Apple Unveils Mini Mac, iPod Shuffle

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2005-01-11 04:34pm

figured it'd be better to make a new topic to post the full story than clutter up the other thread.

SAN FRANCISCO - Apple Computer Inc. chief executive Steve Jobs introduced a cut-rate computer the size of a paperback on Tuesday and a tiny iPod that starts at $99, but holds fewer songs than its hard drive-based music players.

The new products seek to make inroads against the traditionally more affordable PC market and against lower-cost competitors to Apple's wildly popular iPod.

The Mini Mac computers, smaller than even some standalone external computer drives, go on sale Jan. 22. They lack a monitor, mouse and keyboard. The 40-gigabyte Mini Mac will cost $499, an 80-gigabyte model $599.

The computer comes with Apple's latest operating system, Mac OS X Panther, as well as the newest version of its iLife suite of digital media software programs, also unveiled Tuesday.

"People who are thinking of switching will have no more excuses," Jobs said during a keynote speech at Macworld and Expo. "It's the newest and most affordable Mac ever."

The product for the first time puts Apple in the budget desktop PC arena, which so far has been largely confined to personal computers that rely on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system.

Building upon the success in a rapidly growing niche that it already dominates, Apple also is rolling out two lower-priced versions of its iPod music players.

The iPod Shuffle, available immediately, is smaller than most packs of chewing gum and weighs less than an ounce.

Unlike the hard drive-based iPod Mini, it doesn't have a display. There's a scroll wheel for the controls so a user can either play the songs in order or have the device automatically shuffle stored songs in a random order.

Apple is selling two versions of the iPod Shuffle.

The smallest will have 512 megabytes of storage and cost $99. A one-gigabyte version, which holds 240 songs, will sell for $149. The lowest cost iPod is the mini, which costs $249 for four gigabytes _ enough to store about 1,000 songs

"We want to bring even more people into the digital revolution," Jobs said.

The iPod has helped infuse new life into Apple. In the past year, the Cupertino-based company's stock has tripled on strong sales of the iPod, which is emerging as one of the 21st century's first cultural icons.

Analysts expect the new iPods will help Apple hold its lead in the MP3 market.

Because many rival flash-based players have just 256 megabytes of storage, Apple is "sticking to its cut-above position," said Susan Kevorkian, an industry analyst with IDC. "There are plenty of people who want an iPod but haven't been able to afford the $249 Mini, so offering these lower-priced players allows Apple to attract not just new users but those who already own an iPod but want an even smaller version."

With the Mac Mini, Jobs is setting out to expand Apple's 3 percent share of the U.S. computer market.

Apple shares fell $3.88, or 5.6 percent, to $65.08 in late afternoon trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2005-01-11 05:22pm

It's "iPod", not "Ipod".

Laird · Post by **Laird** » 2005-01-11 05:23pm

http://www.apple.com/macmini/

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2005-01-11 05:26pm

Durandal wrote:It's "iPod", not "Ipod".

bah. close enough.

corrected for correctedness.

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2005-01-11 05:33pm

Once agian if was not "Ugly White" Mr Jobs would have impressed me

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2005-01-11 05:40pm

I've been drooling over the Mac Mini all morning

Laird · Post by **Laird** » 2005-01-11 06:52pm

Praxis wrote:I've been drooling over the Mac Mini all morning

Only thing stopping me from buying one is the underpowered (non upgradeable video card) and wussy CPU.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2005-01-11 07:34pm

Laird wrote:
Praxis wrote:I've been drooling over the Mac Mini all morning
Only thing stopping me from buying one is the underpowered (non upgradeable video card) and wussy CPU.

The CPU isn't that bad at all. The video card is the depressing thing

Hamel · Post by **Hamel** » 2005-01-11 07:56pm

Pitiful amount of slow ram.

The Shuffle looks like something I'd get though.

Vohu Manah · Post by **Vohu Manah** » 2005-01-11 08:05pm

I'm waiting to ambush my wife and get her reaction about the iPod Shuffle, though I'm pretty sure I know what it is (she'll still want her Mini).

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2005-01-11 08:31pm

Praxis wrote:The CPU isn't that bad at all. The video card is the depressing thing

A 1.25GHz G4 is weak, especially when coupled to its SDR FSB. For its target audience it isn't bad, however, but 256MB of RAM is puny. I'd rather not have to pay the Apple Tax to go to 512MB, especially on a non-user-servicable case.

Vohu Manah · Post by **Vohu Manah** » 2005-01-11 08:40pm

phongn wrote:
Praxis wrote:The CPU isn't that bad at all. The video card is the depressing thing
A 1.25GHz G4 is weak, especially when coupled to its SDR FSB. For its target audience it isn't bad, however, but 256MB of RAM is puny. I'd rather not have to pay the Apple Tax to go to 512MB, especially on a non-user-servicable case.

This clearly isn't marketed for you, me, and many others on SD. This would be an appropriate system for my father or father-in-law. Both would love a system that just works, and that is what this is. Could the specs be better? Yes, but they don't really need it to be at that price.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2005-01-11 08:43pm

phongn wrote:
Praxis wrote:The CPU isn't that bad at all. The video card is the depressing thing
A 1.25GHz G4 is weak, especially when coupled to its SDR FSB. For its target audience it isn't bad, however, but 256MB of RAM is puny. I'd rather not have to pay the Apple Tax to go to 512MB, especially on a non-user-servicable case.

This is marketted as more of a low end system. Hey, I'd rather have a 1.25 GHz G4 than a 2 GHz Celeron in equivilant Dell's. *shiver*

Yeah, I know about the RAM, but Apple puts 256 on *everything* below $1999...sucks, don't it?
Then again, most Dells at $499 also have 256 MB.

I usually grab third-party memory for Macs, but I think this has only one RAM slot

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2005-01-11 08:44pm

Vohu Manah wrote:
phongn wrote:
Praxis wrote:The CPU isn't that bad at all. The video card is the depressing thing
A 1.25GHz G4 is weak, especially when coupled to its SDR FSB. For its target audience it isn't bad, however, but 256MB of RAM is puny. I'd rather not have to pay the Apple Tax to go to 512MB, especially on a non-user-servicable case.
This clearly isn't marketed for you, me, and many others on SD. This would be an appropriate system for my father or father-in-law. Both would love a system that just works, and that is what this is. Could the specs be better? Yes, but they don't really need it to be at that price.

Exactly. I would want this for my father as well, after he had to throw out his old virus-infested windows-rotted PC of old. Sadly, he just got a new PC

Drooling Iguana · Post by **Drooling Iguana** » 2005-01-11 10:16pm

The Minimac would be really cool if it had TV out. And a folding, wireless keyboard/touchpad combo of some sort.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2005-01-11 11:17pm

I don't get Minis already; Shuffles are even wierder. $100- 256Mb? Madness.

I'm mad though; I want an iPod with better hardware so I can plug a widget into the bus and stream movies through AV. Photo iPod is just teasing.

darthdavid · Post by **darthdavid** » 2005-01-11 11:21pm

http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/

2 Do not eat iPod shuffle.

Post by **Beowulf** » 2005-01-11 11:27pm

Stark wrote:I don't get Minis already; Shuffles are even wierder. $100- 256Mb? Madness.

512 MB. And I paid $80 for 256 MB mp3 player not too long ago. And Minis are cheap small Macs. I can very much see businesses buying them, among others.

Quadlok · Post by **Quadlok** » 2005-01-12 12:42am

Beowulf wrote:
Stark wrote:I don't get Minis already; Shuffles are even wierder. $100- 256Mb? Madness.
512 MB. And I paid $80 for 256 MB mp3 player not too long ago. And Minis are cheap small Macs. I can very much see businesses buying them, among others.

and don't forget, its a usb drive too. So if you ad the $80 you spent for the 256 MB mp3 player to the $25 or so you'd spend on a 256 MB flashdrive, you see this is quite the deal.

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2005-01-12 12:59am

Quadlok wrote:
Beowulf wrote:
Stark wrote:I don't get Minis already; Shuffles are even wierder. $100- 256Mb? Madness.
512 MB. And I paid $80 for 256 MB mp3 player not too long ago. And Minis are cheap small Macs. I can very much see businesses buying them, among others.
and don't forget, its a usb drive too. So if you ad the $80 you spent for the 256 MB mp3 player to the $25 or so you'd spend on a 256 MB flashdrive, you see this is quite the deal.

Thank bob for the marketplace as Creative already makes a Similar product, the MuVo line inculdes the handy feature of an acutal LCD display screen, more controls and USB 2.0, AND-da they toss in a FM tuner, features along with that FM tuner plus they offer them all the way up to one gig

This is not the same as the orgional IPOD, IE an MP3 player which was supiror to everything on the market aviable, this new Shuffle is mearly a smart business move rather than a revolution of any kind

Robert Treder · Post by **Robert Treder** » 2005-01-12 01:59am

I don't understand the Ipod Shuffle - did the Ipod not have a "random" option?

I like that it plugs directly into the computer, though. That's cool.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2005-01-12 02:20am

The iPod Shuffle is basically a USB keychain drive with a free digital music player attached. 512 MB USB keychains go for something like $79. The iPod Shuffle 512 MB is $99. That's one hell of a deal. If I ever get in the market for a keychain drive, it'll be the iPod Shuffle.

As for the miniMac ... no, it's not going to sate the lusts of power users. It's for Windows users who had a good experience with the iPod and would like to dip their toes in the Macintosh world. There are plenty of PC geeks out there who really want to try OS X, but were turned off by the AIO option in the low-end and the exorbitant cost of the towers in the high end. This would be just fine for them, as well. A 1.25 GHz G4 with a Radeon 9200 will run OS X more than adequately. I ran Panther on a 733 MHz G4 with a Radeon 8500, and Exposé was smooth.

Another target audience are developers who want to play with Mac development tools but simply have no more room on their desks for another box. This thing is KVM-friendly. I could literally put the thing on top of my tower and have another box at my disposal. The size makes it incredibly versatile and able to fit in with just about any desk arrangement.

Which makes it great for you-know-who: the enterprise. Small, cheap, easy-to-deploy boxes. Just swap the tower that's there now for something that'll fit in a keyboard tray. No need to replace the keyboard or mouse, unless they're PS/2, which most are not these days.

Look for a migration of this line toward a set-top box. You can already get an adaptor for video out to hook it up to a TV, and a DVI-ready HDTV will plug into it as well. Putting S/PDIF output in the next revision would cement that. But honestly, I could even do it right now. Get one of these puppies, some sort of USB or FireWire audio box (like an M-Audio Sonica), Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and you're set. You can watch DVDs, DivX/XviD/3ivx AVIs, movie trailers, give slideshows, presentations, etc ... Hell, you could even put a Super Nintendo and Nintendo emulator on there and turn it into a pseudo-console.

Because honestly, HTPC is a good concept. But it failed from the hardware end. No one wants to have a god damn tower next to their TV in the living room.

Most importantly, what this keynote showed is that Apple has finally realized that there is money to be made in volume. They don't have to retain these ridiculously high margins. Hopefully this trend will seep into the iMac and PowerMac line. (The iBooks and PowerBooks are already reasonably priced.) With a good alternative to that piece of garbage Microsoft Word, they're on their way to becoming a good enterprise alternative.

darthdavid · Post by **darthdavid** » 2005-01-12 02:35am

Durandal wrote:*snip*

With FOSS alread edging in on MS from the tech savvy side the minimac could really speed up their (ms's) fall from power because it finally offers an alternative to X86 Windoze Boxen that isn't really expensive. Plus OSX looks like the kind of thing that even Joe Sixpack could figure out (I myself don't know as I've never used it. But from screen shots I've seen, user stories I've heard and this setup guide that came with some network product of mine or another that had an OSX setup tutorial (it had /alot/ less steps than the 'doze tutorial) in it it appears to be an easy OS to learn).

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2005-01-12 02:43am

Durandal wrote: As for the miniMac ... no, it's not going to sate the lusts of power users. It's for Windows users who had a good experience with the iPod and would like to dip their toes in the Macintosh world. There are plenty of PC geeks out there who really want to try OS X, but were turned off by the AIO option in the low-end and the exorbitant cost of the towers in the high end. This would be just fine for them, as well. A 1.25 GHz G4 with a Radeon 9200 will run OS X more than adequately. I ran Panther on a 733 MHz G4 with a Radeon 8500, and Exposé was smooth.

\

Yep, I'm thinking about getting one myself with a KVM switch just for this purpose. I'll take the plunge to 512MB of Ram though.

Because honestly, HTPC is a good concept. But it failed from the hardware end. No one wants to have a god damn tower next to their TV in the living room.

Apple is too behind in this area to catch up easily. Microsoft's Windows Media Center Edition is now a mature product, not to mention with all the third-party support. Plus, I still have yet to see Apple make one of these:

That's a fully integrated Dothan system with a removable hard drive, Component outputs, DVI, Optical out (with probable Dolby Digital Live! support), and an HDTV CABLE tuner. Apple's going to have to really work hard to duplicate the finess that companies like Shuttle have in the SFF market.

Crayz9000 · Post by **Crayz9000** » 2005-01-12 03:49am

I'm just hoping that puppy won't overheat like the Apple III did. Doesn't look like it'll have much airflow (less than the G4 Cube did from what I remember).