How would you change Apple's HDMI-equipped Mac mini?
By Darren Murph 
posted August 13th 2010 11:00PM
posted August 13th 2010 11:00PM
posted August 13th 2010 11:00PM
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A free bumper case.
Get the price back down to $499 like the original mini. Basically taking the mini back to it's roots as a true entry level Mac with an entry level price.
@PandaLand
Add a stupid security lock, seriously how hard is it just to include that little hole for the lock
@PandaLand
Larger case, not smaller.
Make 2.5 HD's slot loading for easy swapping.
Use the i3, i5 and i7 CPU chips instead of the (very) old Core2Duo's.
Entry level price at $499 to $599 (like the old one).
Include the remote, (like the old one).
Give SSD option in custom config.
Offer Dual HD for all levels, not just server + CD/DVD drive, not instead of.
Make case bottom square for easier access to entire machine internals.
@PandaLand Core iX, discrete Nvidia GPU (Nvidia GPUs seem to have more software benefits from what I've seen lately. Seems more are supported with Flash 10.1. Along with a lot of Apps using CUDA, like that one app that breaks some encryption.)
USB 3.0!
@PandaLand Call it an AppleTV
@High nothing is perfect. saying any product is completely perfect is just blatant fanboyism.
Add Blu-ray, and forget you ever said it was a bag of hurt.
@Blackstar
I'd definitely want an OTA Tuner instead of having to buy one from ElGato to run EyeTV. Somebody had mentioned that this MacMini might not be able to handle 1080p. If that's true then it should have a more powerful processor or a better video card.
@High
Are you high?!
@1 Infinite Loop Cupertino CA Exactly! I would consider getting one for my mom, who isn't a tech type, but 700 as starting isn't good enough.
For starters, there should be a Blu-Ray option. Yes, maybe 100% of the content will come from the Internet someday, but when that happens, this new Mac mini will have become totally obsolete. This is an example of Apple not exactly taking advantage of the moment. I would never have purchased a PlayStation 3 (the Blu-Ray reference device for the Criterion collection) if it were not for Apple's stubbornness.
Then, why on Earth is the SD slot in the back? Because it would not be pretty enough if it were not in the front? At least, put it on the side. This might be an example of Apple sacrificing function in the name of form.
I looove Apple, but sometimes... Oh well, nobody's perfect.
@mongoose8p Probobly because they don't want schools or libraries buying them, so they can't add security tech so they will opt for an iMac
@PandaLand
make it a dell zino at half the price...
@PandaLand I'd said that junk on fire and firebomb steve jobs' face with it.
@Jordus And he'd beat your bitch ass black and blue, poofder
@PandaLand
blu ray drive
why have 1080p resolution if you dont use it much
@PandaLand The Mac Pro is Apple's only "desktop;" the iMac and Mac Mini are just morphed laptops. How would I change the Mac Mini? Make it a entry level desktop.
@PandaLand make suer it's not fragmented?
@PandaLand Lower the price or give the mouse/keyboard for free
Add an ipod dock on the top
@PandaLand
I want one covered in Swarovski crystals. Money is no object.
@1 Infinite Loop Cupertino CA
While they should drop the price, they won't. If someone walks into an Apple store with the intention if buying a Man Mini. However they see an iMac that has better specs has a screen and is only $500 dollars more, there's a good chance they'll walk out with an iMac. Sucks for people who want a cheap HTPC.
If I were to change the Mini, I would make it black (power coated), Core i3 or 5, easy to replace HDD, Blu Ray, and Windows 7.
@MrBigStuff
I use this model as a media player with 5TB of USB connected external MiniMax HDDs.. I promise you it CAN handle 1080p encoded at bitrates as high at 3,500kbps, which all my video has been for my projector.
The previous MacMini didn't have a hope of handling this stuff though. That extra bit of 'oomph' in the processor has made the difference.
(close down any other software running though..!)
@clindhartsen
I agree $699 is too much even with my student discount it's still $649. This is definitely the most "giftable" Mac. I was thinking of getting one for my mother as well but the $700 price tag seems a little steep. I got her a Dell some years back and I have wished I hadn't ever since. The $499 price tag of the Dell seemed to be just fantastic deal at the time, spec wise anyway. Apple, give me back the $500-$600 "giftable" (on a budget here) Mac Mini! It doesn't have to be a powerhouse just better than an old dell. I mean the bar isn't very high here.
I would make it $100 cheaper, maybe by leaving out the DVD drive. You can get an external Blu-Ray for $290 anyway:
http://www.amexdigital.com/Press_Release-E_Portable%20Blu-ray%20Super%20Multi%20Drive.htm
I'd prefer the ability to easily swap the hard drive and have two so I can get a small SSD for the boot drive.
In terms of CPU, I don't mind the Core 2 Duo. Obviously the Core i3 or i5 would be better but it's because of Intel's design blocking other IGPs. I much prefer the 320M GPU so that I can play Crysis. It plays GTA 4 too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeFKtItZ-iw
An XBox is $300, the Mini is $700 and if you plug in a 360 controller, you get close to the same experience as well as a large back-catalogue of PC games. I got a $150 discount so I got one instead of an XBox and I love that it's so small and near silent with no external PSU.
What I would change about it?
It starts at 800 euros (= more than $1000 ) in Europe.
Need I say more?....
@1 Infinite Loop Cupertino CA
I believe the same about the price...there is absolutely no reason to be so expensive.
@rollocla As high as 3,500 Kbps? Did you mean 35,000 Kbps?
@mongoose8p
About as hard as it is for them to add holes to vent hot air out of the side of the macbook pro and away from your crotch.
@rollocla I hope you did mean 35,000 as the bit rate because my custom built media centre nas with an Ion handles full blu-rays without issue, and that only cost me 300 to put together, minus all the hard drives I've accumulated over time.
@JeanMichel Decombe
I'll tell you why Apple doesn't have Bluray, because they are too close, too exclusive, they only work with themselves.
While Microsoft, works with tons of hardware developers.
Apple rather die before using something that they didn't invented, they don't like to collaborate.
It won't surprise me if they are working on "iRay"
@Blackstar most of your reasons are why I decided against getting one of the new minis. (apart from the larger case, why?).
@Bcta30 Apple is part of the B-u-ray Disc Association..................
@TinWard Actually, I was thinking that as well.
If they just left out the DVD drive, and used the server case, I'd be fine with a $100 price drop. Heck, they could even cut the hard drive size to differentiate it from the rest of the models. It'd be sort of like a desktop equivalent to the Macbook Air.
@TruUnknowN It's still not out of the question, but getting less and less likely. Remember, Steve Jobs also said they would never make a phone and no one wanted to watch video on an iPod. Apple tends to play down the importance of current products so when they add that feature/product they can say "it's been done before, but we did it right".
That being said, there's really no way to do Blu-Ray "right"-er than it has been. It's disc playback.
I think the biggest problem is the HDCP chain issues you get with the Blu-ray licensing scheme. Every piece of the chain from disc to monitor needs to be HDCP compliant, or the disc won't play.
It's hard for some people (obviously not the people who read this site, but most people) to realize that their shiny new Mac Mini with Blu-Ray won't play on their old Dell monitor using an HDMI-DVI cable because the old monitor is not HDCP.
@paperless As of late, Apple feels that streaming and downloads, not physical media, is the future of media. Look at the popularity of Netflix streaming (which ironically uses Microsoft Silverlight) for proof.
Plus licensing requirements for Blu-ray are still extremely strict, with high royalties. Apple has tried to get the BDA to change them, but to no avail. When you see those licensing requirements changed, you will see Blu-ray in a Mac... but as it's going, streaming in one form or another will take over the world first.
@paperless That's really not an excuse for not offering their customers the latest technology in movie playback. We're past the halfway mark of 2010, and still no sign of Bluray on an Apple Home Theatre PC.... It appear, some people enjoy living in the past with DVD's. Streaming is not an option before I, and everyone else will be able to stream 25GB in 1½ hours.
I would create a completely new line of Macs that would basically be barebone PCs. It would essentially be a case with an Apple motherboard and you have the option of buying CPU, RAM, etc. from Apple or using your own. You can also install Mac OS X on it. But that would be dreaming.
@TruUnknowN Which is funny because he pushed Disney to Blu Ray.
"How would you change it" - why has no one mentioned the obvious?
1 0 8 0 p
FFS.
@PandaLand
I think the feature set/price/place in product line is all messed up. Truth is, the Mac Mini offers basically only MacBook-level performance, and once you buy a keyboard/mouse/monitor, it's the same price as a MacBook, but without portability.
They should either position it less expensively, or give it more value as a desktop machine. They could make it as big as a toaster and pack much more goodness in it, and no one would fret about the size increase (well, except for maybe those Mac Mini colocation places):
-Core i5/i7 processors, and not the ULV ones. Mobile or desktop version, either one is a nice improvement.
-nVidia 335M video (or follow suit with the iMac, and go to AMD video)
-User-upgradeable storage and RAM (the available bump to 8GB RAM was excellent, but would be nice to see more drive bays, even if they do remain 2.5")
-If they insist on not having a PCIe slot, at least give it an ExpressCard slot. The user doesn't need to crack open the case for that.
@Blackstar
Add all of that and have a Hauppauge 1212 style tuner option to allow for the mini to be a complete HD HTPC system including PVR. The original HDPVR already looks rather at home next to an old style mini. Let the mini gobble up the HD-PVR and you would have a cool complete solution.
@MisterWarmth It supports 1080p. You appear to be confusing the mini with Apple TV.
@schultz Have you seen how much crap Dell loads onto their computers? Add to the fact that by the time you load it with the right specs to be able to handle 1080p, wireless, hard drives, graphics, ram, it's either a similar price or more expensive.
That and AMD does not impress me, I have had more issues with their processors than I can count.
And then if you want blu-Ray yuo have to either dish out major cash for software that can play the discs or pirate the software, both unsavory solutions. And you have to have a compliant display.
Blu-Ray is great and all, but I don't havethecash to throw around for those suckers at sometimes two or three times the price of a DVD.
@rollocla I'd hope it can handle bitrates up to 3500 kbps, that's nothing. That's not even DVD bitrate. Blu-ray bitrate is generally 20-30 Mbps.
450-550 price!
@applehateboy The ASUS "nettop" with ION2 is still cheaper.
@applehateboy ya and instead of the annoying Apple chime when you turn the cpu on I think the bedroom intruder song should start to play
@applehateboy They could hit that without hurting their profit margins if they offered an actual low-end model.
Replace the C2D P8600 (2.4GHz, $200) with a Celeron T3300 (2.0GHz, $80). Most people won't notice a difference, but there's $120 off the top. Cut a little hard drive size and make Bluetooth optional, and you're down to $550.