Mac Mini has huge potential for Apple
Hardware News, Opinions - Speculations January 23rd, 2005
Mac Mini has huge potential for Apple
Apple is doing great as a music company. It has practically thrown off Sony from the music player market as digital players take over the initiative from cassette players and CD players. Sony had to make a major change in policy when they opened their Walkman player to the popular MP3 format. Apple has until now sold more than 10 million iPods along with more than 200 million songs from their iTunes music store.
The problem with this is that Apple seemed to be ignoring the Personal Computer market. Their share is miniscule, as few people prefer Apple to Wintel computers. One of the major reasons behind this has been Apple’s policy to keep a tight control over the manufacturing of Apple Computers. They are expensive and people have little option but to opt for cheaper PC versions.
Apple has taken some big steps to counter this with their announcement of Mac Mini. The 500 dollar Macintosh comes without basic necessities like a monitor mouse or keyboard. However, it is what people like, affordable. Especially for people who already have a PC with the components which Apple is not supplying with the original package. Many iPod fans who were stuck with PC are now planning to switch over which would be great news for Apple and Steve Jobs.
Another advantage that Mac Mini comes with is its miniature size. It comes as a refreshing change to the normal PC Cabinets, which take a lot of space. The 2 inch tall Mac Mini has enough power to counter any routine application a user can throw at it. Apple fans are seeing it as more than just a computer. I can already see guides on how to convert the mini into a media center and lot more on the internet. With the compactness it comes with, it can give a direct competition to Microsoft’s similar Media Center Computers. This can hurt Microsoft in a market that is still emerging and is yet to reach its peak.
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Good Article. One thing that it might be good to mention is that the keyboard and mouse connectors on the Mac mini are USB. If your old units are PS/2 then you can get an adaptor for under 10 dollars and still use them. Another great option is to buy a KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) switch. That way you can have both your PC and the Mac mini hooked up at once and switch between them with just a flick of a switch.
Oh and one more thing. Another great aspect of the Mac Mini is all the free software that comes with it. When you buy a Mac mini you also get included for free:
The iLife fully integrated suite (iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iTunes, and Garage Band) for dealing with photos, movies, and music - playing or making your own.
Appleworks for word processing and spreadsheets (and which can save documents in a Microsoft Office compatible format),
Quicken 2005 to manage your finances and balance your checkbook,
Address book software which also prints labels,
the iSync syncronization software to sync your calendar and addresses with your phone or PDA,
The Safari Internet browser software (which also blocks popups),
Email software which is also integrated with iPhoto and the Address book,
Calendar/Scheduling software,
and my favorite - iChat AV - free video conferencing software which can go to full screen, and is smooth with perfect voice video synchronization. (you can also connect to PCs with this)
They even throw in a couple of games in (Nanosaur 2 and Marble Blast Gold).
Plus all this is running on OS X which doesn’t have all the problems with malware (while there are over 70,000 windows viruses in the world right now, there are currently zero (yes, that is right, zero) viruses in the wild for OS X). OS X is also inherently more secure so even if someone comes up with a virus in the future it would be very difficult to have it spread or cause as much damage as some of the Windows viruses have.
There is also a Mac version of Microsoft Office (if you can’t get by with Appleworks) and its files are fully cross compatible between Macs and PCs. This, however, is not included and will have to be bought separately.
i think ppl are getting hooked into somthing which basicly is a bit shit. a seminal white box that goes with your seminal ipod. 600 dollers there. if you have a old monitor..? no i dont. old keyboard. no. its about making money ppl. and you are the suckers. can it play games? is it good at doing anything apart from being a very expensive dvd/music player. Trust microsoft. i tunes is bad. i pods make me sick. Although giving one to a girl might be the best idea i can think of. hmmmm white and shiney. Its a money making scheme yet ppl make out the apple some kind of siants. There just tapping into your subconcoius and f#cking with it. IPod how about ISick.
Make a great little server wouldn’t it? Small but powerful. G4 dosen’t toast things. Some guys are een colocating them in data centers. http://www.macminicolo.net