[opendtv] The New Mac Mini is All About Movies
- From: Monty Solomon <monty@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: undisclosed-recipient: ;
- Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2005 02:32:45 -0500
January 20, 2005
Mini Me
The New Mac Mini is All About Movies
By Robert X. Cringely
Steve Jobs is so enigmatic. A couple weeks ago at MacWorld, he
introduced the 2.9 lb. Mac Mini and the reaction was so great it was
like he had re-invented the PC. Readers are all excited by the little
box and have been asking me for my take on it. Like everyone else, I
had to scratch my head a bit and ponder what this thing is really
for. I know, I know, it is for all those PC drivers who bought an
iPod and are now supposed to trash their Windows PC for a Mac Mini.
Yeah, but what's it REALLY for? Movies.
The Mac Mini is one of Apple's trademark technology repackaging jobs.
There ought to be nothing inherently exciting about the little box.
It isn't especially powerful. You can buy smaller Windows and Linux
machines. You can buy cheaper Windows machines from all the big
brands. Yet the Mac Mini has people excited and those other PCs
mainly don't. Some of it is industrial design -- it just looks cool.
Some of it is commercial psychology: by forgetting the keyboard and
mouse Apple not only saved money, it invented a whole new computer
configuration between a barebones box and a complete system. Other
keyboard-and-mouseless systems will soon appear from other vendors, I
promise you, but they'll just be seen as copies.
I'll buy one. I have an old 400 MHz iMac in the kitchen that is
begging to be replaced. Lots of Mac users will buy a Mini just to
have one, which is why Jobs didn't really have to tell a big story to
explain the little box, nor did he (yet) have to follow the
aggressive pricing plan I suggested in my 2005 predictions. He'll
sell the first half million just on exuberant inertia. But then sales
might drop off as they did with the original Mac. THAT's when we'll
get the real story on what this thing is for.
Everyone seems to think the Mini is a media PC, and it has the basic
characteristics of one. Though the box has no TV tuner, Apple does
offer an analog adapter. And you can burn DVDs with it if you get the
optional DVD burner. Still, there were hints in that MacWorld
presentation of something bigger to come, and the Mac Mini is a big
part of that.
...
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20050120.html
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