Closing the book on Apple's Mac mini

[Nils Holland]

On 25.05.2007, at 13:08, Matt Johnston wrote:

> The Intel Mac minis have all been lacklustre compared to their PPC  
> equivalents. Overpriced certainly.
>
> A better solution FOR ME would be to end the Mac mini.
>
> And reintroduce a single PCIe, mini-tower. With on board graphics.  
> And the option for a kick ass graphics card...or any other PCIe  
> card you might decide to put in.

Well, I'd second that! When the Mini disappears, something else (and  
something better) would certainly have to take its place. Actually,  
I've switched several PC users to the Mac pointing them towards the  
Mini. As Matt said, it - especially the Intel-incarnation - is not so  
much real value for money, but my impression has been this: People,  
especially long time PC users, don't want an iMac. They don't want a  
machine where the screen is built in. What they want instead is a  
normal tower-based computer, with the possibility to hook up a bigger  
display later if required, or just exchange (or upgrade) the machine  
and keep using the same display. The Mini was neither upgradable very  
much, nor did it excel in performance, but it was kind of affordable  
and neat. Perfect entry into the Mac segment for PC users.

So, what are the options when the Mini is dropped? Convincing people  
buying their first Mac that an all-in-one iMac is a good idea is kind  
of hard. And the Mac Pro - well, quite a bit expensive and  
overpowered for ordinary home users (also consider the machine's  
power consumption and sheer size!). So, most people wouldn't buy a  
Mac Pro, and I probably wouldn't even advise them to do so.

How, then, do we get PC users over to the Mac in the future? Well,  
for that purpose, I'd really like to see a kind of small (but not too  
small) headless machine with some limited expandability options. Just  
like most normal PCs are being sold. I've never understood why Apple  
doesn't offer a machine like that, because I'm sure it'd be a huge  
success.

Yes, I've been quite happy with Apple's notebook section lately and  
have had no problem getting people looking to buy a portable computer  
to become friends with either the MBP or MB, but on the desktop -  
well - I've occasionally had doubts about Apple's current offerings...

Greetings,
Nils