Posted on 02/11/2005 9:48:42 PM PST by HAL9000
Yes, I understand that--I'm saying it's not adequate enough to be called an uber anything. It's certainly not going to function as an HTPC--the Radeon 9200 isn't exactly what I'd call the best DVD decoder around. The thing's sound chip is a mystery, and it has no surround sound capabilities that I can find out about.
If it had better video and sound, it'd be great. But adding various parts on eliminates the whole "small and compact" feature, and you might as well just get a Windows-based HTPC.
I'm not surprised Apple is making money:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1341787/posts
In the January presentation when the iShuffle and Mini-Mac were announced; the CEO of Sony was present. Why? Sure, sony makes some of the LCD screens for Apple, but his hardly warrents the presence of the CEO of one of the world's largest corporations. Fluke? I think not.
A really great article, elaborating much more on this thought may be found here .
I must again emphasize, this is a truly outstanding article. Some really awesome points are made, and I think this man is 100% correct.
That's what various advocates would have you believe. Mostly, what those are based on are a 1 or 2% slide over the last three years - you're supposed to assume that trend will last forever and extrapolate accordingly. The same sort of calculations that global warming wackos use to "predict" average daily temperatures of 240 degrees fifty years from now, IOW.
May I direct your attention to the article linked here. The fact that the H.264 is onboard; and that Mac 10.4 is designed to work with HDDTV in BOTH Blu-Ray as well as HD-DVD formats is no accident. Why support Blu-Ray is you have a low performance built in DVD player? Now, add Bluetooth and/or ethernet; and you can stream the material in a compressed state from an iTunes-like website; and Mac can compete in the Movie Rental business.
Consider, with Sony, MGM, 20th Centrury and others all supporting different HDTV standards (Blu-Ray or HD-DVD) and these standards being incompatable with each other; the user has a choice of buying a Mac Mini (and stream HDTV the night before, to watch at his leisure), or purchasing 2 HDTV playback decks.
Hollywood Video will have to rent 2 versions of HDTV, until a standard shakes out. Just like in the Beta/VHS days. Meanwhile, Apple cleans up. Just a thought.
IIRC, the CEO of Sony was there to talk about how their new camera works with iLife. I agree with the article that it was odd to have Sony's CEO there just to talk about a camera linking up with software, but if there really was something bigger coming down the pipe, why not save the CEO appearance until they were ready to announce it?
When we get a Mac mini II with nvidia's DVD decoder and an M-Audio sound card, then I'll start thinking of the Mac mini as a true HTPC. Right now, it's just a foot in the door.
if you did, you might finally get laid, instead of staying up all night making the same post to every thread.
Oh, I have no doubt that movies are in Apple's future. My point is just that it's in the future, not in the present.
And by the way, that link doesn't work. Could you re-enter it?
also see the in reply to link for this message.
S&P Keeps Dell at Strong Buy, Apple at Hold
http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/feb2005/pi20050211_2552_pi010.htm
This statment is very incorrect.
The speed of the G4 processor is just one of those things you have to try in order to believe.
You can compare Mhz & specs all you want, but I know for a fact that when I sit down in from of a 2.4 GHz Pentium at work, the thing just feels dog slow compared to my 1 GHz Powerbook.
Now I do not do heavy-duty graphics work and if I did I would have the dual 2.5 GHz G5, but for causual photo-editing, editing & joining short movie clips, etc. a 1 GHz G4 easily outstrips a 2.4 GHz Pentium. Maybe it is the interaction of the OS and the hardware, maybe it is just that the software is better optimized, but for the average consumer a Mini-Mac is going to "feel" faster than a Pentium.
Just like your average moving van has more horsepower than my BMW Z3, but I can run rings around the moving van.
Ah, it's the same one you linked to me in another post.
I've got that one bookmarked now. It's great speculation, and it'll probably be on-target. I just think we'll need a Mac mini II before we can get a true HTPC from Apple.
Fortune: How big can Apple get?
Monday, February 7, 2005 @ 10:55am
http://www.macnn.com/articles/05/02/07/how.big.can.apple.get/
"this isn't a company about 5% market share; this is a company that is capable of competing with world-class competitors and achieving market shares of 65%, 70%, and even 90%."
I'm referring to Windows's five percent drop in the web browser "user-agent" share from June 2004 to February 2005.
Tell that one to Bill Gates...
Got google?
The funny thing was that he didn't want to leave the stage - he just kept going on and on. I thought Steve Jobs was about to get the hook.
What's Apples equivalent to MS SQL Server and what enterprise IT Director would seriously consider installing it?
What's Apples equivalent to MS AD Domain Controllers and what enterprise IT Director would seriously consider deploying it?
What's Apples equivalent to MS Office and what enterprise IT Director would seriously consider deploying it?
Name one major enterprise, like a bank or even a resort hotel, that's deployed and runs an Apple based network. Actually, there might be one or two resorts but, I've never heard of them. I'm fairly positive there's no large financial institution. Apples only fit in an enterprise when a company has a graphic arts department. And usually, the only reason the Apples get installed is because of the stubbornness of the graphic artists.
The only place these two companies really overlap is in the OS market and even there, they aren't true competitors because you can't buy one and install it on the others platform without emulation.
Primarily, Apple's really in the OS market is because they're in the proprietary hardware market.....and visa versa....it's really one of those chicken/egg situations.
No one at MS is losing sleep over what Apple's next move is going to be....they're too busy wondering what's up with Nux which is in MS's market and is a viable threat to their long term business strategy.
Well, that explains that. Thanks.
MS Entourage, or Mac OS X Mail and iCal, etc.
What's Apples equivalent to MS SQL Server and what enterprise IT Director would seriously consider installing it?
Oracle 10g.
What's Apples equivalent to MS AD Domain Controllers and what enterprise IT Director would seriously consider deploying it?
LDAP?
What's Apples equivalent to MS Office and what enterprise IT Director would seriously consider deploying it?
Office for Windows? Apple iWork?
A lot of IT Directors are experiencing a big climbdown in the corporate world lately. They look like fools for wasting valuable resources with all of Microsoft's security problems.
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