Apple's "New, Fun Products" thread.

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KaosDG

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10:12 am Same exact form factor
10:11 am iLounge: New Mac mini
Based on Intel, single-processor and dual-processor chip versions.
2.5x - 3.2x faster

Steve Jobs on stage
Fun things to introduce today, "medium scale things."
Update on Intel transition. Discussing Apps.
 
How much do you want to bet that people fail to notice this sticky, and start new threads for you to lock, KaosDG? :D

Anyone know a good site for continuous upgrades? iLounge just went down the crapper.
 
10:16 am iLounge: -- New Feature --
Share Music - Bonjour technology, allows devices to find themselves automatically over a network.
10:15 am MacCentral: The redesigned Mac mini features gigabit Ethernet, a total of four USB 2.0 ports, analog and SPDIF audio outputs and more.

"And, of course, you can also hook it up to televisions," Jobs told the audience. It's been widely speculated that Apple might use today's event to introduce a Mac model with better home entertainment integration.

The new Mac mini, like its iMac sibling, features Front Row, an application that makes it possible to view movies, listen to audio, watch music videos and more from your Mac, in full-screen, using an infrared remote control from across the room. The Mac mini now sports an infrared sensor in the front of the Mac min, next to the machine's optical disk drive slot.

As demonstrated by Jobs, Front Row now has a new feature -- the ability to support shared music libraries accessible through iTunes. So using Front Row, you can listen to the contents of other machines running iTunes on the same subnetwork.
10:15 am MacCentral: Jobs introduced the new Intel-based Mac mini, Apple's low-cost consumer desktop system. The base model features an Intel Core Solo CPU -- a single-processor, single-core CPU. But the company is also introducing a Mac mini that features Intel's Core Duo processor -- the same kind of CPU that powers the iMac and MacBook Pro.
10:15 am iLounge: IR sensor on right of disc slot
Six button Apple remote
10:13 am iLounge: Front Row software

http://www.macrumorslive.com/web/
 
Black Morty Rackham said:
How much do you want to bet that people fail to notice this sticky, and start new threads for you to lock, KaosDG? :D

Anyone know a good site for continuous upgrades? iLounge just went down the crapper.
Click to expand...



hehe

I was using engadget, and they died.

then i went to http://www.macrumorslive.com/web/
but they are jacking Engadget and iLounge's feeds also...
 
MacCentral: Predictably, the new Mac minis also feature iLife 06, Apple's recently refreshed suite of applications that includes iTunes, iPhoto, iDVD, iMovie, GarageBand and iWeb. Also standard is Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger," a remote control, Front Row, AirPort Extreme, Bluetooth, four USB 2.0 interfaces, FireWire 400, GigaBit Ethernet, DVI video out, and Dolby Digital 5.1 and analog audio in and out.

The entry-level Mac mini system, available starting today, is a 1.5GHz Core Solo system with 667MHz bus, 512MB RAM, 60GB SATA hard drive and "Combo" DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive for $599 -- $100 more than the previous base model.

It says SATA drive, does that mean full size drive? Im not aware of SATA for laptop size drives
 
jonw757 said:
It says SATA drive, does that mean full size drive? Im not aware of SATA for laptop size drives
Click to expand...


Doubtful, since it's the same form factor.

I hope they still use standard PC3200 DIMM's, so I can move my 1GB module into the new mini and sell my old one with the 512 it came with.
 
The new Minis are a little pricey for me. Maybe they will come down in price once the excitement settles down?

Also I want to know what kind of GPU/VRAM they have in them as that was one of my sticking points with the original. Mainly does it have hardware H.264 decode?

Though the digital audio in and out is awsome.

I may wait until they get the Memron cores in there.

Can't wait to see the disection pics whenever these start shipping.

The boombox sounds neat, but doesn't grab my attention. Maybe if it was some '80's style boombox then we might be talking :p
 
That's all for today. No new iBook... Bah. New Mac mini looks cool, but I could barely care less about the "reinvented home stereo."
 
Yea, kinda disappointed in the price of the new Minis, I was hoping to get the Core Duo for $700 instead of 800. I'll be interested to see how well they interface with HiDef TVs - what kind of video chips they have inside them, whether its integrated or discrete. I still might end up buying one, its a tough choice - it is either a Mini or HD TiVo later this year. Plus I still need to buy a reciever and surround sound speakers.. hmm...

I was all set to buy a new iBook too. :( oh well.
 
Well that was a boring Town Hall meeting. All the hype for a stereo and a new Mac Mini. *yawn
 
Intel GMA950 graphics processor with 64MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared with main memory

512MB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300) on two DIMMs; supports up to 2GB

Only a 5400RPM SATA drive.
 
jonw757 said:
It says SATA drive, does that mean full size drive? Im not aware of SATA for laptop size drives
Click to expand...

They exist. The Xbox360 uses one for example.
 
Bah! Integrated video for $800?? I'm waiting for Rev 2. We'd be better off with X1300 or something.
 
fibroptikl said:
Intel GMA950 graphics processor with 64MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared with main memory

512MB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300) on two DIMMs; supports up to 2GB

Only a 5400RPM SATA drive.
Click to expand...


2GB support is nice.

However, the shared VRAM is definitely a step backwards... one of their big selling points of the G4 mini was the fact that it had dedicated video memory.

So, that reduces the amount of memory available to the OS.
 
doormat said:
Bah! Integrated video for $800?? I'm waiting for Rev 2. We'd be better off with X1300 or something.
Click to expand...

Could they even put an X1300 in there? What are the thermal specs?
 
The HiFi boombox doesn't even look that great. It at least needs a built in radio or something maybe a screen to show battery life. The new Mac Mini is too expensive. If it was $399 or $499 I'd buy one in a heartbeat but at $799 for integrated video it just isn't worth it. I might buy one anyways though.
 
No way in hell am I going to spend $350 on a boombox, or espically a $100 leather case with no screen or control access. I think I got my hopes up too high for a new ipod.
 
Ahhh... Wonderful.

Today we got a price hike, a downgrade in graphics (to a level Apple always refused to stoop to), and incredible lies about performance.

3x faster my ass. How on Earth is a 1.5GHz Pentium M/Core Solo anything more than 10-15% faster than a 1.5GHz G4?
 
I have zero interest in Intel-based macs (for now) because it makes zero sense for me to spend that kind of money only to run Photoshop and Illustrator through Rosetta at half speed.

Of the iPod Hi-Fi, if it could play internet radio like Roku's SoundBridge Radio (or at least AM/FM) for $349, then I think maybe they'd have something I'd want.
 
Humm 2 ram slots, gigabit ethernet, support for hdtvs. Now if only they put something other then the crappy intel graphics in it. I want one but a new windows laptop comes first. O well.
 
Centauri said:
Ahhh... Wonderful.

Today we got a price hike, a downgrade in graphics (to a level Apple always refused to stoop to), and incredible lies about performance.

3x faster my ass. How on Earth is a 1.5GHz Pentium M/Core Solo anything more than 10-15% faster than a 1.5GHz G4?
Click to expand...

A Core Solo has a 4X faster system bus, better floating-point math, and likely better integer performance too.

Also, while I agree that GMA950 will suck in some tasks, it's actually a lot better than the Radeon 9200 it replaces for others. For one thing, CoreImage effects will actually work. I wouldn't run Aperture on it, but I would use it with iPhoto or similar apps.
 
Aurelius said:
A Core Solo has a 4X faster system bus, better floating-point math, and likely better integer performance too.

Also, while I agree that GMA950 will suck in some tasks, it's actually a lot better than the Radeon 9200 it replaces for others. For one thing, CoreImage effects will actually work. I wouldn't run Aperture on it, but I would use it with iPhoto or similar apps.
Click to expand...

The G4 is lower-latency so the system bus doesn't matter as much, it has AltiVec, is a 7-stage pipeline CPU, and integer performance is arguable.

No CPU exists that is 3-4x faster than a 1.5GHz G4 at anywhere near the same clock speed, sorry.
 
Hm, my mac mini is a year old now...The only reason to replace it would to be for the remote and legal Front Row?
I'm very disappointed at the integrated graphics. Yes it will work better for the average user who buy the mini for it's purpose, iLife. Apple was always making fun of PC's for their "shared" ram. No it's not better to share! I guess we are using ddr 2 now...
 
There is an article at ExtremeTech showing the GF6200TC beating the crap out of the GMA950. The 6200TC had 32MB attached (plus whatever system memory available via TurboCache). Hell, the 950 couldnt even run Splinter Cell without it crashing. The only game that had good (>25) fps was MS Flight Sim which is both CPU limited and also automatically degrades the game until the target FPS is reached.

Its not like they would have had to put on a full on video card, a mobile X1300 or 6200 with 64MB would have sufficed quite nicely, allowed minimal games (WoW or Warcraft 3 or similar games) at low resolutions and still been cheap.
 
Overall the new minis are kind of lackluster, but the integrated graphics chipset seems like a relatively intelligent move. Apple has been stealthing the mini into the living room since its initial launch.

The GMA950 is a HTPC chipset. http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets/gma950/

This really moves them more in that direction. This machine isn't meant to be a graphics editing powerhouse(all-though a cluster of them would be pretty cool for that) It's meant to be more of an appliance.

Shared memory sucks, but I can see the logic as to why they chose this over the 9200.

Intel probably has some requirements of Apple for chipset purchasing as well as the actual processors, so this could have been part of that arrangement and Apple chose to put the chipsets they were required to buy in the minis and stuck with what they really wanted on the higher-end stuff.

For those that were wanting the Mini for a workstation, the integrated GPU sucks. For those that wanted it for an HTPC, I think it makes a lot of sense.

-Chris
 
Wow, never in my life did I expect Apple to stoop as low as to rely upon integrated graphics. I was seriously considering the intel Mac Mini; but now it's a no-go. Totally lame.
 
DanK said:
Wow, never in my life did I expect Apple to stoop as low as to rely upon integrated graphics. I was seriously considering the intel Mac Mini; but now it's a no-go. Totally lame.
Click to expand...

Same here. I probably would have ordered one already if it had a better graphics solution.
 
I'll sell my current mac mini, and buy an intel mac mini, but IF and only if they upgrade to ~x1300 ish VC with AT LEAST 32mb dedicated memory, 64/128mb preferably. and if they drop the price at least 100 on the solo version, 200 on the duo. seriously, $800 for the mac mini? uhhhhh...why not an imac?! mini + good display = ~intel imac, so why not?! (please don't comment on this, i know there are alot of variables) I'm liking how they added a 2nd memory slot (thought I read that, they did right?) would make upgrades a whole lot cheaper/easier.

the current mac mini is REALLY lacking in video performance (as in movies/video clips, not 3d) the previews in front row of movies don't even play smoothly (*see below)

my thoughts on what they could improve from what I've seen of the Intel mini? faster video card, with at least 64 MB dedicated memory. thats the main problem there. A firewire 800 port, a NON PROPRIETARY POWER CONNECTOR! seriously...thats fucked up...why the fuck can't you use a standard connector? I DON'T wanna hafta buy a second power supply JUST so i can chop off the cord when I build my mac mini carputer (yes i know...affects a very few people, but still...come on...)(and for any that want to know why you chop off the cord..pm me and I'll show you :))

(* yes i know Front Row isn't supposed to run on a mac mini, so its not guaranteed to perform good, but i mean COME ON! it can't play PREVIEWS of movies, especially since the full movie plays perfectly fine?!)
 
Are people getting "integrated graphics" and "shared memory" confused?

The first mac mini had integrated graphics... as do all apple notebooks and iMacs.

Only the powermacs do not have integrated graphics, they have separate AGP or PCI-e graphics boards.
 
Thud said:
Are people getting "integrated graphics" and "shared memory" confused?

The first mac mini had integrated graphics... as do all apple notebooks.

The powermacs do not have integrated graphics, they have separate AGP or PCI-e graphics boards.
Click to expand...
no...

the past mac minis did have "integrated" graphics, meaning integrated into the mobo. BUT, it used/uses a separate chip on the mobo that communicates with the chipset via the AGP bus, so there is a slight difference between the current "integrated" chips (which ARE a part of the northbridge/chipset)


but as far as it being non-upgradeable, and thus "integrated" into the mobo...yes, it has been on both

even the iMacs have "integrated" video cards...but they are more powerful (x1600) and if they could squeeze those in there, they might (should) be able to squeeze a x1300 into the mac mini..
 
Thud said:
Are people getting "integrated graphics" and "shared memory" confused?

The first mac mini had integrated graphics... as do all apple notebooks.

The powermacs do not have integrated graphics, they have separate AGP or PCI-e graphics boards.
Click to expand...

In the way that it's being used, it's obvious that we mean integrated as in part of the northbridge / chipset, and not a discrete chip on the motherboard. Pedantry won't change the disappointing nature of the intel Mac Mini's graphics.
 
This whole announcement was dissapointing IMO.

Bring on the intel iBooks and for god sake don't screw them up! :eek:
 
Wow, the intergrated graphics really kills any anticipation i had for the new mini. Maybe the price is so high because Apple wants to get all the money they can out of the "OMG I have to have it!!!" types. I am definately waiting for the Rv2 or the DVR version...

I wonder if I will be able to find a G4 Mini for cheap...
 
$350 for a boombox, $99 for a sleeve :eek: I cant help but feel Steve is smoking crack.
 
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