Thursday, May 24, 2007

[Apple News/RUMOR] Apple Insider calls the Death of the Mac mini...

Over at Apple Insider, one of their writers today decided to call the Mac mini a dead product line. In an industry that is always full of wild predictions, they decided to call it now, so that in whatever time allotted by Apple for the product's lifespan, they can say that they said it first. Honestly that's all it feels like. But then I'm the kind of guy who REALLY dislikes folks like this...what I like to call "Chicken Littlers"...who find ways to call the demise of a product or person just to see if they can make an impact. (Like that faulty iPhone "insider" post I mentioned last week.)

While they like to point out that the Apple TV is taking over the Mac mini slot in Apple's retinue, there's no general proof of that. They also assert that the Mac mini hasn't seen regular upgrades, because Apple doesn't really care about the sub$800 computer market. That Apple ONLY made the Mac mini to appease shareholders who cried out for a that could compete in that "tiny" market. I'm with the majority of folks I've spoken to about this in believing that thttp://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifhe Apple TV and the Mac mini will likely merge into something together. Heck, pull the DVD drive out of it...more HDD space! It's all possible.

I honestly beg to differ...as do many others I speak with daily. The Mac mini is a great computer (lord knows our office runs on them...I'm on a 2.33GHz intel core 2 duo with 2Gigs of memory) that doesn't need a ton of support and revisions. I honestly believe that it was conceived as a computer that they wouldn't need to continually update. Ever since I first encountered the Mac mini in 2005, I was impressed...brings back memories...

"THAT is your computer?" I exclaimed at my friend/co-worker Kevin. "Yeah," he said. "Everything I could ever need in something smaller than my toaster." He proceeded to turn it off in seconds, unhook everything attached, and then show me how it fit into his shoulder bag. "All I need is a monitor/keyboard setup both here at the office and at home...and I'm cool."

I was amazed that day...and to this day appreciate everything the Mac mini has to offer. Simplicity, frugality, small-in-stature-but-strong-on-delivery...and hey, who doesn't almost always have an extra monitor around to plug it into? Honestly, I'm in agreement with the folks over at Ars Technica, when I think it's not the death of the sub$800 market...it's a declination in desktops. People are purchasing laptops at a frightening rate, and they may be considered the wave of the future. (Great, just what I need, some jerk on the bus next to me playing WoW.)

Anything is possible...however let's all not spend our times telling each other "I told you so!" We're better than that. :)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Spot on!!!