“Apple Computer on Tuesday introduced… a revamped Mac mini aimed at making the pint-sized computer an easy addition to living room entertainment centers,” Jefferson Graham reports for USA Today. “The updated Mac mini units sell for $599 (up from $499) and $799 (formerly $599.) They now have Intel processing chips, which make the computers from 2 to 4 times much faster, Jobs said. The mini was introduced with great fanfare in January 2005 as a low-cost way for Windows PC users to switch to the Apple platform. Apple, which has a whopping 78% share of the digital music device market, has just a 4% to 5% share of the total PC market.”
“Apple won’t say how many Mac minis it has sold. Shawn Wu, an analyst with American Technology Research, estimates sales at 1 to 2 million units — ‘just okay,’ he says. He says the new Intel chips add power, a problem for the first Mac minis. The revamped machines will have greater appeal to consumers, he says, especially with the remote control feature. ‘Apple wants to run the living room,’ he adds. ‘Apple is better positioned there than any of its competitors, but the new mini is missing one important element—there’s no PVR (TiVo like personal video recorder) or TV tuner. It’s not the complete solution,'” Graham reports.
“Microsoft works with Hewlett-Packard, Dell and other computer manufacturers on “entertainment PCs,” which do everything the mini promises, plus record TV shows on some models. However, they sell for over $1,000,” Graham reports. “Van Baker, an analyst with researcher Gartner, says the Microsoft units haven’t caught on with the public because the computers are too large for the living room. The majority of the entertainment PCs, he says, were sold without PVRs. ‘The mini is small enough that people will consider adding it to their living room consoles,’ Baker says. ‘The transition of bringing the computer into the living room won’t happen overnight, but this is a good first step.'”
“Apple vice president Phil Schiller says the company chose not to add PVR functionality to the mini because it would have made the unit too complicated. ‘We’re not trying to replace the TiVo,’ he says. ‘This is about taking the media from your computer and accessing it via the TV.’ To run media from other computers using the Mac mini, other PCs have to store music, videos and TV shows in Apple’s iTunes software. If users listen to music in, say, Musicmatch or Real Player, the Mac mini won’t be able to find the songs,” Graham reports.
Full article here.
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cause if they had a dvr then the TV producers would pull their stuff from itunes i bet, anyway its only 70 quid / dollar add-on, my alchemy tv works a treat on my G5 dual with front row!
am i the only one thats noticed the restriction in using front row and ipod with tv show genre – restricted for itunes payed for shows! – sorry just thought id add that
Way to go, Apple.
Somehow I wish the mini is also powerful to play games.
as columbo would say “just one more thing” TV downloads in UK pplleeeaasseeeee
I was hoping Apple would be able to keep the price the same or even lower by using Intel chips. I guess not.
I bet that it takes only about two weeks for someone to come up with a TV tuner/PVR which matches the size and look of the Mac mini like it did with the external HDs…
The new Mac Mini is not really designed as a “Home TV” content delivery system.
The entire US market is switching from analog to digital with HDCP as we speak.
For that it needs a HDCP controlled HDMI or DVI (Y-Pb-Pr) and a really really fast internet connection to stream full resolution HD.
I think the cable companies would b*tch a fit since they make mega-bucks delivering content.
Also some sort of DRM is required to the monitor so the HDCP cleaned video is not swiped on the video cards ports.
These Mini’s are like before, just outputing to a DVI computer monitor.
Read on for more info
http://www.digitalconnection.com/FAQ/HDTV_4.asp
Integrated Graphics cards make me cringe, no matter who’s making it.
Botox
Considering that you are getting Front Row with remote control etc, It’s not so bad for the extra $100. I never thought I would but I’m going to get one. I already have a iBook which I use mostly. Front Row on a portable dont really make sense to me but on the Mini it’s perfect.
Just tonight I recommended this new Mini to a PC friend who was looking for a new video, pictures, music and general computing use computer and the Mini with iLife fit perfectly for this. I was proud to recommend it to him.
botox, they did keep the price on the bottom Mini the same feature for feature. The Mini G4 was $499 but WiFi & Bluetooth cost and extra $99. The new Mini is $599 with Wifi & Bluetooth plus faster ethernet (1000Mb).
anyway its only 70 quid / dollar add-on, my alchemy tv works a treat on my G5 dual with front row!
we all know how good tivo stuff works on a tower
but how do you propose to get it inside the mini?
not even he high end unit is useful for a set-top box if you’ve got an HD screen.
For 1280×720 (720p) video at 24-30 frames per second:
QuickTime 7 for Mac OS X:
* 1.8 GHz PowerMac G5 or faster Macintosh computer; 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo or faster
* At least 256MB of RAM
* 64 MB or greater video card
QuickTime 7 for Windows:
* 2.8 GHz Pentium 4 or faster processor
* At least 512MB of RAM
* 64MB or greater video card
* Windows 2000 or XP
For 1920×1080 (1080p) video at 24 frames per second:
QuickTime 7 for Mac OS X:
* Dual 2.0 GHz PowerMac G5 or faster Macintosh computer; 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo or faster
* At least 512MB of RAM
* 128MB or greater video card
QuickTime 7 for Windows:
* 3.0 Ghz Intel Pentium D (dual-core) or faster processor
* At least 1GB of RAM
* 64MB or greater video card
* Windows 2000 or XP
nuts to it, then.
Almost right, seems the chip used has certain capabilities, wonder if it’s enabled on the DVI port?
http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets/gma950/
Yea really, to record HDTV at a good frame rate you need a PowerMac DP and a decent video card.
“Sharing photos requires iPhoto (i.e. a Mac). Sharing music and videos requires iTunes 6.0.4 or later”….. ‘6.0.4’ ummmm…. UPDATE SOON?
“Apple vice president Phil Schiller says the company chose not to add PVR functionality to the mini because it would have made the unit too complicated.”
What he really meant was… We chose not to add PVR functionality to the mini because it would have pissed off all of our content partners who agreed to sell their tv shows through our iTMS…
Analysts,Analysts,Analysts,Analysts
http://www.misterbg.org/AppleProductCycle/
As far as connecting to an HD monitor, the Intel graphics will support it.
If we’re talking about H.264 decoding, that’s much more processor intensive and the new Mini may not support more than 480p.
My eMac has a 32MB graphics card yet plays 480p movie trailers no problem.
Apparently the Intel graphics supports decoding MPEG-2 Hi-Def (which Sony says it prefers to use for Blu-Ray), which is less processor intensive as far as decoding is concerned.
Is Sony dropping support for Apple’s H.264?
http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/bluray/about/index.html
That’s my take, I could be wrong.
To run media from other computers using the Mac mini, other PCs have to store music, videos and TV shows in Apple’s iTunes software. If users listen to music in, say, Musicmatch or Real Player, the Mac mini won’t be able to find the songs,” Graham reports.
That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. If the files are in a shared folder on the network, it doesn’t matter if that server is running Windows, Mac or Linux and it most certainly doesn’t matter what program you use to open them, whether it’s QuickTime, MPlayer, VLC, iTunes, Windows Media Player, or whatever the fuck you want. What a fucking moron.
If my kids can’t play CoD or record a late night soccer match on this then I’ll pass. It’s too simple for me — I’m willing to pay for more in a living room form factor box and spec’ it up.
MW: “make” it.
It’s just a really nice extra and I’m glad the Mini has it. No need to make conspiracies out of everything.
MS Media Center is a flop. Why would Apple want to go there? Not until it’s time to really do a great job of the whole thing, start to finish. Which might be never.
“f we’re talking about H.264 decoding, that’s much more processor intensive and the new Mini may not support more than 480p.”
“my not?” Let’s get REAL facts before judging.
MacDude,
You are most incorrect about graphics card capability in recording HD (1080p) content from a STB. A 900MHz G4 iBook can do it just fine.
Playback? That’s a different issue entirely.
I am a massive Apple fan. Love the products and quality but today seemed over-hyped in the media and was somehwat underwhelming. The HiFi, well, you can get the Bose for cheaper – mind you no dock but it looks better.
As for the Mac Mini, well, I realize why they aren’t developing a PVR device at this point….but that really doesn’t help the Mac Mini, especially with raising the price ($200 US on the high-end version). IMHO, I think this is going to be a possible error in Apple’s pricing. The DVR would have made it a no-brainer however.
So here is the problem:
Mac Mini $800
Monitor $250
Keyboard/Mighty Mouse $78
Upgrade HD 120GB 5200rpm $125
Total $1253 (not including $150 for iSight)
iMac 17″ $1299
Has faster processor, 160GB 3.5″ 7200rpm drive, faster (and not integrated) graphics card, Built-in iSight cam
This seems to be an easy decision. So you get a downgraded computer for the same price (or more if you add a cam) and are primarily paying for the form factor. Too bad considering that before at $599 it made perfect sense.
While I love all things Apple, am I the only one disappointed today?
Sorry for the typos! And I meant the Bose doesn’t have the remote.
As well, Apple hired the head of EyeTV last year so the PVR seemed a no brainer. However, for their 30th birthday I am wondering if they are working on an external box that will add PVR functionality to any Mac.
If not, I would expect EyeTV to come up with a harddrive/pvr/tv tuner in a mac mini form factor. This would be huge if the price was under $300 but I am not holding my breath!