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Fry's is selling the base Mac Mini for $499

I love my new Mac Mini!!
Just not enamored with the Mini-DVI port !

Obviously many don't remember when MACs were really expensive in the 1990's !!
My G4 was nearly $2000 in 2001 @ 466 Mhz... THIS MAC mini is a genuine Bargain!!! I Love it!
 
That's a great price! The Mac mini is a good purchase, and with that price its even better.

It's true that performance wise, the specs are old and bit slow compared to the PC world, but when considering value of purchase you need to take into account some other things:

1. It's the cheapest entry point to true Mac OSX experience. Hackintoshes don't deliver the exact same experience.

2. For the most part, people don't need better hardware. They get what they need in a slick, small, elegant and economic package.

3. Talking value only, the minis have a ridiculously high price at the used market. Not long ago I saw a 3.5 yr. old Mac mini sold for 440$ at the bay. If you're patient enough, you'll sell your Mac at a very high price when the time is right. That's value for you.
 
You will not find a windows machine in the same SFF with equal specs for that price.

There are none.

You also need to spec

IR capability
Bluetooth
Superdrive
2GB RAM
Core 2 Duo - not Atom ****
Geforce 9400 at a minimum (No intel Integrated BS)

It runs plex awesomely. I have over blu ray rips (All 1080p) and it runs them flawlessly at 24 fps to my Panasonic Plasmas with no overscan at all.

Also. These can drive 2 monitors. Show me another SFF that has all that for 499. There are none.
 
JimKirk said:
There are none.

You also need to spec

IR capability
Bluetooth
Superdrive
2GB RAM
Core 2 Duo - not Atom ****
Geforce 9400 at a minimum (No intel Integrated BS)

It runs plex awesomely. I have over blu ray rips (All 1080p) and it runs them flawlessly at 24 fps to my Panasonic Plasmas with no overscan at all.

Also. These can drive 2 monitors. Show me another SFF that has all that for 499. There are none.
Click to expand...

thats the thing, there are very few SFF PC's because... no one really wants one.

For every Mac fan who loves the mini you'll find 5 wanting an upgradeable Mac tower.

PC guys want more power than the pitiful mini can give.
 
JimKirk said:
That is cheaper than the edu pricing.
Click to expand...

This thread took a strange turn. I was hoping for discussion on this being good pricing for a mac mini. It's cheaper than .edu pricing as per the OP's post. I'm going to try and grab a mac mini off of craigslist so this could help me push a seller's price down. I usually try to get current mac minis w/ warranty still on them.

So assuming Mac Minis are fine computers, how's this deal? If it's not so hot, what should be aiming for? Is the price now fallen below .edu pricing at a retailer because a bump is around the corner?
 
Rizvi1 said:
This thread took a strange turn. I was hoping for discussion on this being good pricing for a mac mini. It's cheaper than .edu pricing as per the OP's post. I'm going to try and grab a mac mini off of craigslist so this could help me push a seller's price down. I usually try to get current mac minis w/ warranty still on them.

So assuming Mac Minis are fine computers, how's this deal? If it's not so hot, what should be aiming for? Is the price now fallen below .edu pricing at a retailer because a bump is around the corner?
Click to expand...
I think the Mini should be sold at $499. It's a good price for the machine that you do get. The small size is the shining factor and not much else though.

I like the Zino HD and the Acer Revo. They have their own places though. Regardless all machines are capable of 1080p GPU accelerated playback and more so under Windows or using non-OS X software.
 
Eidorian said:
I think the Mini should be sold at $499. It's a good price for the machine that you do get. The small size is the shining factor and not much else though.
Click to expand...

Yes, or maybe at 599$ but including wired keyboard and mouse.
BTW we are speaking about an Apple's product, so it isn't supposed to be cheap
 
$499.... hmmmm. Last years model was $399 just a few weeks ago. I'll try and get this. Stupid shipping means a miracle PM or a 1-hr drive to the store. :mad:
 
Seychelles said:
thats the thing, there are very few SFF PC's because... no one really wants one.

For every Mac fan who loves the mini you'll find 5 wanting an upgradeable Mac tower.

PC guys want more power than the pitiful mini can give.
Click to expand...

*sigh*

Everyone wants different things. Some people are looking for a low wattage computer that has a small footprint and sufficient power and storage. The Mac Mini is that.

I have PC's, I have Macs. I have a use for all of these things. You're foolish to see all this as Mac vs. PC.
 
JimKirk said:
It runs plex awesomely. I have over blu ray rips (All 1080p) and it runs them flawlessly at 24 fps to my Panasonic Plasmas with no overscan at all.
Click to expand...

I've read some complaints about the current Mac Mini being marginal when trying to run 1080p60, ie trying to use the Mini to deinterlace HDTV. Is that right?

Those same reports claim that using the Mini with VDPAU under Linux makes this a nice HTPC. Apparently OS X doesn't allow a program as much access to the GPU as Linux does.

I'm throwing that out not to be a troll but to gather more information. To many people $500 is a lot of money, and if the Mini doesn't have quite enough grunt to be a good HTPC, then it's hardly a bargain even if it is on sale. So I'd like to hear more comments from people who are using this cheaper model (not the faster 2.53 GHz) for an HTPC.

Also hopefully programs like Plex will get better. I've tried it on my iMac and it doesn't seem to use both cores. Also FF, REW, etc are much inferior to what I'm familiar with on my TiVo HD.
 
Phantom Gremlin said:
I've read some complaints about the current Mac Mini being marginal when trying to run 1080p60, ie trying to use the Mini to deinterlace HDTV. Is that right?

Those same reports claim that using the Mini with VDPAU under Linux makes this a nice HTPC. Apparently OS X doesn't allow a program as much access to the GPU as Linux does.

I'm throwing that out not to be a troll but to gather more information. To many people $500 is a lot of money, and if the Mini doesn't have quite enough grunt to be a good HTPC, then it's hardly a bargain even if it is on sale. So I'd like to hear more comments from people who are using this cheaper model (not the faster 2.53 GHz) for an HTPC.

Also hopefully programs like Plex will get better. I've tried it on my iMac and it doesn't seem to use both cores. Also FF, REW, etc are much inferior to what I'm familiar with on my TiVo HD.
Click to expand...
Apple's year of HD was back in 2005. I'm still waiting.
 
ViViDboarder said:
*sigh*

Everyone wants different things. Some people are looking for a low wattage computer that has a small footprint and sufficient power and storage. The Mac Mini is that.

I have PC's, I have Macs. I have a use for all of these things. You're foolish to see all this as Mac vs. PC.
Click to expand...

I'm not I just fail to see the point in using an underspecced, overpriced computer for any job.

If you want a HTPC then there are better for less with better software as OSX doesn't lend itself to TV as well as WMCE does, and it doesn't support the defacto HD optical disc format. Playing BRD rips is all very well, but its time consuming and actually illegal!

If you want a computer to be a workhorse then for the price of the Mini you can buy an i5 pc and stick Ubu on it.

..as gizmodo say....don't buy..no logic.!
 
Seychelles said:
I'm not I just fail to see the point in using an underspecced, overpriced computer for any job.

If you want a HTPC then there are better for less with better software as OSX doesn't lend itself to TV as well as WMCE does, and it doesn't support the defacto HD optical disc format. Playing BRD rips is all very well, but its time consuming and actually illegal!

If you want a computer to be a workhorse then for the price of the Mini you can buy an i5 pc and stick Ubu on it.

..as gizmodo say....don't buy..no logic.!
Click to expand...

Who said the Mac Mini is a computer to be a workhorse? It's not a workhorse and everyone knows that. You do fail to see the point.
 
MacMini2009 said:
Who said the Mac Mini is a computer to be a workhorse? It's not a workhorse and everyone knows that. You do fail to see the point.
Click to expand...

you are wasting your time: do a little search. He's just another "Apple basher" trolling around the forum, trying to "save people from buying Apple expensive toys"
 
I'm using my Mac mini (base Mac mini, late 2009, upgraded to 4 GB RAM) as a "workhorse". It still works. OK, sometimes I wish it would be faster a bit, but most time it does work.
 
I've been checking the Fry's site since I heard about this, last night one finally showed in stock at the nearest store so I placed an order. Just got a confirmation this morning that it is ready to be picked up and it was indeed $499. A pretty nice deal, even with sales tax.

For kicks, I checked again immediately after I ordered mine and it said they were no longer in stock.
 
angemon89 said:
It can be purchased for cheaper from Amazon. 579+no tax(most states)+free shipping... just saying.
Click to expand...
How is $579 cheaper than $499 + sales tax? It would take a tax rate of about 16% for Amazon to be cheaper. My order is about $559 w/tax and I also included one of the newer Apple remotes that are $19.
 
Well, I absolutely *love* my Mac Mini 2.26.

It's the ultimate HTPC since it's so capable. Besides running all the 1080 MKV's I throw at it, it's an awesome way to browse the web with TouchMouse (iPhone) from the couch and also run my NES, SNES, Genesis and N64 emulators on the TV.

Not to mention that since it's an *actual* Mac (not the Apple TV or a streaming device), it can do anything you throw at it. Hulu, or Netflix or any thing else.

As my only computer it would be *ok*, but as a HTPC it can't be beat.

Could they add HDMI? Yes. But who cares. With the Kanex adapter you get full connection with digital audio all in one HDMI port.
 
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