By Jo Best, 12 January 2005 08:20
NEWS Apple has launched its latest barrage at wavering PC users with a Mac that scrapes in under the £350 barrier.
In a tried and tested marketing ploy, Apple is calling the starter Mac the 'Mac mini'. CEO Steve Jobs said in his keynote speech at the Macworld Expo event in San Francisco: "We think people understood iPod mini and we think they're going to understand the Mac mini."
The "most affordable" Mac comes in at £339 and comes with the newly released iLife '05 suite of applications. Jobs described the Mac mini as "BYO DKM - bring your own display, keyboard and mouse." The 'headless Mac' is inches tall and comes in any colour as long as it's white.
The cheaper Mac mini has 1.25Ghz PowerPC G4 Processor and a 40GB hard drive. For an extra £60, desktop buyers can net themselves a 1.42Ghz G4 Processor and a 80GB hard drive.
"We want to price this thing so people thinking of switching have no more excuses," Jobs said.
Users will obviously have to bring their own peripherals - Jobs promised "any industry standard" models would be compatible - PC switchers will have to accustom themselves to the Mac OS, Panther, which ships with both models as well as potentially investing in Apple's add-on hardware.
With a tempting price and Apple's favoured stripped-down design - like the latest all-in-one Mac but in reverse - Cupertino looks to be putting the moves on the PC users that have a fondness for the iPod.
An attempt to capture the technology 'thin end of the wedge' may well pay off for Jobs and co.
A recent survey of new iPod users by financial analyst company Piper Jaffray found a halo effect.
The research found that six per cent of iPod users had made the switch and another seven per cent said they were planning to dump their old PC desktop for an Apple machine.
Also at Macworld, Apple's Jobs unveiled new flash-based iPods and a software productivity suite called iWork to compete with Microsoft Office.
Comments
There are 16 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
For £40 more get a Dell with a flat panel monitor and printer.
I think Apple must have stolen some of Microsoft's marketing
people. Our IT guy is already sold on the Mac Mini.
"Hey I can get a Mac almost for free! Think of all the money I'll save using
my PC keyboard, mouse and monitor! AND it'll match my iPod!"
Hats off to them though, I'm sure it'll be a big seller among PC users,
especially those with iPods.
2. Roger Huffadine
Fantastic - A Unix machine with all but a few peripherals for £399 :))
I worked with PCs and Unix machines for 30 years. I owned PC AT serial number 00003 I HATE Microsoft products for their unreliability and poor architecture. I still waste days and days fixing problems for friends who have PCs running Windows.
When I left full time employment 3 years ago I bought an Apple, it has never crashed, is incredibly reliable, really powerful and the user interface is perfectly intuitive - unlike Microsoft products the shortcut keys do the same things in different applications.
The argument that one must use Windows is finally blown - you can now afford an Apple :)))
3. anonymous
Nice idea but anyone with software investment in the PC is going to find it an expensive move. Re-licencing on the other platform is prohibitive.
4. Peter Danckwerts
Brilliant idea. If they're aiming at existing Windows users, they'll already have monitors and probably USB keyboards and mice.
A pity that Apple's exchange rate is rather less generous than that of the financial markets.
5. anonymous
Nice apple, for £304 i can get an HP dx2000 with Celeron 2.53Ghz processor, 256Mb memory and 40 gb HDD - more than adequate for any office application other than DTP.
6. Karen Challinor
How upgradeable is it ?
7. anonymous
The beauty is not in the hardware itself, but in the software that is bundled with it.
On the PC market, between the OS, the audio-video-photo suite, the mail, calendar, wordprocessor and personal productivity suite, the anti virus costs... you will suffer.
When purchasing a computer, look at the TCO.
8. MAC (ex PC owner)
Who wants a Dell anyway? I know what works well, looks good and is virtually virus and Bill Gates free.
9. Stephan Jones
Looks like a £300 biscuit tin! In a few years I'll pick one up second hand and fill it with Jammy Dodgers.
10. Richard
Upgrade schmupgrade, Karen.
If you mean "can I put gizmos in spare slots or bays?" the answer will certainly be, No. Sorry.
You could up the RAM or fit a larger hard drive but lets be honest: How many £350 desktop PCs actually get upgraded in the real world beyond memory and HDs? Apart from those owned by teenage geeks, none.
Of course you have got Firewire and USB to connect peripherals including HDs and DVD burners.
But in the office it will do all you need from a £350 PC and outlast a Dell box. In fact, unless you are a hardcore gamer, it will do everything you ever need until you want to edit professional HD-TV movies.
And the software will make you sing.
I'm not an Apple apologist, I just know a good thing when I see it.
11. Matthew Bate
Brilliant, this is a MUCH higher quality machine than the low-end Wintels, comes with the software to make a Hollywood blockbuster, a number 1 record, organise your family's digital jewels and for another £50 you can get a standards-compatible office suite.
You won't want to run Windows apps anymore, especially viruses.
12. Don Tregartha
And don't forget support costs.
I run half and half wintel and macs here. Guess where my tech guy spends 95% of his contracted hours? - patching up the PCs. Networking, colour, fonts, graphics, printing, viruses etc.etc. - just one big headache. Even I'm not sure why we still have the damn things. A lot of the anti voices are from tech consultants who make a living from keeping wintels on the road. Why drive a kit car when you can drive a BMW?
BTW don't worry about upgrading, a Mac lifecycle is more like 5 years as opposed to 3 on a PC - I've still got an original powermac delivering the goods every day.
13. Don Tregartha
And don't forget support costs.
I run half and half wintel and macs here. Guess where my tech guy spends 95% of his contracted hours? Patching up the PCs. Networking, colour, fonts, graphics, printing, viruses etc.etc. - just one big headache. Even I'm not sure why we still have the damn things. A lot of the anti voices are from tech consultants who make a living from keeping wintels on the road. Why drive a kit car when you can drive a BMW?
BTW don't worry about upgrading, a Mac lifecycle is more like 5 years as opposed to 3 on a PC - I've still got an original powermac delivering the goods every day.
14. Steve Jobs
Buy one! Buy one! Buy one! Buy one! Buy one! Buy one! Buy one!
15. Richard (I use Macs and PCs)
Macs are the worlds best kept secret (well, no so well kept anymore).
I dare any PC user to switch to a Mac and then tell me they want to go back to a PC
16. Tom Robinson
Re: for £40 get a Dell... yes, but no firewire, inferior graphics, far less software, a crippled "home" version of the OS, no burning capability and one quarter of the warranty - check out direct feature by feature comparison at http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/editors/2005/01/miniapplesandoranges/index.php