POSTED IN GADGETRY...

January 11, 2005

Apple spits out predicted gizmos

To the surprise of no-one (who reads the rumor sites), Apple reased the Mac Mini, the iPod Shuffle and iWork today. I've already got a Powerbook and an iPod, so the first two doodads aren't of much use to me. I'd like to see iWork in action, though. But I'm only one fruity Mac user amongst many on this site. So expostulate in the comment section, people! :)

9 comment(s) so far (Post your own)

1

On January 11, 2005 10:34 PM, Warren Frey said:

The Mac mini is kinda cool, I just don't need it. What of you lot?

2

On January 12, 2005 12:29 AM, cam c. said:

I like the size of the Mac mini, and the price is pretty good too... usually you pay more for small; this machine has a fairly good load of features.

The real downside of this whole product announcement blitz (other than the cheezy name of the new MP3 player) is that a bunch of folks who helped build the buzz on all this are now looking at lawsuits for "disclosing trade secrets"... real smart...

3

On January 12, 2005 1:02 AM, ChuckD said:

same boat here Frey, mini looks cool and is practical for switchers, iPod without a screen seems a tad silly though, good battery life for the price range though.

4

On January 12, 2005 6:04 AM, Steven said:

Four people at work are already trying to sell their old macs to get the mini, the shuffle is also a hot item around the office. The lack of a screen is a bit weird, but it is the "shuffle". iLife 05 looks cool with all the HD upgrades.

5

On January 12, 2005 6:42 AM, Warren Frey said:

I have too many tunes to make a flash player a good idea (2500 at last count), but as flash players go, it looks pretty nice.

If I had an old iMac, or even if I was still in the land of the PC, I'd seriously consider the Mac Mini. I know a certain stingy Scandanavian is indignant that they didn't include a G5, a terabyte of memory and HD-Betacam connectors on this budget rig, but hey, them's the breaks! :)

6

On January 12, 2005 7:07 AM, Warren Frey said:

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/images/iProduct.gif

Pretty much sums up the Apple Whore experience...:)

7

On January 12, 2005 7:41 AM, Warren Frey said:

And, just to be fair...

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/images/AppleHaters.gif

8

On January 12, 2005 5:08 PM, lillerant said:

OK, finally home so I can comment.

I was initially jazzed about the Mac Mini. Would almost consider one. Then I turned on my brain. I'm not the kind of guy who would be happy with a Mac Mini. I'm a G5 tower guy. $499 would be the "impluse purchase" price for me--in Canadian funds. Not $629. And for 256Mb or RAM? With no DVD drive? By the time I've punched it up to acceptable parameters, it's nearly a grand. That's waaaay out of impulse purchase land.

A G4 would be nothing but a play-toy to me. I think I'd rather get a G5 iMac to be honest. But then by that time you should really drop the coin on a tower.

*sigh*

Looks like no mac in *my* future for a while.

And don't get me started on "shuffle". What a brilliant way to MARKET a product's shortcomings. "Shuffle your life!" (because you'll have no clue what song is next--even if you'd like to know!)

9

On January 12, 2005 5:16 PM, Warren Frey said:

Oh, I agree, the ipod shuffle is kinda dumb. It's a flash drive/USB storage device, and it's nice looking, but the shuffle is pure marketing bumph. Bumph people will buy into, but bumph nonetheless.

As for the Mac mini, they aren't targeting it at guys like you. It's a "I'm in the Best Buy and the Mac sure is purty" purchase. It'll do word processing, movies, music and the like - and that's what it'll get used for by 99% of the public. It'll play DVDs, and burn CDs, and supposedly you can upgrade it to a Superdrive if you want. They aren't targeting the "bargain hunting Norwegian/Hong Kong" market, and for good reason; they're both well-nigh unpleasable groups unless you give them a BMW with a Yugo price tag. :)

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