For the non mac-fanboys out there, today was the MacWorld Expo - home of things that make us go oooh ahhh. This year’s expo was by far the most impressive one to date.
The first of two major releases is the new Mac Mini; Apple’s first entry into the "cheap" PC market. They nailed it, hands down. The first thing you will notice about the machine is it’s size. Its about the size of your average CD case.
The specs of the machine are on target with what the average home user would need - up to a gig of RAM, a G4 processor, 40 or 80 gigs of hard drive space, and a dvd/cdrw drive (optional dvd burner). Wireless and bluetooth options too. Even comes with a real ATI video card unlike your typical cheap PC with their "intel integrated graphics" using shared memory.
The best part is of course the price. The 40 gig version is $499 and the 80 is $599. Perfect for the many people who already have a PC and have been thinking of switching to Mac but don’t want to spend $1499 for a machine. Just buy this, plug in your keyboard, mouse, and monitor and you’re set. Time to convert you heathans!
The second major release at the expo is the new iPod Shuffle. This thing is pure genius. Apple so far is dominating 63% of the portable player market with their iPods and iPod Minis. The only part they haven’t touched yet was the lower end flash-based players. Enter the iPod Shuffle. Its as small as a stick of gum and weighs less than an ounce. It doubles as a thumb drive and works with any USB interface.
The main difference between the Shuffle and the rest of the market is its lack of screen. At first I wasn’t happy about it, but then it made sense. Most players out there have screens that show maybe one or two words of text at a time, and are so small you don’t bother using them. If you’re out running or driving you aren’t going to be there playing with the controls switching to specific songs every few minutes. You’ll do what I do - turn it on and hit shuffle. Especially since you aren’t dealing with 20gigs of music you just don’t need it.
Apple did with the Shuffle what people wanted them to do with the Mini - price it cheap. Currently the flash-player market mainly sells 256meg players, priced around $149. Apple blew them away. Their lowest end model is 512megs and priced at $99! $50 less, twice the storage, double as as thumb drive, and about half the size of most other players. They have a second model, the 1gig version, priced at $149.
I think Apple finally did it. They have a full range of products spanning from the high end to the cheap end - and all of them rock. I hope they start taking back market share from Microsoft this year.
#1. Ken said:
i'll be switching to mac eventually
"... 2. Do not eat iPod shuffle. ..."
#2. Parrots said:
Half the price of what your uncle charged you for what he built you and you know this one will work ;)
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