Revolution
Apple today launched the Mac mini and iPod Shuffle, at the low-end price points of $499 and $99, respectively. Read my article, linked, for the scoop and mark my words: Apple will reverse the trend of being a marginalized computing platform, starting today.
The Mac mini is sleek and everything the PowerMac G4 Cube should have been, only for way less than other Macs rather than more. This is Apple targeting the iPod generation with a system that will be considered every bit as “cool” as the iPod and priced at the higher low end of the computer spectrum. It would make an excellent extra computer, connected via AirPort to the computer in the home office or den, an excellent Media center PC (with included DVD combo drive, etc.), and so much more. This is the beginning of a revolution in computers, me thinks.
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Re: Revolution
where is this article you speak of i am very interested!
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Holy Guano, Batman!!!
I am buying one of those minis when it comes out and going back to being a machead!!!
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Tim, I drooled when I read the news, especially about the Mac mini. I really don’t care a lot about OS X and its proprietary bits, but to have a RISC machine of this caliber available for hacking, tinkering and general Linuxy-goodnes at this price is surely incredible.
Sadly, I don’t think I’ll be buying it anytime soon. Sombragris (my laptop) is aging rapidly, and we have to be cost-conscious at home. My wife likes Linux, and uses it well (she even said to me that she greatly prefer to use it rather than Windows) but right now there’s a big pile of Windows games that we can’t use and play because we’re a GNU/Linux-only shop, and she told me that she misses the games. So, my next computer will be x86-based in order to use Windows for gaming. Sigh…
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I watched the Keynote via Quicktime. I like the mini. Thinks, I could swing that. But I don’t need that. I really like the mini. The shuffle is an interesting idea. It will be interesting to see how that sells.
I am also interested in the iWorks bundle. Pages sounds cool with some Publisher like options. But export right to PDF! I could use that. I wonder what the educator’s discount on that puppy will be.
Of course Tiger’s demos also made me look forward to its release sometime in the first half of the year.
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Kevin: I was wondering if you might. If you order now, you’ll get it shipped on the 22nd, they say. It’ll be good to have you back in the world of *nix.
Eduardo: Well, hmm. What games does your wife play? A mini + Virtual PC might be adequate for some Windows games (although not the really 3D intense ones — VPC doesn’t provide direct hardware 3D rendering, yet, unfortunately). Another thing to check is to see if the games are available for Mac. Some good ones are. Plus, with X11 (included), it’ll play the *nix games too.
I don’t like the proprietary bits either, but considering that I was using proprietary X drivers anyway, I figure it isn’t much of a stretch. The core (Darwin, that is) is FSF-approved these days, so most of it is quite Free.
Christopher: I think iWork will be $49 under Apple Education. You can check it out on their online store. I think I might need a copy of it — I’ve been drooling at Keynote, and Pages looks like it might be better than Word + Publisher.
I’m very excited about Tiger. I’ve been looking forward to Spotlight since WWDC ‘04 when Jobs first showed it.
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Tim, the games we have are Grim Fandango, Battlezone, Battlezone II, Need for Speed 2, etc…
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Hmm… I’m not sure how those would run… it might work just fine. Do you have an Apple dealer in your area? They might let you try installing one of them in a Virtual PC window to see how it’d run…