Why is the Mac mini so expensive?

[acribb]

For durability issues the refurb is a better deal if you buy applecare. here is why. lets say the 2009 was first made in oct 2009. whatever was wrong got fixed jan 2011. so the machine is mostly 1 year and 3 months old. if you buy applecare it is covered until jan 2014. if your refurb breaks under applecare and apple no longer stocks repair parts they will replace the machine. In the case of the 2009 you had a 2.53ghz cpu apple must give you a machine with an = or better cpu. so if the machine breaks in 30 months the chances are apple will replace rather then repair it. why ? because it is the plastic older model. this means you would get a 2.66 GHz 4gb 320 aluminum model. I know this is policy because this happened to me with a 2.53gh model. I was given a new 2.66ghz 4gb 320gb model as a replacement.

the next case is the 2010 machine if you have apple care and it breaks they will repair or replace it. so say it is 30 months and it breaks since it is the newer model chances are parts will exist and you will get a repair not a replacement.

right now all this is true because 200 to 250 in price on the new model is redesign of the case. a 2010 2.4 ghz model will never be a good deal until it drops quite a bit under the 2009 2.53ghz model. I am not even bringing the hdd factor and the ability to make a setup like this.


you can make this for under 300. giving you 4tb and a pair of 2tb hdds seen as internal hdds.

foot print is 9 by 7 height is 5 inches. it is a double esata hack. you can not do this with a 2010 due to the internal changes apple has done.

As for the 2010 gpu being better it is important in some cases. if you are a gamer it will help but why game on a mac mini. if you want to use an acd display with a 27 inch screen the 2010 mini is an improvement.

basically if you use it for netflix on a 1080i tv or a 1080p tv the gpu does not come into effect. why do I say this one i looked at many movies with the 2008 the 2009 and the 2010 .

it is night and day when you compare the 2008 to the 2009 or the 2010. when you compare the 2009 to the 2010 on an hdtv watching netflix you would be hard pressed to see a difference.

That has to be the most RIDICULOUS logic I have ever heard.

Do you hear what you are saying?

You are saying "It is better to buy a 2009, because, **if you buy Apple Care**, and, **if it breaks**, **AND** you are lucky enough where they don't happen to have parts available, SINCE IT IS SO OLD, you can get upgraded to a 2011 model".

I looked you up on eBay and I saw all the Mac minis you sold to people with upgraded RAM. I see how you made money off of all those units. They all sold for much more than what I would pay, since I am resourceful and patient enough to wait for a good deal on new, untouched merchandise. Frankly, i'm surprised at how ill-informed the majority of the public is that would pay the prices they did for the Mac minis you sold. Hell, I think I need to get into the Mac mini resale business.

I think I will stick with buying current models for the same price as older models using my American Express which gets me 2 years of warranty without having to buy Apple Care.

 

[philipma1957]

That has to be the most RIDICULOUS logic I have ever heard.

Do you hear what you are saying?

You are saying "It is better to buy a 2009, because, **if you buy Apple Care**, and, **if it breaks**, **AND** you are lucky enough where they don't happen to have parts available, SINCE IT IS SO OLD, you can get upgraded to a 2011 model".

I looked you up on eBay and I saw all the Mac minis you sold to people with upgraded RAM. I see how you made money off of all those units. They all sold for much more than what I would pay, since I am resourceful and patient enough to wait for a good deal on new, untouched merchandise. Frankly, i'm surprised at how ill-informed the majority of the public is that would pay the prices they did for the Mac minis you sold. Hell, I think I need to get into the Mac mini resale business.

I think I will stick with buying current models for the same price as older models using my American Express which gets me 2 years of warranty without having to buy Apple Care.

I like you you really want to win your argument that you got a good deal. Most people don't hang in there so long.

My ebay prices were some of the best prices on ebay. I also have great feedback on ebay. I sold more then 60 minis and serviced each and every customer a good or great price. With working machines. Many of the minis i sold had the best hdds installed scorpio blacks intel ssd etc. along with more ram.

I am not saying you got a bad deal. you paid 100 less then the standard price


I am saying the 2009 mini refurb is a better deal then yours.

 

[ZebOfMac]

I would be interested in seeing how you got everything done and use this in my office set-up.

Cheers
Chris

I am not even bringing the hdd factor and the ability to make a setup like this.

you can make this for under 300. giving you 4tb and a pair of 2tb hdds seen as internal hdds.

foot print is 9 by 7 height is 5 inches. it is a double esata hack. you can not do this with a 2010 due to the internal changes apple has done.

 

[matt3839]

It has been my experience that a better GPU will almost always win out in a comparison against similar processors. I haven't checked out benchmarks on these computers so I'm not sure about the differences in these GPUs, but if there is a worthwhile difference, and other changes don't change the consideration, I would expect the GPU to throw up more limitations than the CPU going forward (and in real-world circumstances today).

Problem is that the GPU is just a 320: it's an improvement, but still too wimpy for my needs. All I need is a nice processor and some RAM anyway, all I'll probably be using it for is MPlayer OSX Extended and the Unix-related features.

 

[Xian Zhu Xuande]

Problem is that the GPU is just a 320: it's an improvement, but still too wimpy for my needs. All I need is a nice processor and some RAM anyway, all I'll probably be using it for is MPlayer OSX Extended and the Unix-related features.

Yeah, you don't get a good graphics chip in a Mac Mini. For most any user I'd point out that they should be mindful of whatever is going to create bottlenecks in their system and focus on that—and it would be the GPU more often than not in this case—but if you know the GPU isn't really going to matter for what you're doing, but the extra CPU strength is more important, then that makes sense.

 

[matt3839]

Yeah, you don't get a good graphics chip in a Mac Mini. What you need to consider, though, is what is going to create the bottleneck in your computer? I'll bet it is going to be the GPU far more often than it is the CPU.

Perhaps, but the bottleneck isn't going to be a problem for me. Nothing I plan on doing will require much graphics power in the slightest; if I need that, I have a custom machine with a rather nice graphics card. Remember that all I need is Mac OS X itself and the box necessary to host it, and Hackintosh doesn't provide all of the features it brings.

 

[Xian Zhu Xuande]

Perhaps, but the bottleneck isn't going to be a problem for me. Nothing I plan on doing will require much graphics power in the slightest; if I need that, I have a custom machine with a rather nice graphics card. Remember that all I need is Mac OS X itself and the box necessary to host it, and Hackintosh doesn't provide all of the features it brings.

You caught that before I edited my post.

I initially skimmed over your mention of what you're doing with the machine.

 

[philipma1957]

I would be interested in seeing how you got everything done and use this in my office set-up.

Cheers
Chris

here are links
___________________________________________________________________________
2 of these :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ..._re=sans_digital_1_bay-_-16-111-110-_-Product

with 2 of these :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx? Item=N82E16822152245&cm_re=samsung_2tb-_-22-152-245-_-Product

or any 2tb hdd you like
_____________________________________________________________________________
or just 2 of these

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822204094&cm_re=fantom-_-22-204-094-_-Product = about 240 bucks

_______________________________________________________________________________

1 of these

http://newmodeus.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=244 === about 45 bucks

________________________________________________________________________________







_____________________________________________________________________

1 of these

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151231 = about 35 bucks


_______________________________________________________________________




if you shop around or wait for sales prices can be lower. if you own a 2.53ghz 2009 server you do not need to buy a caddy. you can pinch pennies and use the power supplies that come with the hdd enclosure or you can buy these

one of these will run the two hdds cases

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...284807&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT#ht_4695wt_835


you need a splitter


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...13448&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT#ht_1884wt_1000

the better power supply is optional along with the splitter. a few more wires cost another 10 or 12 bucks

so about 240 hdds esata cases plus 45 caddy plus 35 dvd player plus 30 for the better power supply and 15 more for some esata cables. comes to 365. gives you a 4tb mac mini. and your oem dvd player and oem hdd sit in a box as spare parts. here is a link to the build but it is long and shows a ton of other info.


http://techtalk.parts-express.com/showthread.php?t=213477

this link has had more then 10000 hits. It is why I really dislike the new mini. If they had kept the 2009 design and added a better cpu I really could have avoided buying the mac pro. this unit can be attached to 12tb in hdds with these from sans digital


http://www.sansdigital.com/towerstor/ts2ct.html


these will hold a pair of 3tb western digital hdds. they would been seen on the mac mini as internal hdds of 6tb. once apple realized the potential they shut the 2009 design down. this machine with a good cpu would not be a hackintosh it would be a real mac, but it would dent iMac and mac pro sales.

I still say it should be built by apple they could lower hackintosh sales.

 

[Stan Mikulenka]

Hey guys,
here is my "outdated old" Mini.
Show me yours...
(And don't forget to click on the pict so you can see what you're missing.)

 

[archipellago]

simply put. Its because people will buy them at that price. The mac mini has taken off in the past years, thus the higher price. If people stopped buying them (which wont happen), then the price would come down.

If I were apple, Id do the exact thing they are with the price. They are a profit based company. Good for them.

how many mini's do yoiu think Apple actually sell per year..worldwide.?

 

[AndyfromTucson]

I was willing to pay a premium for the Mac Mini because it was the only computer I could find that came close to meeting my requirements.

I wanted a home theater pc that would (1) draw less than 40 watts, (2) be as close to silent a possible, (3) be small and unobtrusive, (4) go to sleep reliably when not used, (5) wake up reliably, (6) play DVDs, and (7) play HD video without stuttering, even using Flash. The Mac Mini was the only computer I could find that seemed to meet these criteria, so I paid a premium.

 

[philipma1957]

based on numerous serial number checks of the 60 or so I purchased. I never got one above 2000 built for the week. I had the 1936th one built in a week.

So if 2000 a week is the max that is 100000 a year built. So I would say more then 50,000 and less then 100,000 a year.

Now if someone goes to www.appleserialnumberinfo.com and gets above 1936 they can let us know.

 

[Hellhammer]

based on numerous serial number checks of the 60 or so I purchased. I never got one above 2000 built for the week. I had the 1936th one built in a week.

So if 2000 a week is the max that is 100000 a year built. So I would say more then 50,000 and less then 100,000 a year.

Now if someone goes to www.appleserialnumberinfo.com and gets above 1936 they can let us know.

Sounds quite little. In Q4 2009, Apple sold 1,2 million desktops so 25 000 Mac Minis would only represent 2.5% of all sold Mac desktops. I'm sure it's more

 

[chrismacguy]

Sounds quite little. In Q4 2009, Apple sold 1,2 million desktops so 25 000 Mac Minis would only represent 2.5% of all sold Mac desktops. I'm sure it's more

Its 100000 ish machines per production line i expect, and im pretty sure Apple has more than 1 factory churning out these things (I think there are approx 10 or possibly more production lines for the Mini)

 

[matt3839]

I was willing to pay a premium for the Mac Mini because it was the only computer I could find that came close to meeting my requirements.

I wanted a home theater pc that would (1) draw less than 40 watts, (2) be as close to silent a possible, (3) be small and unobtrusive, (4) go to sleep reliably when not used, (5) wake up reliably, (6) play DVDs, and (7) play HD video without stuttering, even using Flash. The Mac Mini was the only computer I could find that seemed to meet these criteria, so I paid a premium.

I love big, powerful machines I can open, so if I had money to burn I'd probably get the Mac Pro, hahaha. But having a moderately cheap little box by my TV to play videos on is certainly appealing, at least more appealing than using my mid-tower for the same thing, which is why I'm going with the mini.

 

[philipma1957]

Sounds quite little. In Q4 2009, Apple sold 1,2 million desktops so 25 000 Mac Minis would only represent 2.5% of all sold Mac desktops. I'm sure it's more

Could be that I am getting all minis from the same line.

Since I purchased them all from one location apple on line store and had them all sent to New Jersey. I only purchased one iMac and one mac pro they were 220 for the iMac and 135 for the Mac pro. those sample are too small to really have value. I figured 60 minis was a big sample but all are shipped to one location so it could tilt results.

 

[chrismacguy]

Could be that I am getting all minis from the same line.

Since I purchased them all from one location apple on line store and had them all sent to New Jersey. I only purchased one iMac and one mac pro they were 220 for the iMac and 135 for the Mac pro. those sample are too small to really have value. I figured 60 minis was a big sample but all are shipped to one location so it could tilt results.

If Apple runs its business how youd expect, youd expect it to just assign orders to a production line internally, so its likely if all 60 were from 1 order they all are from the same line.

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

If you think that specs are the only thing that affects your experience, I feel sorry for you. Good luck though.

If you think someone should pay $700 for parts they could slap together for nearly half that price I feel sorry for you. If I had a Mac Mini I would tuck it away and never look at it unless I had to hit the power button. What experience are you talking about exactly? Or are you just using Apple's vague marketing points?

For durability issues the refurb is a better deal if you buy applecare. here is why. lets say the 2009 was first made in oct 2009. whatever was wrong got fixed jan 2011. so the machine is mostly 1 year and 3 months old. if you buy applecare it is covered until jan 2014. if your refurb breaks under applecare and apple no longer stocks repair parts they will replace the machine.

I'm going to stop you right there. Apple Still has parts for 3rd generation iPods and does battery replacement for iPod minis. I seriously doubt they wouldn't have parts for machines less than five years old. In fact I bet they carry parts for machines up to ten years old.

 

[chrismacguy]

If you think someone should pay $700 for parts they could slap together for nearly half that price I feel sorry for you. If I had a Mac Mini I would tuck it away and never look at it unless I had to hit the power button. What experience are you talking about exactly? Or are you just using Apple's vague marketing points?


I'm going to stop you right there. Apple Still has parts for 3rd generation iPods and does battery replacement for iPod minis. I seriously doubt they wouldn't have parts for machines less than five years old. In fact I bet they carry parts for machines up to ten years old.

The experience, as in the OS being STABLE, USABLE and not having horrendous issues every / nearly-every time a update comes out (yes its better now than its ever been, but its still a mess). Apples parts catalog varies depending on the machine in question actually, for instance it was in 2009 (IIRC, possibly '08) that they ended production of spare parts for the G4 PowerMac Towers, however I dont know about any other lines as I havent seen them, I suspect the parts avaliability depends on the market for them (Theres obviously a market for people to replace their batteries on Minis and keep the 3rd Gen iPods Kicking) - However there isnt going to be much demand for say a new Logic Board for a PowerMac G4 AGP as well - whos going to pay Apple $100 to replace a board when another of the same model is $10?

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

The experience, as in the OS being STABLE, USABLE and not having horrendous issues every / nearly-every time a update comes out (yes its better now than its ever been, but its still a mess).

Source? As long as you use parts Apple supports themselves then there shouldn't be any compatibility issues. In fact I never really hear anyone having problems with their Hackintoshes.

Care to post some links about how bad the hackintosh community has it? Or post links about how the problems are getting better?

 

[InsanelyApple]

You know, I just thinking that Apple should lower the price of the Mac Mini a bit, and put them in Wal-Marts to let people see that Macs are available since a lot of people I know didn't know about Macs until the High School got some. Then I bet we'd see the Mac OS share rise a far amount. More people go to Wal-Marts than people who go to Apple Stores.

 

[Hellhammer]

There is no need to update your Hackintosh if it's already stable.

 

[chrismacguy]

There is no need to update your Hackintosh if it's already stable.

Yes, but the whole point of the OS updating is to make it better/more stable/faster/more secure. Things you (admittedly this isnt much were talking about) miss on a hackintosh.

Also to the person above who asks for a source, its my own experiences with several friends Hackintoshes - 1 of which aped a Mac Pro nearly identically (As Close As He Could Find Mobo, Identical CPU, Similar RAM config etc etc - While it was the most stable, that thing still crashed under 10.6.2 trying to run FCP, and still had issues sometimes. Whereas my MacBook has crashed on me once, in over 2 years, and my Mac Pro hasnt crashed on me at all yet, in just over 3 months (and I dont expect it to crash on me for at least 2 years).

 

[Hellhammer]

Yes, but the whole point of the OS updating is to make it better/more stable/faster/more secure. Things you (admittedly this isnt much were talking about) miss on a hackintosh.

OS X updates seldom bring anything special. I know people who still run early versions of Leopard in their Hacks and they work completely fine. Frankly, I only hear these issues about stability and updates from people who have no to very little experience with Hacks.

 

[chrismacguy]

OS X updates seldom bring anything special. I know people who still run early versions of Leopard in their Hacks and they work completely fine. Frankly, I only hear these issues about stability and updates from people who have no to very little experience with Hacks.

ehh, since I use my Mac for Pro-level stuff and its vital it works 100% of the time (Lots of lovely assignments to hand in) - Im just glad I found a job that meant I could afford to buy a Mac Pro, otherwise I could well be in the Hackintosh camp right now.