Is Apple dumping the Mac mini?

[bullwinkle428]

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/05/24/closing_the_book_on_apples_mac_mini.html

Damn, just when I was on the verge of purchasing one! The only thing that held me back to this point were the rumors circulating that hardware upgrades were right around the corner, but then when the MacBooks were upgraded last week without any mention of the mini, I started to wonder. I still might go ahead and just buy it in its current form, as it's still the cheapest way to make that leap from a frustrated long-time MS user into something completely different. Any advice from Mac users here?

[Elwood P Dowd]

1. You should find some good deals if they do discontinue the Mini.

I owned one a couple of years ago and only sold it because I found a great deal on an iBook. It's a fantastic little computer if you have at least one gig of RAM running Tiger. Not bad running Panther with 512.

My nephew purchased one when his Dell broke for the 3d time last fall. He loves it and will never go back to a Windows PC. Took me 7 years to convince him to try an Apple product.

[bullwinkle428]

3. I definitely planned on getting 1G of RAM with it - that seems to be

an almost universal recommendation amongst users, from the sites I've visited. It obviously runs beautifully with the Tiger OS; my concern is that it would still hopefully run well with the upcoming Lepoard OS. I absolutely insist on replacing my old Dell running on Windows 98 with something that runs Apple's OS, and that would have to be a Mac product. I'm normally a pretty patient person, but my old PC is such a dog, running like molasses in January...

[Poiuyt]

2. This has been rumored for some time

I've heard some salesmen say that it's not selling too well. Here is a thread at the 123macmini site:

http://www.123macmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12556

In other news, Apple may be dropping the 17" iMac:

http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0705imac.html

[bullwinkle428]

4. Regarding sales, the funny thing is that one of the posters on an Apple

site yesterday checked out sales of Apple products at Amazon, and the base $599 mini was the 2nd most popular in terms of units sold behind the 17" iMac, so it strikes me as odd that they would drop it on that basis. There were LOTS of negative comments after this rumor came out yesterday; specifically along the lines of "Apple is looking to gain market share, with Vista laying a turd like it is, and the mini gives Windows users a cheap way to experience the joys of an Apple OS...a 'gateway drug', if you will."

[rocktivity]

5. DING DING DING! Bullwinkle, you're our grand prize winner!

"...with Vista laying a turd...the Mini gives Windows users a cheap way to experience the joys of an Apple OS--a 'gateway drug', if you will."

Well, that's all the Mac Mini was ever meant to be--veterans like us weren't the target market. I didn't buy one because I would have had to replace too many of my peripherals--I turned my 233hz G3 into a 1000hz G4 instead. And what with the fall and decline of the Vista empire, you'd think that Apple would be jumping at the chance to seduce a "new generation" of disgruntled PC-ers.

:shrug:
rocknation

[moggie]

6. And that may point to the source of the rumour

I don't follow the Apple rumour mill myself, but it wouldn't surprise me to learn that this rumour originated in Redmond...

[Captain Angry]

7. I hope the mini doesn't die.

It was my first Apple product since the Apple IIgs.

I swore I'd never give them money again after the way they torpedoed the Apple II owners.

But the Mini fulfilled all of my needs, and I am typing this from it right now. I bought the first revision PPC model of the Mini when it was released. I would consider giving it to my folks and getting a 3rd generation Mini if one is released. But only if it stays at such a silent and low power consuming configuration.

[alfredo]

9. The Mini is a MacBook, so even if it is dropped, parts

won't be a problem.

[bullwinkle428]

8. It's funny - I just came back to this sub-forum for the first time

in over a month, and see that my thread just got bumped! Anyway, in the interim, my old Dell suffered some fatal error as the result of a virus, and I had a local PC repair/builder wipe the hard drive clean, re-install Windows, and install the free AVG anti-virus software after he saved all of my e-mails, pics, and music.

It's running better than it has in years, which at least buys me a little more time to make that decision on a new Mac. At this rate, I'm now leaning towards getting a MacBook later in the fall, following the release of Leopard, assuming nothing earth-shaking is announced regarding an updated Mac Mini...

[bullwinkle428]

10. Shameless bump!! APPLE UPDATES MAC MINI!!!

-price of each model remains the same

-Core Duo processor dumped in favor of Core 2 Duo with more power :woohoo:

-base level of RAM bumped from 512 MB to 1 GB :headbang:

-iLife '08 now included vs. iLife '07

Now I have to think...buy one now, or wait for Leopard? :think:

[alfredo]

11. I'm going to wait for leopard. the $799 model is the one I

want to buy.