|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
OHANA SPONSORS LOCAL RECOMMENDED
Last update:
This work is licensed under a |
Try see: http://www.macworld.com/2005/01/news/minioverview/index.php?lsrc=mcrss-0105
3:26:22 PM
Wally-World sells flat-panel displays, probably made in a cow shed in Korea, for less then $129, but lets move up to the $299 models just to ensure that light continues to come out the front for longer than it takes to boot up. Old fashioned CRT displays can be got for less than $100 but, why bother. Cheap is one thing, retro-silly yet another.
Now we're up to $700. Keyboards and mouses come off the shelf for less than $50. While it's often cheaper to buy a cordless mouse than one with wires I still don't understand why one would involve batteries, infrared ports and all those extra bits just to unleash a device that never goes more than twelve inches from what it's plugged in to. This is one of those ideas who's time should never have come. Add a pair of speakers for about $20 so you can hear it beep and we're at $775 or so.
Finally, the obligatory RAM must be included. You don't get to vote. A 512m strip o' chip should set you back about $150 for grande total of $950, less tax, tips and bribes.
Checking into the on-line Apple Store though, you'll find that a complete eMac system with a 40-gig drive, the same 'combo' CD-burner-DVD player, a very good keyboard and mouse, that bright and beautiful 17" CRT display, speakers and an extra USB port sells for just $799. Hmmm?!
The only upgrade required for a stock eMac is an additional 512 megs of RAM which brings the price to a staggering $950 for well-designed all-in-one white box with matching bits. An additional $100 gets a DVD burner, available only as a special order option on the Mac Mini. Now you're out the door with a complete eMac system for $1,050.00 and change. Hmmm nui?!
Ok, so the Mac Mini is obviously designed for people who already have some parts laying about from either a mortified Mac or a posthumous PC. It does make sense to give such leftovers a better second chance at life by plopping a Mini in their midst.
Or, the Mini is aimed at the cold, dark hearts of those misers among us who are only happy if everything they buy costs less than dirt. Such shylocks have previously purchased PCs because they were feckin' dirt cheap. The average functional life of this trash is often less than that of a post- orgasmic cicada. But now the techo-tightwads can get a reliable Mac Mini that will stay up while the rest of their system erodes into toxic landfill.
While I still think the Mac Mini is a brilliant box with a bright future, this little white box seems to exist more to light up the tech journalists and extinguish the myth that Macs are expensive than to provide a viable option to the existing products. So, if you're looking for a brand new system with all the parts, there are better options for the buck.
PS; Looking at the enclosed picture I realized that Apple seems to have once again pulled the same trick they did with the 'Cube' by never mentioning the external power thingy which hanga subtly off the edge. This is one reason why the Mini is so mini - there's no internal power supply or the bulky fans required to cool it. At least Apple's 'wall warts' have a standard cord so they don't take up three pukas on your powerstrip. Now if HP would only pay attention...
8:34:16 AM
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Logging into the nexus of all things cheap and sleazy, it was found that WalMart.com sold everything necessary to turn a Mini into a working computer. We're not talking about building an elegant and ergonomic Mac workstation, but rather a seriously cheap-ass Macinstine from parts that even Dell might hesitate to include in their disposable Intel kits.