www.crucial.comChoose your country and then find the RAM you need by using their computer model selector. All very simple, reasonably priced & guaranteed to work... it's quality Micron RAM.
Good quality RAM is important for Macs - they are very selective.
hopejr - Wednesday, January 12, 2005 - link
I need to put some more RAM in my iBook. It's only got the stock 256MB, but I still like it's performance. Maybe if I put more RAM in, I would like it a lot more. Problem is, I can't find the right RAM specs anywhere other than the Apple store (none of the PC retailers here stock PC2100 SoDIMM's anymore for some reason).