Big deal. An overpriced leather case for the iPod, a Bose-like dock for the iPod, and worst of all, they are no longer offer a sub-$500 computer. If you want the gory details, the Apple product pages are updated and the Apple Store is back up and running and eager to steal take your money. The one announcement that didn’t seem so bad was the introduction of some new music sharing features into Frontrow (which will be released as an update to all those who have Macs with Frontrow).
New Mac Mini/Frontrow
iPod Hi-Fi
Leather case for iPod
Well, I hope they have something better planned for April 1st. Maybe some new iBooks and more MacBook Pro flavors? Possibly a true Video iPod? Let the speculating resume.
Ooh, even worse…the comments over at engadget claim they even regressed to an onboard video card with shared ram in the new minis. Nasty.
also, you know it wasn’t an impressive launch day when you don’t need to download a new version of itunes.
And, when there is no “One More Thing…”
As far as the Mini, even with onbard vid, it would be hard to not see the new Mini as an improvement. Faster bus speeds, 2 Ram slots (instead of 1), wireless and bluetooth standard, IR remote, 4 USB ports (instead of 2), etc. I just think they should have kept with the $499 base-model price. The price was probably the single most compelling feature of the Mini.
Yeah, I know, it is a lot more bang for your buck, it’s just, as you point out, a lot more bucks. That psychological $500 barrier shouldn’t have been fscked with.
Mini pricetag sucks.
iPod HiFi sucks. I mean, come on, would it have been that hard to make it look nicer? Most people would have this on a bookshelf, which means no room to dock the ipod on top.
Leather Case…. BAHAHAHAHA. I got an awesome leather case that actually flips open to let me use the thing for a third what they want.
The thing that bothers me about it is that it isn’t all that different than offerings from other companies. I mean, how difficult would it have been for them to add some wireless capability… maybe built-in Airport Express or something. I understand why they are doing this… I mean, ALOT of money is made in the iPod accessories game, and Apple wants a piece. But, this feels a bit rushed.
As far as the mini, not a bad computer, but again, as Dave mentioned, there is something about offering a sub-$500 computer. I know Apple loves healthy margings, but I feel like they could have done something to avoid the price-hike. Maybe not use the latest procs from Intel in the base model. Maybe something in the Celeron family (if feasible).
Oh well. The next round of announcements should come on April 1st, and since it is Apple’s 30th I suspect the announcements will be a bit more interesting.
No, I suspect a big part of their partnership with Intel is that they will pimp the shit out of the Core Solo and Duo brand. Dunno where else they could have cut corners, though. Read commentary on other sites, and they said that while the graphics chipset is shit for gaming, it does have lots of decoder acceleration, the kind you’d need to decode dvd, mpeg4, and the like. So I dunno quite where else they could have skimped.
And yeah, the boombox really doesn’t look much different from the 3rd party stuff out there. A little heftier, maybe, but it’s still got that “all things bow down before the glory of the ipod” feel you get by putting the fucking dock on top like an asshole. I’m sure that effect is intentional, too.
You figure maybe they’re holding back some of the good stuff for April?
Ahh, hadn’t thought about the pimping Intel goods aspect with regards to the Mac mini. In addition, there has been some speculation that Apple is “downclocking” the Intel Core Solo, since there doesn’t appear to be a 1.5GHz Solo on the Intel site (only the 1.66Ghz). bizarre.
in webcomic form