George Graves
On Wed, 14 May 2008 08:27:19 -0700, Glorb wrote (in article <c3e60$482b04d7$6599@news.teranews.com>):

Glorb
Mayor of R'lyeh wrote:

Mayor Of R'lyeh
On Tue, 13 May 2008 22:30:08 GMT, me4@privacy.net (Wayne Stuart) wrote:

Wayne Stuart
ZnU <znu@fake.invalid>wrote:

ZnU
In article <r81i2493mg7ii0vqdtv8m1o2k08vko0vnp@4ax.com>, Mayor of R'lyeh <mayor.of.rlyeh@gmail.com>wrote:

Mayor Of R'lyeh
On Mon, 12 May 2008 14:57:49 -0700, George Graves <gmgraves2@comcast.net>wrote:

George Graves
On Mon, 12 May 2008 13:18:23 -0700, ZnU wrote (in article <znu-5B168E.16182312052008@news.individual.net>):

ZnU
Will they do it? I don't see them having much interest, at the moment. But who anticipated the Mac mini, introduced as a $500 Mac when the cheapest Mac was previously nearly twice that price, or the Xserve, a product targeted at a market in which Apple had previously shown no interest at all?

George Graves
The thing is that any computer designed to compete in that space would have to be more computer than the Mini. Let's face it, for the cost of a Mini one can buy or build a Windows box with near Mac tower performance and capability. Not that the Mini isn't useful, it certainly is, it just doesn't stack-up, hardware wise, very well against similar priced Winbox offerings. It's main appeal is that it runs OSX. This makes it worthwhile to those who value OSX, but to our local Windroids and Winscum here, many of which have never even seen, much less used OSX (Edwin), the Mini merely looks overpriced.

Mayor Of R'lyeh
Mac user (at work anyway) here to say that the Mini is grossly overpriced for what it is. If the higher end Mini were priced at $500 and the lower end one at $300 they'd be flying out the doors.

ZnU
It's priced quite well for a small form-factor system, but many buyers probably don't care much about the form factor. Apple could make the thing a fair bit cheaper by just making it a bit larger, so it wouldn't have to use laptop RAM and optical & hard drives.

(Though it's also worth noting the Mac mini hasn't seen an update in something like nine months -- it'll probably be much more competitive after the next update. Though that will probably take the form of better specs at the same price points. Unless it has been so long since the last update because Apple is up to something....)

Wayne Stuart
Maybe if the Mini had been a bigger seller, Apple would have put more effort into keeping it fresh. But everything I've seen points to the Mini has always been considerably outsold by the much more expensive iMac.

You also have to wonder if this has been sending a message that people aren't particularly interested in cheap Macs, so no point making an even cheaper one.

Mayor Of R'lyeh
What people are interested in is a $500 Mac that has the same features as a $500 PC, not a $500 Mac that matches the $198 PCs on Wal-Mart's website. As I keep pointing out its not the price point, its the value.

Glorb
I agree. ** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

George Graves
Depends upon one's definition of value.

I hate to resort to car analogies,

but in spite of the fact that some people here dislike them intensely, they work because they are easy to understand.

I can buy a car for a lot less than a Lamborghini that's faster than a Lamborghini.

I can also buy a car for a lot less than a Lamborghini that has more seats, more luggage capacity, more cup holders, more features like On Star, and satellite radio, gets better gas milage, weighs more, has a more stylish interior, and cost less to maintain. Does that make the Lambo a poor value? Not at all. It makes it appeal to a different clientele than does a Cadillac Esplanade or a Corvette.

The Mini appeals to people who have no use for a Windows PC of the same price or less, no matter how much better a processor, more memory, bigger hard drive or more software it comes bundled with.

That makes such comparisons moot. I might, conceivably buy a Mini, I would never buy one of these similar priced or even cheaper Windows machines even if it were faster and more fully loaded than the fastest Mac one can buy, because I have no use for a Windows machine.