Apple BETTER drop Merom into Mac Minis!

[superfula]

Have I ever used a Dell? Of course. And I had a terrible experience. I'm responsible for all of the Dells at my university and we've had nothing but problems with them, even straight out of the box as they are.

Windows users are jackasses about Macs all the time, and it can go both ways. It's very ignorant of you to think that Mac fanboys don't use PCs. We're sometimes forced to use them at our jobs, while you little PC users and peddle along in your environment for your whole life and not realize that there are better computers and operating systems out there.

One would think that someone 'responsible for all of the Dells at my university' would know better than to say the Dell wouldn't last a year. Quite short-sited, in fact, considering Apple has had their share of troubles recently as well. I agree with the person you quoted. I too grow tired of Mac users who worship Apple blindly while throwing around base-less negative statements about Windows computers. And I'm a Mac user.

Back on topic...I could really care less if the Merom core goes into the Mini. The performance increase over the Yonah is minute. But I understand, it's the principle of it. As Apple has higher price-points (usually), I would be extremely surprised to see an independant video card AND the Merom in any updated Mini without a price increase. While it would be nice and I would likely buy one immediately, I'm not holding my breath.

 

[tekmoe]

if it weren't for pc's running windows, i probably would not have a job right now.

 

[ReanimationLP]

if it weren't for pc's running windows, i probably would not have a job right now.

Seconded.

 

[generik]

if it weren't for pc's running windows, i probably would not have a job right now.

Hence don't bite the hand that feeds you, assimilate with the Borg!

 

[dsnort]

I don't want Apple to become Dell, but now that there is price transparency for Apple products (because they're using the EXACT same hardware, from processors to motherboards, as the PC manufacturers), I as a consumer know exactly how much a new processor, say, is, and how much the processor they're still using in Apple product has dropped. This is the bottom line: the high end Mac Mini they are still selling for $799 with a 1.66 ghz Yonah Core (1) Duo chip is now worth MUCH MUCH less than when it came out. Infact, the Core 2 Duo chip at the same clock speed (1.66) is the same price as the one they're still using! As a consumer, that lets me know I'm being ripped off. Apple now has to stay price competitive or atleast technology competitive. If Dell and everybody else is replacing that Core 1 Duo 1.66 with a Core 2 Duo for the SAME PRICE, then either Apple has to lower the price of their Core 1 drastically or get with it and put the Core 2 in!

A small problem with your thesis. You are postulating that Apple must charge a similar price as Dell because they use the same component. This is known as commmoditization, ie, there is no difference in the alternatives therefore they must compete on price. Every manufacturer fights against having their product commoditized because price competition usually comes right out of the bottom line. ( Michael Dell can tell you all about this) They attempt to make their product "different" than their competitors. In the case of Apple they differentiate their computer's through the OS, only a Mac can run Mac OSX. As long as Mac OSX retains a value in the consumers eye, whether that value is real or just perceived, Apple will not have to match Dell or any other manufacturer on price.

For an example of this look at the Get A Mac ads. Everyone of them highlights something about a Mac that is unique to Mac, and different than a PC. Now look at a Dell or HP ad, they are almost always contain a reference to a certain feature set, at a certain price.

The hardware is not where the difference is. The OS, and to a certain extent the style, are the difference. Or, as has been posted on this forum before, a Mac is just an expensive dongle for Mac OSX.

 

[GoCubsGo]

Apple better get the two low end Meroms into the Mac Mini during the announcement in a week and a half or they're SOL as far as the chances of me buying one.

Says who!?

 

[wonga1127]

We meddle... People don't like to be meddled with. We tell them what to do, what to think, don't run, don't walk. We're in their homes and in their heads, and we haven't the right. We're meddlesome. ~ River Tam

Serenity was an awesome movie.

 

[dpaanlka]

Besides we know Apple is incapable of producing hardware to high tolerances, would be a million years before that happens.

No, only you seem to *know* that.

My 1400c is doing quite fine thank you. So is my 8600, all of my iMacs, my PB G4, my MBP, and pretty much everything else I own with an Apple logo on it.