And I Shall Call It...Mini Mac!

Or rather, the Mac Mini.

Apple announced yesterday the cheapest Mac in their history, and it's somewhat of a milestone and a shock as well. I had absolutely no faith in the rumors, my fervant belief was that the rumor was the same as it always has been, no Headless iMac, and no way that Apple would try to throw it's hat into the low end market battleground. Well, it should come as no surprise that I've been wrong before. And even some Mac pundits who staunchly put themselves in the same camp found themselves getting more than their fair share of messages rubbing in the fact that they too, were wrong about the $499 Mac. Sometimes, the Mac fandom can be a harsh mistress.


One thing I wanted to mention was how shocked I was at the absolutely miniscule form factor. This computer is tiny! For most current Mac users, this will be more of a novelty purchase or a replacement for their aging Macs & iMacs. For power users, it could be a media center purchase, or a second Mac for the kids, but it's unlikely that a Mac mini will replace their new iMac G5 or Dual G5 tower. But the real crowd this was designed for is the on-the-fence PC user. This was designed for the PC user with a limited budget who has an existing Monitor, Keyboard and Mouse and doesn't want to have to buy a whole new system to get security and freedom from viruses, worms and spyware. This is for the Windows user who sick and tired of Windows problems every other time they turn on their PC. It's for the PC user who's ever said "Bill Gates can stick it!"

That being said it's not for hardcore gamers, tinkerers, or PC users looking to do massively power graphics. While this Mac Mini is pretty powerful, it's not hardcore, and really only an entry level Mac, one of the first Apple has ever offered. Power users, hardcore gamers and the like will want to pass over the Mac Mini. (Except as an ADDITION to their computing arsenal*, and not a replacement of it.)

Steve Jobs also unveiled the iPod Shuffle, a Flash based iPod without a screen that comes in 2 configurations, 512Mb and 1Gb. About half the size of a pack of Trident™, and weighing only an ounce, it's a nice compliment product to the iPod line, but if you're an existing iPod user, it's highly doubtful you'll find this product appealing. People with large music collections will also most likely pass this over. This iPod is for people who have about 100-240 songs they want to take with them, and you can create playlists in iTunes either randomly or manually, and then the iPod Shuffle can either play the tracks in the order you specified, or randomize the playback. There's no screen, just the control buttons on the front and the slider on the back that turns the iPod Shuffle on, and sets the playback to straight through or random modes. It plugs into a USB port like a USB Thumb Drive, just pull off the cap on the bottom, and plug it straight in. It charges through that port and the battery is said to last 12 hours. It even comes with a lanyard that clips over the USB plug so you can take it on the go. I forsee a LOT of joggers with this little beauty in very short order.

Jobs also previewed Tiger, the next major update to OS X, and damn him, I now have to get it. I wasn't planning on getting Tiger, but they'd just done so much with this version (over 200 new additions and improvements) that I can't just sit idly by and NOT get this release. Thankfully, I'll have time to save up for it. He also previewed iWork and the updated apps for iLife '05, all stellar applications now made even more spectacular. I'm really interested in iWork because of Pages. Pages is the complete update of Appleworks. This should be interesting to see what happens here.

So was Macworld worth waiting for? Actually, I think so. Seeing Tiger demo'd was just simply too awesome. Even the lockup gaffe that wound up being a stab at Microsoft and Gates was too funny. One has to wonder, was it planned due to what happened at CES? "That's why we have backup systems."