Macworld '09: a show of no-shows
By Paul Miller 
posted Jan 6th 2009 6:28PM
posted Jan 6th 2009 6:28PM
Notably absent:
- Push notifications. This was supposed to roll out in September and is sorely needed.
- Snow Leopard. Last June Apple said the OS was due in "about a year," so we would expect to start hearing a bit more about it -- or at least notification of a delay.
- Matte display options for other MacBooks. Pretty please?
- Mac mini refresh. The little box has become woefully underspecced -- especially for the price -- and is also lagging a little in the design department.
- A mid-range tower. This is just wishful thinking, but seriously Apple: the demand is there.
- iPhone 32GB. In pink, of course.
- iPhone nano. Our hands aren't getting any smaller, and this SimCity isn't gonna get plumbing all on its own.
- iTablet. Sure, it's been every Newton-head's dream since forever, but that doesn't mean the market for a UMPC-ish iPod touch-like device is there just yet.
I think it is pretty clear Jobs didn't do the final Keynote because there was nothing of much interest to announce! He would have been going out on a whimper.
If Apple had included all that stuff that Engadget suggests, the Keynote would of been eight hours long. Spec updates don't make that much of a splash, because you can't demo them (unless you do a complete overhaul like the 17" Macbook Pro). More than likely there will be a return of the Special Tuesdays or whatever Apple calls them, over the next month.
And the iPhone Nano probably won't be released until July, if there is one.
And they could have used the time to premiere things that people actually give a shit about.
Go figure.
Totally agree. The hardware is what the majority of folks geek out about, we want to be mac fans we want to fill gaps in our lineups with more product, but those of us with a laptop and an ipod/iphone haven't seen anything worth the price of an upgrade in a while now.
They either need to drop pricing on the mac mini or refresh it at this point, it's a nice little box still and it's still relevant in the market because of its form factor, but it's now painfully expensive for what you get.
Alas, this keynote may have been the lamest I can remember. I was itching to click a "Buy Now" button on a new iMac. Oh well, more money in my pocket.
And where is Snow Leopard? And where are the iPhone software enhancements? Seriously, a year and a half with no cut and paste...it's just getting embarrassing, Apple.
I think Jobs is jealous that Blu-Ray will undoubtedly outlive him...I wouldn't show my face either.
Paul Chapel: "And the iPhone Nano probably won't be released until July, if there is one."
You don't think there will be a July this year?
@Paul
I would not put much into your "predictions". After all, you said that there would not be a fixed battery in the new MBP, and the only reason for that is to make it thinner. Not only did they make the battery non-removable, but they also made it thicker.
your actually pretty right. I mean i was waiting and waiting and waiting, because i was almost certain that a new mac mini was coming seeing that it was probably one of the most talked about announcements(that never happenned). The iphone nano was big talk but a very large majority of us did not see that possible. I dont even think it is real. I really expected a new mini, and the rumor about the new macbook pro 17 incher came in only a few days ago, longggggggg after rumors of a new mini. i didnt even think the new mbp was even real, i thought it was another rumor. I actually got caught by suprise.... I was actually sort of dissapointed today
Out with a wimper... instead of a (wait for it)... BOOM?
[/incrediblylazypun]
Looks like the Apple train is losing steam.
Notably Absent: Steve Jobs
Seriously though. I get it Steve. You're sick. I don't care how sick you are - you should have been there. Let your buddy talk, but you should have said hello and waved.
The bad: Steve Jobs notably absent
The good: John Mayer notably absent
@jean:
agreed. +a couple dozen.
The Bad: This is the last Keynote at Macworld
The Bad: Really really lame product releases.
Who else is excited to get that powerful $800 2.0GHz Mac Mini?!
i love it. griping about a guy that is suffering from a massive nutritional problem not being at some geek love tech fest that his company doesn't even run.
and then griping about stuff Apple hasn't made one comment about. All that talk of a new imac, mini, etc has all been rumor sites. folks "I wish" turning into "I heard" like those sleepover games of gossip.
yes it was a light presentation. but Apple probably couldn't get their money back and was committed to being there so why not present something. And as the first time someone other than Steve ran the show, it makes sense they wouldn't do anything to flashy cause if they announced all new hardware for the iMacs, the minis etc folks would be starting up the talk that it should have been Steve and he's lying and he's dying and that's why he wasn't there and Apple needs to be honest, they owe it to us and the shareholders and isn't it illegal to not tell that Steve is going to "epic fail" within days, since he is the only actual brain at the company and everyone else just does what he tells them to.
A total yawnfest and a huge waste of live coverage for you guys.
Still unlike Gizmodo (LOL) you've at least had the sense to quietly let the stories die by drifting off the front page. No wonder your readership is on the up and they're pretty much screwed.
Don't let fanboyism plague Tech blogs, they're both good sites.
@Itsuru
Gizmodo was a good site, past tense. Engadget still is.
Whatever, that Jesus guy over there is a moron who single handedly reduces the quality of what would otherwise be a nice site to pure crap. TFSU? Where the heck does that idiot come up with crap like that? He keeps repeating it in his posts too.
He is such a blatant Apple fanboy, that he'll make the most stupid arguments in defense of Apple and it's stupid decisions like non-user replaceable batteries and what not. Go there right now, and while he himself only has a few posts, the site as a whole has something like FOURTEEN Apple related posts on the first page. And that is from a Macworld that had basically: NO NEWS.
A recent Engadget survey showed more than 50% if engadget readers preferred Apple computers. This does not mean 50% of Windows users prefer macs, it means engadget drove away 50% of their readership with their incessant Apple coverage.
For every reader who complains here that he will leave if he sees another iPhone story, probably 10 have already left, probably to smaller blogs which actually cover the hardware and software they use.
Engadget has recently made attempts to change (you can see it in their more neutral coverage of WM phones, without their usual sarcastic mention of the iphone) - who knows if those readers will come back however.
@sr:
The guy also wrote a piece not too long ago gushing with fangirlism about Steve Jobs. It was around the time were rumors about his poor health were at their height. He dropped the banhammer on commenters who called him out on being a rim-jobber. They didn't even go so far as to say it, some of them. Some just questioned how objective his perception was and *BAM*. It was really awfully written, his fangirlism aside. So many awful stylistic conventions...EUGH. That site has become a shit-hole.
Surr,
Nice post.
Gizmodo shows the same trend:
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/gizmodo.com
Fact of the matter is that sites such as Endadget and Gizmodo have manifested a rather ostensible bias towards Apple, and as you noted, their incessant posting about every single minutia that comes out of Apple or Steve Jobs' ass has turned a lot of viewers off.
I seldomly visit Engadget these days, and Gizmodo at all (they are even worse than Engadget), but truth of the matter is that if these sites keep up this bias (catering to that nominal 8% Apple crowd) then their sites popularity well reflect their partisanship.
You must be new but it used to way worse. I give Josh credit because Engadget has been remarkably balanced in this past year and this Macworlds coverage is testament to it. It used to be multiple inane vapid posts per every keynote slide or silly feature. Now I think they're getting the vibe that people are getting tired of iCrap and iHype.
Not hearing Ryan Blocks 'thoughts' on every thing that is percolated about Jobs and Apple is also been welcome.
The tarts over on Gizmodo have picked up the slack though....they're turning into a bunch of Militant iBoi's enforcing the evaporating RDF on their few readers.
Keep up the great work and coverage at CES! I wish I was there.
Apple are a major player in the gadget world and should have a lot of coverage. That's beyond dispute. However, it is good to see that Engadget have taken a more balanced approach to coverage - it wasn't so much the volume, more the sly and tired digs at some non-Apple products, particularly if those products emanated from Redmond. Fair play, as they say in Wales.
Gizmodo is just a lost cause and will remain so whilst Lam and Diaz are allowed to indulge in their excesses.
Mark,
I disagree.
Apple are no more a significant player in this industry than say Sony, or IBM, or Microsoft, and yet they receive a totally disproportional amount of extra coverage over the aforementioned players both on here and Gizmodo.
Microsoft is 2x larger than Apple and have a product line that dwarfs Apple's offerings if you think about it.
Similarly, IBM is a larger company than Apple and there are a plethora of innovations which stem from their offices on a daily basis.
How about Google? They too possess a larger market cap than Apple, and they too have literally hundreds of innovations that they are working on at any given moment, and yet Endadget's coverage of said endeavors is sparse compared to Apple's seemingly trivial notices and updates.
Face it, Apple is no more in the right to get coverage than MS, Google, Sony, IBM, heck NASA for that matter, and yet they do.
This is all a manifestation of an ostensible bias which need not be defended by anyone, and I say once more, if Engadget insists on remaining as pervasive in their coverage of Apple as they have been in the past, then they stand to lose an even larger percentage of their readers than they already have.
Oh, and just to be clear Mark,
Engadgets readership is NOT up.
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/engadget.com
The last quarter shows a nearly 40% decline in readership.
If you take a look at the last year, its greater than a 200% loss in readership.
Engadget is, as noted by others such as surur, driving away / turning off a large percentage of its once base by catering to the nominal Apple crowd in glaringly obvious ways.
Like I said, I and a few other friends who once used to frequent this site find ourselves turning more and more to places such as Wired or /. for our tech news these days.
Gizmodo has been crossed off my list, Engadget is close, and if they say "dont let the door hit you on your way out" ...well they should give pause and reflect on the 200% others who did, and the many more who yet may if they don't wisen up.
@Hamidxa
I think you misunderstand me - by 'a lot' I do not mean 'every time Steve Jobs farts'. The fact does, however, remain that Engadget is fairly US centric, aimed at consumers rather than corporations and Apple are a major player in the computer industry (10-15% US domestic usage), the mobile phone world (the iPhone's market penetration is as good or beter than the N95's was) and the PMP world (where Apple really do utterly dominate). To suggest that they shouldn't be granted a proportionate amount of coverage just doesn't make sense.
As for your stats on hits, you'll note that alexa only covers a year and that traffic across all tech sites - Wired and slashdot included - has decreased over the year with peaks in the midyear. Although it may not seem palatable, the iPhone and other gadgets do drive interest and it may be the case that a lot of that mid year traffic is driven by Apple - or rather reporting on Apple which engages people in discussion. To suggest that particular sites are dropping off purely because of an overfocus on one company may not be entirely sensible although I have no doubt that the likes of Gizmodo are losing traffic, or at least commenters, because of this.
I saw a poster somewhere that said "The start of a new era." I think this has to do with Apple being fine without Steve as such a figurehead celebrity. They didn't blow anyone away with exciting new products, but honestly they haven't done that since they released the iPhone. I think they are proving that all the Steve hype doesn't REALLY effect what they do that much...
So what does this mean for the mac Mini? my mom has been waiting forever to buy one on the hopes of an upgraded model?
"The start of a new era" is an IDG poster meaning that the new era is the time without Apple actually being at Macworld, but the Macworld still being there..
The start of a new era poster is referring to next year's Apple-less MacWorld. Watch the new era last about 5 minutes. I'd be surprised if it happened at all next year despite the posturing. We have seen how long Boston lasted without Apple presence.
@Mike
Probably nothing.
(freakin comment system - I wrote this once and lost it!)
You guys are right. That is where I saw that poster. Sorry.
Nonetheless, my point can also be made about Apple having Tony Bennett sing "The Best Is Yet To Come". I think they're subtly saying that they're better off not at Macworld and not having Steve do all the presenting. Don't you think that Apple is better off not having Steve be the sole front man? That's the point I made in my own blog yesterday (link above). I wish SJ well and pray that he will recover, but I think Apple (and SJ) took proper advantage of this decision. As an lover of *most* apple gear, I hope that with or without Steve, they have lots of innovative technologies still coming.
I also believe it's better for them to not be locked into this yearly event as when they release new products. Now they can keep better secrets (because bloggers look for leaks more before these events), and they can innovate and release products as they're ready. I think it's better for everyone in the long run.
Doesn't matter what happens to the MacMini. What matters is that your Mom seriously craved one, which tells us that you've been luckily endowed with seriously awesome genes.
"Yeah, Apple doesn't have to do anything -- in fact, that yearly grind of expectation is probably one of the reasons the company is bowing out of Macworld altogether"
Well Apple has the blog-o-sphere to thank for that. The constant mega-hype that is shoved down everyone's throats by Apple's fanbase leads to mega-expectations that Apple cant possibly meet.
When they cant, they can get punished in the market via their stock price.
So this amounts to more of a strategic retreat to ensure that they can weather the recession without the fanatics doing them in with their pie in the sky expectations.
I generally disagree with you, but that analysis is spot on.
Would you guys quit whining about matte screens for Macbooks?
People who are editing video and pictures should be using an external display or a desktop and if you're doing video, should probably be using the 17" anyway.
Get over it. The VAST majority of consumers prefer the high-contrast, glass, more durable screens. It doesn't matter that their not 100% colour accurate, people looking at web pages and using iWork don't freaking care, just like 95% of the Macbook (not Macbook pro) buyers didn't (and don't) know WTF firewire is, let alone have a use for it.
It wouldn't be right to most people to introduce new products without Steve. There will most likely be a transition keynote for when Steve Jobs retire which will be soon I might add (sad to say he was cool but not godlike)
that's where the trouble is. for too many people Apple is Steve Jobs. Not the products. Pulling Steve out of doing every announcement, especially by himself, is clearly an attempt to show folks that there are more cooks in the kitchen and they are all just as smart as Steve and to say to the stock folks that they need to get off of Steve and focus on the products. A stock price drop because no need iMacs is one thing. A drop because Steve farted is ridiculous and yet it has been happening and unfortunately likely still will. It's so bad that Apple could announce the machine to out wow all machines. The ultimate computer, all at a price even your granny on social security could afford. and yet all the analysts will focus on is that Steve looks a bit gaunt today.
soo did they talk about teh mac wheel..LOL
What about a $200 leather case for the iPhone?
Google "Louis Vuitton iPhone case"
iPhoto 09' was the only item that even made me consider spending money. That's generally not a good thing at a trade show.
While I'm an Apple fanboy, I have this feeling that Apple has reached critical mass with their current offerings. The glaring holes for me are:
- Inexpensive tower
- Netbook contender
- Big screen, low price laptop
I'm comfortable paying the Apple tax, but when I can't find a system that speaks to me, that's a problem.
I am just looking at the iPhoto 09 video now.. that app blows anything on Windows out the water. Managing photos is, like many things on Windows, absolutely abysmal. All the apps from google, adobe, and microsoft themselves absolutely suck complete ass.
Yes, I'll feel bad buying the new Sony ultrportable and hacking it to run OS X and then Apple decides that something smaller than 13 inches would be nice.
I am really disappointed no new mac-mini, I would have bought one, not gonna buy the out of date one.
They could have substituted Jobbs with his Simpsons character
.. in fact they could have done the whole show as a Simpsons episode
.. Mapple is far more entertaining than this yawn-fest.
Mapworld fnar
Aren't there multiple days of MacWorld? I mean, any of these could show up in the next few days of MacWorld...
Of course it was. Apple and the investors was getting tired of the rollercoaster ride the stock took every time Mac World didn't meet expectations. I didn't expect anything and I wasn't really disappointed. I think the only reason the MBP 17 was rolled out here and not alongside the 15" was because they needed time to get it right.
I work for a software company and I can tell you first hand how marketing's insistence on new stuff for the trade show screws up the dev cycle, and things go out half-baked and in general the shit storm surrounding the trade show ends up delaying projects in the long run.
I, for one, would rather see Apple (or any other firm for that matter) launch products when they are ready, and not as dictated by a trade show schedule.
to be honest, I didint think that there was going to be anything all that spectacular aside from the 17inch MBP (its siblings were released long ago - october) and hopefully a new mighty mouse and cinema displays. All that plus a mac mini refresh. Macworld has long been the time for hardware with WWDC being the time for software, and I understand that Apple wants to host its own trade shows for product announcements, but seriously Phil...WTF! This was possibly the most boring Macworld I've seen yet (I've been keeping tabs on Macworld and WWDC for about 3 or 4 years now) and just as I hoped you guys would leave with a bang, you left while everyone slept at your news instead.
Oh well, with Jobs gone I guess I couldn't say I expected much and my thinking was actually that Phil wouldn't deliver to many new gadgets, but no new gadgets? (17in MBP doesn't count as it's sibling have already been debuted) All the software talk was so not work an hour plus of my time.
/Rant over. Time to go make a youtube video on all this...
What about Blu-Ray? Seriously Apple is the only computer company without Blu-Ray. I won't purchase a $2800 + notebook if I can't get factory Blu-Ray included.
Have you been living in a cave? Blu-Ray is a BAG OF HURT, according to Steve-O.
I agree that is just shameful at this point. What world of hurt? My PS3 is just fine. I'm sure their OS can handle it if Vista can
Jobs was complaining about licensing as the "bag of hurt."
I have no use for BluRay or a DVD drive for that matter. Disks of any kind are over. If anything I wish they'd make the drive optional / replaceable with a second HDD or something I can actually use.
I cant' wait to get my hands on that new 17" MBP so there you go. Maybe Apple know their target demographic pretty well. For me, the new 17" is pretty much perfect.
If they said Snow Leopard was going to come out in about a year six months ago... What does that tell you? To start expecting it in January? Is this where a robot adversary in an eighties cartoon would start going "Does-not-compute! Does-not-compute!" and then explode?
All right I guess it's only me, but I am super excited about the 17" MacBook Pro. Maybe nobody else actually needs a long-lasting battery? Or 8GB of RAM? It addresses both issues that I have with my 15" MBP. It's all I was asking for. A quad core would have been nice, but i think that is simply not possible in this form factor and weight, and certainly not with the battery life.
I need both, and I am happy I am going to get it end of Jan. It's only 1 lb heavier than the MBP which is pretty amazing in its own right. If it means I can leave the power adapter at home most days the net weight is actually the same. With a 1920x screen.
I was just going to post almost that exact same thing when I saw your post at the bottom of the page. As a loyal Windows user who has always kinda wanted a mac but never got the guts to actually get one, this might be my chance. I'll have to do Windows and boot camp, of course, but I'm really excited about this new 17" Mac!
I think we all could've figured this out by the absence of all the hands on and first look posts that normally follow.
What a joke. CES is going to be all about home theater and video to the TV. Apple lost this round. People will move on to something else if apple is not going to supply it someone else will. They lost out big time on this one. All of other manufactures will fill there home theater market.
That's "Newton".
I was hoping for a revamped Mac mini too, yet we saw Apple put out facial recognition and identification in a consumer app. If it works well, that is not exactly "meh".
FULL ACK to that post!
Where's that fXXXX MacMini I was waiting for?! Or at least lower that silly price now, Apple :-/
I was really hoping for a 32 or 64gb iphone 3g to be announced. I was looking to replace my razr and ipod in one shot. Looks like no iphone for me.... at least until they up the hdd space.
Me too. More memory. And if they won't put more in, then give us a memory slot!!!
Also absent - in that shot:
Their own NEW cinema display
Would have been used purely as a mirror on that stage
Shiny Shiny
I though like their work on the 17" MBP Battery was impressive.
I don't like carrying a second battery around. Also I hate how all laptop batteries start getting weak after a year or so.
For long flights, you could probably get a MBP external battery pack for emergencies for the same price as current MBP battery packs.
My MBP and other laptops get a little less than 2 hours on average.
If these new all-in-one batteries do get 8, then I think Apple has done a great, environmentally friendly thing here.
++ exactly.
Unfortunately, Apple joins Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Sony who have laptops that can pull 8+ hours of usage with removable batteries.
This makes this announcement very weak.
Not to mention Dell gives you the option to go up to 19 hours, and HP has an option to last 24.
This all on small, lightweight, road warrior style laptops.
Where on Dells or Sonys website is a 17" laptop with 1920x resolution that weighs 6lb and runs for 8 hours on battery?
Nowhere. This thing makes the others look downright stupid.
I totally agree on iPhone push, what the hell people? Why didn't Phil say something like "it's been harder to do than anything else in our history, harder than the iPhone, harder than negotiating with the movie studios, even harder than getting people to buy Performas back in the day.
Other than the lack of a Mini update, I thought the software was pretty good. The additional revenue stream through Garage Band is a smart move, and the 17 inch MacBook looks like a winnah for the obscenely wealthy.
A tablet is a specialised piece of equipment for specialised jobs, it has no use in general computing.
That's debatable..
Have you seen how nice and easy it was to surf the net on netbooks with "diy" embedded screen sensors?
While I would say thats true, they could easily make a wireless mini keyboard specifically for this that somehow attached. But I say forget about a Touch style gimped tablet and work on a regular mini tablet, that has some resemblance to a touch. Apple has always aimed for college students to use macs, imagine a reasonably priced tablet convertible. I dont know a college student who wouldnt want one.
"What we were expecting, however, was for Apple to come clean on a few things"
But isn't this part of why Apple doesn't want to go to MacWorld any more? They don't want to have to be expected to say things when they aren't ready to say things?
I am so bummed about not hearing anything about a new Mac Mini. I was excited when I started to hear the rumors that it wasn't going to be dumped all together. I have been witing for sooooo long for it to be updated with some newer specs so that it would be worth the money they want for it. It would be a very usful machine to me if it was at least updated with a faster processor and better graphics card. It's so far out of date it's just not worth it. But I guess that's what I get for getting excited over a rumor. Keeping my hopes up though, it ain't over till Steve says it's over.
I don't agree that there's really a market for a mid-range tower. I think the Mac Mini, iMac, and Mac Pro pretty much cover the spectrum of the non-portables. I think what IS missing is the "MacBook Mini", either as a tablet (iPod Touch Plus) or netbook (7"-9" MacBook).
I agree that it would have been nice to see the Mac Mini refresh and tablet/netbook announced today. But, the rumors for the tablet pretty squarely put that in the fall, not now.
man all i wanted was JOBS to say that "blu-ray drives are standard on Apple computers" it that so much to ask for along with the mac mini updated - so i can use a mac mini with a blu ray drive as my media center to run my home entertainment system.
oops is^^^
Ok seriously guys, I've got insiders at Microsoft that said they're actually making a computer and it's going to fly and get it's power from fetuses and magic and they're going to announce it at their next conference, no joke, you heard it here, this is as real as it gets!
I was hoping for an update to the Mac Pro as I am thinking of getting one soon to replace my 6 1/2 year old desktop I rarely use now.
verbiage
It's obvious that the Mac mini isn't a strong priority of Apple, but I'd rather they either fully support it (by updating it regularly) or just canning it altogether. It's extremely overpriced for what it offers, even when ignoring the typical "Apple tax" most Apple fanboys ignore.
learn how to spell. It's "verbiage", not "verbage".
I was hoping Apple might jump into the growing netbook market.
But alas, yet again they have failed.
Luckily HP just released the 2140. That is the Mac Netbook that Apple never made! I just hope we can get OSX86 on it well (the mini1000 is not going so well)
someone should seriously come out with toilet paper with the apple logo on every sheet.
I would have liked to see a Geforce 9800m in the laptop as opposed to the 9600m. The 9600 is probably fine.... but they should have put more horsepower into that beast. Especially if I decide I want to play WoW or something on it, once in a while. Seems like a real nice laptop though. I welcome the 8GB ram capacity and the uber battery life is great. Now if only I could afford it.... Lol
I may pick up the new iLife, mostly for the new Garage Band and music lessons. Already a big fan of using iMovie for school projects.
I'm also hoping for a Mac Mini/Apple TV Hybrid Media Center type device too...
Overall, I didn't feel anything spectacular came out of the keynote... it was.... okay...
"This is the way the world ends: not with a bang, but with a wimper"
Did I miss the announcement of a long overdue refresh of the iMac ... the central desktop of the Apple platform?
Can everyone just stop whining? Are you hell-bent on proving Apple right to bow out of MacWorld?
Apple actually put lots of engineering power behind a new breed of laptop that totally outclasses everything else out there at 17". I can't wait to get my hands on it. They even brought back matte screens for you whiners. But no, it's not enough! Granted, I didn't see the keynote, maybe Schiller was a bit too successful in his anti-Jobs role, maybe it was a snore-fest. I can't help but think they did that intentionally so no-one would miss Macworld...
The sky high expectations of Engadget and others are impossible to meet - it's a losing game for Apple. This and similar blog posts as well are the whinge-y comments pretty much confirm that pulling out of this circus is the best thing Apple could do.
I'm surprised that more people didn't praise the new 17" luxury model of the macbook pro, but hey ... maybe people want a cutting edge chip in their luxury model ... I don't know. I do think the build and the design of the macbook pro is without equal.
But it's legitimate to complain about the lack of refresh on that outdated, outmoded, outclassed, overpriced piece of retroware known as the mini. It's a joke. And I'm really disappointed the iMac wasn't refreshed ... it's also overdue. This is the computer industry and Apple charges premium prices. They should be at the forefront of all these technologies, instead of encasing MOR technology in beautiful clothes.
Style engineering is second to none. Functional engineering is lagging, quite frankly. And value engineering is really beginning to show it's warts. Computers have always been about speed and capacity, first and foremost. And Apple design, no matter how beautiful, can't hide that lack of speed or functionality. Where's the i7? Where's the plethora of discrete graphics cards that have been available on the PC side of the fence since the 5th of forever?
What a bummer. I fully expected to order a new Mac Mini today. I want a HTPC but nothing is made by Dell or HP that catches my eye and all the homemade HTPCs are way too big. The form-factor of the Mac Mini plus a beefier processor and 500 GB HD would start the Mini on the right track for me. Oh well.
No HTPC for now then...
i miss the i7 based mac pro.
I was so disappointed by this too. No new Mac Mini ranks the highest in my sad little book of hurt.
Since nothing was said about the Mac Mini, when do you think they will release it?
…My Powerbook G4 800MHZ is aching for an upgrade. It just past it's 6.5 year birthday…